Chapter 66 : Stirring the Waters
“I had no reason to know in advance that there was something wrong with the materials,” Ryan said.
His voice sounded abrupt in the quiet room.
“The temperature adjustment was made in response to the actual reaction. As for the merchant guild—” he paused for half a second, “the Northern Star Trading Company is indeed controlled by the Velt family, but its daily operations are handled by professional managers. As a student currently enrolled in the academy, I do not participate in the specific business operations, and it would be even more impossible for me to know the details of any particular batch beforehand. My movements on campus and the people I have been in contact with can all be verified through records.”
“That is sophistry!” Wood cut in. “Everyone knows that the Velt family is practically broke now! Cutting corners with inferior goods to make money is completely normal for you! For all we know, this conspiracy was planned before the school year even started, and you were in on it!”
“Where is the evidence?”
Ryan lifted his eyes. His brown hair fell over his forehead, and beneath the strands, those blue-gray eyes suddenly froze in place—like a hibernating serpent sensing vibrations, slowly opening its eyelids, the pupils contracting into two thin lines of ice.
All warmth drained from his face. The taut lines of bone beneath his skin became unnervingly clear.
Wood’s body stiffened abruptly. He had seen that look before.
Two years ago, beside the training grounds in autumn, Ryan had looked at a third-year student exactly like this after the boy dirtied his clothes.
Three days later, during a combat assessment, that same student had accidentally triggered every trap laid in advance. His entire body had been wrapped in sticky spiderwebs and left hanging from a tree until dusk before he was finally rescued.
The sneer on Andre’s lips froze as well. He had seen it too.
At last year’s academy noble ball, Ryan had swept that same gaze over a collateral baron’s son who had been gossiping about the decline of the Velt family.
One month later, the family’s mines in the Northern Territories began to reveal consecutive accounting scandals. In the end, they were taken over by the imperial audit corps.
That gaze—cold and venomous like a snake—both of them had seen it before.
It was only that this semester, Ryan had grown quiet.
He no longer provoked others first, nor did he sweep the crowd with that gaze that treated people like lifeless objects.
They had almost forgotten that within the body called Ryan Velt, there had never lived anything remotely docile.
“Where is the evidence?”
His voice remained soft, but this time the air between each word seemed to crystallize with shards of frost.
Wood swallowed. Beneath his sleeves, goosebumps spread across his arms.
Andre took a deep breath and forced his chest to puff out even more. He could not retreat here—especially not in front of the three advisors.
He opened his mouth, but his voice came out far sharper than before.
“Evidence? Your abnormal operation record is the evidence! The fact that you walked away completely unharmed is the evidence! The Velt family’s merchant guild supplied inferior materials and caused the accident—that is already an ironclad chain of facts!”
He turned toward the advisors, speaking faster and faster, as if trying to finish before something interrupted him.
“I formally propose that compulsory measures be taken against Ryan Velt! He should be temporarily detained while a full investigation into the Velt family’s merchant guild is conducted. At the same time, the academy should immediately begin expulsion procedures—”
Wood immediately followed, his voice even louder than Andre’s, as though he were trying to encourage himself.
“That is right! He must be severely punished! A dangerous individual like him cannot remain in the academy!”
Yet both of them unconsciously shifted their heels half a step backward.
Ryan remained seated. He only tilted his head slightly.
Light streamed in from the side window, slicing his face into a boundary of brightness and shadow. One eye sank completely into darkness, while the other reflected the lead-gray clouds outside the window.
He said nothing.
But that silence carried more pressure than any argument.
Like a venomous snake coiling its body—not hissing, merely waiting quietly for the moment to strike.
At that very moment, the door opened.
The door moved soundlessly, as if pushed open by some gentle force.
Everyone turned their heads.
Cecilia Ishtar stood at the doorway.
Morning light slanted in through the narrow window of the corridor behind her, outlining her figure with a faint golden glow.
She was not wearing the academy uniform. Instead, she wore a deep blue gown, the collar embroidered with delicate silver threads forming the royal crest. Her golden hair was loosely pinned up, with a few stray strands resting against the side of her neck.
She walked into the room with light steps, her skirt barely making a sound. All three advisors rose at once.
The bald man dropped the pen in his hand. It rolled to the edge of the table before the young female committee member pressed it down.
“Please, sit.”
Cecilia raised a hand. She stopped beside the long table, her gaze sweeping across everyone in the room before finally settling on Ryan’s face.
“I am late. I have just received confirmed news regarding Robert Fischer’s condition.”
She paused, and every breath in the room seemed to stop.
“The archbishop-level sacred arts master from the Royal Medical Corps completed his nerve reconnection surgery this morning. The function of his right hand is expected to recover to more than ninety percent. It will not affect his future magical studies.”
The tension in the air loosened slightly.
The woman with glasses let her shoulders sink. The bald man exhaled.
A flicker of surprise crossed Andre’s face before he quickly concealed it.
Cecilia turned toward the three advisors, the corners of her lips curving into the faintest smile.
“Of course, the fact that the injury can be remedied does not mean the responsibility for the accident can be taken lightly.” She glanced toward Andre and Wood. “Just now, outside the door, I heard some… interesting accusations.”
Andre straightened his back.
“Your Highness, we are only stating the facts. Ryan Velt’s operation record is abnormal, and the Velt family’s merchant guild supplied the faulty materials. These two pieces of evidence are conclusive—”
“Committee Member Garcia.”
Cecilia interrupted him. She tilted her head slightly, as though merely curious.
“The core of your accusation lies in the ‘abnormal operation record.’ Then tell me, this record—was it the original observation data, or a copied transcription compiled afterward by the experimenter?”
Andre froze.
The question struck directly at the gap in his preparations.
“That… should be a transcription copy. But the data is accurate!”
“Oh, a transcription copy.” Cecilia nodded, then turned her gaze toward the woman with glasses. “Madam Advisor, according to procedure, when a transcription copy is submitted as formal evidence, it must be verified by at least two independent committee members and accompanied by a comparison table with the original data. This is to avoid… any unintentional oversight during the copying process.”
She pronounced the final four words clearly and slowly.
“The documents submitted by Committee Member Garcia—do they include these necessary verification certifications?”
The woman with glasses quickly flipped through the folder in front of her before replying, “No. There is only a single-page record excerpt. There is no verification record, nor any original comparison table.”
“In that case,” Cecilia withdrew her gaze and looked back at Andre, “relying solely on this procedurally flawed record would likely make it difficult to treat it as conclusive evidence to support such serious accusations. This does not bode well for the evidence you intend to present next.”
Cecilia’s eyes swept across Andre and Wood again. She even gave them a subtle wink.
“Unless…”
She paused at exactly the right moment and lightly tapped the table with her fingertip.
“You should have more direct evidence proving that the change in these materials is truly connected to the Northern Star Trading Company—or that someone from the Northern Star Trading Company actually had a way to contact Mr. Velt, sufficient to support your accusation.”