Chapter 144: Someone Pretending to be Kai?

Matilda doesn’t react.

She knew Bree was sharp and expected this suspicion.

Aside from the fact that Bree would only retaliate if she knew what happened last night, which Matilda didn’t care how she would feel at all if she knew, last night was supposed to be a break from reality.

It should never be spoken again.

And she intended to adhere to that.

However, her face almost burned red when she saw Kai stealing a glance at her.

He seemed to also be worried that Bree would find out.

"Yeah, he knew that I’m corrupted and came by last night to give me a Crystallized Teardrop of Argus. My father told him about it," Matilda answered, trying to sound nonchalant. Hiding that Kai came by last night would only make Bree more suspicious, so she decided to tell half of the truth. "It’s the reason why I’m wearing a turtleneck; to hide the black veins."

"He gave you the last vial?" Bree’s expression darkened, but Matilda didn’t notice it.

"I don’t know why he’s saving it, too. But he did and gave it to me."

"Lucky you... Is that all?"

"What are you even thinking? Do you think he’d do something with someone he hated?"

"Fair enough."

Bree was about to walk away, but she caught Kai stealing a glance at them.

She smiled sweetly and waved at him, but there was a dark edge to her smile—that shoved a chill down Kai’s spine. Once she turned to leave, finding a comfortable spot to rest, Kai came, tiptoeing towards Matilda.

"What did you two talk about?"

"She suspected something happened last night."

"And what did you say?"

"I said you came by to drop the vial because I’m corrupted."

"Shit..." Kai massaged his forehead, knowing that he had promised to give it to Bree if he did not end up using it. He could argue that it was an emergency, but it doesn’t matter. Bella said a man is measured by his word, and he failed his. "Gotta find a way to make it up."

Even when Matilda was about to say something, he already walked away.

His mind was too occupied with how to make it up to Bree.

Moments later.

Just a little bit more than the group finally amassed the thirty thousand mana ores required to create a group—with a Lesser Angel as the leader. If they pushed harder in the next couple of days, gathering the rest was possible.

Bree suggested that they force themselves to mine longer to gather the required mana ores.

Aiming to complete it by the third day.

Surprisingly enough, the others agreed—Dorian and Bryan were the first ones who agreed.

Both of them argued that they were sick of mining this hard, so instead of stretching it out, it is best for them to push themselves in the next couple of days and finish it. Then, after enough mana ores were gathered, they could rest as much as they wanted.

"Good night."

"Good night for you, too."

Naturally, the group split up when they arrived at the dormitory.

Matilda watched as Bree entered her room, and then paused in her steps.

Instead of heading to rest, she exited the dormitory and headed straight to the main building.

She was sweaty, sleepy, and exhausted, but she dragged herself through the street with clear purpose in her eyes. In front of the main building’s entrance, Matilda walked to a grey-masked Angel guarding on the side.

"What’s your business this late in the night?"

"I’m a High Angel; speak to me with respect."

"Ah..." the grey-masked Angel bowed silently. "I apologize. What do you need tonight? I will help you if you desire it."

"Follow me," Matilda walked inside without waiting.

Both of them walked through the massive halls of the main building and went to the second floor. Matilda and the grey-masked Angel stopped almost a minute later in front of a room—the student council’s room.

"Open it," Matilda pointed at the door.

Without hesitation, the grey-masked Angel swiped a card and opened the door for her.

Nobody was inside.

Matilda nodded, pleased that there wasn’t any nuisance. She walked around the room, opening and looking out the window, and even checked every nook and cranny of the room. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

She then looked up to the corner and saw a small pointy crystal there.

"Is that a CCTV?"

"Erm... It’s similar to that. A spying crystal, but it’s an old model."

"How do I access it?"

"From the security room. May I know why you want to check it?"

"Nothing that’s your business," Matilda walked out of the room after sweeping her gaze one more time. "Bring me to the security room."

As expected, the security room was located in a secluded and hidden area. It was on the corner of the fifth floor. The grey-masked Angel needed to scratch the wall with his card, and a door became visible to the eyes.

He knocked on it, and another grey-masked Angel opened the door.

"Yes?"

"A High Angel wanted to check the security footage in the student council."

"May I ask why?" the other grey-masked Angel turned to look at Matilda. "Regulations stated that there needs to be a reason for even a High Angel to access the security footage. So, I need to know the reason."

"A senior, Ragnar, got into a scuffle, and I wanted to know the other person," Matilda replied.

"Any particular reason why you’re checking?"

"You asked why? Of course, because I’m his friend. Show me the security footage now."

"I apologize," the other grey-masked Angel stepped aside, allowing only Matilda to enter. He then closed the door before walking to a waist-height crystal placed on the right corner of the room. "Do you know when it happened?"

"Not exactly, but fairly recently. Check the previous week, and only at nighttime."

"Okay."

Expertly, the grey-masked Angel began to imbue the crystal with mana. Glowing points began to appear along its length, and the mana traced a path from one glowing point to another until the tip glowed and the footage played.

It was similar to a hologram video but using mana.

For the next fifteen minutes or so, the grey-masked Angel browsed through the footage, while Matilda waited on a chair to the side. She waited patiently, leaning her head back to the wall to rest and collect her thoughts.

’Should be fine, I’m sure.’

She knew that the one who scared Ragnar was not Kai.

But since Ragnar was actively going against Kai at the direction of a higher-up, which most likely would be the Chancellor, she wanted to see what really happened to him. Worst-case, she gained nothing and wasted her time.

If she got lucky, she might identify a potential ally.

Even though she didn’t know what this person’s aim was by scaring Ragnar, it was too much of a coincidence for it not to be something tied to Kai. Matilda thought it might be worth it to go and check what really happened.

Moreover, she wasn’t scared that Ragnar would confront her for probing him like this.

After the attack, Ragnar didn’t do anything.

Or at least, Matilda didn’t hear Ragnar making a drastic move.

And because of that, she could safely assume—that whoever had confronted Ragnar wielded such authority that, even after everything, he could not breathe a word about it to anyone. Frankly, Matilda was expecting the security footage to be wiped clean already.

But she had to try.

She had to take her shot.

See if Tyche, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune, is smiling at her right now.

"I think I found it." He stopped the footage at where Ragnar was sitting behind his desk. "This must be it."

Matilda stood up and gestured with her hand to play the video.

She watched closely as Ragnar reclined on his chair and closed his eyes.

Ragnar took a nap for a good hour before his eyes suddenly snapped open; instantly fixed on the door. He rose to his feet too quickly, pushing the chair back, and Matilda could read the nervousness etched plainly across his face.

Someone entered the room, and whoever it was made Ragnar nervous instantly.

Since the door wasn’t slammed open, the person must’ve entered gently.

No aggression that could make Ragnar nervous like this.

’So, this confirmed it. Whoever visited Ragnar is someone who holds significant standing in the Eventide Academy; high enough to make Ragnar nervous the instant he saw this person. But he’s close with the Chancellor.’ Matilda’s brows furrowed. ’Is there anyone ranked above the Chancellor? Does someone like that even exist within the academy?’

Matilda believed the Chancellor answered to no one.

Nobody was above him within the Eventide Academy.

It suggests someone outside the academy, but that doesn’t make any sense.

"Did someone important visit the academy recently?"

"No, there’s nothing like that. Outsiders visited the academy when there’s an official event— the closest one is the Dragon Ring, and it was months away. I would know if someone really important visited. Every Guard Angel would."

Naturally, Matilda became even more confused.

If anyone was to bully Ragnar, he could simply use his position inside the student council or even tell the Chancellor about it to punish the culprit. This doesn’t make any sense. Whoever it was must be an outsider, or else it doesn’t make sense.

"Look here," the grey-masked Angel pointed at the footage. "For about three minutes, there’s darkness covering the left side of the room. And the distortion on the footage meant the mana inside that room is high, and it somehow bypassed the academy’s detection.’

"Hmm," Matilda nodded and leaned forward to look closer.

Just as the grey-masked Angel said, there was creeping darkness—that blotted one side of the room. And the footage distorted a few times. Even though the person responsible couldn’t be seen, Ragnar was still visible.

And above, she saw a shadow moving.

It was shaped like a phantom, but for some reason, Ragnar wasn’t looking at the phantom.

His eyes were looking around frantically.

’Why didn’t I think of that?’ Matilda’s eyes widened. ’This person could be invisible or close to invisible. Ragnar was nervous not because it was someone with power, but because he saw the door open but could not see the person who opened it.’

"Is there no sound?"

"No, it’s an old model. And even if it’s a new model, with the mana distorting the air, it would be hard for it to catch anything but static."

Matilda clicked her tongue and continued to watch.

She saw Ragnar going down and hiding underneath his desk in fear. And in the top corner— the phantom moved again, bringing the darkness alongside it before everything returned to normal.

Only that Ragnar was still hiding like a scared kitten.

’Wait a minute... Isn’t this the Nigh-phantom imprint? Kai’s imprint? Is someone pretending to be Kai?’