She had already graduated from Aether Academy.

It felt like a lifetime ago despite not actually being that long.

Iris sat alone inside the academy cafeteria.

Her pink hair swayed slightly whenever a breeze drifted through the open windows.

It was late.

Very late.

The person she was meeting only had free time around now.

Fortunately she didn’t have to wait long.

A well-dressed maid wearing long sleeves entered the cafeteria.

The moment she spotted Iris, she smiled.

Then she bowed politely.

"Lady Vale. It’s a pleasure to see you again."

Head Maid Matilda.

The sight alone nearly made Iris fall out of her chair.

Because Matilda was smiling.

Smiling.

During her years as a student Iris had never once seen that woman smile.

Not even a little.

Matilda had been the terrifying dorm mother of the War Halls.

A woman reputed to be one of the few people capable of stopping Damon Grey whenever he caused trouble.

"Can... you not do that?" Iris asked nervously. "You’re creeping me out."

Matilda’s smile disappeared instantly.

Her face returned to its usual expression.

The infamous resting bitch face.

Only then did Iris relax.

"Much better," she muttered.

Matilda sat down across from her.

"Now then," she said calmly, folding her hands atop the table.

"What brings you to see me, Iris?"

She took a deep breath.

Her investigation was what had led her here.

Everything led back here.

Back to Aether Academy.

The source of it all.

Her father’s death tied back here.

The strange deaths and disappearances of an entire clique of noble students tied back here.

No matter which thread she pulled, sooner or later it always led back to this place.

"I want to..." She paused briefly before looking directly at Matilda. "You already know what I want to ask."

"I do," Matilda replied calmly. "And I’ve already given you all the answers I can. I’m not an investigator, Iris. Your father’s death and the deaths of those students were great tragedies, but you cannot change the past."

Iris bit her lip.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

Then she lifted her gaze toward Matilda.

"I know that. I’m not asking to change it. I have a different set of questions this time. I hope you can indulge me."

Matilda studied her for a moment before nodding.

She could tell Iris had resolved herself.

"What do you want to know?"

Iris took another deep breath.

"I wanted to ask about the Marcus Fayjoy clique. Who they were close with. Their allies. Their enemies."

"They were close with a lot of people. I can give you a list." Matilda leaned back slightly in her chair. "But I can already tell you’re more interested in who their enemies were."

Iris nodded without hesitation.

"They bullied most commoners. They tried to humiliate them, degrade them, and make examples out of them. That was common knowledge throughout the academy. As a result, most commoners resented them."

Matilda paused.

"Though eventually that resentment shifted."

"How?" Iris asked.

"They found a new target."

Matilda’s eyes settled on Iris.

"A very stubborn commoner who refused to simply endure it."

Something flickered across her expression.

"I’m sure you know him."

Iris already knew the answer before the name was spoken.

"One Damon Grey."

She nodded softly.

Of course Damon wouldn’t accept that kind of treatment.

The Damon she knew possessed an ego the size of a planet.

The idea of him quietly accepting humiliation was almost laughable.

"They all died," Iris said quietly. "Every single one of them. The entire group."

Her voice faltered.

The suspicion she carried for years lodged in her throat.

"I... well... I..."

She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Couldn’t bring herself to voice the question directly.

Matilda understood immediately.

After all, Damon had taken Iris in after her father’s death.

He had become her teacher.

Perhaps even something closer to family than either of them cared to admit.

A small smile appeared on Matilda’s face.

Not mocking.

Not amused.

Simply patient.

"Tell me, Iris."

Her voice remained calm and free of judgment.

"Is Damon Grey really the type of man who would murder his own classmates in cold blood?"

Iris opened her mouth.

Then closed it again.

Memories surfaced.

Lessons.

Conversations.

The countless things Damon had taught her over the years.

One lesson rose above all the others.

The lesson he repeated whenever the world proved itself unfair.

The lesson he seemed to genuinely believe.

Slowly, Iris leaned back in her chair.

"An eye for an eye."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"A tooth for a tooth."

Silence settled between them.

Matilda said nothing.

She didn’t confirm Iris’s suspicions.

She didn’t deny them either.

Instead she simply watched as Iris arrived at her own conclusions.

Because sometimes the most terrifying answers were the ones a person discovered for themselves.

Iris shook her head.

That was merely a suspicion.

Not a conclusion.

To reach that conclusion would mean assuming Damon killed those nobles.

And if he did...

Well, they probably deserved it.

But that still didn’t connect him to her father’s death.

What bothered her was everything else.

The timing.

The coincidences.

Damon appeared not long after her father’s death claiming to be someone her father had once helped.

Then there was the hunting gear.

Her father’s buried hunting gear.

A makeshift grave.

The thought made her stomach twist.

She stopped herself right there.

No.

She wasn’t going down that rabbit hole.

She refused.

It was ridiculous.

Damon wouldn’t kill her father.

It had to be Marcus Fayjoy.

Yes.

Marcus Fayjoy was still suspected of being alive.

Marcus and Amon were connected.

Damon had clearly been their enemy during his academy days.

If Amon truly was Marcus Fayjoy, then perhaps he simply carried an old grudge against Damon.

The explanation fit.

It was neat.

Clean.

Comforting.

And so Iris chose it. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She wrote her own truth.

"You’re right," Iris said. "But you’re also wrong, Headmaid. Damon was their enemy, but the academy ruled that he was too weak to have done it. Even if he had somehow killed them, how would he have hidden the bodies?"

"Damon Grey has a hidden space ability. That’s very well known."

Matilda’s voice was quiet.

Almost too quiet.

Iris immediately shook her head.

"He awakened that after his First Class Advancement."

The answer came out instantly.

Too instantly.

As though she had prepared it long ago.

Matilda remained silent.

She didn’t argue.

She didn’t press further.

She merely watched Iris.

Sometimes the lies people told themselves were far more sinister than the lies others told them.

Iris could feel the doubts.

The questions.

The ugly possibilities lurking at the edges of her thoughts.

She crushed them.

Buried them.

Suppressed every last one.

Damon Grey wasn’t a suspect.

He couldn’t be.

He wouldn’t be.

The alternative was something she didn’t want to think about.

"Excuse me."

The words came out colder than intended.

She pushed her chair back and stood.

Matilda watched her leave without saying a word.

The cafeteria felt unusually quiet.

Each step Iris took seemed louder than the last.

Her thoughts churned.

Her heart raced.

Yet she continued forward.

Because if she stopped for even a moment, she feared she might begin asking questions she didn’t actually want answered.