The empire's Shadow Knights were truly efficient—they'd arrived even faster than Linen had anticipated.
Appearing silently in the building last night and then quietly leaving right after Ken's death—putting those two facts together, any normal person would conclude that Linen was Ken's accomplice. After all, who else would it be?
The two girls had nearly lost their lives, and now, with the Shadow Knights' help, Linen's role as Ken's collaborator was essentially set in stone. Surely, they'd despise him for it?
"Wait! What do you mean, you have sufficient evidence? Don't speak nonsense!"
Hysteria urgently interrupted.
Linen, who'd been about to speak, shot her a puzzled glance.
Why is Her Highness even more anxious than I am?
Shouldn't he be the one saying this?
"To accuse an imperial prince without proper evidence—even the Shadow Knights don't have that much authority, right?"
Linen cast a cold, sideways glance at the Shadow Knights' leader, his voice dripping with disdain.
Though it was merely a casual glance, his bearing and innate dignity radiated the unmistakable aura of someone who had been raised in power.
For a moment, the Shadow Knights' leader had the uncanny feeling that he was facing not just the young prince, but the Empress herself.
This resemblance…it's too uncanny!
"T-That's indeed true…"
The leader unconsciously lowered his head slightly, his words faltering—this was the instinctive reverence of a loyal hound toward its master.
A dog that didn't respect its master had no reason to exist.
"Allow me to speak. You lot are still too inexperienced to handle Linen."
At this moment, a lazy voice interrupted.
Everyone turned to the voice's source, seeing another female Shadow Knight who had silently entered the room, leaning casually against the wall, her eyes holding an ambiguous smile.
"C-Captain Silva!"
The Shadow Knights' leader immediately straightened but bowed even deeper. If his previous submission had been due to Linen's similarity to the Empress, this current deference was entirely due to the woman's own formidable reputation.
Silva was the newest rising star among the Shadow Knights, soaring to captaincy through sheer skill and cunning despite lacking any notable background. Her reputation alone was enough to overshadow her beauty, yet anyone who actually saw her found it difficult to forget.
Her striking golden hair cascaded down her back, and at well over 175 centimeters, augmented by her armored boots, she was strikingly tall for a woman. Her emerald-green eyes always seemed half-closed, giving nothing away about her true thoughts.
The lazy posture she adopted against the wall revealed curves that her uniform did little to conceal—but given her imposing presence, few dared openly admire her beauty.
Only Hysteria couldn't help but gape, wide-eyed.
She didn't fear the Shadow Knights, but what shocked her was something else entirely:
How…how could someone possibly be this big?!
If gods truly existed, weren't they being unfair when crafting humans?!
"Silva, even you came for this matter?"
Only now did Linen reveal mild surprise.
"Since this involves you, Linen, of course I'd handle it personally. Maybe I'll finally see you embarrassed for once!"
Her voice, rich with lazy amusement, made it impossible to determine if she was joking or serious.
"Although these little pups here are rather rude, what they're saying is true, you know~"
"Being in that building isn't a huge issue. But if there's proof that you collaborated with Ken knowing he was from the Tower of Chronomancy, even your status as a prince won't spare you."
"In fact, precisely because of your royal status, it'd be even more troublesome. If you confess now, perhaps the Empress will merely imprison you indefinitely in the palace. But if we expose you first, it won't be that simple. Don't you want to reconsider?"
"How does the saying go again… 'The wise know when to yield'?"
Is the situation really this severe?!
Elena was shocked. Both she and Hysteria had underestimated the Zijinghua Empire's hatred of the Tower of Chronomancy—and overestimated the Empress's affection toward her own son.
Appearing silently in the teaching building last night, only to quietly disappear afterward—any ordinary person would naturally suspect Linen of collaborating with Ken, unless they knew Linen as well as she did.
Though Elena herself would always trust Linen completely, others certainly wouldn't see things the same way.
Conspiring with an infiltrator to endanger national security—harshly speaking, this was outright treason!
Despite Linen being a prince, considering the current Empress's ruthless methods, familial ties wouldn't save him.
Elena wanted desperately to defend Linen, but her body felt trapped by an invisible force, unable to move even a single finger, let alone speak. She glanced sideways; even Hysteria's body trembled slightly, clearly experiencing the same restriction.
Yet Linen showed no fear in the face of Silva's direct threats, merely shaking his head lightly:
"My question remains unchanged—where's your evidence?"
At Linen's words, Silva arched an eyebrow, her lips curling into a faintly amused smile. "Just as I expected, Linen. You refuse to admit defeat until the very end. Let me show you the evidence then—it's right here…"
As everyone watched in disbelief, Silva reached casually into the deep valley between her chest, retrieving an inconspicuous, pitch-black stone.
A magic stone?!
Everyone in the room quickly recognized the item.
"A mana-storage magic stone—you know about these, right? There are no two identical magic stones in existence. Yet multiple witnesses have confirmed you possess one exactly like this. How will you explain that?"
If only a single stone was found at the scene, it might have been ambiguous—perhaps it had been used to aid Ken, or perhaps to save lives.
But adding the fact that the owner had deliberately concealed its existence made it extremely suspicious.
Is Linen really about to be wrongfully accused?!
So this is the Shadow Knights' strength…they can paralyze me with their mere presence.
Unable even to speak up in defense of her savior, Elena felt overwhelmed by helplessness.
I…I can't do anything…
This crushing helplessness was even more intense than when she'd fought Ken. Elena clenched her fists tightly, desperately trying to break free, yet remained frustratingly trapped.
But after a prolonged silence, facing this seemingly ironclad piece of evidence, Linen merely smirked with disdain:
"You call that evidence?"
"Coincidentally, I happen to have another right here."
With that, Linen calmly retrieved an identical magic stone from his spatial ring, holding it openly before everyone's astonished eyes.