Ch.349Chapter 349 – I Want to Quit Being the Disciplinary Committee Head

After thirty minutes had passed and the female student’s condition had somewhat stabilized, I was finally able to speak with her.

“What is your name?”

“Estelle. Estelle Lumina.”

Upon hearing the girl’s name, I looked at the disciplinary committee member who had guided me here.

“Miss Estelle is the second daughter of the Lumina family, which rules the Ronor territory famous for silk production. Her father, Count Lumina, is quite business-savvy and earns considerable wealth from silk sales.”

Ah… so she’s a noble? That’s why she could freely extort money from male students.

But I don’t understand why someone born into such a wealthy family would need to extort money from male students.

“Miss Estelle, I have a question for you.”

“Yes, please ask.”

“According to Noel, who is currently in custody with the security team, you approached male students and swindled money from them. Is this true?”

“That’s… not true. I have never sought financial gain from male students.”

Miss Estelle seemed upset at being accused of such behavior.

“Besides Noel, other students have testified that you frequently socialized with male students. Is this true?”

“It’s true that I socialized with male students. However, all those male students are my cousins.”

“Cousins?”

Wait, cousins? This is the first I’m hearing of this.

“Are you certain that the male students you socialized with are indeed your cousins?”

“Yes. My family, the Lumina house, has rather complex blood relations, so about forty students currently enrolled in the academy are related to me by blood.”

So she wasn’t meeting potential romantic interests but rather her cousin brothers or older cousins? That would make sense.

“I understand for now. Be aware that if you’re caught lying before me, the head of the disciplinary committee, you could face punishment for perjury.”

“I swear on my family name, most of the male students I met were my cousins. I have no intention of dating anyone within the academy.”

Hmm… seeing how firmly she’s standing her ground, she might be telling the truth.

Swearing on one’s family name meant putting everything on the line to affirm the truth of one’s statement.

If what was sworn on a family name turned out to be false, the person could be permanently removed from the family register as punishment.

In such a case, though still alive, the person would not be treated as a living person.

The fact that Estelle swore on her family name demonstrated how strongly she felt about clearing her name.

“Since you’ve sworn on your family name, I’ll choose to believe your statement.”

That concludes my interrogation of student Estelle.

“Once we return to the disciplinary committee, mobilize personnel to investigate the truth of this incident.”

“Yes, Disciplinary Committee Head.”

Of course, my interrogation ends here. The disciplinary committee members who are better at this than I am will be able to discern the truth more accurately.

But still, should that face be left as it is?

Even with regenerative treatment, they say her face would remain fixed in that state, which means she would essentially have to live with that appearance for the rest of her life.

‘Even though she swore on her family name, it’s still right to observe the situation for now.’

She is a victim, but if I accept only the victim’s testimony and something goes wrong later, it’ll be a headache for me.

“Miss Estelle.”

“Is there more to investigate?”

“We’ve only completed a basic preliminary investigation. Later, when the full investigation is finished and your innocence is proven…”

“And if it’s proven…?”

If Miss Estelle was indeed proven to be an innocent victim, I intended to use my ability to fix her face.

“Then I will use my ability to restore your face.”

“Is… is that true?”

Miss Estelle showed a very surprised reaction to my words.

“Yes, if your innocence is proven.”

With those final words, I left the infirmary.

As I exited, Professor Carmen was waiting for me.

“Pathos. Do you really intend to fix Miss Estelle’s face?”

“If she truly is an innocent victim, then yes, I plan to.”

My ability is likely the only thing currently capable of fixing that grotesque appearance caused by the Dispel Potion.

Unless, of course, some divine miracle descends upon her?

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

A few days later, while I was leisurely spending time in the disciplinary committee room as usual, a committee member entered the office.

“Committee Head. The investigation into that incident has been completed.”

The “incident” the committee member referred to was the terrorist attack on Miss Estelle by student Noel.

“The investigation is finally complete?”

“Yes. Here is the investigation report.”

Although the perpetrator was clearly deranged, I felt a more detailed investigation was necessary, so I assigned it to the committee members. Now the results were in my hands.

I began to slowly read through the report they had prepared.

After reading the entire report, I could finally clearly distinguish between the perpetrator and victim in this case.

“So Noel was truly insane, and Estelle was genuinely an innocent victim.”

The report clearly stated that Noel had committed the crime because he genuinely believed Estelle was extorting male students, while all the male students Estelle had met were actually blood relatives of hers.

‘Wait, shouldn’t there normally be some kind of twist here?’

Why is there no twist, just the straightforward fact that Noel was crazy and Estelle was an innocent victim?

To be honest, I expected at least some potential for a twist, but looking at the contents of the report, there was none whatsoever.

This absurd situation was somewhat disappointing, but at least there was no one wrongfully accused as a perpetrator, nor a perpetrator pretending to be a victim.

I handed the report on this incident to Sister Regina.

“Hmm, so this is the report on the incident?”

“Yes. According to the disciplinary committee’s investigation, Noel really did commit the terrorist act out of malice, and Estelle was just hanging out with her relatives but got labeled as someone who extorts money from men.”

Sister Regina took the report and began reading.

“I see. When the disciplinary committee convenes, Noel will be permanently expelled from the academy. We can’t keep such a dangerous person here. He’ll probably be sent to a forced labor camp according to imperial law and work there for the rest of his life.”

After reading the entire report, Noel’s fate was decided very quickly.

When the disciplinary committee convenes, Noel will be permanently expelled from the academy, and due to the severity of his crime, he’ll be sent to a forced labor camp to work there forever.

“So, what will you do about that female student, Estelle?”

“I made a promise to her. If she was proven to be an innocent victim, I would use my ability to restore her face.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Sister Regina showed a somewhat disapproving reaction.

“Fixing her face is fine, but what if Estelle becomes interested in you because of it?”

“I’ll reject her first.”

I already have two people who’ve somehow become eight; if that number increases any further, I’ll physically die from exhaustion.

After leaving the chancellor’s office, I headed back to the infirmary.

“Ah, Disciplinary Committee Head.”

“As promised, I will restore Miss Estelle’s face.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes. The investigation has revealed that Miss Estelle was an innocent victim, and Noel, who committed the terrorist act, will be expelled from the academy and sentenced to permanent forced labor.”

Miss Estelle burst into tears as soon as I finished speaking.

She must have been very anxious without any news.

Anyway, the perpetrator will be punished, and now all that remains is to fix Miss Estelle’s face.

I took out my hammer and approached Miss Estelle.

“I will now restore your face.”

“Um, do you really have to hit my face with that hammer?”

“Yes.”

It might be a bit frightening, but direct impact with the hammer is the most effective method.

When I nodded and confirmed, Miss Estelle reluctantly presented her face to me, as if she had no choice.

Her skin was distorted and the bone structure had changed somewhat abnormally, but that didn’t matter.

“Hup!”

I swung the hammer three times toward Miss Estelle’s face, and soon, within a faint light, her face began to return to its original form.

The facial features that had seemed inhuman began to regain human form, and the grotesquely stretched and adhered skin started to return to its original shape and features.

After the light completely disappeared, the face of a woman who appeared to be in her late teens to early twenties took its place on Miss Estelle’s face.

I handed her a mirror, and after checking it, Miss Estelle began to cry.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I thought I would never get my face back. Thank you so much.”

“In the future, if you encounter such strange people, please be sure to report them to the disciplinary committee.”

“Yes, I will! Thank you so much!”

Just when I thought the Estelle case had been well resolved…

“Lord Aurelion, Grand Duke. We are from the Imperial Intelligence Agency.”

Visitors came looking for me from an unexpected place.

The Imperial Intelligence Agency—why on earth are they looking for me?