After finishing her preparations, Avril snuck to the guest room she had been staying in these past three months with the two others in tow. She examined the room thoroughly and nodded.

“Not a thing seems to have been left behind. My maid, Grace, is excellent. She was ordered to bring my belongings to the basement room over there, there’s no way she would forget anything.”

The guest room Avril had been using was exactly as she had left it when she went to the announcement ceremony. As Grace had brought her change of clothes and books, there was no luggage. However, aside from that, the state of the room was completely unchanged.

That was only natural as the room had been locked to prevent anyone from entering. Listeard nodded as well.

“Actually, I recently searched this room with some civil servants for any evidence of wrongdoing”

“What was the result?”

“The same. Nothing was found.”

“As I haven’t done anything wrong, that is only natural. …Yet, why did I come to be suspected?”

Of course, after listening to what Listeard had said so far, she could imagine the reason.

The man called Alois was an extremely averse to foreigners. He probably wanted to make an example of Avril so he could distance his people from foreign relations. Her understanding that was precisely why she felt ashamed at having shown an opening for him to exploit.

But still, isn’t it a bit shortsighted to fabricate wrongdoing that didn’t even happen? From the impression he gave when he guided us to the audience chamber, he didn’t seem like such a shallow person. Above all, he’s the father of the intelligent Lady Jeanne.

Avril tilted her head, feeling that something was amiss.  That was when Dylan explained.

“Lady Avril appears to have achieved a perfect score on her exams.”

“Eh?”

What does that mean? She tilted her head even further. Could a score be so perfect it lead to suspicion of cheating? While she was thinking that, Listeard followed up the explanation, prefacing is by saying, “This is close to being classified information.”

“Your exam answers, even when compared to top scorers of all previous National Examinations, stood out as exceptional. In particular, you received full marks on questions that tested memory. Some graders even commented that never again will anyone achieve such a high score.”

“Questions that test memory…”

She glanced around, knowing the reason why.

She had a special skill that allowed her to memorize anything after only seeing it once.  All the more so when she consciously tried to remember it. To think that would become the trigger for being suspected of wrongdoing.

I should’ve made a few mistakes…! Really, considering the life I’ve lived so far, I should’ve known…!

Recalling how she had often been called eerie during her life, her shoulders slumped in regret.

“Because of that, Alois seems to suspect that you either stole the questions in advance and already knew the answers, or that you utilized a clever method to cheat. However, there’s no evidence.”

“Of course, there isn’t any evidence as I didn’t cheat.”

She didn’t feel angry. Listeard, seeing Avril with a distant gaze, adjusted his tone of voice.

“In addition, there’s something that concerns me.”

“?”

Just as she was starting to wilt at being burdened with further blame, she was told a completely unexpected truth.

“In the previous exam and the one before it—the exam three years ago, and the one six years ago—some people were disqualified on suspicion of cheating.”

“Does that mean this kind of thing is inevitable in exams with such a long history?”

“No. Coincidentally, on both cases, they were exposed due to Alois accusations.”

“!”

What could that mean?

Avril felt nervous, but Dylan seemed to have already heard the story. He showed no sign of being bothered.

“I had no intention of interfering in your country’s internal affairs, but this is something even our kingdom can’t overlook. That man, Alois, needs to be investigated as well.”

“…Yes. That is true.”

Listeard’s expression as he responded was surprisingly bright, so much so that it was difficult to believe he had just learned that a trusted and close aide might be guilty of a crime.

—At last, I can finally cut ties with that man.’

He seemed to be thinking exactly that.

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