Grace Light was not having a good time.

The fact that Freya could tell meant something had gone terribly wrong.

Class S’s camp, which was normally efficient under Grace’s command, had broken into clusters and groups around the center where a dead student lay openly on the ground.

Freya recognized him immediately. Marcus Vrell, a minor noble from House Vrell. Most of the class knew him.

Very few liked him.

Arrogant, handsy with the girls, cruel to commoners, protected by status just enough that his behavior had always been treated as an unpleasant inconvenience rather than a punishable offense.

Now he was dead.

The body had not been hidden, nor was there any attempt to do so from the looks of it.

Marcus was sprawled in the open near one of the supply paths, uniform twisted, eyes wide, one hand still gripping dirt as if he’d tried to crawl away.

The wound was obvious. A clean mana-infused puncture through the chest, precise enough to rupture his core entirely.

It was made using concentrated mana, which either implied an expert level of control or a massive mana pool.

Freya thought to her sister, Elara, who could have theoretically done such a thing, but that thought was as stupid as it was unlikely.

Freya studied the body more than the reactions around it.

Whoever did this either acted in rage, wanted the body found, or was confident enough not to care.

Or at least that’s what they wanted people to think.

What interested her most, however, was not the dead student.

It was Grace.

Grace stood near the corpse with Irene, Iris, Luca, and several Class S students around her, still composed on the surface, but her usual confidence was missing.

Normally, Grace entered conflict like she already knew everything.

Now, there was a slight pause before she spoke, a small hesitation in her eyes as if the scene in front of her did not match what she expected to see.

Freya noticed it immediately and found the sight more unsettling than the body itself, because Grace Light had always felt like someone walking one step ahead of everyone else.

So much so that even Freya had started to believe it.

She thought back how this had begun.

Freya had been near the outer side of camp when the first scream came. At first, she assumed it was another injury from training, perhaps a failed rune maintenance accident or a mana backlash from someone overusing spells during sparring.

But when she arrived and saw the body, she understood immediately that this was different.

Death had not happened in the Inter-Class War yet.

Students had been captured, wounded, humiliated, and trapped, but no one had actually died.

People who had faced beasts and enemy classes without panic were suddenly whispering, shouting, and staring at one another like every classmate was a possible suspect in this murder.

A noble boy accused the commoner students first, saying they had always hated Marcus.

A commoner snapped back that plenty of noble girls had more reason to hate him.

Someone else pointed out that Marcus had been seen arguing with two students the previous night.

Another student muttered that he deserved worse, and that careless sentence caused even more argument.

Grace tried to quiet them.

"Everyone, please–"

But it didn’t land.

Not because she was weak, or that her authority was in question, but because no one knew if they should even trust it anymore.

A battle injury was one thing.

Murder inside their own camp was another.

Then another voice cut through.

"Enough."

Luca stood with his arms crossed, pale blue hair shining in the filtered light.

His expression hadn’t changed – still apathetic and a little irritated – but the air around him thickened.

Freya felt it immediately.

Pressure.

Students shifted uncomfortably. Some straightened and tensed under it. Luca wasn’t attacking, nor was he threatening.

He was just showing them that if he wanted to, he could end this.

Useful, she thought. Very useful.

This wasn’t power that a first year student should be able to wield.

It didn’t last long, however.

"Who do you think you are?" a noble student snapped, stepping forward despite the pressure. His face was flushed, fear and anger mixing badly. "You can’t just silence us! This is serious! Someone died, and you think you can just–"

"Control us?" another student added, her voice shaking. "Like we’re supposed to bow down because you’re strong?"

More voices joined.

Accusations piled on top of each other, overlapping into noise that carried more panic than reason.

Freya watched the accusations move and recognized the shape of the crowd, and how it was beginning to move.

Fear needed a target.

Anger fit that mold even more.

The dead student’s reputation made the search for a suspect messy because too many people had motive, but that also meant the class would naturally look toward whoever felt most separate from them.

People didn’t like those who were different.

Freya’s gaze drifted toward Aura Acheron.

Aura sat apart beneath a tree with her book closed on her lap, looking more annoyed by the noise than disturbed by the literal dead body.

She hadn’t moved to defend herself, comfort anyone, or even ask what happened.

She simply watched the scene apathetically, as if a murder in the middle of camp was another minor inconvenience interrupting her afternoon.

Freya felt a quiet satisfaction stir in her chest because she had spent the last few days preparing exactly this kind of soil.

She’d never openly accused Aura of anything, never gossiped crudely or made herself look petty. She only planted reasonable little observations in the right ears.

That Aura was powerful enough to change battles but rarely bothered.

That she seemed uninterested in Class S’s survival.

That it must be convenient to be so strong no one could demand effort from her.

None of those remarks were accusations.

That was why they worked.

Seeds of doubt planted unknowingly were oftentimes far more effective than blatant manipulation.

Now, as fear spread through the class, Freya could see those seeds beginning to sprout.

A student glanced toward Aura. Then another. Then someone whispered that Aura had been near the supply path earlier.

Someone else muttered that if anyone could kill him without leaving a struggle, it would be her.

Freya smiled internally as she watched the scene unfold.

The suspicion sharpened when Aura refused to respond. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

One student finally said her name aloud.

"Aura."

Aura lifted her eyes from the crowd slowly, her expression blank.

The girl stepped forward, voice shaking slightly. "Where were you when this happened?"

Aura did not answer immediately.

The silence was not guilt – Freya recognized that – it was arrogance. Fortunately, that was just as damaging.

Another student moved closer, emboldened by the silence.

"If you didn’t do it, just say so."

Aura’s gaze shifted to the body. Marcus lay twisted in the dirt, eyes still wide with fear.

Then her lips curled faintly.

"If I killed him," Aura said slowly, "you wouldn’t need to ask."

The statement was a blatant dismissal of the situation.

No, the statement showed arrogance, and perhaps that was even worse.

Someone muttered behind Freya. "She’s not even denying it."

Another voice followed. "She thinks this is funny."

Freya watched shoulders tighten across the crowd.

Students did not truly believe Aura murdered him yet. Not all of them. But they believed she could have.

And that was enough.

Freya lowered her gaze slightly, hiding the faint satisfaction curling through her chest.

Aura had humiliated her once. Made her feel powerless, small, like a child beneath Clara’s shadow again.

Freya did not need Aura convicted here. She did not need her arrested, punished, or anything like that.

She only needed Aura isolated.

A powerful person became far less untouchable once everyone was against them. Once everyone started wondering if the power the person held was aimed at them.

Aura wouldn’t even know this had been her.

She was still using Hare, and that involved not antagonizing Aura.

Freya chose her moment.

She stepped forward. She wasn’t confident, instead putting up the act she always did. Kind, graceful, elegant.

"I don’t think we should accuse anyone without proof," Freya began, voice soft. Her gaze swept the crowd, making sure to look at every student in the area. "But ignoring unusual behavior would be just as irresponsible. Aura hasn’t–"

"It was not Aura."

Grace’s voice interrupted Freya’s monologue.

Her voice didn’t raise, nor did it need to. Grace stated it as fact.

Several students immediately protested.

"But she doesn’t have an alibi!"

"She’s strong enough to–"

"Look at how detached she is! She doesn’t even care that someone died!"

Grace’s expression hardened into something sharper than her usual gentle composure.

Her eyes swept across the class, and the protests died mid-sentence.

"Focusing on the easiest target only helps the real murderer," Grace said, her tone carrying an edge that made even Luca glance toward her. "Whoever did this wants suspicion to spread quickly."

Freya’s eyes narrowed.

That certainty.

It was starting to get suspicious now.

"The body was left openly," Grace continued, gesturing toward Marcus’s corpse. "The scene was staged to provoke panic. Whoever killed him wanted this exact reaction. Chaos, accusations, division, fracture in our ranks..." She paused, meeting the eyes of the several students who’d been whispering about Aura moments earlier. "Aura doesn’t seek attention. She doesn’t explain herself. If she wanted him dead, there wouldn’t be a scene left for us to gather around."

Some students quieted because the reasoning made sense. Others fell silent because they trusted Grace’s judgment. But many still glanced toward Aura with lingering suspicion, although they didn’t continue the accusation openly.

Aura looked up at Grace, suspicion plastered on her face along with confusion. Her eyes narrowed slightly, studying Grace’s face as if noticing something new.

Grace didn’t acknowledge the attention

"Everyone pairs up for patrolling. No one moves alone until we understand what happened." Her voice shifted back into its usual tone. "If you spoke with Marcus in the last twelve hours, report to Iris. Healers and anyone with mana-sensitive skills, examine the body before we move it. Document everything."

The orders were good.

Logical, thorough, exactly what a leader should say after a murder inside camp.

Freya watched students begin moving, some relieved to have direction, but far more were not.

Bitter expressions were worn on many of the students’ faces.

The damage was already done.