1496 True Nature

Edited by Aelryinth

Mo Fan did not finish his explanation. He asked everyone to follow him to the Roia Garden.

The group moved to the secluded garden. The place remained sealed off. A few parts of the tall fence were dilapidated, but no one had bothered to fix them. There was a small herb patch beside the Roia Garden, but it was covered in weeds, abandoned after the misfortune.

“Let’s head inside,” Mo Fan said.

“Mo Fan, just tell us the answer here. It’s unnecessary to go inside,” Brianca spoke up, after taking Ceylan and Headmistress Perry’s feelings into consideration.

“Fine, that will do,” Mo Fan went to the fence around Roia Garden and pointed at the soil, “Do you know the reason why the Roia Flowers didn’t blossom when Yuria’s blood permeated the soil?”

“She was lying. She was a traitor. It was that simple,” Edith said.

Mo Fan smiled. He glanced at Mu Bai.

Mu Bai stared at Mo Fan blankly. He did not expect Mo Fan to be acting like a detective. The guy had seriously watched too much TV!

“It was quite a coincidence. Zhao Manyan’s stomach was acting weird the first few days, so Mu Bai who knows a little about herbs, tried mixing medicine for him. However, the medicine didn’t work, even though it was very basic,” Mo Fan said.

Zhao Manyan was utterly confused. Since when was his stomach acting weird?

He was about to explain himself when Mo Fan glared at him and said with a soft voice that only the two of them could hear, “Do you seriously want them to know that we were trying to drug Brianca with an aphrodisiac?”

“Oh, I remember now!” Zhao Manyan quickly agreed with Mo Fan.

“Mu Bai, can you explain why the medicine didn’t work?” Mo Fan said.

Mu Bai finally realized what Mo Fan was up to. He pointed at the abandoned herb patch beside Roia Garden and said, “I came here to pluck a stalk of Eupatorium. I didn’t understand why the medicine failed in the first place, so I came back here and plucked some other herbs to experiment on them. I discovered that the herbs here either have extremely low or zero efficacy.”

“Why does it matter? The place is abandoned in the first place. It’s normal if the herbs aren’t working as intended. Perhaps it’s because of the weeds,” Edith said impatiently.

“If you still don’t understand what I’m trying to say, you either have no brain, or you’re trying to hide something,” Mo Fan harrumphed coldly while staring at Edith.

Edith was startled. She immediately looked confused.

The others remained silent with stern faces, especially Headmistresses Perry and Ceylan.

What Mo Fan was trying to say was very obvious to them!

“The herb patch is the closest place to the Roia Garden, thus they both shared the same soil. It’s true that a Forbidden Magic will never go wrong, but someone who’s familiar with plants had secretly altered the composition of the soil. Therefore, when the blood of the girl who wasn’t lying permeated the soil, it didn’t really connect with the Roia Flowers,” Mo Fan said.

“Aren’t we supposed to be discussing Amelia? Why would you bring what happened in the past up again!?” Sheryl said angrily.

“Are you a pig?” Mo Fan grunted.

Sheryl was enraged. She almost started a fight with Mo Fan, but Brianca rebuked Sheryl right away.

“Things are actually a lot simpler once you link them up. Amelia always wanted to complete her work perfectly. Even though the Roia Garden is off-limits, she would still sneak in here at night. However, she soon figured out that something was wrong with the soil here. How could the person that set Yuria up allow Amelia to tell the others the truth? As a result, Amelia suffered the same fate as Yuria!” Mo Fan went on.

At first, Mo Fan a.s.sumed the person that had killed the little creatures on the mountain had a strong hatred of the Alps Inst.i.tute, but when Li Yu’e became a suspect, someone mentioned that she had purposely killed the little creatures to inflict fear on the others, so she could get rid of her compet.i.tor Amelia without attracting too much attention.

The saying was only half correct; the act of killing the little creatures to blaspheme the spirits of the Alps was indeed a cover-up. When Amelia died, no one would suspect it had anything to do with the Roia Garden!

Mo Fan knew he was an unreliable Hunter. His thought processes were not as thorough as Lingling’s, and he was almost led astray by the cunning culprit. However, when Li Yu’e described Amelia’s brilliant work to him, when Mu Bai found out why the aphrodisiac did not work, and when the culprit poisoned Herr Casa and placed him under a Curse, Mo Fan finally had an idea what was going on.

When Ceylan and Headmistress Perry explained the incident that Yuria was involved in, everything became obvious!

“Is that really the case, Miss Brianca?” Headmistress Perry turned around and looked at Brianca.

Brianca had stayed with Mo Fan all along. She had to be aware of Mo Fan’s findings too.

Brianca nodded and said, “We’ll have to wait for Headmistress Perry to retrieve some samples of the soil and ask the teachers with the Plant Element to a.n.a.lyze them in detail to find the answer. Headmistress Perry, Miss Ceylan… Yuria didn’t lie, nor did she betray us. It was a set-up!”

The others could hear Headmistress Perry and Ceylan breathing heavily. They looked at the Roia Garden, through the dilapidated fence and could somehow see the blurred outline of a girl standing on the soil with a determined yet pale face.

Headmistress Perry and Ceylan looked like they had lost their souls after learning the truth. They had always thought Yuria was the most brilliant student they had ever taught; her pa.s.sion for magic, her serious att.i.tude when arguing about the flaws in their teachings… they could remember it like it was yesterday!

“So… who did it?” Headmistress Perry asked in a dispirited tone, after a prolonged silence.

“Her,” Mo Fan pointed at someone among them.

The group was astounded. They s.h.i.+fted their attention to Sheryl.

Sheryl was utterly shocked. She blurted out angrily, “Enough with your wild accusations, I never did anything to hurt Yuria or Amelia!”

“Did I say it was you? Idiot, move aside, I was pointing at the person behind you!” Mo Fan said.

Sheryl was angry and shocked, turning around automatically. Her face was immediately filled with disbelief when she saw the person standing behind her.

“Edith?” Headmistress Perry was even more shocked than Sheryl. She shook her head, not able to believe Edith was the culprit.

Edith remained expressionless, standing there like a lifeless ice statue.

“I remember how you reported us for eating the roasted hare on the mountain,” Mo Fan told Edith.

“Humph,” Edith snorted.

“We were confused, too. The three of us sneakily left the school and went to the mountain at night. There was no one around, yet how did you and Sheryl know we were hunting wild game? I only figured out the truth a few days ago. You were there on the mountain, preparing your brilliant work. You were brutally snaring the little creatures before killing them at the right time. You reported us to the patrols to drive us away, since you didn’t want us to ruin your plan,” Mo Fan said.

Edith remained silent. The look in her eyes s.h.i.+fted.

“Oh, that’s why. No wonder the hare’s leg was frozen, allowing us to catch it so easily! Someone was using magic on them,” Zhao Manyan spoke up in support.

“Sheryl has been picking on us all along. I a.s.sumed the two of you were stirring up trouble on purpose by reporting us… the other day, Miss Brianca and I went to the mountain and discovered your work, while you avoided us and went back to the school, to trick us into thinking that a powerful Mage had come for revenge,” Mo Fan said.

“Whatever you say,” Edith muttered in reply.

“Sheryl, you’re the person that reported us, right? But it was Edith that told you what we were doing on the mountain, isn’t that the case?” Mo Fan asked her.

Sheryl was stunned. She nodded after some time. She said to Edith, “Edith, were you really on the mountain?”

“Edith, why did you do it!? What did Yuria and Amelia do to you that you have to do such horrible things to them!?” Headmistress Perry looked at Edith. Her whole body was trembling.

Edith was her student. Headmistress Perry could not believe her own student was the culprit!

“Teacher, do you really believe what he said? He doesn’t even have any proof!?” Edith exclaimed.

“Proof?” Mo Fan smiled, but his smile did not have any warmth to it. He pointed at the Roia Garden and said, “Do you dare to step inside there and swear on the soil that was covered in Yuria and Amelia’s blood that you have nothing to do with their deaths!?”

“Why not!?” Edith said.

“Edith, that’s enough! Mo Fan borrowed the blood-tracking magic artifact from Headmistress Perry. You took the risk of moving the soil away to prevent others from noticing that something was wrong about it. You moved the soil to your own backyard instead… do you know that your garden and your plants that were stained with Yuria’s blood were as red as the setting sun when the light of the artifact shone on them? Don’t you feel even the tiniest hint of remorse and fear when sleeping in your room!?” Brianca exclaimed.

The words echoed around the abandoned herb patch, and in Edith’s mind too!

“She is in your minds constantly, even now! What kind of sorcery did she cast on you? Why did everyone have to treat her so nicely? I’ve followed your rules and instructions, I never dared to oppose you, but you never set your eyes on me! How were you able to forgive her when she kept challenging you, and even threatened to ruin the Alps Inst.i.tute’s dignity!?” Edith lifted her gaze and stared at Headmistress Perry!

“She was a betrayer ever since she thought of joining the Parthenon Temple. I can’t imagine how you would give her a new ident.i.ty, just so she could join the Parthenon Temple without any trouble. You might be able to forgive her, but I can’t! She dishonored the Alps, so she did not have the right to live in this world, nor was she worthy of being pampered by you!”