"Pardon?" Maruti blinked in confusion, not understanding what Auren meant.
"Don't act all innocent now!" Auren said loudly on purpose, making sure people nearby could hear. "After careful investigation, we've come to the successful conclusion that you are the author of that prophecy book!"
"You mean that book my daughter keeps talking about?" said the guard at the academy gate, shocked.
"Kya~! Maruti is the author? This feels like one of those mystery thrillers by Freya Sith!" two girls nearby gasped in amazement. They were from Class B and still remembered Maruti since she used to be in that class too.
More and more students began to stop and turn their heads, listening in. Some whispered to each other while others stared at Maruti like she had suddenly become a celebrity.
Esdeath, meanwhile, stood quietly like a statue. Her face showed no emotion at all.
Maruti looked around nervously, feeling trapped under everyone's gaze. She snapped at Auren, "You! Stop causing this misunderstanding! What proof do you even have that I'm the author?!"
But Auren's smirk only grew wider.
"Let me introduce ourselves properly first," he said, bowing like a gentleman. "I'm Auren, and the one standing behind me is Emilyn. We're both professional detectives."
"So what?" Maruti replied sharply, arms crossed.
Auren didn't flinch. "We were investigating the identity of the mysterious author and Last night, we ended up finding the original handwritten copy of the book. The moment I read it, I just knew it was you!"
By now, a crowd had formed. Students from different classes stood around them, listening closely to every word.
Then Emilyn, who had been quiet until now, stepped forward and spoke in his calm, cold voice. "First, the publisher said the author was a tall Awakened girl with a native-sounding accent of similar to awakened kingdom. That alone narrowed our search to the Awakened Academy."
"But," he continued, "when Auren read the original manuscript, we noticed some small language mistakes. These were not made by natives, but rather by people who learned Hermes—the language of the Awakened Kingdom—as a second language."
"In other words," Emilyn said, looking directly at Maruti, "the author had to be someone with a native-sounding accent that of awakened Kingdom, who wasn't actually a native speaker.
Maruti narrowed her eyes and scoffed, "That still doesn't make me the author."
But Auren stepped in again, not backing down. "Of course not. That's why we dug deeper. We realized that barbarians from regions like Lothal and the Vanara tribe have an accent similar to that of the Awakened Kingdom. And just to be sure, we took the book to the Holy Cathedral and used divination by priest."
"And what did we see?" Auren said with a dramatic pause. "An image of the Awakened Academy!"
Emilyn took over again. "This branch is the closest academy, and out of all students, you fit every detail. You're from the Vanara tribe, not a native speaker, tall, and have that exact accent. You're also well-known for your sharp tongue."
"And on top of all that," Auren added, "you're the daughter of your tribe's patriarch. You've got the money and power to self-publish a book without any trouble."
Gasps filled the air. Students began whispering even louder now, and many eyes were fixed on Maruti with amazement and curiosity.
Maruti clenched her teeth, unsure of what to say or how to escape this growing crowd. Her secret… was on the edge of being exposed.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Maruti suddenly clapped three times with a confident smirk on her face.
"You said last night, right?" she said loudly. "So you're telling me that in just one night, you dug deep enough to figure out that barbarians have a similar accent, and out of hundreds of academy branches across the whole kingdom, you found this one? And then even found a girl from the Vanara tribe?"
She scoffed and tilted her head.
"What are you, a god?"
The crowd that had gathered went completely silent for a moment, then gasps followed.
Maruti's words hit hard.
Everyone began whispering to one another. She had made a really clever point. How could he have done all that in just a single night?
Auren's proud expression flickered.
Then he closed his eyes and shouted confidently, "Homestyle Haven Restaurant!"
Maruti's eyes went wide in shock.
That name hit her like thunder. It was the small restaurant she used to visit all the time. The same one where the owner's wife had begged her not to come anymore because her popularity was causing too many problems—people crowding the place just to stare at her.
"I went there a lot too," Auren said quickly, his face slightly red now. "I saw you there many times. I even heard your voice when you ordered food. Your accent—it was just like someone from the Awakened Kingdom."
He continued, trying to explain it all in one breath.
"And this main branch of academy is nearest to the Imagica Books publishing office. No idiot from different branch would travel such a long distance to publish a book and return to academy without leaving any clues. That's why I knew it had to be you."
Maruti took a small step back, her cheeks red.
"You... stalker," she said with a glare.
"N-no!" Auren quickly waved his hands in defense, his voice panicked. "It's not like that! I-I just happened to be there! I like their food too, okay? It's just a coincidence."
He took a deep breath and calmed himself, fixing his posture.
"Anyway," he said, straightening his jacket, "I didn't come here to accuse you or cause trouble. I just wanted to warn you. You're exposed now."
He turned around and waved goodbye.
"Soon, reporters and newspaper people are going to come asking questions, so don't get overwhelmed," he added before walking away.
There was nothing more he could do now. Maruti hadn't broken any laws. She was just a girl who wrote a mysterious book. And now, Auren had done his job—he had found the real author.
Maruti and Esdeath stood frozen, watching Auren and Emilyn disappear down the road.
The moment Maruti turned around, she nearly jumped. A crowd of students—and even the gate guard—had gathered behind her.
"Please sign my notebook!" a girl said, holding out a pen and paper.
"Me too! You're going to be a famous author one day," a boy added with a huge grin.
In seconds Maruti felt like a celebrity. No one asked how she predicted the future; they only cared about an autograph and a chance to get on her good side.
"Slow down! One at a time!" Maruti tried to calm the crowd, but voices overlapped and hands kept reaching toward her.
Just then Esdeath grabbed Maruti's wrist. "Let's go," she whispered, and took off running.
A few students tried to follow, but they were no match for Esdeath's speed. Soon the noise faded behind them.
After a short sprint they reached a quiet alley between two tall stone buildings. Only when they were sure no one had followed did they stop. Both leaned against a wall, breathing hard.
For a moment they just panted, catching their breath. Then they looked at each other—and big smiles spread across their faces.
Smack!
They high‑fived, perfectly in sync, like teammates who had just scored the winning point.
"Your acting was brilliant," Esdeath said, still grinning. "Our plan worked like a charm."
Maruti nodded, excitement shining in her eyes.
Auren and Emilyn thought they had tracked down the mysterious author through clever clues. In truth, they had walked right into Esdeath's scheme.
The idea first came to Esdeath when she traveled back in time to stop Elara's evil plan. She realized she could turn this 'prophecy' angle to her advantage.
At first she considered pretending to be the great prophet herself—but then she remembered how many people in this world feared black‑haired folk. If she tried, they might call her a witch and throw her out of the kingdom.
So she chose the next best person: Maruti. Maruti's light‑element powers made her an even better fit for divination. Esdeath guided her, had her write the book, and left easy clues—Maruti's handwriting style, her accent, her tall posture—so detectives would end up pointing fingers exactly where Esdeath wanted.
There was still one big question left unanswered.
Why did they go through all the trouble of acting and pretending?
Why couldn't Maruti just come out and say that she had knowledge of the future?
The answer was simple —Evidence.
Esdeath wasn't a hero. She didn't care about saving people or earning their praise. Her goal had always been taking advantage of the situation and gain something.
And in this scenario, The biggest enemy was —evidence/Proof.
If Esdeath or Maruti had publicly claimed to know the future, the world would have turned against them with one simple demand: Evidence/proof.
To avoid that, Esdeath had carefully made sure the book stayed quiet. She even instructed the publisher not to advertise it. The fewer people who knew, the more likely the future would follow the events written in the book. And when the predictions began coming true, that's when the whispers began to grow. Soon, attention turned to the book that no one had noticed before, and it spread like wildfire.
In a kingdom where books were one of the main sources of entertainment, it didn't take long for it to become the hottest topic.
Esdeath knew that someone would eventually hire a detective to find the author. So she and Maruti deliberately left hints—writing style, accent, posture, and even small cultural quirks.
This way, they avoided the question of evidence altogether. Because Maruti never claimed to be the author—others said it for her.
Once the story reached that point, all they had to do was act accordingly and continue to use Esdeath's knowledge of the future to manipulate the world for their own gain.
But even Esdeath hadn't predicted everything.
She looked at Maruti with a smirk and said, "I thought that they will at least take one more month to find out about you, but who would have thought that detective is actually a fan of your figure."
Maruti sighed and crossed her arms. "Don't say it like that. It sounds gay."
A question followed quickly from Maruti, her tone more serious now. "Why are we playing this prophet thing anyway?"
Esdeath's eyes gleamed with mischief. "At first, I thought it would be a way to increase your power. But now that I know what and how big Cassandra is planning… I changed my mind."
Maruti frowned. "And what's the new plan?"
Looking her straight in the eye, Esdeath replied with her usual confident grin, "I thought, why just power you up? I should strengthen myself too—at least become guaranteed S-rank."
Without giving Maruti a chance to respond, Esdeath continued, her voice lowering with dark excitement.
"No more robbing some dead vampire's leftover treasures. No more killing virgin girl for some cheap essence stones. This time.
"Let's just rob the whole kingdom."