I Become a Secret Police Officer of The Imperial Academy

Chapter 31

I left Ethel behind and returned home to wash up quickly.

The water seemed to flow through some spell I wouldn’t understand even if explained, so there wasn’t much issue cleaning myself.

I wish I could also do laundry properly. Should I join some manor and learn to work there?

But the thought of a newbie maid in a manor who couldn’t even do laundry turning out to be a duchess—sounds like a story that wouldn’t sell even as a novel.

I’d rather avoid such positions since I don’t know what kind of harassment might await inside.

Well, I am pretty, after all.

No doubt, the head of the household, unsatisfied with their sons or lovers, would come after me.

Even just walking along the streets in clothes any ordinary woman might wear was exhausting.

Men with flushed faces would approach, asking for my name or where I lived.

If complete strangers act like that, it’d be worse in a workplace.

Sometimes, there were those who brushed against my chest or hips as they passed by.

When such trivial creatures made advances, I couldn’t help but feel the urge to lock them away in the basement.

In fact, a few had already swapped the sunlight for dim basement lights, sipping water through their noses instead of cups.

Ah, I’m digressing.

Anyway, it’d be easier to take on assassination contracts than work a regular job.

A beautiful female assassin—it sounds cooler, doesn’t it?

I tied my hair up with a red ribbon, staring at myself in the mirror.

These days, I work alone often, so my hair tends to stick to my body. I’ve been wearing a ponytail for convenience.

No matter how I style my hair or what I wear, it always suits me perfectly.

Striking a pose, I admired my face for a while to boost my self-esteem.

Once my hair dried, I put on a comfortable tea gown, but then I heard a noise outside.

It sounded like metal being struck.

Looking out the window, I saw Ethel, Isabel, and Miss Diana knocking on the half-open iron gate.

If they were attempting to “knock,” it was starting to irritate me.

The bell had been broken for ages, and the spell that transmitted voices to the front gate had dissolved long ago.

But I didn’t feel like going down there to tell them to get lost.

I’d just washed up; stepping into the cold air would give me chills.

It’s open, so they could just come in if they wanted.

Still, since they might barge into the mansion, I gave my room a quick once-over.

Aside from a blood-stained shirt and a noose I had made during a moment of gloom, there wasn’t anything too incriminating.

With no staff around and no one to chat with, I could hear Ethel’s group entering the mansion and walking down the halls.

Their footsteps echoed loudly, louder than necessary. Could they walk any quieter?

Still toweling my damp hair, I stepped into the corridor and saw the group staring blankly at the grand hall on the first floor.

“Excuse me, but I don’t recall inviting you in.”

No one replied.

Ethel casually changed the topic, as if trying to start a conversation.

“Ellen, why did you tie your hair all of a sudden?”

“It’s more comfortable like this these days.”

Why do your faces look so sour when I say I tied it for comfort?

“Anyway, Isabel, Miss Diana.

Wasn’t your brother enough for you?”

“…That’s not why we’re here—cough, not at all.”

Ethel murmured softly.

Dust was swirling around, perhaps because more people had entered.

Pressing my fingers to my temple, I said,

“That sort of thing.”

It didn’t seem like the right term to use when referring to a dead brother, but that’s probably what was going through their heads.

Should I just shoot them?

My right hand twitched slightly before my lips curled into a faint smile, and I muttered under my breath.

“Just come to my room for now.”

No, that wouldn’t work.

This space is too big to mean anything.

I nodded awkwardly and led them upstairs to my room.

Meanwhile, I prepared warm water and brewed tea for my uninvited guests.

I considered adding a muscle relaxant, not a sedative, but realized I had moved all those supplies to the house on the hill.

“So, why did you all come?”

The tea wasn’t fancy, but it had a pleasant aroma.

I didn’t even know these tea leaves were in the kitchen. I should rummage around there more later.

Isabel spoke first.

“…We heard you’ve been having a hard time lately.”

“Hm.”

I hadn’t expected her to bring that up.

“Since that day, it’s been hard every day.

It doesn’t matter whether life is rich or poor.

Unless you’re here to join me in burning all the demons alive, just leave me alone.”

At my words, Isabel fell silent.

Miss Diana fidgeted nervously, her voice stuttering as she asked,

“Uh, by the way, where are the staff?”

“I dismissed them all. I won’t be hiring any more.”

“T-then who manages the place?”

“As you can see, I chose not to manage it at all.”

Isabel spoke up again.

“…Wouldn’t it be better to move somewhere cleaner and better-maintained? Living here must be tough.”

Living here, of all places?

I was born here. I lived here with Alicia.

If I were to think of more vivid memories, perhaps it’d be cleaning up what remained of Julian.

“Are you suggesting I move to a convent, Isabel?”

“Would you hate that?”

“How could I not?”

She fell silent again.

“I don’t want to live a life bound to someone.

Whether that’s to a god or the temperamental old spinsters at the convent.”

If it came to that, I’d rather put a bullet through my head or hang myself from the ceiling.

I needed to be free.

And I needed to send every last demon still alive to the afterlife.

In a convent, I wouldn’t be able to do that freely.

Anyway, as Ethel or Theo might say, killing all demons because my sister died might be insane.

Others might say I was obsessed or burdened with guilt.

That I was no different from Julian, who—officially—had tried to kill off an entire race out of grief.

But maybe, just maybe, they were wrong.

If there’s a chance they’re wrong, it means I could be right.

I’ll only know once I try.

Until I send every last one of them to the dirt.

Anyway, the last time I talked to Theo, I reacted far too emotionally.

Because of that, the conversation veered off course, and we ended up misjudging each other, deluded into thinking we could convince one another.

“So, Ellen, how about staying at my house for a while?”

“Ethel, your brother would be thrilled about someone who took his fingers. And your father, who loves snorting water through his nose, probably wouldn’t be too fond of it either.”

“…I can smooth it over with them,” Ethel said, biting her lip lightly.

“And that’s something you think you can solve with words?”

Isabel and Diana looked as if they had no idea what we were talking about.

Now that I thought about it, they probably didn’t know I had locked Ethel’s family in the basement and disposed of every demon except for that one bastard.

Not exactly a pleasant story to share, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

But really, how was I supposed to get these people to leave?

“…Anyway, Ethel, and all of you, stop worrying about me.

Your concern doesn’t make me happy—it just pisses me off.

You’ve turned everything I wanted to protect into a wreck, shattered my family into pieces, and even blew up my brother. What more do you want from me?”

I stood up, pulled out the noose I had stashed in a drawer, and swung it lightly.

I didn’t intend to hang myself, but if I threatened them with my life, maybe they’d leave.

If they didn’t? Well, it’s their problem if they die.

“It’s not that we want anything…”

“If Julian blew up and died, you should have just left it at that.

You took the bastards I should’ve killed and walked away, leaving me behind.

There were times I wanted to die, but damn it, not like that. I couldn’t let myself go like that.”

I was doing my best to play the perfect Ellen I’d crafted, so why were they so intent on breaking that facade?

I was even parroting back the lines their beloved protagonist used to say.

“Do you know how disgusting it feels to scrape off sticky chunks of flesh from the walls, scrub hardened blood with a brush until your arms ache?

And when fragments of bone get lodged in the walls, they’re so stubborn you can barely pull them out.

Do you know what it’s like to gather all of that into a bucket and pack it into a coffin?

Honestly, I want to kill every last one of you right now.”

I pulled out an aromatic herbal cigarette, but the thought that it didn’t even contain nicotine crossed my mind, so I crushed it in my hand instead.

Then I grabbed my pistol with my right hand, waving it in the air.

When Isabel tensed, readying her magic with a wary look, I pressed the gun to my temple.

“If you don’t want to see a corpse, get the hell out.

I don’t care what you say or what you want from me.”

But they didn’t look surprised.

It was as if they’d anticipated this.

“Diana, now!” Ethel shouted.

Diana raised her staff and cast something at me.

I slammed into the wall, my consciousness slipping away.

“…Shit.”

They couldn’t have found out, could they?

If they had, there wouldn’t have even been room for conversation.

I was just… deeply baffled by it all.