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Chapter 18: The Campus Murders

Translated by XianPiete

Lady Baux was walking back to her dorm whistling a tune she had heard at the Inn near the school. She was smiling and happy, ever since she met Lord Girard her family had prospered. His Majesty had even finally shown favor to her father\'s territory, allowing them to slowly move out of debt and once again rebuild the infrastructure of the town and help the less fortunate peasants in the territory. Her older sister even had enough money to finally have a dowry so that she could be married. She knew the events weren\'t related, but she felt in a way that Olivier was her lucky star. She knew that Olivier didn\'t really have feelings for her, he just liked to act as if he were a playboy to impress his friends. She didn\'t mind playing her part in his play because everyday since she met him had been better than the last.

Just after Lady Baux waved goodbye to her best friend Lady Leon and made her way through the shortcut back to the women\'s dorm she felt as if he a hungry animal was stalking her from the shadows, she felt the urge to run, but calmed herself and drew her sword, turning in a slow circle. She felt something brush against her neck and then everything went black. Lady Baux\'s lifeless body dropped to the ground.

The next day when Lady Baux didn\'t attend her first class, Lady Leon went and checked her dorm room and didn\'t find her there. She reported it to the school, but the school couldn\'t rule out that Lady Baux had stayed off campus. When she missed a second day, they sent word to her family in case she went home. A week later, members of her family came to the school and demanded an investigation. It was then that a second girl was reported missing. Lady Baux\'s family demanded that the infamous \'Guy the Molester\' be investigated.

Olivier decided to take action himself and called in the royal investigator. The royal investigator found the bodies of the two women buried in the woods just off the campus grounds. Olivier had the royal investigator take up residence at the nearby Inn until the culprit could be located. The third murder happened only a day later, this time it happened in the girl\'s dorm.

At lunch the day after the third murder, the mood was heavy at the table as Olivier who always seemed to have a smile on his face was scowling and not touching his food. Claude, Guy and Sir évreux felt powerless to help Olivier who was clearly grieving for Lady Baux. Madeline, Alicia and Eloise talked softly and in worried tones. A murderer was loose on the campus, and they very well could be the next targets. Olivier stood up from the table and dropped his napkin, "I have had enough of this, I think it\'s time to call in an armed force to patrol the school grounds until the criminal is found."

Eloise smirked and said, "Everyone here can call for family guards to come to the school, to act as protection, the problem is that in the capital, only royal soldiers are able to move."

Guy nodded and said, "Perhaps, each of us should ask our family head to petition His Majesty, this table represents three of the four great houses after all."

Eloise nodded and said, "Shouldn\'t they be questioning you specifically or holding you in confinement until a culprit is found? Aren\'t these crimes against women, something that, you, a known criminal who has a past involving crimes against women at least someone to be suspicious about?" Her butler reached down and cut her steak for her as she took a sip of her tea.

Guy nodded and said, "I think that is a fair observation, for proof of my own innocence I believe I should be confined as Lady Harcourt suggested."

Eloise looked startled by his unexpected agreement.

Madeline frowned and said, "Until a royal guard is present, I think we should pair up in our dorm rooms. Hopefully, at the very least someone would be able to sleep with the feeling of safety. I think right now, if we stay alone, none of us would sleep well."

Claude sighed and said, "I feel powerless to do anything, if we try to take matters in to our own hands in order to protect the ladies, we could end up being framed as the killer."

Alicia spoke up and said, "The last girl who was murdered was in the room next door to mine. I didn\'t even hear a sound."

Olivier said, "I\'ll be back later this afternoon." He walked angrily out of the room.

Guy watched him leave and said, "Claude, Sir évreux, escort me to the office, I will have myself confined." He looked over at Madeline and said, "You should stay with Alicia tonight, stick close by her and you\'ll be safe."

After Guy, Claude and Sir évreux left, Eloise spoke up and said, "I am not a swordsman, might I stay with you Lady d\'Aumont? Lady Foix can then stay with Lady Leon who must be scared after losing her best friend like that."

Madeline thought for a moment and said, "Very well. It would be better for Lady Leon as Alicia is already friendly with her."

At noon, a company of royal guard arrived at the Academy. Soldiers conspicuously arranged themselves at every corner of the school in pairs. When Olivier arrived later in the day, the royal investigator approached him and said, "Your royal highness, it seems there is an assassin present at the school. Each of the girls was killed with a single strike to the neck. The attacks that appear to be at random seem to be targeting specific families that openly back your royal highness." He paused for a moment and then said, "In addition, evidence was purposely left with each murdered girl linking to Lord Montfort."

Olivier rubbed his chin and asked, "If you had to guess, would you say that I am the true target or Lord Montfort?"

"I would caution against making a guess with so little information. The evidence framing Lord Montfort may be a distraction to hide the true target. Perhaps it was even done to remove Lord Montfort\'s sword from the side of the true target, which may very well be your royal highness." The royal investigator cautioned.

Olivier frowned and then asked, "What do you recommend?"

"I\'d like to ask your royal highness to ask for your father\'s black knights to assess the situation." The royal investigator said in a softer voice.

"The assassination squad? That might be difficult." Olivier frowned.

"Your royal highness, in order to catch an assassin, you really need another assassin, they are the only ones who understand the techniques of the trade." He explained.

Olivier nodded, "Very well, I will ask my father, if they do move, no one at the Academy including the two of us will ever know. It may very well just appear to be another random murder. My father will simply let me know it had been done at a later date." He paused a moment and then asked, "I hate to ask this, but I should anyway, is it possible these crimes really were done by Lord Montfort?"

"It is a very real possibility." The royal inspector said in a serious tone.

"Thank you." Olivier said, a somber look on his face.