I Give Up on the BL Novel's Male Leads - Chapter 16
“Just be honest. If you apologize on your knees, I might not make you withdraw.”
“Even if you’re broke, using lunchtime to steal a wallet? Didn’t your conscience prick you as you climbed up to the rooftop with the wallet?”
“We should’ve caught you during lunchtime yesterday.”
Willai’s group mocked, prompting me to retort.
“Rather than that…”
“Weren’t you with me yesterday?”
Edwin interrupted.
“We had lunch together yesterday, what are you talking about?”
The room fell silent. I was taken aback and couldn’t continue.
He hadn’t been with me during lunchtime yesterday.
“If you’re going to catch a thief, you should call the city guards.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll personally call the city guards.”
As Edwin was about to stand up again,
“Wait, Your Highness!”
“There’s no need to involve the city guards!”
“Going to the city guards would be dangerous, wouldn’t it? I heard they send criminals to the frontier!”
Willai’s group scrambled in panic, seemingly intimidated by Edwin’s lowered status as a prince.
Annoyed, Edwin retorted.
“That’s for the culprit to worry about, not Illein.”
– Rustle.
“What’s happening here?”
It was time for herbalism class, and the professor walked in. The herbalism professor was known for being strict and a clean freak.
“We were just about to return to class…”
“Just a moment…”
As Willai’s group stumbled over their words, Marian suddenly raised her hand.
“Our classmates suspect Illein of being the culprit behind yesterday’s lunchtime theft.”
“Student Marian, is it?”
“No, professor, it’s not like that…”
As Alisha tried to intervene, Marian cut her off again.
“We just saw a wallet coming out of Illein’s desk. However, I also saw Illein going up to the rooftop yesterday, but I didn’t see him stop by our class. Because I didn’t head to the cafeteria.”
“What’s this, then?”
“Some say they saw it, and others didn’t.”
The classroom buzzed with whispers. The herbalism professor frowned in annoyance.
“A theft has occurred, and you’ve been doing nothing about it? You should call the city guards. Tsk.”
With that, the city guards were indeed summoned.
Soon after, the city guards arrived, and everyone who was singled out had to consume a truth serum.
I was the first to take the serum.
“Are you sure you want to take this here? Wouldn’t it be better to go to the guard station?”
The city guards who came to the academy seemed perplexed by the decision to administer the serum in the classroom.
“It’s necessary. I need to prove I’m not the culprit so Willai can comfortably withdraw.”
I joked, getting a baffled look from the guard who then reluctantly handed me the serum.
The serum, a gray liquid in a long flask, tasted bizarre.
“Hey, wait a minute…”
Ignoring Willai’s attempt to stop me, I didn’t hesitate, opened the cap, and drank it straight away.
Having made truth serum during a potion class, this was significantly worse.
Student-made serums were not nearly as potent, typically causing confession for about 1-2 minutes, and even then, one could withhold truly important secrets.
However, the concentration in the serum carried by city guards or sentries was tremendous, like now.
The strange taste climbed up to my head. It made thought difficult and eventually erased right from wrong, value from worthlessness, and even emotions.
“Illein Thierry, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
A young man from the city guards spoke to me.
“For identity verification. Please state your name and age.”
“I am Illein Thiery. I am twenty years old.”
My head felt foggy, yet the ring I wore felt oddly warm.
He pointed a small stick near my face, and it clicked.
“The serum is taking effect.”
An older, seemingly higher-ranking officer approached me.
“Did you steal the wallet of Lady Alisha Maxinen?”
“No.”
“Did you enter class 10 during lunchtime yesterday?”
“No.”
“What were you doing during lunchtime yesterday?”
I hesitated before responding.
“Yesterday at lunchtime, I went up to have lunch with Edwin, but…”
My words didn’t stop.
“He said he didn’t like the apple with peanut butter and knocked over my lunchbox.”
The truth serum was ineffective.
Especially since I had lunch with Edwin the day before yesterday, not yesterday, yet I was saying it was yesterday.
Still, it felt as though my mind was being rifled through.
It was similar to trying to sober up after drinking too much.
Oddly, the ring felt hot.
When my mind cleared a bit thanks to the ring, I noticed everyone’s gaze was focused on Edwin.
