I Become a Secret Police Officer of The Imperial Academy

Chapter 32

I was still wearing the tea gown I had on when I collapsed.

The small daggers hidden within it and the poison I had planned to drink if things went south were gone.

The poison I had tucked into my school uniform and my usual casual clothes was probably taken as well.

The room was spacious.

A chandelier that seemed to use candles for light hung overhead, and an old desk, unused for a long time, stood in one corner.

There was a bed covered in pristine white linens, a table in the center, and a teapot with cups placed on top.

I checked my pockets. My gun was gone.

I must have dropped it somewhere.

If only I had a knack for magic. If I did, I could just wiggle my fingers and fire something like bullets.

The location was likely one of three places: the Rosenberg mansion, the convent where Isabel stayed, or Miss Diana’s estate.

At least it wasn’t Theo’s house.

“…Ah, ugh…”

But then again, who knows?

Maybe a demon sorcerer disguised as someone I knew had kidnapped me.

They’d come for revenge, determined to deal with me before I could kill them all.

They’d burn the mansion, seize me in their monstrous grasp, and pull me apart until I was nothing but shreds.

If I tried to escape, they’d probably bite me in the side mid-run.

I wouldn’t submit to them. Not even if I were about to die—or even after death.

The absence of a weapon in my hand made me feel like I was going insane.

At any moment, demons could burst in and tear me to pieces.

“AAARGH!”

My breathing grew rapid, and my vision spun.

A damned sorcerer must have cursed me.

This was exactly why I said all demons had to be wiped out.

“I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid.”

They came for revenge against me.

While I was this weakened, they’d devour me alive.

Stupid creatures too dim-witted to use a weapon!

Though some carried swords, those were outliers.

Demons were foolish, brutish, violent, useless, and the most worthless beings in existence.

So worthless that even the word worthless felt too kind!

Of course, fighting them barehanded might be a challenge.

I needed something to defend myself.

I grabbed the teapot from the table and smashed it against the table surface.

Though shards flew, none of them hurt me.

Holding a sharp piece forward, I prepared myself to fight whatever demon might charge at me.

I couldn’t use magic, nor was I physically strong, but I’d been trained from a young age to dispatch at least one or two cleanly.

“Hoo…”

I nearly lost it.

Without a weapon in my hand or pocket, I felt this unbearably vulnerable.

Footsteps echoed outside the door, growing louder.

I leaned against the wall beside the door, gripping the glass shard tightly.

The moment the door opened, I swung it.

But it was all for nothing. My wrist was easily caught and held still.

The skin of the hand that caught mine was just… human.

Though missing a finger.

It occurred to me—there were no demons here.

“…You wake up quite dramatically.”

I counted the fingers—there were nine.

He’d found one to replace the missing one.

Or maybe we had given him one.

The man who opened the door was Julius.

If he decided to charge at me, I’d probably die.

If Julius was here, then this must be the Rosenberg mansion.

Not a place I wanted to be.

I had walked into a tiger’s den and couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

I’d have to keep up the mask I always wore.

“You look rather well.

The last time I saw you, you were so pale you seemed on the verge of death.”

Julius looked at me with a strange expression.

There was a hint of pity in his gaze that I found deeply unpleasant.

The pitiful one here was him, the man who lost a finger in my family’s basement—not me.

“I think it’d be best if you put that down,” Julius said, gripping my wrist tighter.

I realized that holding a half-broken teapot shard in my hand probably made me look deranged.

“…Ah, right. You’re right.”

I dropped the shard, which fell with a faint clink, scattering pieces across the floor.

Barefoot, I’d probably cut myself on the shards, but it wasn’t a big deal.

A potion would heal it, though I couldn’t help but think about that librarian who became addicted to potions.

Not that I’d end up like that—getting addicted would take chugging ten bottles daily for days.

I neither had the resources nor the means, so it didn’t matter.

Without much care, I walked over to the table, dragging a chair behind me, and sat down.

I felt a slight sting in my foot, but it didn’t hurt much.

I’d just been so rattled a moment ago.

The fear that demons would eat me alive had consumed me.

I could still feel my heart pounding loudly in my chest.

“So, why am I here?”

“…Ethel brought you.”

“Pity there’s no basement, no shackles, and no pillar to hang me upside-down.

Still, if you’re taking suggestions, kneeling someone, tying their wrists behind their back, and just planting a wooden post works quite well.”

Julius frowned deeply.

He was strong enough to kick my head clean off in a single blow, though not quite at Theo’s level, and the thought made me nervous.

I masked my fear with mockery and a smirk, making sure my lips curled upward and my eyes didn’t twitch.

“Do you think Ethel kidnapped you?” Julius said, sounding incredulous.

But the one who should feel incredulous was me.

They’d stormed into my house, knocked me out, and dragged me here.

In situations like this, the best response is to drop your smirk, narrow your eyes, and curse—it usually has an effect.

The problem was, Julius wasn’t tied up, and I was the powerless one here.

“Yes, if not, then what is it?”

Taking someone from their home against their will and forcibly moving them to another location—that’s called kidnapping.

You barged into my house without permission, knocked me out with a spell, and brought me here. And you’re saying that’s not kidnapping?”

He didn’t reply.

“And locking me up in some girlish room out of nowhere—what kind of twisted taste is that?

Julius, you and I haven’t exactly been on good terms.

You couldn’t do it out of fear back in the basement, but how about grabbing my neck and snapping it this time?”

I tilted my neck back as I spoke, and he bit his lip slightly before grabbing my waist and lifting me up.

Oh, he might actually snap it.

If he did, well, there’d be nothing I could do. But I still didn’t want to die.

Instead of breaking my neck, he set me down on the bed and began carefully removing the shards of glass embedded in my foot with a conflicted expression.

“…Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It does. But my head hurts so much I can’t even feel the pain in my body.”

After pulling out all the shards from my foot, he bent down and picked up the pieces scattered on the floor with his bare hands, disposing of them in a trash bin.

“Hearing you call me ‘Julius’ feels a bit unpleasant.

That’s what you called me back in the basement.”

“Would you prefer I call you oppa like before? Because I’d hate that even more—”

“Yeah. Like before, as if everything’s normal.”

As if. As if we could ever go back to how things were.

“There’s no way we can.”

“Probably not. After all, you’re the one who destroyed it all.”

“It was the demons.”

He let out a dry laugh.

Someone as forward-thinking as me doesn’t dwell in the past.

It was all because of the demons.

If only they’d been wiped out completely, and if people hadn’t hidden those detestable creatures, we wouldn’t have fallen apart like this.

“Ethel will be here soon.

We’re not trying to imprison you—we just want you to stay here for now. So sit tight and wait.”

“How is that any different?”

“Well, we’re not cutting off any fingers or feeding you trash, are we?”

Julius flashed a casual smile, laced with sarcasm.

Hearing that now didn’t stir any particular feelings in me.

It wasn’t the worst arrangement, but I couldn’t accept it.

“I don’t need that. Let me go.”

“No can do. Ethel specifically told me not to let you leave.”

“I have things I need to do!”

“…What things?”

His face hardened as he asked.

If I told him I planned to continue the work my family had started—exterminating demons—even after the family had collapsed, what would happen?

I was certain he wouldn’t release me just to help with that.

“Tell me. If it’s legitimate work, I’ll let you go.”

There was no way they’d found out.

If they had, they would’ve come for me at the house on the hill in the backstreets instead.

They had no idea what I’d been doing.

“…Like I’d tell you that. You should consider how delicate a girl my age can be before demanding answers.”

“Oh, my apologies, then.

In that case, this delicate girl will just have to stay here.”

Have these people’s intelligence eroded from living out in the countryside instead of the city?

What kind of thought process led them to believe keeping me here was a good idea?

I couldn’t understand Ethel at all.

If I were Ethel, I’d have eliminated a threat like myself right away.

Either by pushing Theo to do it or handling it alone.

For that matter, I still didn’t understand why Theo hadn’t dealt with me when he had the chance.

Sure, he’d promised Julian that he wouldn’t, but promises like that are easily broken.

“Don’t you hate me?”

If it were me, I’d despise someone like me.

Even now, I feel like throwing Theo into a basement if I had the chance.

“Hating a kid who’s not even fully grown—what’s the point?

It’s obvious your surroundings, the adults in your life, shaped you into who you are.”

For a moment, I felt the strength drain from my body.

I let myself collapse back onto the bed, lying there limply.

I murmured softly, almost inaudibly,

“You should hate me.”