Cecilia said nothing, watching Lord Rowe out of the corner of her eyes as they ascended through the lift.

A few seconds later, there was a soft ding as the lift arrived at their destination.

Nodding at him, Cecilia led the way to the principal's office. She knocked, and a voice answered from inside.

"Come in."

She swung the door open and they walked in.

"Lord Rowe." Principal Kael dropped his quill, leaning back away from the documents he'd been perusing. "I regret that it is under such circumstances that we meet again."

"Really?" Lord Rowe scoffed. "I seem to remember sending several messages for a face-to-face meeting and you declining them. It seems to me that this is the only circumstance in which we would have to meet."

He took a seat without asking, a smirk on his face.

"I had hoped we would have been able to have this discussion civilly, but I can see that you have other things in mind." Kael said, steepling his fingers.

"Let's cut through all the bullshit here." Rowe grinned. "Where is Noah?"

"And why would you like to know?" Kael asked. "Is he related to the investigation?"

"You can say that." Rowe drawled.

"Do not do this, Rowe." Kael leaned forward, his eyes cold and voice hard. "Forget Noah. Don't let your grief blind you to the facts of this case. Noah has nothing to do with both deaths. And I won't let you take out your anger on the innocent boy."

Rowe laughed, long and loud. Finally, it tapered off into chuckles. "You think I'm blind? No. This is the clearest I've ever seen in my life."

He stood, glancing at Cecilia then back at Kael. "You can all try to stop me. In fact, I'll encourage you to try to stop me. But I know you can't. Because I already got what I wanted. Entry into the Academy."

With that, he turned, making his way out of the office. Cecilia was about to follow, when Kael stopped her.

"Cecilia." He exhaled heavily. "Send a message to the palace. Lord Rowe would have to be informed of the boy's importance. If not, we might have a bigger problem on our hands."

Cecilia nodded. "Yes, principal."

[][][][][]

Osiris slowly regained consciousness like a man digging himself through mud.

His vision was hazy, and he knew something wasn't right. His body felt like it was flying, and at the same time, like he'd been fried in hot oil, every inch of his skin burning with pain.

He groaned, his throat dry.

"Look who's awake." A voice said.

Osiris shook his head with a groan, trying to clear it. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.

Then the events of the last 24 hours began replaying itself in his head.

He'd woken up and arrived at work early as usual, ready to tackle whatever investigation was assigned to him, when he'd been called to the director's office.

Lord Rowe had taken great care to twist the knife, when delivering the news of the death of his son.

Galahad's dead!

And just like that, the haze was gone. He blinked, eyes wide as he realized just what was wrong.

His limbs were missing.

His jaw dropped, and he had no idea how to react to that. This had never been in any of his calculations or in the realm of possibilities on things that could happen to him.

He glanced down, unable to believe his eyes. Where there should have been his hands and legs, all he could see were stumps, still red, raw, and bleeding, but fortunately, the bleeding had slowed to a trickle.

That was when he identified the woozy feeling. That was the bloodloss.

He felt his body move, and finally looked around, his brain taking in more than just his missing limbs.

He wasn't laying on the ground. Instead, his entire body had been wrapped in what looked like chains, attached to the ceiling.

He slowly took it all in, and then the horror began to set in. His limbs were gone. That meant he had no easy avenue to channel mana and create spell formations.

With the feeling of blood loss clouding his thoughts, he wouldn't be able to focus enough to summon even a speck of intent.

That meant that for all intents and purposes, he'd been thoroughly disabled. His attacker had made sure that from the moment he woke up, he wouldn't be able to cast a single spell. He would be completely at their mercy.

And just like that, any shred of hope he had of getting out of this predicament disappeared completely.

"This, right here, brings me so much joy, I'm literally about to orgasm from it." A voice chuckled, unable to hide the glee in it.

Osiris's eyes widened as he placed the voice. And in that moment, his attacker walked into view, his hands behind his back, and a wide grin on his face.

"Hello, Osiris." The young man grinned. "How have you been?"

"You!" Osiris said, trying to keep himself calm. His body swayed as the chain holding him to the ceiling creaked.

"Me!" Noah chuckled.

"Unhand me this moment, Webb." Osiris snarled. "Attacking an agent of the Investigation Authority is a terrible crime, boy. But if you let me go, I shall be lenient."

His thoughts were not clear at the moment, but he knew that if he could get out here in one piece, everything would be okay.

His limbs? They could fix it. All he needed to do was find his son's killer, and make them pay.

"Unfortunately, that would not be possible." Noah said with a polite smile. "You see, if I let you go, it would simply ruin all the effort it took for me to get you here."

Osiris paused, trying and failing to form a spell formation. Then, Noah's words pierced his consciousness. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Osiris." Noah hissed, his voice low with excitement. "If you were me, what way would you use to bait yourself into the Royal Academy?"

Osiris' eyes widened as he finally connected the dots.

"You!"

"Yes, me." Noah stepped closer, his orange eyes glowing and his smile unnaturally wide. "I killed your son, Galahad Lawless."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.