I Raised A Black Dragon

“…There was a fake in Tezeba. Did you investigate it already?” Noah asked.

“We have seized and searched the Vatalere’s mansion first, but only the answer we acquired was that she had been away a month ago. When I summoned the man who had reported to me, he replied that he must have mistaken Lenia Valtalere for her maid. All the pictures taken as evidence are of poor quality for some reason…” Kyle spat. He must have been very angry as bits of profanities slipped from his lips. 

I knew it. She must have been able to change her attitude like that because she had already taken care of her alibi.

“And crucially, the woman believed to be Lenia Valtallere or her stand-in had never entered the Imperial City on the day of the disappearance of the egg.” Kyle continued.

“What?”

“The defensive barriers surrounding the Imperial City automatically recognize and record the identities of the visitors. I checked everyone who entered and left the Imperial City that day, but there was no record of Lenia Valtalere.”

“You mean it was manipulated?” Noah’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“I don’t know. The problem is, we can’t keep her in custody right now because we don’t have sufficient evidence. There’s no excuse to persuade His Majesty and the Minister.”

Now that Lenia had gotten the better of Noah, Noah was driven into a corner. She even admitted to the crime with her own mouth, being interrogated just now.

“As soon as they received Lenia Valtalere’s statement, they ordered you to be arrested first. It’s probably hard for you to be cleared of charges now that it’s like this.”

“What then? Do we really have to destroy this place with Mu and end up as fugitives?”

“You’re so extreme. Why do you keep resembling Mu?”

Uh, I do? While Noah was bewildered by the unexpected remark, Kyle gave a clearer answer.

“If the truth isn’t revealed, I can’t release Miss Noah no matter how much I do. Of course, we can’t keep you in a cellar like this for fear of revenge, but you can’t get out of the Bureau of Investigation for months. Then, there’s only one way you can get out of here the fastest. Acknowledging the charges and being sentenced to a moderate time.”

“Ah.” Only after hearing that much did Noah realize why Kyle had to take a false statement from her. Kyle flipped his pen and continued.

“The trial is probably just a formality. Once you cooperate, Laurent will have another magical revival in 500 years, so it’s a waste of time. Besides, our cute baby dragon is hitting all kinds of bricks in the Imperial Palace…”

Nice, Mu. Noah wanted to hold the child back in her arms and smother him with kisses. Kyle snapped his pen down on the table and concluded the conversation.

“So, Miss Noah, of course, would be as relentless as she was, but now she has no choice but to endure.”

“What should I expect in prison?”

“Part of the property, volunteer work, depending on the circumstances. That’s about it. There’s no way they could ask you to be sentenced to prison in the first place when a dragon is scared.”

“Hmm…”

The witch’s body already had fifteen previous convictions, so what’s going to be so different if one more was added to the list? There was no need to worry, Noah convinced herself. She tried to nod her head as a sign of agreement, but stopped at the words of Kyle that followed.

“Of course, there’s something you need, and you need it in a formal way.”

“What is it?”

“Self-reflection.”

“What?”

Letter of apology? ‘Well, I’m sorry. I won’t do that again, so please forgive me’? Noah asked in wonder. “Is that really enough?”

“It depends on how much you use it.”

No matter how awful it might be, it couldn’t possibly be worse than her graduation thesis. The thought made her feel a little better.

“Okay. I’ll finish it right away tomorrow. It’s like a letter of apology.”

Kyle only uttered an ambiguous response. “Maybe.”

“…..?”

Well, it didn’t take Noah long to understand the real meaning of the word.

Just the next day, when Noah went down to the underground interrogation room to write her letter of apology, she found a pile of blank sheets of papers piled up on the steel desk.

“…You didn’t tell me I had to write twenty sets of reflections, did you?” Noah grumbled as she wrote on her fifteenth letter. 

“No one believes you anyway, so a single page will never be enough. It’s not that the content is important, but it’s important that Eleonora Asil wrote on a hundred sheets for self-reflection.” Kyle replied as he handed Noah a new piece of paper, his face awkwardly stiff, as if he was stopping a laugh from coming out.

In other words, it was her effort that would matter. With all her heart, Noah was reflecting on the sins she had not committed in a hundred pages or more.