Chapter 92

"「I won't break off the engagement, you know,」 now on sale from Ichijinsha!

To thank our readers, we will be sending out an IF story.

This is a different pattern (with role changes) of 「●The rejected plot collection, part 3A」!

"Come on, Shin, we already have so much evidence. You can't deny it now!"

Fried Black, the cool first son of the marquis, condemned Selia. Beside him stood Lins, the baron's daughter, with tears in her eyes, as if being protected by Fried.

"I've known for a long time that your fiancée, Selia, has been bullying Lins. After all, we were always at the scene."

Behind Fried, Powell Hargan, the first son of the royal guard captain, stood with a fierce look, glaring at Shin and Selia.

"…Hey, before we go any further, can I ask a question?"

Shin, who had stepped in front of Selia, spoke with a tone of exasperation.

"First, where do you think we are?"

"At the graduation party."

"Are you going to bring this up at such a joyful and celebratory event? Do you want to ruin the party?"

"We've been stopped by Lins until now, but with the evidence all gathered, this is the only chance to get the whole school on our side."

"I thought you were the cool one, always calm and rational, and wouldn't do anything out of the ordinary… but it seems I was wrong…"

Shin's provocation made Fried's eyes even sharper.

"Fine. Let's hear what everyone has to say. Everyone!"

When Shin called out, the eyes of the graduating students in the party hall turned to him.

"Fried is about to condemn Selia! Can you all listen for a moment?"

A circle formed around Shin and Selia, facing Fried and Lins, with Powell standing by. The three of them showed a hint of anxiety at this unexpected turn of events, but they glared back at Shin and Selia with determination.

"First, let's hear what Selia did."

Shin, with a confident air, extended his hand to prompt them.

"Playing dumb… Selia, you've been bullying Lins, using your status as a duchess's daughter. You've made her suffer many times."

"First time I'm hearing about it. Do you have any evidence?"

"The first incident was soon after you enrolled. You, Shin, removed the paper that said 'I used to be a commoner' from Lins' back, didn't you? You realized it was Selia's handwriting and destroyed the evidence!"

"Oh, that one."

"There's no way a prince like you would do such a thing for a mere student. It must have been because it involved Selia. Powell saw it happen, right? That's the first eyewitness testimony."

Shin put his hand to his chin, thought for a moment, and then called out to Picard.

"Picard! You were there too, right?"

With a twirl, Picard Baljean, the first son of the earl, appeared in the center of the circle, dressed in a specially tailored tuxedo for the graduation dance party. No one questioned his presence anymore.

"Thanks for calling me, Shin! Yes, I was there!"

"Teacher!"

The head teacher of the grade stepped forward.

"Didn't you prepare the paper from that time?"

"Yes, this one."

The teacher brought out a paper that had been crumpled and then smoothed out, stored in a box.

"After that, Shin and I brought this to the teacher and reported it. Look, there are our signatures and the teacher's. We signed it then, remember?"

"Yes, it's definitely Lins' paper."

Picard's confirmation made Shin nod.

"Do you all know what fingerprints are?"

The audience looked puzzled at Shin's explanation.

"Fingerprints?"

"Look at your fingers. There are spiral patterns on the tips, right?"

Everyone looked at their hands.

"Really."

"I never noticed…"

"Now that you mention it…"

"Fingerprints are unique to each person, and each finger. They have been used to identify individuals for a long time, even among commoners. In criminal investigations, they are used to visualize fingerprints by sprinkling powder on the grease left by the fingers. This has been adopted by the guard corps and has tripled the arrest rate."

This application of fingerprints in criminal investigations is based on Selia's knowledge from her past life. Shin proposed the idea to the head of the guard corps, and now there is a permanent fingerprint examiner in the guard corps.

"First, the fingerprints on this paper are mine and Picard's, who picked it up."

"Of course. Shin crumpled it, and I picked it up."

Picard acknowledged this.

"Separate from those, there are other fingerprints… These are small, like those of a child or a woman. It's likely that a woman left these."

Fried and Powell glared at Selia.

"Well, examiner, can you tell us whose fingerprints these are?"

When Shin called out, a middle-aged man in a guard corps uniform stepped forward.

"Yes, I thoroughly investigated as ordered. It was clear immediately."

"Thank you. Everyone, this is the fingerprint examiner from the guard corps, authorized by the Minister of Justice to conduct forensic investigations. Here are the results."

"These are not Selia's fingerprints."

The hall was silent. Of course, everyone thought Selia would never do such a thing.

"Whose fingerprints are they?"

"Is it okay to say?"

"Is it okay? Lins."

Shin smiled and asked Lins, who turned pale and shook her head, saying, "No… No…" in a whisper.

"Is it not okay? Then, is it fine to say this is not evidence?"

"You're trying to pin a crime on Lins with something like this? That's dirty!"

Powell shouted.

"Fingerprints can be easily forged!"

Even the usually cool Fried raised his voice.

"That's strange. No one has said these are Lins' fingerprints yet. Forging Selia's fingerprints is possible, but how do you forge Lins' fingerprints? You'd have to touch Lins to do that, right? It's impossible. Yet, Lins says it's not okay. It's impossible for Lins' fingerprints to be on the paper that was stuck to her back without her knowing, isn't it?"

"Such things can't be used as evidence!"

"If the actual item is here, why isn't it evidence? Well, never mind. Then, let's discard it as evidence."

Shin said and tore the paper to shreds right in front of everyone.

Fried, Powell, and Lins were all surprised.

"Next, please."

The fluttering paper pieces and Shin's provocative attitude made Fried and the others' faces turn red.

"That's not all. Lins' textbook was torn up!"

"Oh, that one. I collected it. I ended up using that textbook for a year. Haha!"

"That textbook was torn by Selia. You destroyed the evidence, didn't you?"

Picard dramatically sighed and shook his head.

"…Lins, you were given a signed textbook by Shin… You're forgetting that favor and treating Shin as a criminal? Was it you who reported this to Fried?"

Picard's eyes were filled with sadness. Lins, perhaps feeling guilty, looked away.

"I didn't check the fingerprints on that one. I didn't care who tore it up."

"See? There was no evidence that Selia was the culprit."

"But there's no evidence that Selia wasn't the culprit either?"

Hartis Kepler, the third son of the earl, stepped forward and handed Shin a paper bag.

"Here's what you asked for. I brought it to the venue just in case."

"Thanks, Hartis. Here's the textbook from that time. Lins, this was your textbook, right? Your notes are all over it, right?"

Shin took out the torn textbook from the paper bag and showed it to Lins, who had no choice but to nod.

"This was Lins' history textbook. As you can see, it's been torn to shreds. Clearly, it was a malicious act. I exchanged this for my own textbook, and everyone in Lins' class witnessed it, right?"

All of Lins' classmates at the graduation party nodded.

"Melvis, you were the class representative. After that, you checked the trash and collected all the torn pieces of the textbook, right? Do you still have them?"

"I'll get them!"

Melvis ran out of the venue and returned a while later.

"Thanks for keeping them for three years."

"No, I was asked to, so I put them in a bag and filed them."

Melvis smiled, glad to be of help.

"Now, everyone, look at this textbook."

Shin opened the torn pages of the textbook and showed them to everyone.

"Here, there's a small drawing in the corner of the page."

Everyone gathered around Shin, squinting to see the textbook.

"Like this… When you fold the book and flip through the pages, the drawing moves! It's amazing! It's so interesting! Lins drew this!"

"Wow, that's amazing."

"Is this an apple? An apple with a black cat jumping out and wagging its tail…"

"Wow, that's so interesting. It really looks like the drawing is moving."

Everyone in the hall was impressed. Lins blushed at their reaction, a sign that she hadn't been paying attention in class.

"What's your point? Stop messing around!"

Fried shouted again.

Shin started laying out all the torn pieces on the table.

"Look, the torn pages don't have the continuation of this moving picture, called a flip book. The flip book was only partially drawn. It's a shame. I would have liked to see the end."

Shin genuinely looked disappointed. Everyone looked at the laid-out pages. Indeed, the torn pieces had blank corners.

"In other words, the person who tore this textbook knew about the flip book. They only tore the parts without the drawings. This suggests that the person thought it would be a waste to tear up the carefully drawn flip book."

The hall fell silent. There was only one person who could think like that.

Everyone looked at Lins, who turned pale.

"That's just a coincidence! It's not evidence!"

Fried, now cornered, shouted.

"So, this isn't evidence either."

Shin casually threw the torn textbook, which drew a gentle parabola and landed perfectly in the trash can at the corner of the hall.

"Is there anything else?"

Fried looked frustrated and, with a strained voice, said, "There's a torn dress."

"Dress?"

Fried brought a bag from the corner of the hall and dumped its contents on the table.

"The torn dress Lins wore for dance practice! Selia must have torn it!"

"Don't blame everything on Selia. What evidence do you have?"

Fried held up the torn dance dress.

"Look, it's not just torn; it's cut with scissors. It takes strength to tear a dress, especially for a weak woman. So, it was cut with scissors. The culprit is a woman."

"Right."

Shin nodded at Fried's explanation.

"From this, we can determine the characteristics of the scissors. The blade length matches the scissors provided by the school for craft classes. The culprit is a woman who took craft classes at the school. Selia took craft classes, right!"

"Even if that's true, it's not enough to make Selia the culprit…" Shin shook his head, thinking it was unreasonable.

"It's not unreasonable. There are twenty-seven female students who took craft classes. Among them, the only one who could have a grudge against Lins and be jealous is Selia."

"But why would Selia be jealous of Lins? Explain the motive properly. Without a motive, it's not convincing."

"…Lins surpassed your fiancée in grades and even threatened your top position. In the second and third years, Lins became Miss Academy, which was an eyesore."

Shin held Selia back as she tried to speak.

"I've never been outperformed by Lins in grades, and I don't really care about it."

"Lins was the top female student, surpassing Selia."

Shin looked exasperated.

"Neither I nor the royal family care if Selia is the top student at the academy. We feel bad that Selia has to study so much more than the academy curriculum for her princess education. There's no need for her to be the top female student. The academy is a break for Selia. It has no impact on her qualifications as a princess, and there's no need for her to worry about it."

Most of the students looked surprised.

It was well known that Selia worked hard at her studies, and many people thought it was one of the necessary qualities for a princess.

"…What about Miss Academy? It would be humiliating for the future princess to have her title taken by a baron's daughter, right?"

"That's disrespectful to Lins. It doesn't matter. After all, Selia and I are already engaged. Miss Academy isn't a way to choose my bride. It's not a fairy tale."

The graduates laughed, and Selia, blushing, looked up at Shin, who nodded.

"Expecting the princess to be the top student, Miss Academy, and to excel in princess education? If you set such strict conditions for your fiancée, I'd be single for life. If such a girl existed, I'd let her be the queen and retire happily."

Everyone around him burst out laughing.

Fried, perhaps angry at being laughed at, shouted, "At the school martial arts tournament, you told Lins to let Powell lose to you on purpose, didn't you?"

The hall buzzed with excitement.

"I never said anything like that."

Selia's denial made Powell angry.

"I did! I did! Lins cried and begged me, 'Please, please lose to the prince, or I'll become the prince's fiancée…'"

"…I never participated in the martial arts tournament."

"What?"

"I never participated in the tournament for three years."

"Don't lie! You came every year and stole my victory!"

Powell was furious.

"You always came in a ninja costume with a hidden face!"

Everyone in the hall was surprised. No one knew that the mysterious ninja who had won the tournament for three consecutive years, always wearing a black costume and carrying a truncheon, was Shin.

"Ah, so it's out… You figured it out."

"Lins told me it was the prince."

In the final match of the game, the opponent was always the prince. Lins must have known from the game's plot, Shin thought.

"Is that so? Did you go easy on me because of that?"

"Of course not! I was determined to crush you! I just had to protect Lins from Selia's evil hands!"

Powell glared at Shin with hatred, not realizing the contradiction in his story.

"If you lost to me three times in a row, you have no complaints. Why would Selia need to lose to someone who can't beat me? It's unnecessary."

Everyone in the hall agreed. It was clear to anyone, especially those knowledgeable about swords, that there was a significant skill gap in the matches. Powell's wooden sword was easily taken away by Shin multiple times during the matches. Everyone in the school had witnessed the ninja throwing the wooden sword out of the ring, and Powell's pitiful attempts to retrieve it.

If the prince hadn't defeated Powell, it's easy to imagine how arrogant he would have become. Instead, the prince's reputation rose for taking down this arrogant man.

Meanwhile, Hartis, who had been completely ignoring the conversation, was carefully examining the torn dress on the table with a magnifying glass…

"「I won't break off the engagement, you know,」 now on sale from Ichijinsha!

Supporting stores will distribute an exclusive SS.

「Book-Off, Honya Club, Manga King Club, and others (excluding some stores)」

Currently being adapted into a manga.

Please note that it is from 「Ichijinsha Novels」 and not 「Ichijinsha Iris.」 It is on the general light novel shelf (isekai transmigration strong cheat harem) and not the women's fiction shelf (laughs).

If you can't find it there, it might be in the women's fiction corner.

The back cover is also beautifully designed!

Next, 「The rejected plot collection, part 3B (to be published on April 5)」!