The rain continued to fall. The cold weather and the downpour over the city created a heavy, mysterious atmosphere. Vantias and Aldrin were sitting on the platform.
Vantias lowered his head and said,
"That night when Yutab and I left the church, I noticed someone following her, so I followed Yutab to make sure she got home safely… But later I realized she had been taken. I went to her house and saw no one there."
Aldrin closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to see whether Vantias was telling the truth, then slowly opened them and said,
"So you don't know where Yutab is, right?"
Vantias paused for a moment, then looked directly into Aldrin's eyes and said,
"She could be anywhere—maybe in a cave, maybe in a building, maybe even in a basement. But do you really think that if I knew where she was, I would just be sitting here? I wouldn't go and save her?"
Aldrin took a deep breath but still frowned, clenching his fists as he thought,
"He's not lying… The stars say he's telling the truth. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's revealing the whole truth… The stars said he saw who kidnapped Yutab, so why isn't he telling me? Why is he hiding the truth?"
Vantias' hands were shaking, but he tried to control them. Cold sweat ran down his forehead, but it was indistinguishable from the rain. Anxiety and dread gripped his heart, like the moment before an explosion in a storage tank.
Vantias thought,
"I've almost told the truth, but from another angle… Just as I suspected, Aldrin's ability to speak with the stars has limitations. That doubt struck me because he couldn't fully learn the true nature of the cult… If he could get information freely and unfiltered from the stars, the cult would have been eradicated months ago."
Aldrin looked at Vantias with suspicion. Sensing something was off, he asked his final question:
"Did you see the face of the person who kidnapped Yutab?" He glanced at Vantias from the corner of his eye to gauge his reaction.
Vantias thought,
"A question that could trap me… I must answer correctly, but not reveal the full truth."
Vantias took a deep breath, lowered his head, and said,
"I don't know if I should tell you… Because saying it could divert us from the real truth… If I'm wrong, an innocent person could be executed—and then I'd be the one responsible…"
Aldrin's frown softened; his face brightened as if he finally understood something. Now it was clear to him that Vantias wasn't behind all of this; he just didn't want to endanger someone's life, fearing the guilt if that person wasn't the real culprit.
Aldrin thought,
"His words make sense… From the moment I met Vantias, I knew he's highly sensitive to others, always blaming himself for anything… Now I understand why he can't say who he saw—because it was dark and he might not have seen the suspect's face clearly… By guessing, he could put someone's life at risk."
Aldrin placed a hand on Vantias' shoulder, as if all his doubts had vanished, and said,
"Vantias… I'm really sorry I doubted you… I just… Yutab has been with me since she was a child. I've been like a parent to her, and seeing something happen to her makes me lose control… She's just an innocent girl."
Vantias looked at Aldrin and hesitated slightly before speaking,
"It's hard for me too because I might be mistaken… That night I saw Marcus, the academy director, entering Yutab's house… But I'm not completely sure—it was dark. But it roughly matches what I saw…"
Upon hearing this, Aldrin stood up, clenching his fists and staring at a single point, saying,
"The day we were in the church, Yutab said Marcus had threatened her… At first, I thought maybe she just said it because Marcus had interfered in her personal life… So after all this, Marcus is the one behind everything happening at the academy."
Vantias wanted to say something but paused, then said hesitantly,
"I blame myself for what happened to Yutab… Because Kyle privately told me that on the night Elizabeth was killed in the greenhouse… he saw Marcus entering the greenhouse."
Every word, every phrase Vantias spoke felt like a bullet piercing Aldrin's mind. With each word, Aldrin became more certain that Marcus was the killer. Vantias seemed to struggle to speak, a lump forming in his throat.
"I asked Yutab to gather enough evidence before we acted… because playing with someone's life isn't right… Yutab listened to me until… until that happened."Vantias said, his eyes brimming with tears.
Aldrin's vision blurred; his breaths became heavier, as if breathing itself was difficult. In his fury, he slammed the wall, leaving a large crack. Vantias was slightly startled by Aldrin's reaction, having never seen him like this before.
Aldrin spoke only one word:
"I'll kill him."
Then he started running. Vantias immediately followed.
As Vantias ran after Aldrin, he thought,
"Things went almost as I intended, but this reaction is a bit out of my control… I mustn't let Aldrin personally kill Marcus—that's outside the agreement."