Carissa felt an overwhelming sense of guilt deep in her heart. For the past few days, with everything going on at the gentlemen''s retreats, she had been outte at night, barely giving any thought to the matters at Gracewood Women''s Academy. Kyle had warned her earlier to be extra cautious with the academy. Had she sent even just one more person, none of this would have happened.


    The Royal Citadel had been swift to respond. Anthony himself led the investigation, which showed just how seriously the Royal Citadel took this matter.


    Six men were captured, all tightly bound. After a few hard ps, everyone was awake except for the one who had assaulted Rosalind.


    After revealing their identities, it turned out that all six wereborers from the docks. They worked long hours unloading cargo and carrying heavy sacks of copper coins, barely earning enough to survive each month.


    The night before, their foreman had gathered them for a meeting. Nine men sat down to eat and drink, and the foreman told them about a job that would pay fifty silver coins oncepleted. The task itself seemed simple-sneak into Gracewood Women''s Academy, cause a littlemotion, and then slip out through the back door.


    The men, ustomed to tough work at the docks, were no strangers to trouble. However, they knew something didn''t sit right with this "easy" job. Still, the promise of fifty silver coins was hard to resist. It would take them over two years of hardbor to earn that much. Who wouldn''t be tempted by such an offer?


    Everyone was tempted, but two of the men declined. The foreman himself naturally opted out. He was only in charge of passing on the message. The remaining six, after some hesitation, epted the offer.


    Before they set off this morning, the foreman gave them a ss of wine to steady their nerves. After all, none of them had ever done anything this wrong before, and they were all nervous about what was toe.


    One man, named Hank Carter, drank the entire ss. Normally timid, he had a sick dad at home and a wife who had just given birth to their third child. He desperately needed the money, so he gulped down the drink to gather the courage to go through with it. The others sipped at their drinks lightly, but none of them seemed as affected as Hank.


    Hank was the one who had assaulted Rosalind and had both his legs broken by ire.


    By the time Ivy arrived, all the interrogations had beenpleted, and a thorough examination revealed something even more troubling-all six men had been poisoned by aphrodisiacs of varying degrees.


    It seemed the foreman''s instructions had not simply been to cause a disturbance he had intended for the men to assault the students, even go so far as to vite them.


    Anthony immediately dispatched


    men to apprehend the foreman.


    When they reached the dock,


    however they only found his body. It


    was said that he had drunk too


    much and fallen into the sea. When someone managed to fish him out, he was already dead.


    The officers questioned the dock workers about anyone the foreman might have been in contact with recently or if any unusual visitors hade looking for him. But no one knew anything, and the workers didn''t know of anyone the foreman had made dealings with.


    Re


    As for the cause of his fall, the dock workers exined that the foreman often drank, and falling into the sea wasn''t a first. The only difference this time was that no one had noticed him in time. Everyone had been busy, and by the time someone saw him in the water and tried to


    help, it was already toote.


    It seemed like a tragic ident.


    With everyone so busy, if someone hade to pick up their goods and identally knocked him into the water, no one would have noticed.


    When the officers returned with the news, the six men, already shaken from the events, trembled even more at hearing that their employer was dead. They were also chilly from the earlier ssh of cold water.


    Anthony was experienced in handling cases. He immediately suspected that there was someone else pulling the strings-someone with a clear motive against the academy.


    But identifying the mastermind wasn''t going to be easy. The man who had been responsible for making contact was dead, leaving the trail cold.


    Anthony took Carissa aside and exined the situation, asking if she had any suspicions about who might be behind the plot.


    At first, Carissa thought it could be someone from the Quinton family''s fourth branch seeking revenge for what had happened to Jocelyn. But with the matter escting to the point of silencing people, she began to doubt this theory. For now, she had no solid answers. She had suspicions, but the pieces didn''t yet fit together.


    Anthony sighed.


    "For now, the only thing we can do is take these men back and let thew decide their fate. Since the trail''s gone cold, there''s nothing more we can do on our end. If you suspect someone, you might want to look into it yourself."