Chapter 102: Private Interrogation
For a long while, Liam dissected their performance, looking into their eyes, their body language and their expressions, leaving no room for excuses or evasion.
"What's happening here? Why did you suddenly pull us out of the mid-term evaluation?" Sophia asked after almost half an hour of bone chilling silence, as she could not take it anymore.
"I don't know? You tell me-" Liam said, as he was having none of Sophia's act today.
While not all-knowing, Liam was very good at reading human psychology and although Sophia did not seem extremely worried, she did show signs of excessive nervousness that made Liam suspicious.
"What do I tell you though? What do you even want to know?" Asked Sophia, as she glanced over at Rocky for support, however, Rocky only shrugged his shoulders in response.
Even she had heard the shrill screams of a man and the wild laughter of professor Liam within the forest, however, unlike Rocky who had seen it unfold before his own eyes, Sophia was clueless as to what actually went down.
"Arise-"
Liam said, as the temperature in the room dropped and a specter arose.
Instantly Sophia recognised the man, it was Riyan! One of her brother's most trusted information gathering agents.
"Recognise him?" Asked Liam, his voice modulating sharply as he noticed the dilation of Sophia's pupils upon gazing at the specter.
"No-" Sophia said, lying through her teeth as Liam began to laugh maniacally.
"Hahahaha-" Liam laughed and covered his eyes, as although he was laughing, his killing intent began to leak, which made Sophia shudder involuntarily.
She glanced at Rocky beside him, however, unlike her, he did not seem to be struggling under Liam's pressure.
Rocky's indifference was because of two main reasons.
Firstly, his improved body and artifact to regulate his state of mind helped him stay calm.
Secondly, he wasn't the main target of Liam's interrogation and hence did not cower in his presence as much as Sophia did.
"Alright, I'll hold my tongue for now and give you another chance to come clean, since you are my student," Liam said, as he seemed to have regained some of his conscious thought and ability to reason, however, one look in his eyes was enough for anyone to determine that he was on his last straw.
"I have a skill, my child, that detects lies….." Liam said, rather difficultly, as the madness was visibly creeping outside.
"And right now…. YOU ARE LYING" Liam said loudly, as Sophia shuddered.
Trembling, she seemed to try hard to contain her tears, however, just like the first time when Liam slapped her, she could not hold them in, as the tears began dripping down her cheeks.
"Yes, yes I know him…. He's one of our top agents, however, I have no idea why you are showing him to me, or if he was sent to the forest, I have no idea why" Sophia confessed, as Liam frowned at her answer.
Leaning back in his chair, Liam covered his face as he could not understand what was going on, however, his killing aura receded.
"It seems like you are telling the truth" Liam said, in a half relieved voice as he seemed to be happy that Sophia was not involved in the attack on Rocky.
"So you have no idea why the Assassin was there?" Liam asked to reconfirm as Sophia vehemently shook her head in denial.
Rocky, looking at this scene unfold, smiled to himself, as he already knew the whole picture.
Although Sophia might not be involved in this particular incident, she was surely the one to inform her brother about the mid term exams, prompting him to take this action.
However, not wanting a chance like this to go to waste, Rocky placed his hand over Sophia's shoulders, trying to comfort her in her vulnerable state of mind.
"Agh-" feeling touched, Sophia looked towards Rocky with teary eyes as Rocky gave her shoulders a few good squeezes and smiled.
"Don't worry, I trust you-" Rocky said, as Sophia began crying a river of tears.
At that moment, Sophia felt immensely relieved that all her previous sacrifices did not come undone because of this unexpected incident.
"Alright then, if you don't know you don't know" Liam said, returning to his calm state of mind as he dispelled his doubts surrounding Sophia for now.
Liam knew that she wasn't as innocent as she portrayed herself to be and that she had an unhealthy obsession with Rocky, however, he decided to give her a pass for now, mostly because he was biased as a teacher.
Had Sophia not been one of her students, Liam would not have treated her with such kindness, however, because she was, he was willing to overlook some transgressions.
"What about our mid-term evaluations, Professor?" Rocky asked, breaking the awkward silence as Liam pinched his forehead in frustration.
"Both of you pass…. Your performance was good in the time you were inside and both of your life in itself feels like a survival assessment.
You won't get the rewards, but you don't need to go back in either.
Just stay within the university…." Liam said, as he seemed to be extremely pissed about this turn of events.
In his entire teaching career, this was the first time that he felt that he could not provide adequate security for two of his children as he deemed it too dangerous for them to return to the forest.
"Just to inform you, young miss, your brother was named in this incident, so I will most likely be scheduling an unpleasant meeting with him…." Liam warned as Sophia almost choked at the information.
She had no idea as to why her brother sent Riyan to the forest, however, she felt betrayed because of the lack of information.