Rem finally turned to Gabriel. "And you..."
He scratched the back of his head. That was his reaction whenever he had to deal with him. Gabriel was like the star disciple of Eliana. She really placed importance on him, especially because of the immense talent he possessed. No one other than him, Lishen, and Eliana knew just what Gabriel was truly capable of based on his talents.
"Did you take the letter?" Rem asked.
"I didn't," Gabriel responded without a single shred of fear on his face. "However, it won't be the first time I'm accused falsely in the Academy. This one makes it twice in two days."
Just yesterday, he was accused of killing Hawrin. He actually did that, but for the world, he was innocent, and until he was innocent for the world, all these accusations were going to be false. And it was the same with this.
"Hah." Rem understood what Gabriel was implying. "I understand what you are saying, but why would someone accuse you falsely? They claim to have seen you take the letter, don't they?"
"Why would someone accuse me falsely?" Gabriel smirked. He knew that if he needed to get out of this situation without fighting, he needed to guilt trap the others, and what better way than to use their previous accusations on him.
"Why don't you ask him why someone would falsely accuse anyone?" he pointed in the distance, making everyone look in the direction he was pointing.
Yann was taken aback to see everyone looking at him suddenly. He just scoffed in response.
"Because of his false accusations, Cain and I were almost on the verge of being forced to lose our talents in the test of the crown. And now, based on other accusations, you all want to do what you please again? I'm sorry, but I won't let it happen." Gabriel shook his head as if he was quite tired of all of it.
"The scenario here is different. You won't lose your talent if you just take off your gloves and let them see you're innocent. Isn't that true?"
"If that's the case, I accuse you of stealing the letter." Gabriel was not in the mood to give up. "I saw you take the letter. If you're not guilty, take off all your clothes, let us see. You won't lose anything. And if you're innocent, you can let them see, isn't that true?'
Hearing the sarcastic response, Rem's face twitched. This kid... He was really playing with him.
"I've had enough of these accusations and proving my innocence. If I have to prove my innocence every day, then I don't feel safe at this academy. Today it's my gloves. Tomorrow you'll ask me to strip to prove my innocence, the day after that you'll ask me to stab myself to prove my innocence. If that's how my life is going to be at the Academy, then I am fine not being a student."
"I am leaving this academy right away. It's better I apply to the Church of Light instead. At least they won't accuse me daily."
Being banished from the Academy or leaving it on his own, both were the same, and both were beneficial to him. He could actually leave the academy right now and not regret a single thing. He already had all the artifacts he needed, and this gave him an excuse to leave the place without raising many suspicions.
Still, if possible, he wanted to stay here for a few more days since he wanted to enter the Tower of Challenges. But if he couldn't, he didn't mind that either. This was supposed to be a threat to Rem, and he wasn't joking.
The only reason the Academy kept his talent and his age a secret was because they didn't want the Church of Light to have him. They wanted to be known as the Academy that trained the next Holy Mage. He knew that the Academy wasn't going to lose him.
He was their treasure in a way. Even if they needed to act neutral before others, there was definitely some bias toward him, and he wanted to use that bias to his advantage.
Rem wanted Gabriel to take off his gloves and prove his innocence since that was the easiest way out. He also wanted to see him take off those gloves himself, but he couldn't force it. If Gabriel actually left the academy and decided to go to the Church of Light, he believed Eliana was going to be really upset at him for not handling things properly.
Eliana was already quite stressed regarding the theft, and more stress wasn't good for her at this time since he didn't want to see Eliana when she was angry. Even if Gabriel actually took the letter, it was a very minor thing. He could've let Gabriel leave over that.
He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had just punished Aira. If he didn't even search Gabriel to see if Aira was telling the truth, he was going to come across as quite biased. Unfortunately, he had no choice in this matter.
Gabriel was right. He was just accused yesterday when the killer was a dark mage. In such a short time, another accusation could definitely make anyone angry.
He gave Gabriel a benefit of the doubt. Moreover, if he checked and it turned out that Gabriel was innocent, then Eliana was going to blame him in case Gabriel left the academy after his search.
In the end, he decided to pick the less bad of the two options.
"I can understand your anger. You are right that you were accused wrongly yesterday, and we all doubted you for nothing. This time, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt since you already let them check your clothes. Anything more than that would be going overboard. You can leave. No one will search you.'
Rem gave in. Gabriel's plan to get out of this situation worked. Gabriel had the permission to learn, and he didn't waste a single second more.
"What? Aira was left stunned at what happened! He didn't even search Gabriel? What kind of bias was that? She was punished so bad over a minor thing, and he wasn't even searched? He was left scot-free. Even Garrick wasn't punished! Why was only her receiving all the punishment? If she thought Rem was biased before, she was sure now!
She decided to talk to Xinci about this bias, who was the Head Teacher of her House of Summon.
Gabriel didn't waste a single second and swiftly left the place, but he didn't walk in any hurry either. He walked at his usual pace as if he was taking a walk, leaving a stunned crowd behind.
