Did she suspect Diwein herself?
Thinking back now, doubts had indeed crossed Aki's mind.
There had been children who had just come to join the Shangri-La Movement. Diwein said they had left because their ideals differed from theirs, but when Aki later asked around, she could not find the slightest trace of them.
Sometimes, members would suddenly disappear as well, and no one knew where they had gone.
And she had stayed with the Shangri-La Movement for so long. Even if Diwein would not say certain things in front of her, she would occasionally catch fragments of conversation. She remembered times when Diwein had been speaking seriously with others, but the instant someone signaled to him that Aki had arrived, he would fall silent and turn a gentle gaze toward her.
What was there that she could not know? Did Diwein not truly trust her after all?
It was not as though she had never had those doubts, but she had quickly cast them aside.
Maybe Diwein really had done something to her mind. He was skilled at mental suggestion and manipulation; if he wanted someone to overlook suspicious details, they naturally would.
Or perhaps...
Perhaps, just as "Godwin" had said, people only believed what they wanted to believe. It was not that she had never suspected anything. She had simply never thought about it.
That was right. This was already her only home. She did not want to believe that Diwein had hidden things from her, nor did she want to think too deeply about it. Diwein could do the thinking for her.
No, it could not be like that. Diwein had not deceived her. It was this guy's fault, this White-haired Bastard in front of her. Killing Diwein was not enough for him; he wanted to smear his