Truth be told, Julius already had the perfect candidate in mind. He had been considering it for quite some time, but he didn't want to interfere with that person's studies.

Still, a university student was bound to have useful connections in his field.

He scrolled through his saved contacts and made a call. It didn't take long for the other side to pick up.

——Y-Yes? Mister Schneider, hello?

"Hello, Michael. It's been a while. Are you busy?"

It was none other than Michael, who was currently majoring in cyber law. With every corporation deploying sentient systems, specialists in digital legality were as valuable as magi-tech engineers.

——Not at the moment. Is there anything I can help you with, Mister Schneider?

——...Give me a moment.

Julius had some universities in mind, but it was better to hear from someone who was still studying. Looking things up online would only lead to bias.

He had already done so earlier, and most of what he found were promotional articles written to lure investors or foreign students.

——The Technische Hochschule Berlin has one of the best programs for neural AI architecture. Most of their graduates go straight into government contracts or R&D division. There's also the Universität für Künstliche Intelligenz und Bewusstseinsforschung. It's smaller, but their research on human-AI symbiosis and cognitive modeling is exceptional.

Indeed, those names would have easily escaped Julius's eye.

"That's good," Julius said. "Do you know anyone there personally?"

——Maybe one or two. A classmate of mine transferred to the Bewusstseinsforschung Institute last year. She's working on a thesis about autonomous ethics, basically programming moral reasoning into self-learning systems.

"That's exactly what I'm looking for," Julius said. "Can you get in touch with her?"

——I can try. She doesn't pick up calls often, but I can send a relay through the academic network.

"Alright," Julius said. "And I'll be coming for you too, once you reach your senior year."

——Yes, sir.

When the call ended, Julius looked up. Truth be told, he had been having trouble trusting people lately.

After all, anyone could have been Nameless. When he ruled out the obvious impossibilities like his father, his brother, Gabriel, Anneliese, and Isolde, the list grew disturbingly small.

Over the past month, Julius had grown wary of everyone around him, whether he realized it or not.. It could have been his superior officer, Klaus, who had access to restricted files, or perhaps his sister-in-law, Sabine, who constantly asked him for updates.

Julius even began to think that the claim of Nameless being a man might have been a deliberate smokescreen. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became.

He had even suspected Michael, the same person who had killed him in his previous life.

However, the timelines didn't match.

He remembered clearly how, in his previous life, the Republic had pushed its citizens to the edge. And Julius was certain it was somewhat similar to Michael, forcing him into the Revolution.

But that hadn't happened yet.

The Republic, though still authoritarian, hadn't reached that level of decay. And Michael, at present, was nothing more than a broke university student struggling with coursework.

There was no proper justification that could tie him to the serial murders committed by Nameless.

"Mister Schneider?"

"...!"

Julius flinched. He turned toward the voice, then relaxed when he saw it was just Isolde.

"...What's wrong?" she asked.

"...."

"Do you want another therapy session?"

Julius frowned. It bothered him sometimes how Isolde managed to turn everything into a potential therapy session, as if every slight inconvenience needed to be analyzed.

* * *

A day later, after dropping Anneliese off at school, Isolde took in the sight of her reflection in the mirror and frowned. She turned, checking how her outfit looked from the side, then glanced at Julius with an awkward expression.

"I don't think clothes like these suit me anymore," she said. "I'm already well past my prime."

Julius looked at her for a moment before speaking. "You know, Doctor, for someone so observant of others, you don't seem to perceive yourself as clearly as I thought."

"...What do you mean?"

"You look like you've never aged a day," Julius replied. "If you didn't have a daughter, I would've thought you were a teenager."

"...What nonsense."

Isolde was already thirty-six. There was no way that could be true, or so she thought.

"You know what, Mister Schneider, you might be right. Perhaps I've been dressing wrongly this whole time."

Julius raised an eyebrow. "Wrongly?"

"Yes," she said, adjusting the cuff of her sleeve as if thinking it over. "I've been trying too hard to look... appropriate. Maybe I should start wearing something younger again."

"I wasn't suggesting a change in wardrobe, Doctor. I was pointing out that you still look young despite it."

"Oh?" she said, glancing at him curiously. "Is that a compliment or an observation?"

"Both."

"Well, you flatter me," she chuckled. "You look quite good yourself, too, Mister Schneider. I bet you were popular with the ladies back then."

"...."

Julius didn't respond and kept his eyes on his collar, adjusting it until it was perfect. It wasn't entirely untrue. He had been popular enough back then, but most of his connections had come from the same privileged background.

Though in the first place, their attention had never interested him. He was already engaged to Aiseline at the time, and didn't bother entertaining anyone else.

"Shall we go, then?" he asked.

"Yes."

They left the apartment together. Both were dressed appropriately for an official visit to the Universität für Künstliche Intelligenz und Bewusstseinsforschung. Julius had already contacted the university's principal in advance, informing him that a Schneider would be arriving and requesting that no unnecessary attention be drawn to it.

Naturally, the principal agreed. After all, who would ever turn down a Schneider's visit, especially when it came with the promise of a generous donation?

When they arrived, Julius took a moment to look around. The Bewusstseinsforschung Institute wasn't as large or as prestigious as the universities under the Excellence Initiative, but it was still a top university.

"How were you in your university days, Doctor?" Julius asked as they walked along the campus grounds.

Unlike Isolde, he had activated a holo-mask to slightly alter his appearance. The last thing he needed was unwanted attention.

"Hmm... can you guess?"

"Since you graduated at the top of your batch," Julius began, "I'd assume you were the type who spent every vacant period in the library. And went straight home after the final lecture."

He could easily picture a younger Isolde sitting quietly with her notes and ignoring those around her, determined to perfect every paper and every exam.

To him, she seemed like the kind of person who took university seriously, unlike most students today. In his experience, only a handful, maybe four out of ten, actually treated education as something worth pursuing.

The rest were more interested in flaunting themselves than learning.

"Is that your impression of me, Mister Schneider?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Julius blinked. "So... it's not?"

"Not quite," she said. "I was just like any other student. Actually, it's a little embarrassing to admit, but back then, I used to think I was all that... even though I really wasn't."

"Oh?"

"I thought I had everything figured out. I was confident, perhaps even too confident. I joined debates, volunteered for every project, and even gave unsolicited advice to professors about how they should handle their lectures."

Isolde laughed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"After exams, I'd always party like there was no tomorrow, went out with friends almost every weekend, dated a few seniors, rejected a few others… I was quite popular, now that I think about it."

Julius eyed her for a moment. He didn't deny Isolde was an attractive woman. And truthfully, she didn't look much older than someone in their twenties. Still, it was hard to imagine the professional Isolde ever being that carefree.

"Then, I got hit with reality," she continued. "My father passed away, and everything changed after that. He was the sole breadwinner, so when he died, our finances took a huge hit. I was in my third year at the time."

She looked down as they walked.

"I took on part-time jobs just to stay in school," she said. "And even worse, my mother's health started declining after my father's death. It was like losing him broke something inside her. I had to take care of her while trying to keep up with my studies."

Julius listened quietly. There was no need to interrupt her.

"I barely slept back then," she went on. "There were days I'd finish my shift at dawn, attend lectures in the morning, and still find time to visit the hospital. I thought I was holding everything together, but looking back, I was barely standing."

"...."

"I started envying people who could just live normally. When I remembered my friends, I realized I had started pushing them away. I used to think, 'Ah, I used to live like them once.'"

Julius didn't say anything.

"But then I began finding them... annoying. Their presence all felt so shallow compared to what I was dealing with."

She looked ahead, her eyes distant.

"It wasn't their fault, of course," she said. "They didn't know what it was like to go home crying because you couldn't pay the electric bill. Or to wonder if you could even afford to stay in school the next semester. Some tried to help me, but most of them were just guys who wanted to get me into their bed."

Julius didn't expect her to open up like this. But he could tell she wasn't exaggerating.

"I learned quickly that pity always came with strings attached," Isolde continued. "So I stopped relying on anyone. By then, I had already figured out that people rarely do good things without wanting something in return. I stopped talking to my friends altogether. They thought I'd changed, and I guess they were right. I did. I had to."

"...."

"A bit of time after graduation, I met my husband," she said. "But... that didn't turn out so well. He left me and Anne for his career. He never even acknowledged that she was his daughter."

"...."

"My in-laws tried to help," she went on. "For a long time, I relied on them. Even recently, they were still helping out here and there. But once I started standing on my own two feet, it felt... shameless to keep accepting their kindness."

She gave a faint smile that seemed to hide her exhaustion.

"Still, I don't hate them. They've always treated Anne warmly. Sometimes, when I have too much work and no one to watch her, I still leave her with them. They adore her."

"...."

"She asks about her father sometimes," Isolde continued. "I tell her he's busy, that he's working somewhere far away. She doesn't remember him much, and maybe that's for the best."

Her hands tightened around the strap of her bag.

"It's strange, isn't it? I used to think I wanted him to come back. But now, I just want Anne to grow up without needing to know what kind of person he really was."

Then, she turned to Julius, who was watching her with a blank expression.

"Ah, I'm sorry," she quickly said. "I didn't mean to dump all that on you, Mister Schneider."

Julius didn't say anything. To think that a woman like her, someone who had fought through everything, who had kept going no matter how much life took from her, had been indiscriminately murdered by Dream in his previous life.

Back then, her death hadn't even been mentioned in the reports. But Julius had an idea regarding the details thanks to Anneliese.

"You've worked hard, Doctor."

That was all he could say.

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