But when Noah took out the projection stone, she found that it wasn't reacting at all.
"If it's not mine... then that means—"
["Player [Doctor] has been 'killed'; player [Doctor] has been killed."]
Isa froze on the spot, her delicate face full of shock, "Why... how could this happen..."
Creak!
The wooden door behind Noah slowly opened.
That familiar man stood behind her.
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[Avenger]
[When you personally witness a 'kill,' you immediately gain the ability to 'kill' once]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
And in his hand was a cake with a small bite taken out of it.
"You... how did you do it?", Isa still couldn't believe she'd been killed by Leon just like that.
"When we met earlier in the corridor, you and Little Rose definitely didn't have any kill cards. Because if you had, you wouldn't have turned and run."
"But now only ten-plus minutes have passed, not enough time for you two to complete a task that would earn a kill card..."
"So just how... did you do it?"
Compared to the question of how Daddy had killed Auntie, Noah was more concerned with, 'Where did Mommy go?'
'According to what Auntie just said, Daddy and Mommy should've been acting together. But why is it that the one who came to save the day was only Daddy?'
Noah raised her small face to look at Leon.
Leon slowly said, "I really didn't have a card that could directly kill a player, but I had... [Avenger]."
Isa raised an eyebrow, "[Avenger]?"
"Mm. If I personally witness a kill, then I temporarily gain the ability to kill a player."
However, even knowing Leon had the [Avenger] item card, Isa still didn't understand right away, "But when I killed Luna and Claudia, you weren't there for any of it. There's no way to trigger [Avenger]'s effect. So how—"
Mid-sentence, Isa suddenly stopped. Her red dragon eyes widened slightly, and she looked toward the cake in Leon's hand, the one with a bite taken out of it.
Throughout the game, she'd figured out part of the character abilities.
For example, Little Rose's [Royal Chef] could use pastries to apply special negative effects to targets, even to perform [Poison Kill].
In that moment, Isa suddenly understood.
"Little Rose ate the poisonous cake she made in front of you, 'eliminating' herself, triggering your [Avenger] effect, right?"
Leon nodded.
At this moment, there was no expression on his face.
But it didn't look like he was feeling negative emotions from having 'sacrificed' his wife either.
It was just that this game had a strong sense of immersion, and doing something like a 'self-kill' to trigger [Avenger] felt somewhat 'tragic,' so Leon just couldn't bring himself to joke about it with Big Sis.
Having learned the cause and effect, Isa sighed and then smiled, shaking her head.
"As expected... the two of you together are really strong. I should've eliminated one of you sooner."
On that note, Leon also had a question, "I can more or less guess your method of killing: using the [Alchemy Lab]'s disease transmission and your antidote, and then after each meeting ends, you get to kill one person."
"But even if you planned to keep me and Rossweise until the end, there was no need to kill Little Light first."
"If I were you, I'd have gone for Claudia-senpai right away. After all, she would be a big threat to you if she made it to the later stages."
Upon hearing that, Isa helplessly spread her hands.
"I can't choose my target."
"You can't choose?"
"Mm. Players who took my specially made antidote will be killed after each meeting ends, but the kill is random, I can't control it."
Isa said, "According to the item card: each person's resistance to poison varies, so the time it takes for the poison to take effect is also different."
"I see..."
"But you're really smart, Leon, being able to deduce my kill method under that much pressure."
Isa didn't hesitate to praise her brother-in-law, "Even when you were proving your innocence, you said you were saving up kill cards, and once you had enough, you'd strike at the people in play. I took that suggestion of yours, and decided to end the game this round."
"Oh right, your luck's also pretty good. Managing not to be randomly killed."
If Leon had been taken out during one of the meeting's random poison kills, Isa would probably have already won.
"I would never die to your random poison kill," Leon said calmly and confidently.
Isa raised her eyebrows with interest, "Why?"
"Because after the disease outbreak, I didn't take your antidote to remove the negative effect. I used the [Mint Herbal Tea] Rossweise gave me earlier."
"Oh, so you were that cautious from the start. Well then, I admit defeat."
Isa smiled, "Congrats, dear brother-in-law. I guess you finally scored a win against your big sister."
Leon looked down at the cake in his hand, which still bore a faint lipstick mark from Rossweise.
After a moment, he said softly and quietly, "But if I had realized earlier, maybe Rossweise wouldn't have needed to do this."
Isa tilted her head and said, "Brother-in-law, I have one last question."
"Mm, go ahead, Sis."
"Little Rose ate the poison cake in front of you, so her 'corpse' should've appeared next to you. That means you could've called a [Temporary Meeting] and worked with Noah to vote me out. Why did you use [Avenger] instead?"
By this point in the game, Noah had also pieced together Isa Auntie's abnormal identity through all the clues she'd gathered.
Not to mention that Auntie had just been "chasing" her all the way here.
So if Leon had called a [Temporary Meeting] next to Rossweise's 'corpse,' there was no doubt Noah would've voted for Isa.
Yet Leon didn't call a meeting. Instead, he chose to use [Avenger].
Isa figured her brother-in-law must've considered many possibilities.
Like whether she might have an unknown item card that could resist or redirect a vote;
Or maybe he was worried Noah would hesitate. Since Leon didn't know Noah had just been "hunted" by Isa when he rushed here.
So then... what kind of reason made this brother-in-law who turned the tide in a desperate situation not call a meeting?
The answer was—
"Because it looked cooler this way."
Isa: "..."
Noah: 'Yep, that's my Daddy. I even suspect he was hiding behind the door this whole time, waiting to come out at the last second for dramatic effect.'
Isa smiled helplessly and thought, "Truly, people who share a bed don't act too differently."
If Leon had been the one to self-sacrifice, Little Rose probably would've made the same choice. Not call a meeting, just go straight to blowing Isa up.
After the post-game recap, the staff who had been waiting nearby came over and supported Isa by the arm.
Isa looked toward Leon and Noah, "Alright, you two beat me. Next up is the showdown between you father and daughter. I'll head to the observation room to enjoy the show~"
"Little Light, Luna, Auntie's coming~", Isa was escorted away by the staff.
Only Leon and Noah remained in the corridor on the top floor of the castle.
The Little Curl Queen stared at her Daddy's face for a few seconds, then cautiously took a few steps back.
Leon was slightly surprised, smiling as he asked, "What's wrong?"
"If you were part of the good guys' faction, then after Auntie Isa was killed, the game should've ended. Unless... you're the last wolf."
At this stage of the game, Leon indeed had no reason to hide anymore.
"Mm, yeah. But I don't have any kill cards left."
However, Leon still had a [Super Influence] card, which could turn his one vote into five.
And now, the only remaining players were him and his eldest daughter.
Meaning, if Leon called a [Temporary Meeting] beside Isa's 'corpse,' he could win the game with a 5-to-1 overwhelming vote advantage.
But he'd already promised Rossweise that he'd let Noah win.
So he absolutely wouldn't use that [Super Influence] card.
But Leon also knew his daughter's personality, she would never accept a victory handed to her.
So now, Leon wanted to see how his precious eldest daughter would choose to fight her final desperate battle.
"Finally... Daddy, it's just you and me."
Noah's tone was serious.
But within the seriousness was a hint of anticipation.
"What?"
That tone, that expression, 'Wait, is she about to fight?'
'Huh?'
'I'm going to fight Noah?'
'Come on, I can't even beat Little Light, and I'm supposed to fight Noah?'
The silent wail of a father who spoils his daughter.
Noah slowly pulled out an item card from her pocket.
"[Desperate Reincarnation], when only two players remain, you can force a 1v1 mini-game."
"The winner of the mini-game is the final winner of the whole game."
"So, Daddy—"
"Come duel, just you and me."
———
In the first-floor hall, all the players who had been 'killed' had gathered to watch the final duel between father and daughter.
"Go Big Sis~ Go Daddy~"
"Noah-chan, go for it~"
Luna and Helena cheerfully acted as the atmosphere-building cheer squad.
Little Light was being held in Auntie's arms, her little tail wagging with excitement.
After all these dozens of hours of gameplay, Little Light had seen a lot of fun, but those moments always stopped just short, never enough to get her fully hyped.
But now, the final showdown between Big Sis and Daddy, this kind of fun was rare.
And compared to all those short-lived, fleeting bursts of fun, "a loving father and obedient daughter" was the kind of joy that only got better the more you savored it.
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