After drinking the [Mint Tea], Leon didn't immediately discard the "antidote" candy. Instead, he carefully stored it in a small, empty trinket box for safekeeping.
This was his backup plan.
The "Fate of All" event involving the [Alchemy Room Disease] had appeared so suddenly and suspiciously that Leon's instincts screamed for caution. He couldn't be completely sure if his eldest sister, Isha, had given him a genuine antidote, and he couldn't afford to gamble his survival in the game. So, he had preemptively used the precious [Mint Tea]—originally saved for the late game—to cleanse the disease's effect.
If it turned out his sister was indeed trustworthy, he'd now have a safe, verified antidote in reserve. All in all, it was a move born of necessary caution. And he owed this clever bit of foresight to Rossweise. If she hadn't insisted he take the [Mint Tea], he would still be agonizing over the risk.
After a brief rest, Leon left his room again. His primary objective was to move the Black Sacred Stone. He went to the communal kitchen, retrieved the stone from its hiding spot beneath the water tank, and then headed to the main hall on the first floor. After a careful glance to ensure the coast was clear, he hid the stone inside a hollow compartment in a suit of guard armor standing near the conference room entrance.
He had noted this armor during the morning meeting. The first-floor hall was functionally barren, containing only the conference room with no other tasks or special scenes. This made it a far less trafficked and therefore safer hiding spot than the busy kitchen.
Mission accomplished, Leon returned upstairs. Coincidentally, he ran into his daughters from the [Princess's Friends] group at the end of the hallway.
"Daddy!" Muen's sweet voice called out as she tugged Aurora along, running toward him.
Leon squatted down to their level with a smile. "What's up? Working on a task?"
"Mhm! But it's a three-person task, so we wanted to ask Daddy to join us," Muen explained.
Leon was more than happy to spend time with his daughters, but he asked casually, "Why not ask your big sister to come along?"
At this, Muen's bright expression instantly clouded over.
Leon was surprised, unsure of how he'd upset his little girl. He looked to Aurora for clarification.
Thankfully, the ever-observant pink-haired daughter had it figured out. She leaned close to Leon's ear and whispered, "After the [Seven-Day Lock of Love] wore off, second sister was forced to separate from big sister. Then, big sister went off with Helena to do a bunch of two-person tasks, so second sister got... like this."
"Hmph, what's so special about that? Aurora and I can do tasks too, and we're way faster than Helena!" Muen grumbled, crossing her arms.
Leon scratched his head inwardly. Ah, sister complexes sure are hard to handle...
He felt a twinge of guilt. If he had been there for his daughters since their birth, perhaps Muen's attachment wouldn't be quite so intense. But then again, he didn't truly want her to change. Whether she was fiercely attached to her sister or him, what mattered most was that their family was whole and together.
He patted Muen's head gently. "Then let's see if we can find another [Seven-Day Lock of Love] card so you can play with your sister again."
Muen's eyes sparkled with renewed hope. "Really, Daddy? Are there more of those cards in the castle?"
Leon nodded. "Yep. Some item cards are duplicates. Just like how Mom and I were locked together earlier, and you found one to use with your sister, right?"
Muen blinked, tilting her head in adorable confusion. "Daddy, how did you know I used the [Seven-Day Lock] on my sister?"
The whole world knows, sweetheart! Your wonderfully honest face is incapable of hiding any secrets!
"Alright, second sister, it doesn't matter how Daddy knows," Aurora interjected enthusiastically. "What matters is that since there are more [Seven-Day Locks of Love] in the castle, you have a chance to bind with big sister again!"
"Great!" Muen declared, her spirits fully restored. "This time I'll find three... no, five—no! Ten! I'll find ten [Seven-Day Locks of Love] so I can be with big sister for the entire game!"
Leon chuckled wryly. His second daughter's passions were simple and absolute: enjoying the treats her father brought her and staying close to her big sister.
Standing up, he took each daughter's hand and accompanied them to complete the three-person task. It wasn't difficult, and with their father's help, they completed it with ease.
The reward was a new clue card. Leon read the text aloud: ["That thing is cursed! It must be destroyed... it must be destroyed!"]
He furrowed his brows. "It sounds like someone's frantic words."
Aurora rubbed her chin, her little brain working quickly. "If we apply it to this game, this could represent a player's main task. Their objective might be to destroy 'that thing.'"
Muen looked back and forth between her dad and little sister, her own mind churning. "Then this 'thing' must be the Black Sacred Stone, right?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too," Leon murmured thoughtfully. "But who could have said this?"
He recalled the clue card he and Rossweise had found, stating there were at least two lone wolves. Since he was one, these words were likely from the other lone wolf. If his task was to hide the stone, and the other's was to destroy it, then the situation was clear—the two lone wolves were destined for a direct confrontation.
As the three of them pondered this, Aurora's Memory Stone suddenly activated with a stark, automated voice message:
"[Friend B], you have been 'killed.' [Friend B], you have been 'killed.'
Killed?!
The brief, brutal notification left them all stunned.
"What happened? Aurora, how did you get killed out of nowhere?" Leon asked, utterly baffled.
"I... I don't know, Daddy!" Aurora stammered, equally shocked.
She instinctively patted herself down, checking for any strange items or effects. Nothing seemed amiss. She glanced back toward the room where they had just completed the task—still, nothing unusual. Just like that... she was eliminated!
A cold fear quickly spread among them. Even Leon was unnerved by this mysterious, remote attack method.
How Leon imagined an attack would happen: The killer silently sneaks up, ending the target's life in an instant.
How the actual attack happened: The killer strikes from an unknown location, manipulating the situation from afar.
Aurora buried her fingers in her hair, her pink gemstone-like eyes brimming with frustration. "Oh, this is so unfair!"
"Oh, Aurora, don't be sad. Maybe there's a revival card somewhere," Leon tried to console her.
"Yeah, Aurora, I'll stop looking for binding cards and help you find a revival card!" Muen added with sincere determination.
But Aurora shook her head, a dramatic sigh escaping her. "No, Daddy, second sister, I'm not sad about being out. I just feel... it's a shame I won't get to see you all clashing and scheming anymore!"
Leon & Muen: ...
Aurora sighed again, more exasperated this time. "Why did it have to be me? I just wanted to watch the drama unfold. What did I do to deserve this?"
Soon, a game staff member arrived.
"[Friend B] Miss Aurora, please come with me. We'll escort you to the Divine Observation Room, where you can view the entire game from a god's-eye perspective."
Sparkle!!
Aurora's eyes lit up with immediate and utter delight.
Watching the drama from a god's-eye view was infinitely more entertaining than a limited first-person perspective! Why didn't they say so earlier? She might have considered getting herself eliminated sooner!
And so, the once-disappointed pink-haired girl happily followed the staff member away, leaving her father and sister standing in the hallway, completely bewildered.
"Oh my god, Daddy! Here we are, scared stiff of some killer striking from the shadows, and Aurora's happily going off to watch the show!" Muen exclaimed, hands on her face in disbelief.
Leon could only cover his face with his hand. "In any case... let's call an emergency meeting before that killer decides to take us out too."
"Alright."
The rules allowed for an [Emergency Meeting] to be called when a player was eliminated. Ten minutes later, all remaining players except Aurora gathered in the conference room.
Naturally, Rossweise noticed her youngest daughter's absence immediately. "Where's Aurora?"
"She got killed," Leon explained gravely. "Muen and I called this emergency meeting because Aurora was suddenly eliminated right next to us without any warning or visible cause."
As the first "kill" since the game began over twenty hours ago, it instantly drew everyone's intense focus.
"Killed without warning?" Noah asked, her voice tight.
"Yes. We'd just completed a task together, were chatting about a clue, and then... it just happened."
Even though some time had passed, recalling the scene of that "distant killer" still sent a chill down Leon's spine.
"Did Aurora come into contact with anyone else before she was killed?" Rossweise pressed, her silver eyes sharp.
Muen shook her head. "No, it was just me and Aurora together the whole time. In the evening, we wanted to complete a task, but it required three people, so we asked Daddy to join us."
"Leon was with you..."
This pointed comment came from Claudia. The elegant Sea Dragon Princess looked at Leon with her calm blue eyes. "Then, could it be that Leon secretly killed Aurora?" She continued, "I have a clue card that states there are at least two lone wolves in this game. Lone wolves likely have different tasks than the rest of us. And since Muen and Aurora's friends group is definitely on the good side, eliminating one of them could provide a significant advantage to a lone wolf."
To the accusation from his formidable "mother-in-law," Leon replied with calm logic:
"Senior, your logic has a flaw. You're assuming right from the start that I am the lone wolf. Any conclusions based on that assumption are inherently unreliable. Unless... you have concrete evidence proving I'm the lone wolf?"
Claudia nodded slightly, conceding the point but not retreating. "I can't confirm you're the lone wolf, but it is an undeniable fact that Aurora was killed immediately after completing a task with you."
"I agree with Claudia," Isha added, her tone light but her eyes serious. "My brother-in-law is highly suspicious. This emergency meeting could very well be his self-inflicted move to create the illusion of a long-range killer. This way, if another kill happens, we'll keep suspecting a remote attack and won't look closely at him."
"But if Daddy killed Aurora, why didn't he take me out too?" Muen protested, loyalty overriding strategy.
Finally, Helena spoke up to offer a plausible theory. "The game rules say only players with 'kill-type item cards' can kill others. Maybe Uncle Leon only had one kill card and had to choose his target?"
"That still doesn't make strategic sense," Leon countered firmly. "If I were a wolf with only one kill card, I wouldn't use it so early and recklessly. I'd save it for a counter-kill if another wolf targeted me, or wait until I had multiple cards to launch a coordinated strike. Picking players off one by one only gives the good side time to organize and react."
Rossweise, who had been listening intently, looked directly at Leon. "Let's not start by assuming you're the wolf. We want to hear your own thoughts on what happened."
Ah, leave it to his wife to throw him a lifeline and demand a proper explanation.
Leon gathered his thoughts. "First, my conclusion: I believe this wolf does indeed have the ability to kill from a distance. However, there must be a catch—they can likely only kill one person at a time, or the ability has a significant cooldown period. If they could kill remotely without any limitations, the game would be impossibly unbalanced and unwinnable for the rest of us."
His reasoning was met with low murmurs as the others considered it.
After a moment, Isha spoke again. "Your logic about the killer's ability makes sense, brother-in-law, but it doesn't actually clear you of suspicion."
Seriously? Leon thought, grumbling internally. Why are my sister-in-law and "mother-in-law" so adamantly gunning for me?
If he couldn't prove his innocence soon, he would likely be voted out in this very round. And while his true role was indeed the lone wolf, he had no intention of taking the fall for the other lone wolf's actions!
But proving a negative is always the greatest challenge. Leon racked his brain, unsure how to definitively prove he hadn't killed Aurora. He seemed to be at a dead end.
"I have a [Detective] card," Rossweise announced, her voice cutting through the tension.
Leon's eyes lit up; it felt like a glimmer of hope. In crucial moments, his wife was always his most reliable ally!
[Rossweise's internal monologue: No one else gets to harm or falsely accuse my husband. That's right, that privilege is mine and mine alone.]
"The game rules forbid using item cards during the meeting itself," Rossweise continued, her plan forming. "So, we can adjourn this meeting without a vote. I will immediately use my [Detective] card on Leon once we're dismissed. If he didn't kill anyone, he's cleared for now. If he did... then we all know what to do at the next meeting. How does that sound?"
While her proposal was pragmatic and followed the rules, her timely intervention warmed Leon's heart. After all, she had just hours ago declared she would vote against him no matter what. Yet here, presented with a golden opportunity to see him eliminated, she was using her precious [Detective] card to give him a chance to prove his innocence.
Such a great wife! he thought, his affection surging.
Time to reward her with a fourth child when we get home.