“Let’s duel, just you and me!”
Isar was still struggling to wrap her head around the fact that Leon had just taken her out. “How did you… even manage that?”
“When we crossed paths in the hallway just now, you and Little Luo definitely didn’t have a k*ll card; if you did, you wouldn’t have turned tail and run.”
“But it’s only been a few minutes! That’s hardly enough time to complete a mission that grants a k*ll card… So how did you pull it off?”
But rather than pondering how Dad had taken out Auntie, Noia was more focused on a pressing question:
Where did Mom go?
According to what Auntie had just said, Dad and Mom should have been in this together, so why was it just Dad who swooped in like a superhero?
Noia lifted her little face to look at Leon.
He slowly replied, “I didn’t have a card that could directly eliminate players, but I do have… an Avenger card.”
Isar raised an eyebrow. “Avenger?”
“Yeah. If I witness a k*ll, I temporarily gain the ability to eliminate a player.”
But even with the Avenger card in Leon’s possession, Isar was still confused. “But when I took out Moon and Claudia, you weren’t even there! You couldn’t have triggered the effect, so how did you—”
She was cut off mid-sentence as realization struck her. Her red dragon eyes widened as she glanced at the cake in Leon’s hand, which had a tiny bite taken out of it.
Throughout the game, she had picked up on certain character abilities. For example, Little Luo had a Chef card that could inflict special negative effects with pastries, even to the point of poisoning someone.
In that moment, Isar fully understood. “Little Luo ate her own poisoned cake in front of you, eliminating herself and triggering your Avenger effect, right?”
Leon nodded.
At that moment, his face betrayed no emotion. But he didn’t appear upset about ‘sacrificing’ his wife either. This game was immersive, and using ‘self-harm’ to trigger the Avenger effect felt somewhat tragic. So Leon just couldn’t joke around about it with his sister.
After learning the full story, Isar sighed and then chuckled, “As expected… you two as a couple are quite formidable. I should have gotten rid of one of you earlier.”
Speaking of which, Leon had another question. “I suppose I could guess your strategy for taking someone out comes from your ability to spread diseases in the Pharmacy combined with your antidotes. That way, after each meeting, you can eliminate someone.”
“But even if you wanted to keep me and Roswiser alive until the end, you didn’t need to take out Little Light first.”
“If I were you, I’d go straight for Claudia. If she makes it to the late game, she’ll be a significant threat.”
Hearing this, Isar shrugged. “I can’t specify a target.”
“Can’t specify?”
“Yeah. Players who consume my secret antidote get eliminated after each meeting, but it’s random. I can’t control it.”
Isar explained, “To put it in terms of the card: everyone has different resistances to poison, so the effectiveness varies.”
“I see… but you’re really smart, Leon. You figured out my elimination method even under that kind of pressure.”
Isar had no qualms about praising her brother-in-law, “Including when you proved your innocence by saying you would stack your k*ll cards and strike when you had enough of them. I planned to wrap the game up in this round because of that.”
“Oh, right! Your luck is pretty good; you didn’t get eliminated by random chance.”
If Leon had been randomly eliminated after one of the meetings, then Isar would quite possibly have won by now.
“I won’t d*e from your random elimination,” Leon stated calmly.
Isar raised an intrigued eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Because after the disease outbreak, I didn’t take your antidote. I used the Mint Tea Roswiser gave me instead.”
“Oh! So you’ve been cautious from the start. I’m inclined to admit defeat graciously.”
Isar grinned. “Congratulations, brother-in-law! It seems you’ve managed to claim a small victory over me.”
Leon looked at the bite-marked cake in his hand, which still bore Roswiser’s faint lipstick mark.
After a moment, he quietly said, “But if I had noticed earlier, Roswiser might not have had to resort to that method.”
Isar tilted her head and added, “Brother-in-law, I have one last question for you.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Little Luo ate the poisoned cake in front of you, so her ‘body’ should be visible to you. You could have called an emergency meeting right then and there and teamed up with Noia to vote me out! Why use Avenger instead?”
By this time, Noia had pieced together enough clues to start doubting Auntie Isar’s identity. Plus, Auntie had just been “hunting” her moments ago.
So if Leon held an emergency meeting next to Roswiser’s ‘body,’ it was clear Noia would vote for Isar.
But Leon didn’t call the meeting; instead, he opted to use the Avenger ability.
Isar hypothesized that her brother-in-law might have been considering multiple factors. He could have been unsure if she had other unknown cards that might block or redirect votes. Or he could’ve been worried about Noia’s wavering stance since he didn’t know she had been pursued by Isar.
But what was the reason that made her brother-in-law, exuding sheer swagger, skip calling the emergency meeting?
The answer was—
“Because it looked cool.”
Isar: “……”
Noia: Yep, that’s my dad for you. I even suspect he was hiding behind the door, waiting until the last possible second to make his grand entrance.
Isar smirked, thinking how there’s no way two starkly different personalities could sprout from the same bed.
If Leon had self-eliminated, Little Luo probably would have made the same choice: skip the meeting and directly confront Isar.
As the recap concluded, the staff members who had been waiting on the sidelines stepped in to assist Isar.
“Alright, you two beat me fair and square! Now it’s time for the showdown between father and daughter. I’m heading to the observation room to enjoy the show~”
“Little Light, Moon, Auntie’s coming~”
Isar was taken away by the staff.
In the castle’s upper corridor, only Leon and Noia remained.
Little Roll stared at Dad’s face for a few seconds before cautiously taking a few steps back.
Leon paused and asked with a smile, “What’s wrong?”
“If you were on the good side, the game should end when Aunt Isar gets taken out. Unless… you’re the last wolf.”
At this point in the game, Leon didn’t need to hide anything anymore.
“Yep, that’s right. But I don’t have any k*ll cards left.”
However, he did have one card, Super Influence, which could turn one vote into five.
And with only him and his eldest daughter left, that meant Leon could trigger an emergency meeting next to Isar’s ‘body’ and win with a 5 to 1 vote.
But he had promised Roswiser he would let Noia win.
There was no way he would use the Super Influence card.
Yet Leon understood his daughter’s character; she wouldn’t accept an easy victory.
So, he wanted to see how his precious eldest daughter would make her last-ditch effort.
“Finally… Dad, it’s just you and me.”
Noia’s tone was serious, yet it carried a hint of excitement.
“What?”
With that tone and expression, was she challenging him?
Huh? I’m supposed to fight Noia?
Please, I can’t even beat Little Light! How could I go up against Noia? —
A cry from the depths of a daughter’s servant heart.
Noia slowly pulled a card from her pocket.
“Reincarnation Game: When only two players remain, we can force a 1V1 mini-game.”
“The winner of this mini-game will be the ultimate victor of this entire game.”
“So, Dad—”
“Let’s duel, just you and me.”
