"Hah... hah... Move faster!!!"

"Ugh!"

Nia yanked Liliana by the hair with one hand, pressing a knife to her throat with the other, dragging her toward the mansion’s side gate. Both stumbled, but Nia wore a sneer while Liliana’s face was pure terror.

"Please... please don’t do this, Nia..."

"Don’t do this? Ha!"

Nia jerked his arm wildly—the blade nearly slashed Liliana’s cheek.

"It’s always like this... everyone... you, Father, York, all of you... treating me like an idiot..."

"Please... spare me..."

"I made them regret it... made *you* regret it... Did you really think I was a fool? I’ll slaughter every last one of you... slaughter you all... but I can’t... CAN’T!!!! But—"

Nia paused, then twisted his lips into a grotesque grin.

"Yes... when I was suffering... I heard Lord God’s voice... Only *I* could hear it!"

*Lord God?*

Liliana froze. *What does he mean by "Lord God"?*

"Lord God comforted me... listened to my pain... told me... told me *how* to make those bastards who looked down on me pay... Haha... HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

*Wait—could it be?*

*Nia’s being manipulated too?*

*He’s just a pawn!?*

"Wait! Calm down, Nia! You’re being tricked... someone... someone’s using you!"

"Shut your whore mouth! Don’t... don’t you *dare* insult my Lord God! You understand *nothing*!"

"Please, Nia... be rational... I know I’ve wronged you before, but—"

"SHUT UP!!!!!"

*Shhk!!!*

The blade sliced her neck.

The blood vessel had been severed.

"Guh... glk... ahk..."

Liliana’s eyes widened in disbelief. She convulsed like a fish stranded on shore, fingers clawing at the wound—but blood gushed relentlessly. One final choked gasp escaped her lips before her body went limp on the ground.

Massive blood loss and potent poison combined to claim her life almost instantly.

"Huh... huh... huh..."

Nia panted heavily, staring blankly at his sister’s corpse—then burst into maniacal laughter.

"Heeheeheehee HAHHAHAHAHAHA!!! Of course! Of course! Why keep hostages?! Just kill them! Kill them all! No one will suspect me... no one can... Look! Lord God! I did it! I slaughtered everyone! I did well, didn’t I?! DIDN’T I?!!!!"

His laughter echoed through the empty corridor. After who knew how long, he stopped, kicked Liliana’s corpse viciously, and staggered toward the exit—

"...Huh?"

——————————————————

"Quite the ruse of self-inflicted injury, Lux. Nearly fooled me."

"My apologies."

"Chloe collapsed the ceiling. I barely escaped, using the dust as cover to slip away and reach here."

"So where’s that idiot Nia? And Liliana? What about your dear partner Nerlis?"

"Not your concern."

"Hmph. Let me guess: Nia took Liliana hostage and fled. Nerlis is either buried alive or chasing them like a headless chicken. Only you made it here. Alone."

"...Silence."

At the entrance to the secret chamber housing the Great Secret Treasure, the brothers faced off.

Lux—the true culprit who’d stolen three hearts—slowly turned, his smile eerily calm.

York’s face was storm-dark. He clutched a magic scroll between his fingers, glaring daggers.

Lux’s previously severed arm had regrown, but it was noticeably smaller than his other arm, the skin unnaturally pink and tender.

"...So you prepared a limb-regeneration potion in advance. Quite the investment."

"Modest efforts. One never knows which tool might prove useful."

"You’ll have no further use for them."

"Humor me, York. When did you realize *I* was the mastermind?"

"...Just now. Though my doubts began much earlier."

"Doubts?"

"That drug should only control one person per dose, with hours between uses... My suspicion started there, Shadow Attendants."

"...Ah. The Shadow Attendants. Of course." Lux shrugged.

"The first controlled Shadow Attendant killed Father—that’s certain. But Father had *two* Shadow Attendants, both elite assassins. Controlling just one would force him to silently eliminate his partner *first* before killing Father. One misstep, and the entire plan fails. Too risky for the crucial first step."

"...Correct."

"So I asked: How would the killer overcome this flaw? Improving the drug was unlikely—it’s the Demon King’s work. But what if... the controller wasn’t *one* person, but *two*? Many problems vanish."

"...Indeed. The half-day cooldown between controls was fatal. So for years, I secretly dosed that brat Nia with hallucinogens. Whenever possible, I hypnotized him, implanted suggestions, molded him... My efforts paid off. He became my puppet. When I was in cooldown, *he* took my orders to control others."

"...I see."

*Exactly.*

*Two culprits—not one.*

Once that clicked, the second conspirator was obvious.

Father, Anhans, and Molly were truly dead. York and Nerlis were trustworthy. Nia was exposed. Liliana was cleared. Ellen had been controlled. Chloe was rampaging.

By process of elimination... who remained?

Only Lux lacked a complete corpse. And in this era, faking bodies was trivial. His "death" also erased him from sight—he could do anything in that time.

The true killer: Lux. His lackey: Nia.

The architects of this nightmare.

"First the two Shadow Attendants. Then Anhans. Then Ellen. Finally Chloe... I wager Nia controlled Ellen to kill Molly, while *you* triggered Chloe’s rampage. Correct?"

"Spot on. Though things went awry—Shadow Attendants and Anhans’ bodies should’ve been destroyed. Ellen was meant to suicide after her task. Nia botched it."

"To vanish mid-game and clear suspicion, you faked death in the explosion, leaving an arm behind... The remains I found were prepped in advance? And you splurged on a teleportation scroll?"

"Precisely. I placed a fresh corpse at the blast site. At the last second, I swapped positions with it via teleportation scroll. The manor’s wards blocked external teleportation, but internal jumps worked fine."

"One more question... Why didn’t you and Nia control *both* Ellen and Chloe simultaneously? You could’ve had them slaughter us outright."

"You just escaped Chloe’s frenzy, didn’t you? If *you* escaped, others might too. If we unleashed them to kill, it had to succeed *perfectly*. One survivor, and everything collapses."

"Careful bastard... Last question."

York swallowed hard, forcing down the storm in his chest.

"Why... why did you do all this?"

"...Hah!"

Lux burst into mocking laughter.

"Don’t be naive, York. I did it because it was *worth it*!"

"...I see."

York raised an object, aiming it squarely at Lux’s torso.

"Then from this moment... you are the enemy of this family."

It was a small "L"-shaped metal device, easily hidden in a sleeve. One arm was a grip; the other ended in a black aperture now fixed on Lux.

"...A gun?"

Lux’s first flicker of surprise.

"Before coming here, I retrieved this from my room. A firearm—a tool from the baseline world, Earth. A non-mage’s best friend. Took considerable effort to acquire."

"Tch—!!!"

In a flash, Lux hurled a metal-sheet scroll as York pulled the trigger!

*Clang!!!*

A rock wall summoned by the scroll deflected the bullet. Seizing the gap, Lux lunged for a small syringe to jam into his shoulder—

"Drop it!"

York flung his tube-shaped scroll. Fire erupted, shattering the rock wall. Flying debris struck Lux’s hand—the syringe clattered to the floor! Lux tossed his last two scrolls as cover, scrambling to grab the syringe—

*BANG!*

"Eh...?"

*BANG! BANG!!*

Three shots. Two in the abdomen. One in the right chest.

York’s aim was uncanny. He’d secretly practiced with such weapons—Earth’s imports to Marae—and collected them obsessively.

"Ghk... Damn it..."

Lux collapsed to his knees, struggling to rise.

His arm buckled. He crashed face-first onto the stone, unconscious.

"Hah..."

*Done.*

York’s tension bled away. He immediately pulled out his sole healing scroll—he couldn’t let Lux die. He needed to know where the three hearts were hidden.

"...This brings no joy."

*You never truly know a person.*

His closest, most trusted brother—Lux—was the architect of it all.

York’s chest felt hollow.

"...Enough sentiment."

First, emergency treatment for this traitor—

*Shhk!!!!*

A silver flash. Blood misted the air.

The instant York neared Lux, the fallen man flipped over, blade flashing. York’s trousers tore; a shallow cut opened on his calf.

"Hah! So naive, York! *I’d* never approach a downed enemy without caution!"

Lux sprang up, tearing off his outer robe—

"Did you think *you* were the only one who collects artifacts from other worlds?"

Beneath it lay a thick black vest. Three charred holes marred its surface—bullet impacts.

"...A bulletproof vest?! You—urk!?"

York’s vision swam. Strength drained from his limbs. He collapsed, rigid and helpless.

*The cut on my leg—*

*Poison—*

That was his final thought before darkness swallowed him.

——————————————

"Done."

Lux exhaled slowly, stroking the vest.

...Lucky break.

This lightweight vest barely stopped York’s compact pistol. A larger caliber would’ve pierced it.

But the nuisances were finally gone.

Ellen’s mind was broken. Chloe was near-catatonic. Liliana was surely dead by Nia’s hand. And Nia? He could be disposed of anytime.

Lux peeled off the vest and undershirt, baring his chest.

Three jagged scars marred his left pectoral—still raw, throbbing with each heartbeat. But it didn’t matter.

As long as he felt the *four* heartbeats pulsing in his chest, he was at peace.

To break the seal, the rune-engraved heart must remain alive—which forced Lux to take this extreme measure: using Astroth’s legacy research, he implanted the three clan heads’ hearts into his own body one after another. He’d even removed his left lung beforehand to make room. Now four hearts pulsed in his chest—his own plus the three others. Only his original heart functioned as a true organ; the rest merely maintained a semblance of life. That was why he hadn’t poisoned their meals to kill them all at once—the toxins would have contaminated the hearts.

Victory was within grasp.

Nothing stood between him and the Great Secret Treasure.

Except—

“This poison is weaker than I imagined, Lux.”

“—Huh?”