"Showing your true colors now, aren’t you?" Deon laughed softly. "Funny. Weren’t you the one calling me a murderer a few hours ago? And now you’re holding everyone’s exit hostage?"

Several contestants gasped as the implication sank in, the fear in their eyes slowly turning into something worse.

Deon took one slow step forward. "So let’s make this simple. Put the box down."

"No," Martin shook his head, before pointing at Hana. "Give me her Card, the one that made you fast in the garden. And we’ll call it even."

Hana immediately gasped, hand moving toward her pocket by instinct. The smile on Deon’s face vanished.

Vivian’s eyes narrowed, her hand already drifting toward Martin’s direction. "Old man..."

Martin flinched at her voice, but the jewelry box rose in his hands before anyone could move.

"Don’t!" he shouted. "Don’t come any closer!"

Deon simply sighed before digging into his pocket and pulling out the rose-shaped key, holding it between two fingers. "You mean you want to trade me for a box you can’t even open?"

Martin’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

Deon took another half-step forward, not close enough to make Martin panic, but close enough to drive the point home. "You have the box, and I have the key..."

"Come on, old man. We all just want to leave this place. Put the box down, and I’ll overlook the fact that you tried to steal it."

The old man’s face twisted, like he might actually listen. His eyes moved from the key in Deon’s hand, to the box in his own arms, then toward the crowd that was now staring at him.

But in the end, he swallowed. "No."

Martin shook his head harder. "No...no, I know how this works."

"How what works?"

"You say you’ll overlook it now," Martin said, voice rising. "But what happens after this room? After this game?"

His eyes darted toward the others before snapping back to Deon.

"What happens when we’re in some hallway and nobody’s watching? What happens during the next game? Or the one after that?" His voice cracked. "You think I’m stupid enough to believe you’ll just let this go?"

Deon stared at him. "You’re making a very strong argument for why I shouldn’t."

Martin’s face paled, but desperation kept his mouth moving.

"See? See! That’s exactly what I mean!" He hugged the jewelry box closer to his chest. "The moment I hand this over, I’m dead. Maybe not now. Maybe not in front of everyone. But eventually."

"So no. I’m keeping it!"

Several contestants looked at one another, uncertainty spreading through them. Martin was selfish. But the fear and logic in his voice was real enough to infect the room.

And that was when Joshua stepped forward. "Everyone, slow down."

Joshua Birkin stepped in between them with one hand pressed against his wounded shoulder, but still he remained firm.

"Mr. Wells is clearly frightened," Joshua said. "Pressuring him any further may only make him act rashly."

He continued. "And we should also consider another possibility. We do not actually know what is inside that box."

Hana blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It may contain the insert," Joshua said calmly. "But it may also contain another clue. Or a trap. Or nothing at all. This mansion has already proven that it’s unpredictable."

A few contestants murmured. The spear user frowned, still clutching his bleeding cheek. "So what? We just let him keep it?"

"For now," Joshua said. "We’re not in a rush...yet. "

"Until we gather more information, the safest course is to prevent the box from being damaged. If Mr. Wells holding it reduces the chance of immediate destruction, then we should not force the issue here."

But the longer Joshua spoke, the less Deon found himself looking at the box. His eyes were on the politician instead.

As the self-proclaimed leader of the crowd, why the hell doesn’t he want to see what’s in the box? It’s so obvious that an insert would be inside that box.

He would know that if he wanted to control the fearful masses, the best thing would be to show them the first fragment, give them hope that they can get out of this.

And yet...he’s delaying it? Unless...controlling the crowd wasn’t his motive in the first place?

"Tch...fine," Deon turned and started heading back. "Keep the goddamn box if you want to. But just know, the moment I catch you out of this mansion..."

"Hiieek!" Martin flinched, almost stumbling over himself.

The group followed him out of the Rose Room one by one. Hana looked back once, eyes lingering on the framed memories lining the walls. Jin did the same, though his gaze seemed fixed more on the jewelry box in Martin’s arms than the paintings.

Vivian was the last to leave. She passed Joshua without looking at him, but it was obvious she knew something was going on.

The moment they stepped back into the garden, the cleared sky greeted them again.

The pavilion looked peaceful now, almost beautiful, as if a murderous tea party had not nearly torn them apart only minutes ago.

Deon hated it. He hated the sunlight. He hated the roses. He hated the fact that the first insert had been sitting within reach and still somehow ended up farther away than before.

Jin dragged his feet behind them. "So...what now?"

"Back to square one," Deon sighed. "Worse than square one."

He stopped near the edge of the glass doors and looked up. The mansion’s timer still hung beyond the glass-like sky of the garden, still counting down.

[38:12:44]

48 hours to find 5 inserts. If we want to escape before zero, we need to find roughly one insert every nine and a half hours.

But ten hours have already passed, and the actual progress? Nothing. One possible insert hostage, and four completely unknown locations.

"Deon?" Hana asked quietly. "What’s the plan?"

He shook his head. "I don’t know, we’ll need to keep looking around I guess. Maybe there are some clues on the other inserts."

"Tch..." he clicked his tongue once more. "If only we had one insert, we’ll know what it looks like and what we should be looking out for..."

But just as soon as he said it, Vivian tapped his shoulder. Deon turned, irritation still plastered across his face. "What?"

Vivian tilted her head with a small smile. "You mean something like this?"

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, blackened piece of paper. For a second, Deon didn’t understand what he was looking at.

Then his eyes widened. "The burnt sixth letter? What does that have to do with—"

"See, when you all were busy," she cut him off. "I actually had a look at the sockets and realized that one of them is suspiciously shaped like a burnt piece of paper."

"So I tried it and...voila."

Deon tilted his head in confusion. "How? Weren’t you with us the whole time?"

"Yeah," she nodded, then tapped against her pocket. "I sent my clone to do it."

Of course...in classic Vivian fashion...

"You could’ve told me earlier."

Jin pointed weakly at the paper. "Wait...so that thing is actually one of the inserts?"

As if waiting for someone to say it out loud, the system flickered.

[Insert Acquired.]

[Marcel’s Secret — Sixth Letter]

[Rosaline’s Bitterness — Jewelry Box]

[Current Party Inserts: 1/5]

[Known Inserts: 2/5]

"Hehe...thank me later."