"Damn..." Deon muttered.

He hated that the chat had noticed it before he fully put it together. But more than that, Deon hated how he treated Marcel’s last words like an emotional aftereffect, like the kind of spooky nonsense that only existed to build atmosphere.

But he forgot the fact that the mansion didn’t waste a thing.

"Birthday..."

Hana looked at him. "Elliot’s?"

"Most likely."

Jin blinked. "Wait, so the next insert is probably Elliot’s?"

"Probably," Deon said, still staring at the door. "Marcel’s regret was that he missed his son’s birthday. Rosaline’s whole garden was tied to how she failed to receive his gift. If the mansion is centered around family regrets, then Elliot’s birthday is too important to be random."

Mina frowned, one hand still supporting Nami. "Then where would it be?"

Deon turned away from the Main Door and looked across the entrance hall. The mansion stretched out in every direction. They had already cleared the Master Office and the Garden Wing, but the place was still far too large.

A birthday room could be anywhere. A child’s bedroom, playroom, or a ballroom...it could literally be any room! But if they were looking for the most obvious place...

Deon muttered without much thought. "The dining room."

Hana repeated it softly. "The dining room?"

"Yeah." Deon shoved both hands into his pockets. "If a noble family held a birthday party, they’d do it somewhere formal. Somewhere the whole family could gather."

Jin raised a hand. "Do we know where that is?"

"No."

"Great."

"But dining rooms are usually near kitchens," Deon continued. "And kitchens usually aren’t too far from the main hall in places like this. So we start checking the lower floor corridors."

Hana glanced toward the hallway before tugging at his sleeve. "But Deon..."

"What?"

"If Marcel kept missing Elliot’s birthday...would they really hold a big party for him?"

Deon paused, putting a hand on his chin. Annoyingly, she had a point. A birthday party needed people. And from everything they had seen so far, Elliot’s family had been very good at being anywhere except beside him.

So who was even there to celebrate it?

But still, they needed a place to start.

"We check the dining room first," Deon said. "If we’re wrong, then we’ll be wrong with more information than we have now."

Hana looked like she wanted to say more, but eventually nodded.

Vivian pushed herself off the railing. "Then hope it’s not gonna be our last supper."

"How foreboding..." Deon frowned, starting to descend deeper into the mansion.

The entrance hall slowly disappeared behind them, along with the faint blue glow of Marcel’s regret. For some reason, leaving it behind made the mansion feel even larger than before. As if the door had been the only thing reminding them that there was an exit at all.

There were fewer portraits in the lower corridor compared to the main hall. Deon’s gaze skimmed across them as he walked.

Marcel appeared in nearly every painting, shoulders straight and face stern. Rosaline sat beside him in some, beautiful enough that the painter had clearly been terrified to make a mistake. Elliot appeared too, usually smaller than everyone else, seated politely with his hands on his lap.

And then there was Leo. At least, Deon assumed it was Leo.

The older boy appeared standing behind Elliot’s chair in several paintings, with an expression that was caught in the middle—not quite an adult’s yet, but had clearly outgrown a child’s.

"Deon?" Hana called softly.

He stopped in front of one painting. It showed the family seated at a long dinner table. Marcel at the head. Rosaline beside him. Leo standing near the back, and Elliot sitting at the side with a tiny fork in his hand.

There were five plates on the table, but only four people in the painting.

Deon narrowed his eyes. "Found something weird."

The others gathered behind him. Jin leaned forward. "What is it?"

"Count the plates."

Mina looked once, then frowned. "Five."

Nami’s tired eyes moved across the painting. "But there are only four people."

Vivian stepped closer, trying to inspect it like an art connoisseur. "Maybe the painter forgot."

"Yeah," Deon muttered. "Because that’s definitely the kind of mistake a rich family would allow."

Yet, he shook his head as his nose caught a whiff of something—the smell of food. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"I think we’ve got something here," Deon said softly, following his nose to the source.

Jin’s stomach growled so loudly that it made everyone flinch. The boy stared before looking downward shyly. "Sorry...I haven’t eaten since before the first game..."

Now that I think about it...did I eat anything at all?

At the end of the hallway stood a pair of double doors, simple in decoration, almost too plain compared to the rest of the mansion.

Unlike the Rose Room, there were no flowers growing around it. And unlike the Master Office, there was no dust gathering in the corners.

A brass plaque hung above the door.

[Dining Hall]

Deon glanced at Vivian before nudging his head toward the door. "Wanna send your clone in first?"

She frowned. "You know we share senses, right...? If my clone gets skewered by some big spike, I feel that too..."

"Ugh fine," Deon groaned. "I’ll go first."

He put his hand on the door handle and pulled, feet light in case something were to spring at him.

Yet nothing did, and he was only met with food...an endless amount of it. They all sat upon a long banquet table that stretched from one end of the hall to the other, draped in white cloth and covered with all kinds of silverware.

Deon’s eyes moved across the table, but he couldn’t really control his stomach from growling and his foot from taking a few steps into the room. After all, just two days ago, he was munching on discounted rice balls.

Now with the spread in front of him...it was hard to resist.

Still, he tried to focus on the objective, scanning the area for any potential traps as well as clues.

No balloons, ribbons, cake, or candles...nothing that feels like a child’s birthday.

"...This isn’t it," Hana whispered, just as the rest filtered into the room.

"Yeah," Deon nodded. "Let’s just turn back and—"

But just before he could finish his sentence.

CRASH!

The doors behind them slammed shut, dust falling down from above. All their heads snapped toward their exit which was now sealed shut.

Deon’s eyes widened, as this situation was clear as day...they were trapped—

And they’d have to find an escape soon before they find out what the trap actually did...