Only five minutes remained until the banquet ended.
Moezhi scratched her head, racking her brain, but still hadn’t come up with a single clue.
The envelope, the claw marks, the right side of the face… damn it!
Putting these together still didn’t form a coherent sentence.
Staring at the pale white skull on the plate, its pitch-black eye sockets seemed like abysses devouring her sanity, making her even more unable to think.
The moment her gaze met those black holes, her mind turned into a mush.
For a brief instant, she even forgot her own existence, only blankly staring at the skull.
Nearby, quietly watching the expression on Moezhi’s face, Landis smirked slyly as she saw her eyes growing more and more dazed.
She turned to glance at the pendulum clock, gently wrapping her arms around Moezhi, patiently waiting for the arrival of nine o’clock.
Almost there.
In five minutes, she’d have more time to play with her little kitty…
Even if she had to use some unseemly methods, it didn’t matter—after all, she had already given hints.
If there was any blame, it was on the little kitty’s own lack of skill.
“Tick-tock, tick-tock—”
Lost in thought, two more minutes passed on the pendulum clock, but Moezhi still stared unblinking at the skull as if hypnotized, her pupils completely unfocused.
Her bangs hung slightly over her eyes, adding a disheveled, broken touch to her dazed state, but even when strands of hair brushed her eyeballs, she showed no reaction.
Dressed in a long gown that reflected the warm light like jade, she looked exactly like an exquisite doll, dazedly staring in one direction, unable to think at all.
‘This looks awful…’
“Eh?”
Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice echoed in her mind.
She felt she had heard this voice somewhere before—it sounded almost exactly like her own, but filled with arrogance and disdain.
Landis’s eyes also showed surprise at this voice.
At that moment, the drifting consciousness finally returned to her body. Her pupils refocused, and her mind cleared.
She had no idea what had just happened.
When she looked at the clock again, only two minutes remained.
Panicked, she tried to look back at the skull for clues, but just as her gaze was about to move, a sharp voice stopped her.
‘Idiot, haven’t you noticed something strange?’
Idiot…? Was she calling herself an idiot?
She snapped angrily at the voice in her head: ‘You! Disappearing and reappearing like this all these years, what do you want now?!’
The voice sighed, speaking words even harder to bear: “You really have no brains at all.”
‘You jerk!’
‘Open your eyes wide and look closely.’
As soon as those words fell, Moezhi noticed a faint purple glow appear before her eyes, and everything in her vision became blurry.
When her pupils focused on the skull, she saw tiny purple spots scattered across it, clearly different from the surrounding blur.
‘What… is this?’
‘It’s magic. You idiot, she’s cast an illusion spell on you and you didn’t even realize.’
‘Illusion magic?! That witch!!’
‘From the start, she never wanted you to complete this game, but you still foolishly searched for clues, even sacrificing your dignity for so-called hints.
You’ve really embarrassed me.’
Moezhi’s face flushed crimson with anger, but held in Landis’s embrace, her anger turned to despair: ‘Then what do I do? There’s hardly any time left…’
‘I wasn’t going to interfere, but seeing you mocked like this is making me lose face! Fine, I’ll tell you the answer. These tricks are leftovers from my games.’
****
The clock chimed. Both the hour and minute hands pointed to the quarter to nine.
With the chime came Landis’s triumphant smile.
“Time’s up, little kitty.”
She rested her chin on Moezhi’s right shoulder, deliberately letting her sticky breath brush against Moezhi’s ear.
Moezhi twitched her ear in disdain, then let out a confident snort.
“We know the answer! The ones who ate his left face are the traitors!”
“Oh?”
A flicker of surprise appeared in Landis’s eyes, but she quickly suppressed it.
With an amused tone like teasing a child, she asked, “Then I’d love to hear how my beloved came to that conclusion.”
Moezhi cleared her throat and repeated what the voice in her head had told her.
“You see, the bird you used to deliver the message wasn’t a carrier pigeon or a crow, but a kind of magical beast bird from the East, commonly called Mo Huangxin.”
“This magical beast bird has a special trait—it can sense others’ heartbeats! When it senses a calm heartbeat, it releases the envelope held in its right claw and delivers it to the destination. But when it senses a rapid heartbeat, it lets out a loud cry to the sky, opens its left claw, and the envelope it holds falls.”
“And the two envelopes are different: the one in the left claw says ‘ate his left face,’ while the one in the right claw says ‘right face.’”
Landis chuckled softly, speaking in a teasing tone again: “Then my dear, do tell me why the one who ate the left face must be a traitor?”
“The traitors, upon learning of his death, would be terrified. They knew you’d conduct a massive purge, so when they received the letter, they’d be extremely panicked—their hearts racing! The Mo Huangxin sensed the rapid heartbeat and released the envelope from its left claw.”
In that land, this bird was often used for confessing love—placing a lilac flower on its left claw and a yellow rose on its right, then letting the Mo Huangxin fly to the beloved.
When the lilac, symbolizing love, dropped, it signified the beginning of a beautiful union.
When the yellow rose, symbolizing rejection, fell, it marked a sorrowful tale.
Who would have thought this girl would use something so romantic to find traitors? It was truly hard to accept…
“So the ones who ate that man’s left face must be the traitors who got the letter on the left claw. Those are the people you’re going to kill tonight. Am I right?”
The person behind her remained silent.
Moezhi swallowed nervously, not daring to meet Landis’s eyes.
Just when she thought something was wrong, a dissatisfied voice suddenly sounded: “How boring.”
“Huh?”
Landis picked up Moezhi like a doll and placed her on the throne, then stood and clapped her hands.
“Guards, kill them all.”
“Bang!”
The Hall’s doors suddenly burst open.
A group of soldiers clad in black armor charged in, pinning the nobles to the ground.
Some nobles tried to scream in panic, but their cries were instantly silenced by silver swords piercing their skulls.
Blood mixed with brain matter spilled out, and the Hall filled with an increasing number of screams.
Flesh and blood scattered everywhere—the floor, walls, even the stained glass all dyed scarlet.
The wine in the goblets stained with blood looked even redder, until the entire Hall was bathed in a sea of crimson.
Moezhi was too shocked to speak.
By the time she came to her senses, all the nobles had been turned into a bloody pulp.
“W-wait! Didn’t you say only traitors would be killed?! Why kill them all? Some of them are innocent!”
Landis turned her head, her deep, dark eyes fixed unblinkingly on Moezhi.
With an innocent tone, she said, “When did I say only traitors?”
“These nobles have all done bad things to some degree. What’s wrong with killing them?”
“But…”
She wanted to say more, but the next second Landis pressed her down onto the throne, her deep purple eyes radiating unprecedented pressure.
“I originally only wanted to kill the traitors, but my beloved has upset me today. I can’t bear to hurt you, so I’ll just vent my anger on them.”
Moezhi completely lost control and shouted angrily, “You tyrant!”
Landis paid no mind, her expression unchanged.
Staying here would only make Moezhi more agitated.
She tried to stand and said, “Let me go! My sister’s still waiting for me!”
“Sister…”
Landis murmured softly, her eyes growing even darker…