Vol. 4 Ch. 13

Around midnight, the memory stone delivered a message, announcing that the next meeting would start at 8:00 the following morning. Players were free to either rest or continue completing tasks until then.

Leon lay on the bed in his room, one arm tucked behind his head, idly tossing the memory stone in his other hand.

He couldn't sleep.

The reason was simple—this was his first time participating in such an immersive and novel game, and even Leon couldn't help feeling a little excited. It was normal to be restless.

However, he also didn't feel like venturing out to complete tasks in the middle of the night.

With 72 hours allotted for the game, resting for six to seven hours wouldn’t be a problem.

“By tomorrow's 8 a.m. meeting, that dragon queen will definitely launch a full-scale attack to get everyone to vote me out,” Leon thought.

He knew Rosvisser well enough to be certain she was capable of such a move.

As Isha had mentioned earlier, Rosvisser’s motives likely weren’t complex or strategic—she just enjoyed making life difficult for Leon.

She would never pass up an opportunity to cause him trouble.

If she managed to eliminate Leon early in the game, it would be a feat she could boast about for an entire year.

Leon would spend the next year enduring her proud retelling of, *“I, Rosvisser Melkvey, defeated the strongest dragon slayer at the start. How impressive is that?”*

To avoid getting "killed" by Rosvisser right at the beginning, Leon needed to come up with a solid plan for tomorrow’s meeting.

Lost in thought, time passed until it was the early hours of the morning.

Leon was still lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling and mentally rehearsing his speeches and strategies for the meeting.

Suddenly, he heard the lock on the door turn.

Leon tensed, lifting his head slightly to glance at the entrance.

The door creaked open slowly, allowing a beam of light from the hallway to spill in and illuminate two small shadows.

“Daddy, are you asleep? Moon couldn’t sleep and wants to snuggle with you,” said a familiar, soft voice.

Hearing his precious daughter’s voice, Leon almost responded immediately.

But he stopped himself.

When they had drawn their roles, Moon had picked the card for [The Princess’s Friend], which meant Noa.

With Moon's typically clingy attachment to her sister, it made more sense for her to go to Noa if she couldn’t sleep. This was true whether considering their relationship outside the game or their in-game identities. Seeking Leon, [The King’s Old Friend], didn’t quite fit.

After a brief analysis, Leon decided to pretend to be asleep.

“Daddy? Daddy?” Moon whispered again, trying a few more times to rouse him.

When there was still no answer, Moon turned to her companion and said, “Okay, Daddy’s asleep. Let’s go, Aurora!”

With that confirmation, the two small figures tiptoed into the room.

Leon smirked to himself. Of course, these two weren’t here because they couldn’t sleep; they must have another reason.

He continued his act, curious to see what they were up to.

“Aurora, are you sure the information we found points to Daddy?” Moon whispered.

Aurora glanced down at the clue card in her hand. On it was a single word:

**[The Only One]**

“Even if we can’t be 100% sure, he’s still suspicious. Plus, he didn’t attend the first meeting, so we have to check him out,” Aurora reasoned.

Moon nodded. “Alright, let’s hurry before Daddy wakes up.”

“Yeah!”

As Leon listened to their conversation, he picked up on the key term:

**[The Only One]**

What could it mean?

Was it a clue they had obtained from completing a task?

Leon knew that as the "lone wolf," this clue most likely referred to him.

Given that he hadn’t attended the first meeting, it was understandable for his daughters to suspect him.

Leon kept his breathing even and continued listening.

Moon and Aurora tiptoed around the room, carefully searching the sofa, coffee table, nightstand, bathroom, and refrigerator. But other than the initial starting box, they found nothing of interest.

“Daddy doesn’t have the Black Sacred Stone here,” Moon said, a bit disappointed.

“If I were the one who stole it, I wouldn’t hide it in my own room either,” Aurora said thoughtfully.

The girls exchanged ideas until they heard noises at the door.

Immediately, they froze.

“Is someone else here?” Moon asked nervously.

Aurora’s brows furrowed. She looked at the wardrobe beside them and whispered, “Hide first and see what’s going on.”

“Okay!”

*Whoosh*—both girls scrambled into the wardrobe, pressing themselves against the door as they listened intently.

“Do you think Uncle Leon will wake up and catch us sneaking in?” Helena whispered, voice filled with concern.

“No, I can charm him into staying calm if he does wake up,” Noa assured her.

The most competitive of the girls, Noa knew her father’s weakness—his undying affection for his daughters. He might as well have *“daughter-obsessed”* tattooed on his forehead.

Although Noa never really used this strategy to get her way, she mentioned it to put her friend Helena at ease, encouraging her to engage in a bit of mischief.

After all, it wasn’t the first time Noa had sneaked into her father’s room, but Helena had likely never done such a thing before.

“Oh, alright! Let’s hurry and search,” Helena said, motivated.

“Okay.”

Noa and Helena followed the same search pattern as Moon and Aurora had moments earlier.

Inside the wardrobe, Moon and Aurora peeked through a small crack in the door, their eyes wide.

“It’s Big Sis! (?▽?)” Moon whispered excitedly.

“And Helena...￣へ￣” Aurora’s tone shifted from delight to suspicion smoothly, matching their mother’s rapid change in expressions.

“Should we go out and join them?” Moon asked.

Aurora’s eyes darted around as she shook her head. “Not yet. If they see us, they’ll definitely ask what clues we found that led us to Daddy’s room.”

“But our role is [The Princess’s Friend], so sharing clues should be fine, right?”

“Second Sis, our cards only say we’re [The Princess’s Friends], not [The Guards’ Friends]. If Helena has her own hidden tasks or victory conditions, we can’t share our clues with her.”

Moon’s eyes lit up with realization. “Wow, Aurora, you’re so good at this.”

“Second Sis, if you didn’t get eliminated first every time we played Werewolf at home, you’d be as good as me,” Aurora replied, bluntly.

Moon: *o(╥﹏╥)o*

Meanwhile, Noa and Helena were also coming up empty-handed.

“Could our clue be wrong?” Helena wondered aloud, pulling out her card.

**[The Only One]**

Leon, lying in bed, couldn’t help but smirk.

*Seriously? This game is targeting me, isn’t it?*

*Why does everyone have this clue except me?!*

“Could it mean the only boy in the game?” Helena suggested.

Noa thought for a moment and shook her head. “It’s probably not that simple. This clue might refer to something more specific, not just ‘boy versus girl.’”

“Good point... We were thinking too simply.”

“Yeah, we’ll need to gather more clues.”

Despite being the prime suspect in his daughters’ minds, Leon felt a swell of pride.

*Good job, girls. You’ve all learned to think independently and analyze situations! Dad is proud of you!*

So proud, in fact, that he resolved:

*Once I eliminate your mother, I’ll come for you all too. The Melkvey family tradition of ‘fatherly affection’ can’t be skipped!*

Just as he finished that thought, Leon heard the door open again.

*What the—more people?!*

Noa and Helena heard it too and, just like Moon and Aurora, dove into the wardrobe.

Suddenly—

Noa: ?

Helena: …

Moon: (=.=)

Aurora: *Is this a battlefield? More like a battle-wardrobe! Let the drama begin!*

“What are you doing here?” Noa whispered.

Aurora blinked innocently. “Um... night jogging?”

“You jogged into Daddy’s room? Come on, at least make up a believable excuse!”

“Then why are *you* here?” Aurora shot back.

“For a midnight snack,” Noa said, deadpan.

“...Sis, seriously? It’s nearly 2:30 a.m. Who snacks at this hour?!”

“Shh! Someone’s coming,” Noa hissed.

The four girls fell silent.

Now the crack in the wardrobe door lined up with four wide eyes in descending order.

“Who is it?” Aurora whispered.

“By the shadow, it’s someone tall,” Helena answered.

“Mama, Aunt Isha, and Aunt Claudia are all tall.”

“They also have long hair.”

“Mama, Aunt Isha, and Aunt Claudia all have long hair.”

“They have a great figure.”

“Mama—”

“Alright, Aurora, we get it. They all have great figures,” Noa interrupted.

Aurora shook her head vigorously. “No, no, I mean the person coming—it’s Mama!”

The girls held their breath

, eyes glued to the scene outside.

The sound of heels softly clicked on the floor as a silver-haired figure approached Leon’s bed.

It was, indeed, Rosvisser.

Leon kept his expression perfectly neutral, inwardly thinking,

*Goodness, tonight really is a harvest. The little ones didn’t leave, and now the big one’s here. Did you get a clue about ‘The Only One’ too, my dear?*

Rosvisser stood gracefully by the bed, looking down at Leon with a confident gleam in her eye.

After a moment, she glanced at the clock on the wall.

Exactly 2:30 a.m.

The queen’s smile widened as she whispered, “Leon, let me ask you—about the Black Sacred Stone—”

But halfway through, she paused, the smile slipping from her face as she frowned slightly.

“Using 2:30 a.m. to extract information from him... It feels like taking too much advantage of out-of-game knowledge.”

Rosvisser scratched her temple, hesitated, then huffed softly.

“I don’t cheat.”

“But... I can’t waste such a perfect chance either, so let me ask you this.”

Leon’s thoughts raced: *Please don’t ask anything weird! Don’t ask anything weird! My daughters are right behind you!*

“Leon... do you plan...” Rosvisser bit her lower lip as the moonlight poured through the window, casting a soft glow on her slightly flushed face.

Her silver eyes trembled as she finished, “...to have another baby with me?”

Leon: ?

Noa: ? *pro*

Moon: ? *pro max*

Helena: ? *pro max super*

Aurora: (?▽?)!

*“Could it be... I, Aurora, am getting a little sister?!”*