The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Talia suddenly said, "What about the announcements ordered by the palace?"

Everyone looked at her, Mirai in particular regarding her with suspicion.

Talia’s breathing quickened under their gazes, but she continued, "I mean, an announcement from the Head Servant could come after our meeting, and although announcements are public statements and do not count as communication directed at anyone in particular, as that entity said, she could use one to convey specific meanings of her own choosing tied to particular events involving one of us; at that point, it would become private communication between her and the other person who understood the signal or intention behind her words—not merely a public announcement, but a private communication."

A brief silence fell as Ravian kept his gaze fixed on her.

Ravian had not expected the most precise observation to come from the most unsettled among them.

Fear had not diminished Talia’s ability to think. Instead, it had driven her mind to search for every possible path through which death might reach her. However, Mirai’s initiative and the broad authority her position gave her over the other participants had made her the primary target of Talia’s suspicion, diverting Talia’s thoughts and focus away from the true killer and the other methods through which the killer might communicate.

’And all of this works in my favor in the end anyway.’

Ravian was simply steering everyone in a particular direction out of necessity, only to change course completely and catch them off guard; the most important thing was to ensure that no one caught even a hint of the true direction he was looking in.

"From this moment onward, no two participants are permitted to agree on any private signal," Aldric said. "Anyone who has established a private signal with someone else since we entered the palace must reveal it now. We are already one person down."

"And if you haven’t noticed, that means the killer only has to eliminate five of us now... and it will be over."

A heavy silence settled over everyone in Elena’s room; they had no more than four days to identify the killer.

That was why Aldric was hoping for their cooperation.

So he waited for an answer.

But no one spoke.

His gaze passed over their faces one by one, but silence was all he received.

He had no way of knowing whether that silence meant no private signals existed or whether those who had created them had decided to keep them secret.

"Hmm?" Mirai murmured as she felt something move near her shoulder.

At that moment, the black task ledger hanging from Mirai’s shoulder trembled.

She quickly opened it and found that Elena’s name had turned gray, while new words had appeared beneath it.

{The position of Kitchen Supervisor is now vacant.}

{The Head Servant must redistribute her duties before the end of the first hour of the day.}

{Any deliberate failure to maintain the palace’s operations will be deemed a refusal to work.}

Mirai took in the message, her eyes returning once more to Elena’s name.

Then she read the announcement aloud for everyone to hear.

"Now, we need to assign people to take over for the one we’ve lost," Mirai said, her expression carefully balanced, showing neither excessive grief nor callous indifference.

"And he hasn’t forgotten to threaten us either," Sylvan said, narrowing his eyes in irritation.

"Her body hasn’t even gone cold, and he already wants us back at work," Garrick said.

"Our bodies have no warmth here to lose," Ravian corrected him. "And even if they did, no one in this world would care anyway."

Though his words might have sounded cold, they were the truth, and everyone understood that.

Mirai opened the task page and reviewed it for several seconds.

"No one can take charge of the kitchen on top of their own job," she said. "Elena’s duties will be divided. Kaiden will coordinate meals with the Eastern Hall, while Sylvan will review the kitchen stock alongside the cellar inventory. I’ll leave food preparation to the mirage servants unless the palace requires direct supervision from one of us."

Then she looked at Talia.

"You will remain in the northern wing. I won’t assign you to the kitchen today. I hope you’ll be calmer the next time we meet."

Talia took half a step back, as though merely being addressed by Mirai posed a threat, but she forced herself to nod without leaving just yet.

Mirai then communicated with Aldric about the kitchen keys, which calmed Talia, then spoke with Bran about the cloth needed to seal the pipes, and finally turned to Ravian.

"Rayan, we need black wax and thin paper from the Correspondence Office."

"I’ll get them," Ravian said with a nod.

All the while, he watched the way she moved from one name to the next.

Even after Elena’s death, Mirai was the calmest person in the room, second only to him. Wariness had not left her eyes, yet she did not look like someone who had lost the only means that might save her. Since the beginning of the morning, she had also made sure to communicate with Talia and Aldric—the two people any rational mage would choose to protect after what had happened: the former because she had become the most obvious target, and the latter because his far greater experience made him the primary mind behind their defenses, even if he lacked a certain measure of cunning.

That was not enough evidence, but it further reinforced Ravian’s earlier suspicion.

They began leaving Elena’s room one after another, with four of them set to return to inspect the pipe and the central column, though the latter would not be completely sealed so as not to disrupt the palace’s operations; the work would have to wait until they found and brought the proper tools.

Aldric was the last to reach the door. He stopped, then looked back at the corpse once more.

His plan had not failed merely because he had overlooked a pipe.

It had failed because it assumed the killer would try to break the system he had established, while the killer had simply used a part of the palace that had never been part of the system, the mind games, or the rules in the first place.

The new plan, however, was far better.

It would seal the pipes, monitor the participants, and make each person’s last public communication known.

For that very reason, it was even more useful to Ravian.

The more confident they became that every route was now being watched, the more effective the one route they had failed to see would become.

Ravian’s gaze moved between Aldric, Garrick, and Kaiden.

Then he quietly left the room.

’One of you will create it for me with his own hands.’

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