Chapter 8

After a fitful sleep, Daphne was woken up by a scream of "Mia!" and her heart sank, knowing she would have to lie once more.

She ran over to Mia's room, where Mia was lying, dead on the floor, a stab wound at her abdomen. But that wasn't the surprising thing. The surprising thing was that 3 was lying on Mia's desk, an identical stab wound in his abdomen, but his head was bashed in as well. There was a pool of blood on the desk and an area that was bashed in, and there was a bloody knife next to him. "What happened here?"

William walked into the room and looked surprised and horrified at the same time. "Why are there two dead bodies?"

Eli was bent over the bodies. "I think the 3 was a Murderer."

"Why do you say that?" 1 asked.

"Well, the Murderers can't kill two people in one night. I think that 3 and the other Murderer came in with a knife to stab Mia, but when they did, Mia put up a struggle and stabbed 3 in the abdomen. The other Murderer fleed the scene in a panic."

"But we're not allowed to kill or fatally injure a player, Murderer or not," Sophia raised an eyebrow.

"This is my hypothesis. After the other Murderer fled the scene in a panic, it left 3 and Mia in her room. I think the stab wound wasn't lethal, so 3 decided to strangle her." Eli gestured to Mia's neck, which was covered in finger-shaped bruises. "After that, he would have got up to leave, but blood loss can make you dizzy. He might have stumbled on the chair leg, which explains why the chair is on the ground. When 3 tripped, he smashed his head against the desk, bashing in both his head and the part of the desk."

Kiana nodded. "That does make sense. Come on, we should go down first and see if we can eat anything, then discuss what happened."

As they were all heading down for breakfast, Daphne stopped Eli. "What happened?" Daphne hissed. "You're not allowed to kill more than one player!"

Eli smirked back but didn't answer. "Later, if anyone asks what your role is, hesitantly say that you're a Twin. I'll take care of the rest."

"Wait-" Eli had already walked away. Daphne felt nausea that she had felt earlier become worse. She was lying to her friends, and she was killing them off, too. She felt absolutely horrible. She wondered what would happen if she revealed herself, but the voice in her head stopped her again. Sighing, she joined the rest of the players downstairs and tried to force down some food.

"I think Eli's hypothesis was probably true," 5 grudgingly admitted, later on.

"It's the most logical conclusion," William agreed.

1 turned to Daphne. "Tell us your role."

"W-why? I already told you why I can't!"

"If what Eli said is true, then there are six roles and seven players left. Only one of us is a Peasant. I want to see what role you have to confirm what you are so that we can narrow things down."

Daphne opened her mouth, trying to say that she was a Twin, but she paused. What if she just kept quiet? She would be under suspicion and voted out, but she deserved it. Maybe she could just let herself die because she was a horrible person?

"She's a Twin. My Twin, to be more exact," Eli put an arm around Daphne. "Anyone who claims they are the Twins are lying, though no one will because we're the real Twins."

Daphne closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, waiting for someone to say that they're the real Twins. However, after a few minutes, no one spoke up. Daphne had mixed feelings, relieved that she wasn't going to be caught on in a lie and be killed, but also sad that she had to continue lying and killing her friends.

"Well, I guess you guys are the real Twins, then," William shrugged.

"We have a problem, though," Eli turned to 1 with narrowed eyes. "Now that we've revealed our roles, even if the Guardian protects one of us, as long as the other is targeted, both of us will die. There was an obvious possibility that Daphne was a Twin. Why force her to reveal her role? Are you the second Murderer?"

"You did keep pressuring Daphne to reveal her role," Sophie mused. "Very suspicious."

1 sputtered. "That's not true!"

"Really? Fine. Tell me, what's your role? A Peasant? The Detective? The Guardian? The Physic? Or a Murderer?" Eli crossed his arms.

"I can't tell you!" 1 snapped. "All I can say is that I have a role, and I'm not the Physic."

"You can't tell us your role after pressuring me to tell mine? That's one lame excuse." The words slipped out of Daphne's mouth before she realized.

"I can't! I'll be targeted!"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you forced Daphne to reveal hers," Kiana raised an eyebrow.

That night, when it was time to vote, everyone was discussing who they were voting out.

"So, now you tell us you're the Detective?" Sophie folded her arms. "When we've decided to vote you? You sound like you're desperate."

"Well, if I was faking, the real Detective isn't speaking up!" 1 protested.

"Maybe the real Detective still wants to stay hidden," 5 mused. "Because even if the real Detective revealing themselves would make us instantly know that 1 is lying, the Detective will still be risking his or her life."

[It is time to vote. 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... The voting time is up. 1 has the most votes. 1 will now be eliminated.]

1 exploded, but the game didn't end.

"He was telling the truth after all," Daphne whispered.

"We just killed out Detective!" Kiana clutched her hair. "How did we be so stupid?"

"Shit," Sophia muttered.

That night, a scream came from 5's room, before all was silent once again.