The night teetered on the edge of dawn, yet none knew the Prime Minister's mansion had already become a graveyard.
The howls of stray dogs had ceased... those mangy beasts now slumbered in eerie peace, unaware that silence itself dripped like blood from marble walls.
Kirean Zon walked alone down a deserted lane, footsteps echoing like distant memories. A storm brewed within him.... silent, but deadly.
The Prime Minister… he's plotting something. I'm certain of it.
I had Veythor placed under house arrest… and yet, his daughter.... Daniya.... is still missing.
His brow furrowed, thoughts racing.
And then.... like lightning striking still water.... a memory jolted him.
That soldier.
The one with the box.
The one who smirked.
Why did he smirk at me? What was in that box marked with a red cross?
He hadn't questioned it. Dismissed it as an internal affair.
But what if it wasn't?
What if that soldier wasn't working for the Prime Minister… but for someone else?
He stopped mid-step.
A scream echoed.... not in the world, but within his bones.
Wait.
WAIT.
That red cross.
That calm demeanor.
No… no, no, no—how could I be so blind!?
His heart thundered like war drums in a cathedral.
He turned on his heel and sprinted.
Toward the mansion.
Toward the blood.
Toward a truth he should've seen far too long ago.
---
He reached the mansion's gates, breath heaving, shouting to the guards:
"Follow me!"
But among them—unnoticed, unseen... was Veythor.
Disguised.
Silent.
Watching.
He and several soldiers followed. One called out, "Lord Detective! What's happening?"
Zon didn't look back. "Shut up and follow me!"
He stormed upstairs, rushing to Daniya's room. As he neared, his feet halted. His face drained of color.
Blood.
A trail, thick and fresh, pooled outside her door.
He pushed it open.
And the world stopped.
The room had become a graveyard blood on the floors. Blood on the walls. Blood on the crib.
Fresh corpses.... his family.... strewn across the room like discarded puppets.
Zon staggered.
He punched the wall and screamed, voice shattering.
"GOD DAMN IT! How did I lose another case?!"
The soldiers stood frozen.
Whispers broke the stillness.
"How… how can this be? No one entered the mansion."
"Yes… no one. It's impossible…"
"No."
One voice broke the consensus.
Low. Cold. Calculated.
"You're all wrong."
They turned.
It was a soldier.
Veythor.
Still in disguise.
"What… what do you mean?" one asked.
Veythor chuckled darkly.
"Are you all idiots? Who said no one entered?"
They stared, confused.
"Didn't Detective Zon enter the mansion first?" he continued. "Wasn't he the last to see Lord Consula… and Lady Zeshiya… alive?"
The air grew heavy. Thicker than fog. Time hesitated.
Zon's breath caught.
Ten soldiers. One blood-soaked room. A single question, sharp as a guillotine.
Wasn't he the last to see them alive?
Zon stepped back.
Just one step.
But fear twists perception.
To frightened men, it looked like retreat.
"Are you accusing me?" Zon's voice cracked through the silence.
Low. Controlled.
But not calm.
Veythor's helmet shifted slightly. The smirk behind the iron visor bled through like poison behind glass.
"I'm not accusing anyone."
A pause.
"I'm just asking the right questions."
Murmurs lit the room like wildfire.
"He gave the order to seal the gates."
"Only his name was on the entry scroll."
"He arrived first… and then they died."
Zon's fists trembled.
He looked around.
Too much red.
Blood on the curtains. The chandelier. The crib.
The crib…
"Do you think I did this?" Zon asked, suddenly. "I'm a detective—not a killer."
No one answered.
Only silence.
Only doubt.
Veythor's voice slid through the room like a blade through silk.
"Strange, isn't it? No one entered. Just the detective. Just before the massacre."
Zon's voice fell to a whisper.
"You… knew this was going to happen…"
"Knew?" Veythor echoed, stepping forward. "Detective… I'm just a soldier. But if I did know, I'd have done everything to stop it."
He looked into Zon's eyes.
"Wouldn't you?"
Zon couldn't reply.
The room was spinning.
This wasn't just a murder.
It was theater.
Orchestrated. Precise.
Someone was playing God.... and he was just another actor on their stage.
"Get him out of my sight!" Zon barked suddenly.
Silence.
A few guards hesitated.
"NOW!"
Still, they didn't move.
One reached for his blade... but not to attack to defend from Zon.
Doubt had grown legs.
It now walked.
"He's lying!" Zon shouted, desperation cracking through his voice."I've served this kingdom for eight years.... I bled for these walls!"
Veythor didn't flinch.
"Yes," he replied calmly. "But what about those who bled tonight?"
He gestured to the room.
"To the crib. To the curtains.
A soldier whispered, "I didn't hear a scream…"
"Not a single sound," another added."young lady Daniya.
She was missing… now she's here. Dead."Detective Zon entered. Then left. Then returned."
"...Doesn't that sound premeditated?"
Zon's hands trembled.
"You're being manipulated!" he roared. "He's the real killer!"
Gasps echoed. Blades loosened.
Veythor's voice rang out.
"The real culprit?" he mocked. "Is none other than you."
Zon backed away.
No one followed.
"You're all insane! He's toying with you!"
But the more he screamed, the more unhinged he seemed.
"I didn't kill them!"
He turned to Veythor, eyes blazing.
"You PLANNED this!"
Veythor tilted his head.
"No, detective."
"You solved it."
He smiled and in that smile, the storm broke.A blade was drawn not by Veythor by a guard.
"Detective Kirean Zon… this is tit for tat."
The slash was swift.
Zon's head fell.
The silence after was heavier than the blood.A piece of paper slipped from his coat a soldier picked it up.The ink had blurred in the blood... but some words remained:
"Your light of righteousness will never reach the darkness of the abyss.
And as your light is consumed, the abyss shall laugh in madness."
The soldier tossed it aside he did not understand it.
But we do and we know exactly who slipped that note into Zon's pocket.