After speaking with the librarian, Yueting went back outside. Saying goodbye to the guards, she walked back towards the castle. On the way, she met Meiyang. "Good afternoon. Where are you headed?" Meiyang greeted."Just to Daiki's room," Yueting replied."I see," Meiyang responded, smiling softly. "You must be busy, so I'll take my leave now," she said before leaving. Glancing back, Yueting had that feeling once again. It was as if Meiyang was smirking. Ignoring that, Yueting continued on.Upon arriving at the room, she knocked, but no matter how many times she knocked, she got no answer, so she just went inside. In the room, Daiki's wife was laying on the bed, and Daiki was passed out with his head on her stomach. Daiki was wearing clothes, but Yueting could see a big red circle drawn on his shirt. It wasn't on his stomach but on his shirt. The same with his wife; there was a big red circle on her stomach once again.

This meant they were after his wife once again, but this time not only her but he himself too. Getting closer, Yueting notices a note next to them. The note looked like any other note, but Yueting could directly tell that the note wasn't a normal one.

𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 4 𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉.

A death threat, but 4 hours for what exactly? Sighing, Yueting begins to speak to the system. "System, are you done with the antidote?" she asks.

⌞System message: Master, I've finished the antidote, though it is an improvised version, which means it is not as perfect as the original.⌝

"I see. Can you mass produce it?" Yueting asks.

⌞System message: I can, though it's limited.⌝

Sighing, Yueting stands up. "Find a way to tell the king that I wish to speak with him," she says as she begins to walk out, not giving another glance back.

⌞System message: Understood.⌝

Barging into the king's study, Yueting begins to speak. "I must ask to speak alone with you for a moment." Walking forward, the butler and the other person talking to the king instantly leave the room. "I was expecting you, but certainly I wasn't expecting you to barge in. What must be important enough to warrant this impoliteness?" the king remarks as he puts down the papers he was holding.

"To put it briefly, the red circle marks a person and poisons them. Those marked will be murdered within 3 days by a person. I found the antidote, though I can't mass produce it alone," Yueting explains while sitting down in front of the king.

"I want you to gather all the skilled mages to mass produce the antidote so I can take the time to identify the person behind this. This is not a sickness," Yueting states, her expression serious."That's a lot of information to process. I will organize that, though it will take some time," the king responds.

"We don't have much time," Yueting insists, causing the king's expression to become more serious. "What do you mean by that?" he asks.

"We have 4 hours. We need the Xing mages and possibly more," Yueting declares, standing up. The king then walks towards a large glass ball on a stand.

"I understand. I will contact them immediately," the king states as he places his hand on the ball. "Your Majesty, you called?" multiple voices respond simultaneously.

"We need you and as many skilled mages as possible here within the next hour," the king instructs.

"We'll be there as fast as possible," many voices respond. Yueting knew the Xing mages were nearby in case they needed help to cure the 'sickness', so it wouldn't take long for them to arrive.

After that, the king took his hands off the ball and walked towards his book regal. With that, he pushed one of the books further in, and it opened like a door, revealing a passage downstairs. "Follow me," the king instructed as he began walking down. Standing up, Yueting quietly follows him, and the 'door' closes behind her. As they arrive at the bottom of the stairs, there is a huge table with exactly 12 stools, each one looking different. One of them is made of gold with red adornments, while the one opposite it is a chair all black with black and turquoise-colored flowers. The other chairs all look different; one looks like a chair for a child, while another looks like it could belong to an elf, made of wood with flowers growing out of it.

"This is 'the center of the universe.' It's prophesied to be created for the hero, the emperor, and the Xing mages who have been there for generations. So far, there has always been one chair left alone, the black one," the king explained, pointing to the black chair with flowers on it. As Yueting goes closer, she sits down on the chair and touches the table. With that, the table in the middle lights up, and many turquoise and black-colored rips light up within the table. The flowers of each chair begin to light up. "I see you've already arrived," a voice announces. As Yueting looks up, a person appears in each chair, one after another. "It took you less time than expected," the king remarked. They were the Xing mages. With some of the Xing mages, there appeared a person behind them, looking like a mage as well, perhaps a disciple or such.

"Oho! This is interesting. It's my first time seeing this room all lit up," one of the mages remarked as the king sits down on his chair. "Now why exactly did you summon us here with such short notice?" one of the mages inquired right after appearing. Looking at the hero, the king stays silent, waiting for Yueting to begin speaking. "As you know, a 'sickness' has spread amongst the nobles and some commoners," Yueting began, taking a breath before continuing, "it's indeed not a sickness." Yueting gets cut off. "Hah! I knew it was a curse," one of the witches exclaimed. Yueting looks over to her and continues, "It's a mark," she states. "A mark?" the mage asks. "The red circle is poison to make one fall asleep. After that, they're 'marked' and will get murdered by a person within 3 days," Yueting finishes.

"So you're saying a person is behind this?" one of the other mages comments. "Indeed, though not to go into detail; I've found the antidote, and I need you all to mass-produce it and cure every person that has the red circle on their body within the next 4 hours," Yueting explained. "Why exactly 4 hours?" one of the mages inquired. "Because we only have that much time left," Yueting responded. Sighing, one of the mages begins to speak, "Alright, give us the recipe." With that, Yueting turns towards the system. "System, the antidote and recipe, please."

⌞System message: Hehe! Understood.⌝

With a dark purple light, both things appeared on the table. With that, Yueting stands up to leave.

"Where are you going?" one of the Xing mages inquires.

"You don't need more of an explanation, right?" Yueting retorts.

"Right," one of the Xing mages remarks, as if Yueting was threatening to kill them.

When Yueting left the room, "Her gaze was really scary," one of the Xing mages observes.Standing outside, Yueting had made up her mind. She goes to Daiki's room where he and his wife lay. She barges in, taking both bodies.

"System, activate some kind of physical boost," Yueting commands.

[System message: You're asking for quite a lot today.]

[Physical boost activated.]

Swinging both bodies over her shoulder, she jumps out of the window. "Activate navigation to the nearest cliff," Yueting instructs the system.

[System message: Hmm? Understood.]

[System message: What's Master up to?]

Without answering, Yueting jumps from house to house until she arrives at the nearest cliff, coincidentally not far away. Standing at the edge of the cliff, Yueting puts the bodies down beside her as she sits down. Yueting had thought of something, but at first, she thought it was unlikely. Most of the victims were important people, even if not nobles; they always had something that made them stand out from the rest. Now, what does that have to do with the murders happening? What if...

After that, someone appeared behind Yueting and interrupted her. It was the same person as before, wearing a mask and covered completely in black cloth. "It seems I was right," Yueting remarks with a smirk on her face. She didn't want to admit it, but she loved being right, almost as much as alcohol.

"Tsk, how did you...?" the person inquires, their voice tinged with annoyance.

"It wasn't that easy, but after taking a closer look at every victim, I noticed that each one of them had something that made them stand out," Yueting explains, nonchalantly.

"Even so," the stranger interjects before being cut off by Yueting. "Only royals or doctors have access to poison, which means you're part of the royal family or work for them," Yueting concludes.

"You...!" the stranger begins.

"Meiyang, you can take off your mask now," Yueting instructs, her voice becoming sadder. She knew if it was really Meiyang, she would end up losing Meiyang once again.

❝As the pieces fall into place, the puzzle of deception begins to unravel, revealing the hidden truths within.❝