What happened?"
"Was the room sabotaged?"
"Did someone manage to sneak in?"
They tried to open the door. Sherlyn appeared from behind the crowd, which consisted of around twenty people or more.
She was followed by Loraine, who had just come down the stairs and immediately approached the main meeting room, which was now locked. Everyone was suspicious about what was going on inside.
In this game, sabotage was one of the features used to trap or lock a room from the outside, and it could only be done by an enemy when they were within the enemy's territory. That's why everyone assumed someone had infiltrated their room.
Loraine quickly approached Sherlyn and touched her back, prompting a response from Sherlyn.
"What's going on?" Loraine asked. She had just come from the upper floor after analyzing the outer dorm and monitoring the surroundings.
"I don't know. I just got here too, but they said someone sabotaged the meeting room," Sherlyn replied flatly, as usual.
Now, their attempt to force open the door had failed. It didn't yield any results—not even the slightest movement from the door.
Loraine shifted her gaze toward the door and opened her mouth. "Is there someone inside?" Her worried expression clearly showed she wanted to help.
"Should we go there?" Sherlyn asked.
"I think so."
Sherlyn and Loraine started walking, though Sherlyn slowed her steps a bit to reach into her skirt pocket for something.
Loraine walked ahead and asked the crowd to make some space so they could get through to the door.
But then she realized—there were no fourth footsteps behind her. She noticed that Sherlyn had stopped and was looking at something behind her.
"The signal is bad, but earlier he was calling repeatedly," Sherlyn muttered while fiddling with her pocket watch.
"Who was it?" Loraine asked, stepping back closer to Sherlyn and looking at Sherlyn's pocket watch until Sherlyn raised it to her ear.
"I think it was Wein's signal, but strangely I can't reach him anymore. The signal is blocked," Sherlyn explained, her face beginning to tense up.
"I hope it's not what I think it is," Loraine muttered, her voice trembling. They tried once again to contact Wein Arcveil, and now Loraine had entered her nightmare.
Loraine assumed that Wein had been hunted down and defeated in battle. She had always underestimated her King, Wein Arcveil. But her heart was genuinely worried about the man who had recently stirred feelings inside her.
"The door's open!" several people shouted loudly in the room. Everyone rushed to peek inside, but someone blocked their view after realizing what was in there.
Three people quickly blocked the entrance, which made the crowd annoyed. Some began to leave after realizing there was no immediate danger inside.
"You are not allowed to enter. The meeting will begin shortly," a command and reminder came from someone familiar to both Sherlyn and Loraine.
They both turned to look as the crowd slowly dispersed and the door was closed again. The fading crowd created a gap for the two of them to slip through.
They quickly seized the moment, slipping through the opening and arriving at the steps just before the grand door in front of them.
The voice earlier turned out to belong to Glen, who was standing guard, accompanied by Aria and Teressa on either side.
"You!" Glen called out in greeting. They approached him as the door was now completely shut, and they began to speak quietly.
"What's inside?" Sherlyn asked firmly, though her expression remained flat, now tinged with annoyance.
"You have to see it." Glen stumbled a bit with his words before continuing. "You won't believe what you're about to see."
Glen opened the door but first ensured no one was watching the scene anymore. Finally, he opened the door slowly, producing a creaking sound.
The door opened—faster than it had closed. Sherlyn, Loraine, Aria, Teressa, and even Glen, though already aware, were all shocked when their gaze fixed in the same direction.
The event couldn't be described in words. They simply saw the person they regarded as King collapsed—no, it would be fair to say he looked dead unless checked further.
Their King slumped powerlessly in his chair. Blood flowed from his hands and head, staining the chair with a heavy pool of blood.
His eyes were half-closed, and his mouth moved slowly post-collapse. His breathing was disturbed, and he lay helplessly there.
The revolver was no longer in his hand—it had fallen a few centimeters away, with several bullet casings scattered on the table and floor.
Wein Arcveil—The Fallen King.
Sherlyn's face remained flat, but her tears betrayed the pain in her heart. Loraine was teary-eyed, clutching her head tightly.
The others were stunned. Aria covered her mouth with her palm in disbelief, while Teressa turned her face away, unable to bear the sight.
After a few seconds of just staring at the dripping blood from arm to fingertip, they immediately started giving first aid.
The door was locked again, and some began cleaning the room. Queen Teressa cleaned up the bullet casings and gathered them in one spot.
After they laid Wein Arcveil on the floor, Loraine used a clean cloth to press on the bleeding wound on his head.
Sherlyn wrapped a temporary bandage around Wein Arcveil's upper arm, while Glen investigated what had happened in the room.
Their feelings shifted. Loraine's tears streamed more heavily while Sherlyn slowly regained control of her emotions.
"Anything? Did you find clues?" Aria asked Glen firmly as he searched every corner of the room.
"A lot, but I don't dare speculate until I speak with Wein directly."
"His breathing is slowing down!" Loraine shouted while crying, trying everything to wake Wein and listen to his pulse.
Sherlyn came closer. "He's drained a lot of mana," she said flatly, though her voice slightly trembled.
Glen glanced at Wein's body, then back at the room, and finally spoke. "He'll regain consciousness soon."
Loraine still couldn't calm down, crying endlessly over Wein until, a few minutes later, his breath returned to normal and his eyelids slowly opened—though he was not fully conscious yet.
Loraine wiped her tears and stepped away from Wein so she could dry her face. The others approached, and Sherlyn handed Wein Arcveil a glass half-filled with water.
"Th... Thank you," he muttered, his voice still weak.
Loraine appeared again before Wein, her face now better than it had been.
They waited a few minutes for Wein Arcveil to regain more composure until he finally looked slightly better.
Glen then asked his first question. "Can we begin asking questions now?" But first, he made sure one last time.
Wein simply nodded, preparing to respond after scanning the room carefully.
"What happened?"
Wein stared blankly for a few seconds before responding. He tried to recall everything that had happened.
"Something that doesn't belong in this game attacked me," he admitted, lifting his arm afterward.
Everyone widened their eyes in shock—a natural reaction—and now confusion began to settle before realization dawned.
"Clearly, this can be proven from the fragments of that mysterious veil," Glen said while rubbing his thumb and index finger together, causing tiny shards to fall due to the reaction.
"Have you ever heard the rumors about that terror reappearing? They say it returned after a year of silence," Aria added.
Their eyes locked between Wein and Aria until silence separated them once again.