When the door closed behind them like a seal, Eren wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. His breath had not yet regulated, but the haze in his eyes had cleared. Turning to Marry and Macan, he spoke without hiding the tremor in his voice:

  "The killer isn't here. This dungeon is a massive mechanical manifesto designed to shove every piece of filth the government swept under the rug into their eyes. The killer is likely busy outside right now, striking the real blow before the Queen enters the city. We have been chosen as the 'readers' of this bloody message. Katrin’s death was just the cover; this dungeon is a terror-filled indictment written to the kingdom."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Macan looked skeptically at Eren’s ice-cold deduction. "And what if we perish between the pages of this indictment?"

  "Then the message becomes even louder," Eren said, his face darkening. "The rotting of a chief inspector and a baron’s son in this dungeon would turn the scandal into an unmaskable scream. The killer wants to make our corpses a part of this exhibition as well."