Crash-landed On An Island With Nine Beauties

[Ping! Resolve the murder case in 15 minutes, unlock the WITTY SAGE, and three system gems.]

The system gave him no space to think before the pop-up.

"15 minutes?"

He shouted. Everyone turned to him. He knew he had to say something to make up for the distraction.

Instead of explaining himself, he walked into the room.

"Nobody should follow me."

He warned the rest. All the girls had horror etched in their faces. The Cannibals were restless, they wanted to break in, but the words of their Lugal was a barrier. They dared not break it. Not after he'd been crowned.

Getting to Claire, he noticed that her hands and legs were trembling, but her face held no emotions.

"How could she kill him?"

"What did she do to him?"

"How bitter can she be?"

Damien ignored the other girls. He had a business only with Claire. He flipped out the window system. He saw a timer and called it out. He suspended the timer in the air, so he could see it while he worked. To the girls, he was just making finger movements in the air.

14:58:46...

Before Damien asked any question, he allowed himself to do some thinking.

WHY DID THE SYSTEM GIVE ME FIFTEEN MINUTES?

THE EVIDENCE IS RIGHT HERE BEFORE OUR EYES.

COULD THERE BE MORE TO THIS?

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE IT OUT, IF THERE IS.

Neither his subconscious mind nor his vibrant brain could provide an answer to any of the questions. He couldn't linger in his thoughts for long.

He moved even closer. Claire wasn't making an attempt to leave the spot she was. It seemed as though she had been glued to that spot. "Did you really do it?"

He asked her finally. She slowly looked up at him. A stray tear danced down her left cheek.

DON'T CRY FOOL, TELL ME THE TRUTH.

Sorry, but Damien didn't have the patience. He had a timer reading before his eyes. Three fucking system gems. Even though he hadn't used the two he had, he knew that having more gems would mean luxury. He couldn't take the chance of losing the opportunity.

She sniffled when she noticed that he wasn't buying it? She nodded slowly.

Damien gulped.

"Are you sure?"

Even though he asked, he couldn't wait for her response. He walked closer to the corpse of the Cannibal.

SHE ADMITTED TO HER CRIME, BUT WHY DIDN'T THE TIMER GO OFF YET?

I HATE TO BELIEVE THAT THERE'S MORE TO THIS.

- she didn't kill him -

Damien heard a family voice in his mind. He looked to his back, the wolf wasn't there. He knew that he couldn't walk out on them to go search for the wolf at such a critical moment.

One thing was certain, the wolf was around there somewhere. Probably behind the hut.

WHO KILLED HER THEN?

He asked the wolf.

- I can't tell you that. find it out for yourself. i bet you, you'll be so stunned to realize who it was. one of the girls. ~

"I'll be stunned. One of the girls?"

He mumbled.

TELL ME PLEASE, I HAVE A LIMITED TIME.

No answer came. The wolf obviously had dumped him.

THAT FOOL!

He gritted his teeth. But he was grateful too. If the wolf hadn't said a thing, he probably would have a hard time figuring out that it wasn't Claire. Though he wasn't convinced yet. For all he knew, the wolf might be messing with him. Some sort of revenge?

Damien squatted by the corpse and observed closely. He noticed some obvious details which he missed earlier.

There was a big gory hole in the chest of the dead Cannibal. And there was a blue stain on his lips. Aside from those, there wasn't any other interesting thing.

The blood which had flooded the corpse must be from the chest. That was very obvious.

He stood up from the corpse. He didn't turn yet.

THIS HOLE COULDN'T HAD BEEN MADE BY THAT KNIFE WITH A THIN EDGE. IT'S TOO WIDE.

He took a glance at Claire who was looking down, sobbing stealthily.

IF SHE DIDN'T KILL HIM, THEN WHO DID.

COULD IT BE THAT THAT BASTARD WAS RIGHT?

Damien was reluctant to believe that the wolf was right.

YET, WHY DOES SHE PRETEND THAT SHE KILLED HIM.

WHAT IS SHE HINTING AT?

He took a deep breath. He turned slowly and looked at the rest of the girls who were mumbling. He browsed through the girls, looking from one to the other.

WHO COULD IT BE AMONGST THEM ALL?

I MUST BE CAREFUL DEALING WITH THIS CASE, ELSE I MIGHT END UP ACCUSING THE INNOCENT.

He refused to make guesses. He observed the corpse again then looked at the timer.

11:56:23

I GUESS I STILL HAVE TIME.

He turned to Claire and grabbed her other hand. She was shocked.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't reply. He pulled her closer to the rest who were at the door of the hut.

"Claire didn't kill the Cannibal."

He declared. The atmosphere was plunged into discord. Not even the Cannibals were left out.

"Bullshit!!"

Allison attacked, stepping forward.

"Distance please. I mentioned earlier that no one should step in."

Damien didn't seem moved by Allison's retort. Allison took the warning and stepped back. But she wasn't done yet.

"I do respect you, Damien but I can't just ignore this. What's there not to see? We caught her red-handed. Knife in her hand, her hands trembling, and she even admitted to it. What do you think you're doing?" "I guess he's dumb today."

Laurette's real self resurfaced through her words again.

"Let's hear him out. He might have a point."

Mira was as objective as ever.

"What's there to hear out? Claire has always been like this! Even the Cannibals who are dumb won't say otherwise. I hate to say this, but Damien disappoint me this time."

Evelyn wasn't left out. Damien wasn't surprised. He had learnt that time and situations were the best tools to bring out the real characters of people.

As usual, Ayisha did nothing but observed.

"Are you done?"

Damien asked, not ready or willing to let go of Claire's hand.

The girls sneered at him. In a way, he found their indifference hot, instead of rude. That was his new perception of things.

Seeing that none of them had anything to contribute, he continued. It seemed like they'd had enough of their anger and disapproval.

"Look at the knife in her hand."

He collected the knife in Claire's hand. He showed them the edge.

"There's no stain of blood on it."

The girls gasped.

"The first thing that comes to mind is whether or not she cleaned the blood off the knife as soon as the did was done."

The glare in the faces of the girls was beginning to melt. Except Allison.

"Sorry to disappoint you, the gore in the chest of the Cannibal is too big and deep to had been dug without having her clothes and sleeves soaked in his blood. Let alone, having no stain of blood at all on her."

He slowly let go of Claire's hand. He looked at the time.

09:56:44

SHIT.

"Who and who left the the party ground during the events?"

He asked.

"Huh?"

"How is that relevant?"

"What's he trying to do?"

"I won't repeat the question again!"

He staked a claim, raising his voice to emphasize how serious he was.

Slowly the girls began to raise their hands, first Evelyn, then Mira, then Ayisha, then Lisa.

"Please step forward. Claire, step aside."

He was glad that the girls were being true to themselves.

"I only went to pass out ur---"

"You don't have to tell me what you went to do."

Damien cut Evelyn short. He had no idea why she was jumpy and eager to cut herself off.

"Show me your hands."

He ordered.

"Our hands?"

"What does that have to do with --"

"Allison, I don't want to hear your voice again."

He snapped at Allison. The girls were baffled. Even Allison couldn't believe her ears. He had just shunned her like a teacher would do an elementary pupil.

"Your hands please, I have a limited time."

The accused slowly brought up their hands. Damien observed their hands closely and thoroughly without having to touch them.

He noticed the blue stain he'd seen on the lips of the corpse. The stains were on Evelyn's fingers and Mira's fingers.

"Ayisha and Lisa, you may leave us."

He took the risk.

"Huh?"

The rest of the girls were really confused. They could do nothing but watch.

"You must love to paint a lot Evelyn."

He chuckled at Evelyn who shouted at once,

"What has painting got to do with this? And by the way, I got this blue stain from Mira's hands."

Damien's eyes squinted. He looked at Mira,

"Is that true?'

Mira nodded slowly. Damien gulped. He didn't know why his heart was thumping violently in his chest.

He hated to say this, but he had no other choice. He turned to the rest of the girls,

"Mira killed him."