"So, do we have this clear?"
"And about our flank, I'll watch the left as before."
"Okay, Ella, rember, your cooperation is crucial for this strategy. Are you ready?"
Alia and I made it to the last strategy eting before the main battle on ti. And might I add, I was bored to death.
Sighing and occasionally yawning, after a few minutes, I decided to reveal the traitor's identity.
"There's a traitor among us."
"....."
"....."
"....."
As soon as I dropped the bombshell, the eting, which was very lively before, fell silent.
"Ahh- Lucas, what did you say?" Nero looked at in utter confusion.
"Oh, wasn't I clear?" I said, "There's a traitor among us."
And everyone felt silent once again.
"I thought about this," William touched his chin and comnted, breaking the silence. "After all, soone added a whole sector in our map just to mislead us."
"It was obvious from the start, you fools." the one who made that rude comnt was Quinn. And he had a point.
"So wait, who is this traitor you speak of?" Ella asked. "Do you know their identity?"
"Yes, I do," I nodded and answered calmly. "And before you ask, it took this long to reveal this to you all because I have been collecting proofs and connecting dots to draw a solid conclusion."
"...I see," Ella frowned. Her question was answered before she could even put it into words. "So, who is it? Tell us. Or are you trying to create suspense?"
"Yes, Lucas Morningstar," right then, the girl with blonde hair sitting right beside Ella spoke up. "Do tell us, who is the traitor?"
Of course, it was Grace. She was trying to sound threatening with a furious smile, but I could see right through her act.
She was terrified.
Why wouldn't she be? In her mind, she has already suppressed .
Tsk, poor girl.
"You are," dramatically pointing my finger at her, I answered. "You are the traitor, Grace Goodwill."
Silence once again descended in the room. All that could be heard was the sound of Grace hissing and puffing.
She was gritting her teeth in rage. Nerves bulged out on her forehead and her face contorted.
God, I didn't know she could get any uglier than she already was.
Bam—!
Slamming her hands on the round table, she got up from her seat. With her face red in wrath, she burst into a rageful yelling.
"? You're accusing of being the traitor?! I fought on the front lines while you sat here and did nothing but bark orders! I contributed to this–"
However, before she could continue on, I made a few taps on my smart bracelet and played a recording.
-[Yes, they only plan to engage in battle long enough for their Task Force to empty the supplies and blow up the shops there. Yes, yes. Yes, I haven't aroused any suspicions yet. No, they don't know. They don't even have a clue about what you're planning to do. Nero will be behind our vanguard along with Quinn, and William and Ella will command the left and right flanks while Anastasia will watch our backs. No, you won't have to rely on him to sabotage us. Just carry out according to my information and you'll win.]
Beep—!
And with that, I cut the recording.
For a mont, a look of disbelief washed over Grace's face as everyone present in this room looked over at her. So were curious, so were relishing this, and so were concerned.
Under the gazes of everyone, Grace tried to make her last-ditch attempt to get out of this situation.
"It's obviously doctored! That's not my voice! You must've got soone to voice like beforehand and then—?!"
And just like earlier, before she could present her argunt, I tapped on my smart bracelet once again, and a picture projected out of its screen.
It was a picture taken precisely outside the entrance of an apartnt complex, with two people clearly visible in it. From the looks of it, they were exchanging words.
Yes, you've guessed it. They were Grace and Alberto.
"What about this? Is this edited too?" with a smug smile, I asked.
I could legit see her alluring pale face contorting and getting redder every second. It looked like she was about to burst.
And that added to the smug smile on my face, which had now been turned into a grin instead.
Oh co on, she really didn't envision this happening?
I told her what I would do beforehand. In the ti that I gave her, she could've at least co up with a counterplan.
Or did she think threatening and hoping I would not reveal her was the best tactic? That's just wishful thinking, and I really like trampling those.
"That's ridiculous! We are in the sa friend group! Even I et up with Alberto sotis but that doesn't an I'm a traitor!"
Ella, Grace's childhood sister-like friend, tried to defend her. And by 'Friend group' here, she ans the group Young Elites.
Oh, and in Ella's defense, she really didn't know Grace was the traitor here. Her friend told her that after the virtual war was over.
"No, eting up with a mber of their class doesn't prove you're a traitor alone, but in acquaintance with that recording earlier, the circumstantial evidence points towards Grace."
The one who raised that point was none other than Anastasia.
"I–"
Grace tried to retort and co up with so kind of an excuse, but before she could even put words out of her mouth, I spoke up.
"Oh, and if you all still don't believe this, you can check the recent contact list on her smart bracelet. There will be a contact under the na of C. Specter, which is actually Alberto's contact info that she has saved under a false na."
"Hah! You're wrong!" Ella exclaid as she stood up. "Alberto's contact details aren't saved under that na in her contact list. If you don't believe , you can check and see for yourself. That will prove your accusations are totally unfounded!"
She was half-right. But prior to logging into her VR pod, Grace changed Alberto's na in her contact list.
How did I know that? That scene was briefly shown in the novel.
".....?!" Grace was completely petrified from shock, with her mouth agape and her eyes about to pop out of her sockets any ti now.
Her reaction was understandable. No one should've known what na she changed Alberto's contact to.
Then how did he know? – Is probably what she must be thinking.
"Grace, show them. Do it and prove him wrong." Ella grabbed Grace's hand and shook her, urging her to show us her contact list but the blonde girl remained frozen.
Even though Ella was a mber of Young Elites, a group of rich and bratty troublemakers, she always upheld her personal morals.
Ella the virtuous.
The goddess of truth and righteousness.
The just warrior.
These were the nicknas given to her in the novel.
Even in the story, when Grace told her she was the traitor after the Mock War and how she frad Lucas to take the fall in her stead, Ella almost broke her friendship with her, a friend that she valued like a sister.
In fact, in the later parts of the story, Ella was the reason Grace's heart changed, and she saved Anastasia from a threat that could've very well claid the female lead's life.
And now Ella had to face the truth. The truth that her own friend was lying to her too all this ti.
"Yes, go on, Grace," the grin on my face only widened as I said that. "Show us. Prove wrong. Please, I'm waiting."
I loved this~!
After today, when I reveal her in front of everyone, she will have no friends or allies.
And if everything goes according to my plan and she does what I had predicted, in the future, no one would like to associate with her either.
She will be all alone. Then, and only then, I'll play the bigger man and lend her a helping hand.
She'll be vulnerable and helpless. A girl like her, who knows only how to cling to a strong person, will have no choice but to take my hand.
After that, I'll slowly break her both ntally and physically before I'll finally make her all mine~!
That's the easiest way to manipulate soone– make them dependent on you. Do whatever you have to do. Take away their friends, gaslight them, or literally any number of things.
And after they lose their mind in solitude, help them. Make them feel comfortable and slowly groom them to your liking.
Hah! Poor girl has no idea what's about to happen to her.
"Tsk!"
But that future was not here yet. Right now, I should be focusing on the present.
Grace shook herself out of her daze and clicked her tongue. The furious look that she had before returned to her face.
"Grace, what are you doing?" Ella kept shaking her. "Show them–"
"Ella," Grace cut her off. "I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
Kuwussh—!
Right then, Grace quickly jerked her friend's hand off her. She imbued man into her smart bracelet until the hidden runes on it glowed and summoned her rapier.
Without any delay, she willed mana into her legs and jumped on the table before dashing in my direction at inhumane speed.
"So that's your last effort," without a worry in the world, I kept standing there. A malevolent grin still plastered on my face when I asked, "You wish to take down with you?"
How obvious could she be?
Swash—!
Jumping from the edge of the table, she lunged at while simultaneously thrusting her rapier at my heart, intending to kill in one blow.
Sak—!
Sak—!
But right then, just before her rapier was rely an inch away from my chest, two arrows whistled through the air and hit her.
One of them stabbed her in her right shoulder blade from behind, making her drop her rapier, while the other one pierced the side of her right calf, bringing her down to her knees.
"Arghhaaaaaa!" she let out a scream filled with agony. She must be experiencing so serious pain to be shouting like that.
Well, she really disliked pain in the novel too.
Two archers fired those arrows, one from behind her, Anastasia, and the other who was standing beside , Alia.
Nero hurriedly got up from his seat, his left leg still aching ever so often, and stord toward us.
Without even speaking a word, he brought a sword out from his dinsional storage and swung it down at Grace, cleaving her head off and killing her in an instant.
Like a fountain, her blood spewed all over the place, and I, who was standing right in front of her, got showered in most of it.
Without a shred of remorse or sadness or disgust or any other feeling like that, I simply said:
"Grace must've leaked our strategy to them last night. So now we'll have to rework it all."
"...."
"...."
Why were they looking at like I was so kind of a freak?
Anyhow, the first task at hand was cleared with this. One traitor had been eliminated.
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