The detective is dead, I did it.

Chapter 88 Charlotte's Self-Defense

Hearing Li Ang's question, Helena's lips twitched slightly, like a muscle movement used to cover up embarrassment after something has been seen through.

She had changed her clothes; she was now wearing a dark long dress with a gray short jacket and black flat leather shoes.

"Wait? How do you still remember me? The president said that your memories have all been reset!" she blurted out instinctively.

"I not only remember you, I also remember the frustrated look on your face in the garden back then..."

Li Ang was interrupted by Helena's girlish battle cry before he could finish speaking.

"Aaaaaah! You shameless bastard! Don't you dare say that!!!" Helena was truly furious, and the elegant smile she had managed to force onto her face was completely ruined.

After taking a few deep breaths, she decided to ignore Li Ang for now and turned her gaze to the other girls.

"This is my ID card; everyone can verify it."

She took a dark-colored card out of her coat pocket, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of everyone.

The card had no name, no photo, only a line of silver text: Counter. Rule enforcer. Cannot vote, cannot be killed, cannot kill. Neutral unit.

Li Ang was the first to pick up the card and turn it over to look at the back.

A blank slate. Completely powerless.

He handed the card back to Helena. "So you're here as an NPC? Rosalind is the president of your Witches' Guild? I thought she had already rescued you from London."

"Show some respect to our guild leader." Helena's eyebrows twitched. "And what's an NPC? I'm just here to cooperate with the guild leader to keep this game going."

In reality, the president was trapped in London and couldn't get out immediately, so he had to throw Helena into the witch's trial to avoid dragging her down with him.

But Helena could never say such a shameful thing.

Isabel snorted. "So we have one more person? Twelve people have become thirteen?"

“Not thirteen.” Helena shook her head. “I’m the counter. I’m not counted among the judges. The witch won’t kill me, and I won’t vote. I’m just responsible for timing and counting votes. Besides, hasn’t one of you already died?”

She took a silver pocket watch from her pocket, opened the case, and the hands pointed to a certain position. "The first round of discussion will last one hour. The timer will start now."

Eloi looked at her and said, "Since you're the counter, you should know all the rules of this game. Tell us."

Helena found a chair at the round table, sat down, and placed her pocket watch on the table with the dial facing up.

"I know, you all already know."

"Every day during the day, we discuss and vote to execute one person. Every night, the witch kills one person. If a witch is voted out or dies, the judge wins; if a witch survives to the eighth night, all the judges are wiped out. Other than that, I have nothing else to tell you."

"Who is that witch?" Isabella's voice drifted from the corner, sharp and direct.

Helena glanced at her. "I don't know. Even if I did know, I couldn't tell you."

A moment of silence fell over the restaurant. Shirley raised her hand. "Then let me ask something else. Do you know Mr. Li Ang? The way you two were talking just now made it sound like you'd known each other for a long time."

Helena's gaze quickly shifted to Li Ang's face, lingered for less than half a second, and then looked away. "I don't know this shameless scoundrel."

This statement only made things more suspicious, and the group of girls didn't believe it at all.

"What's your relationship?" Shirley pressed, her golden eyes full of curiosity.

"It's alright." Helena and Leon spoke at the same time, their voices colliding, then their eyes met, and sparks could be faintly seen flying between them.

It seems that the relationship between these two is not very good.

Everyone who saw this scene had the same thought.

Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief.

She was actually quite nervous when she saw that Li Ang and the blond man in front of her looked very familiar with each other.

What if these two have a good relationship and work together seamlessly? Would they stop asking me to be their assistant and go after this woman instead?

Although the woman said she wasn't participating in the game and was only responsible for the voting process, I didn't believe her.

Seeing that the two knew each other but their relationship wasn't very good, she felt relieved.

Li Ang then noticed that Helena had a silver ring on the ring finger of her right hand. The ring was engraved with fine patterns that resembled the runes on the identity tokens.

"First round, first discussion session. Each person will have about five minutes to speak, but please keep it concise. Have you decided on the speaking order?"

Helena raised her head, her gaze sweeping over every face in the room.

All eyes turned to Charlotte. Based on their discussion that morning, she was expected to be the first to speak and prove her innocence.

Charlotte stood up from her chair.

"I didn't leave my cell last night." She paused after saying that, as if waiting for Isabella to activate her ability, but Isabella didn't speak.

Charlotte immediately realized that the other party wanted her to provide a more detailed explanation.

"I know you don't believe me. If I were you, I wouldn't believe it either. So I was prepared."

She took something out of her pocket and placed it on the table.

It was a small piece of dry grass, with some dark soil clinging to the roots. The soil was a different color from the cell floor, and it was damp and had a salty, fishy smell of the sea.

"This is the hay from my cell." She gently moved the hay with her fingers, turning it over.

The other side of the hay was soaked, its color so dark it was almost black, and when you pressed it with your fingertip, water seeped out from the gaps in the fibers.

"My cell is in the deepest part, on the wall closest to the sea. The wall seeps water, from the corners up to waist height, all night long," Charlotte said, gesturing as she spoke.

"The hay where I was sitting was always damp, all night long."

She placed the hay on the table so that everyone could see the dark water stain.

"I tried to plug them, but there were too many cracks, so I gave up after plugging the sixth one. To this day, those cracks and the hay on top of them are still in the cell. You can send someone to my cell to check them out."

After she finished speaking, she sat back down in her chair, crossed her arms on her knees, and looked at Isabella, waiting for her answer. The others did the same.

Isabella closed her eyes, then opened them again.

“She’s telling the truth.” She raised her voice to make sure everyone could hear. “She didn’t kill Bridget. She didn’t leave her cell. Every word she said is true.”