When Fang Zheng and Conan returned to the original space again, everything was already over.
"The second round of the game is over, how do you all feel?"
Opposite them, Beatrice was sitting on the sofa, grinning at the two of them, while Conan was glaring at her like he wanted to kill.
"You’re blatantly cheating!"
No wonder Conan said that. Not long ago, they had just learned from Krauss that Kinzou Yodaimiya had already died. The two sides argued back and forth, but then Beatrice suddenly appeared, Summoned seven bizarre long spikes and killed everyone present, declaring her victory.........
Of course Conan couldn’t accept that!
You might as well say there was a sudden earthquake on Rokugashima that crushed everyone to death in the villa! How the hell is that supposed to be a murder case!!
"Okay, calm down. At least we got some clues."
Fang Zheng held Conan down, then turned and walked to Phoenix Wright’s side, whispered a few words to him, and handed over the file in his hand.
"For now, this is all of it. You can confirm it as evidence."
"This........."
Phoenix Wright lowered his head, skimmed through it quickly, then frowned.
"But Mr. Fang Zheng, this is nowhere near enough......."
"This is just the beginning. Next time I’ll submit more evidence, but for now......this is all we’ve got."
"And the deduction Mr. Fang Zheng and I came up with is......"
Conan had finally cooled off and came over as well, quietly stating his views to Naruhodo in front of him. Phoenix listened while nodding, then looked up at the two.
"I see. Leave the rest to me."
With that, Phoenix Wright took the file and walked to the front, fixing his gaze on Beatrice, who was leisurely drinking black tea on the sofa opposite—well, although the scene was a bit weird, Phoenix had already seen Ghosts, radios, and witnesses eating snacks in court, so this wasn’t all that strange.
"Then, Miss Beatrice, please state your testimony."
"There’s nothing much to say."
Faced with Phoenix Wright’s request, Beatrice stayed very calm.
"Just like you saw, on that night on Rokugashima, I sent a letter to all members of the Yodaimiya Clan, hoping they would play a game with me......"
"Hold it!"
However, before Beatrice could finish, Phoenix Wright cut her off. He slammed both hands on the table and looked straight at Beatrice.
"So what you mean is, Beatrice is an outsider."
"Of course. I’m the Golden Witch, you’ve seen it yourself, haven’t you? I’m different from them, I’m the Alchemist consultant to the Yodaimiya Clan......"
"Then are you saying that Beatrice is an outsider who did not exist inside the Rokugashima villa?"
"That’s what I mean."
Hearing Phoenix Wright’s question, Beatrice set down her teacup, her expression stiffening a little.
"I have a list here."
As he spoke, Phoenix Wright took out the roster Fang Zheng had handed him earlier.
"This is the official list of personnel who were on Rokugashima at the time. I did not find the name ’Beatrice’ on this list———so, do you assert that Beatrice is not among these people?"
".........Of course."
"Then I’d like you to restate this point in red letters———Beatrice is not on this Rokugashima personnel list!"
".........I refuse."
Faced with Phoenix Wright’s pressing, Beatrice’s expression twisted a bit, but she still answered in a low voice.
"In that case, may I take it that Beatrice is in fact one of the people on this list?"
"And what if she is?"
Right now, confronted with Phoenix Wright, Beatrice became smug again.
"I am the Golden Witch. Naturally I can transform at will into any person, and they wouldn’t even notice if I stood right next to them. I can even state it in red letters, you know———’One person on this list truly is Beatrice’!"
"This........."
Hearing this, Phoenix Wright was drenched in cold sweat.
He’d wanted to force her to admit her true identity, but she just went, "Because I’m a Witch, I can freely become anyone I like"......Who the hell cheats like that?!
Still, luckily, in Naruhodo’s career as a defense attorney, he’d seen plenty of bizarre witnesses. One more didn’t make much difference.
"Mr. Fang Zheng, she’s just completely talking nonsense at this point!"
Unlike Phoenix Wright, Conan at the side was hopping mad. In the real world, Conan had never seen such a twisted criminal suspect before—no matter what, she dumped it all on Magic. Murder is Magic, transformation is Magic, closed rooms are Magic, whatever it is, two words, ’Magic’, and done......
Most criminals Conan met in reality still had some shame. Even if some tried to push things onto Kaidan or Magic, they wouldn’t go this far into sheer bullshit. But the Beatrice in front of him was easily the most shameless suspect Conan had ever seen......
"It’s fine. Either way, we’ve already gotten a very important clue."
"We have?"
Hearing Fang Zheng, Conan looked at him.
"Why do you think Beatrice wanted to end the second game so quickly?"
"Now that you mention it, it is strange. In the first game, at least everyone was killed off. But in the second game, it had only just started, there hadn’t even been an incident yet, and she came out and killed everyone to declare the game over......"
At this point, Conan’s eyes lit up as well.
"So in other words, she’s trying to cover something up!"
"That’s right. We’re already getting close to the truth. In fact, maybe what happened earlier was when we were closest to the truth."
Fang Zheng turned his head, looking toward Phoenix Wright and Beatrice up on the stage.
Meanwhile, Beatrice was still telling Phoenix Wright her story.
"And that’s how it was. I used Magic to Summon the Black Spikes of the Seven Deadly Sins and killed them all........."
"OBJECTION!!"
However, before Beatrice could finish her sentence, Phoenix Wright cut her off with a furious shout. Then he picked up the report from before again and looked toward the Golden Witch.
"This report states very clearly that in the Rokugashima incident, Ehua Yodaimiya was the sole survivor, yet you’re claiming you killed everyone. That’s simply impossible!"
As he spoke, Naruhodo suddenly thrust out his hand, pointing straight at Beatrice.
With that motion, Fang Zheng and Conan saw a gust of wind whip up out of nowhere, roaring and spiraling as it slammed directly toward Beatrice, like an iron hammer smashing into the Golden Witch. Beatrice let out a scream and was sent flying backward.
".........Fang Zheng, what was that?"
"Game effects, game effects. Don’t mind it."
Facing Conan’s question, Fang Zheng remained utterly calm. At the same time, Beatrice shakily struggled up from the ground. She glared fixedly at Naruhodo, opened her mouth to say something, and then a mouthful of bright blood suddenly sprayed out from between her lips.
"She’s actually coughing up blood."
"That’s how the effects are. Otherwise how would they be called special effects?"
Fang Zheng stayed calm as ever.
"It’s a game, you need some exaggerated flair."
"Okay, maybe you’re right......"
Conan could only nod and accept Fang Zheng’s explanation. He was basically a game idiot, with zero talent in that area. From what he remembered, the only games Conan had ever really played, aside from that piece of black technology ’The Undead of Baker Street’, were FC titles like Tank Battle and Pac-Man......
"Very well, you’ve successfully angered me......"
Beatrice slowly stood up, then took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
"Since that’s the case, I’ll tell you the truth about Rokugashima!"
And at that moment, with Beatrice’s words, the world shattered once again.
The sound of waves outside drifted in. Fang Zheng lowered his head, looking at the woman before him.
"Mm...... Fang Zheng......"
Beneath him, Kanon’s cheeks were faintly flushed. She wrapped her arms tightly around Fang Zheng, while Fang Zheng lowered his head and sealed her lips.
"Don’t talk."
"Mm........."
Feeling Fang Zheng’s kiss, Kanon closed her eyes. Her lonely body, in that instant, was like dry tinder being set ablaze, growing hot once more. She clung tightly to the man before her, feeling the Scorching Flame inside her grow more and more intense. Fang Zheng reached out, caressing her smooth back and lifting her whole body up into his arms.
Soon, the movements of the two grew fiercer and fiercer, as if merging with the roar of the waves outside. The woman clutched the strong body of the man in front of her with all her strength. Right now she felt like a seawall, feeling those surging waves constantly tumbling, washing, pounding against her. Finally, the raging waves howled past, crashing against the shoreline before her.
"Mm......... ah!!!"
At last, after a bout of heavy panting, Kanon collapsed limply onto the bed, and Fang Zheng lay beside her, holding her in his arms.
"Well? Are you satisfied?"
"Honestly... don’t say stuff like that."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s murmured question at her ear, Kanon’s cheeks flushed red. Right now she didn’t look like a single mother who had raised a child at all, but like a girl whose heart had only just begun to awaken.
"By the way, why were you so angry at Maria? It was just a Witch legend."
Nibbling on her ear, Fang Zheng asked softly. This time, when they entered the third loop of the world, they had sped things up. Their current ’plot position’ was just before dinner. As in the previous two timelines, Kanon and Maria had clashed over the missing rose, Kanon had stormed off, and only after it started raining did she come back to look for Maria, only to find her holding an umbrella......
After that, Maria went back to her room to rest, and Fang Zheng brought Kanon to their room, where the two of them engaged in a very in-depth ’conversation’.
"You don’t understand...... Actually...... it’s not just a legend."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Fang Zheng’s eyes sharpened.
"Go on."
"Actually........."
Faced with Fang Zheng’s question, Kanon hesitated slightly, as if debating whether or not to say it. But the next moment, she let out a soft moan.
"Wait, don’t touch there......"
"So you can’t tell me?"
Fang Zheng’s right hand kneaded gently, savoring the softness, while he asked in a low voice.
"No, that’s not it. It’s just........."
Here Kanon paused, then still turned her head and looked at Fang Zheng.
"The truth is... I’ve actually seen Beatrice before......."
Then she began to speak.

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