I was at a loss for words. Henrika and Klara stood side by side in front of me with unreadable expressions. For the first time throughout my time in Serendipity, I heard Klara speak. Surprisingly, her apathetic voice sounded precise as I imagined it. It matched her gaze and words of judgment.

When I came back to my senses, my shock of the matter vanished. Who did that woman think she was? I couldn't imagine what I did to earn myself such a glance from her. Dozens of scenarios raced through my mind. But, nothing concrete struck. Klara and I hardly interacted with each other. Regardless of her attitude toward me, I found little comfort in the fact that she was the third person in our alliance.

She was the last person on my list.

I figured Klara as a wild card. I knew next to nothing about her. My thoughts filled to the brim with curiosity. It boggled my mind on how Henrika managed to recruit an enigma like Klara into the alliance.

"What do you mean by, "If I'm here to help"?" I asked.

"Playing dumb?" Klara turned her back to me, "let's get out of here, Henrika. This man's wasting our time."

"Wait for a second, Klara," Henrika stopped the woman from leaving and forced her back around, "give him a chance. I told you, he's a good guy."

Klara's skeptical glance didn't change. She remained unconvinced of her partner's words.

"I doubt that. We can't trust him." Klara pointed at me. Did she know something? She seemed determined to finger me out as untrustworthy.

"Have a seat." Henrika pulled up a chair. Klara reluctantly accepted and took a seat. Not once did she look away from me. Afterward, Henrika filled the woman in on our previous conversation about my past and reasons for being there in Serendipity.

It was hard to sit there and listen to everything. My past wasn't something I enjoyed bringing up to people, regardless if they were friends or strangers. There were several moments when I wanted to shout out and stop Henrika from mentioning certain circumstances. But, I bit my tongue and kept quiet.

When Henrika finished, Klara adjusted her glasses and responded, "So, you had a rough life. Whatever. That has nothing to do with our situation."

The woman stayed unfazed by the new information.

Henrika nudged Klara side with her elbow. "Klara, you're being rude."

"I'm being honest," Klara corrected, "this man can't be trusted. Maybe neither of you can be trusted."

"Why me?!" exclaimed Henrika, as if it were the most absurd thing she heard in her life.

"You brought him into our alliance without taking it up with me first. Who knows who else he told about us."

"I haven't told anyone," I cut my way back into the conversation. With the direction it took, I foresaw a lousy ending. One that I wished to avoid at all costs. I couldn't let the alliance end over a small mistake of miscommunication. "What's your problem with me anyway? What have I ever done to you?"

Klara icy glare returned. She raised her index finger and replied, "You have one chance at this. Answer truthfully. Did you ever vote to stay here?"

My heart rate skyrocketed at that moment. Out of any question, Klara could've asked me; it just had to be that one. I felt an immense amount of pressure weigh down on my shoulders as I struggled with finding out how to answer.

Should I tell the truth? What are the repercussions for doing so? Would Klara and Henrika kick me out of the alliance? We'd become enemies at that point, right?

Should I lie? If they believed me, then we'd continue to work together. I didn't see a problem with that.

But, I took another moment to reconsider the question. Why had Klara asked me that? Did she know? If she did, how? Was everything just a test for me?

I didn't know. I couldn't know.

Eventually, I steeled myself and threw caution into the wind as I answered, "Yes. I've voted to stay here."

Eyes of judgment pierced through me. Klara and Henrika's gazes brought about goosebumps over my body. Anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks as I waited for a response from them. At that point, I didn't care what they would say, just as long as they said something.

The overwhelming silence took its toll on my body.

"Maybe having him around won't be so bad after all," Klara looked at Henrika and nodded her head in acceptance. 

"Wait, what? You're letting me stay in the alliance?" I asked. I revealed my status as one of the traitors, and the woman didn't bat an eye. She accepted it without complaint.

"You told me the truth. It must've been tough for you, but you did it." Klara looked back at me. That time, her gaze was different. It seemed she accepted me. 

"Alliances are built on trust, Ambrose," Henrika declared, "without it, we're doomed to fail."

"How did you know I was a traitor?" I wondered. I thought I hid that fact very well. If there was something I missed, I wanted to know about it.

Henrika smiled and set her hand on Klara's shoulder. "Klara here is good at reading people. She can tell what you're thinking just by watching your facial expressions."

I glanced over at the woman. Was what she told me the truth? I heard of people that possessed that skill. Was Klara truly one of them?

"You're skeptical," Klara suddenly called me out. "Your eyebrows furrowed when you looked at me."

My hand unconsciously moved to my eyebrows. Perhaps it was just a lucky guess? I couldn't easily believe her claims just because of that.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Go ahead and try to fool Klara if you can, Ambrose. I've already tried, and she saw through all my lies," Henrika sighed. "I take pride in my lies."

"I think you should've kept that to yourself," I said. Henrika's careless habits got on my nerves. I saw her as the de facto leader of the team, and that worried me greatly. "Whatever. Say I decided to believe you, what's your plan to get out of here?"

Klara opened her book and pulled out several pieces of paper. They were the letters Henrika, and I collected. 

"I'm the one that wrote these letters," The woman revealed. One bombshell after another. Had I tried to lie to her earlier, no doubt I would've gotten kicked out of the alliance. If she wrote the letters, then, of course, she'd discern the genuine from the fakes. "I didn't think someone would make fakes and send them to the other players. That miscalculation is on me."

Miscalculation.

That's how she worded her mistake. An error of hers that caused several problems within Serendipity. My first instinct was to lash out at her. But, that wouldn't solve anything. 

However, it didn't change how I felt about Klara taking the problem so lightly. Her tone of voice stayed monotone regardless of what subjects she brought up in the conversation. Did she not care about anyone or anything going on?

 "So, Klara and I plan on luring out the person that wrote out these fakes." Henrika proclaimed.

"How do you plan on doing that?" I asked.

"We're going to make a petition," Henrika answered, "we'll have everyone sign a piece of paper under the guise of wanting to convince Caius to let us out of here."

"Our real aim is to get everyone's signature and compare it to the fake letters. From there, Henrika should be able to figure out who wrote the fakes." Klara added.

"And when we point out the person?" I questioned.

"We bring them out into the light," Henrika harshly responded. "Klara tried to warn others about the traitors, but someone went and fucked it all up. They'll pay for that."

"I never pictured you as the caring type." My attention shifted over to Klara. At that point, the woman had her book opened. 

"I'm not. I don't care about anyone's reasons for being here. I want my money as soon as possible," Klara flipped to the next page in her book. "I thought warning everyone about the traitors as soon as possible would benefit me in the long run. Unexpectedly, that didn't turn out to be the case."

Once again, not a single shred of urgency or dread showed in her voice or body language. Klara spoke as if everything in Serendipity was a minor inconvenience. What kind of life did that woman live to have such a cold exterior?

 "You don't look like you're in a rush to get out of here," I noted. "What could you possibly want with money besides books?"

For a moment, Klara sharply looked up from her book and glared at me. "Getting rid of gambling debt for starters."

I was taken aback for a moment. I never figured Klara the gambling type. It just went to show that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover. "You? Gamble?"

"Not me. My parents. They acquired a lot of debt from gambling. When it got too much for them, they committed suicide by driving themselves off the road with me in the backseat." Klara revealed.

"...Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." I apologized. I felt like I made her bring up old wounds.

"No need to apologize. You had nothing to do with their deaths. I don't feel sorry for them. They were idiots." Klara returned to the realm of her book. "Causing unnecessary problems for their child due to their incompetence."

Klara's cruelty knew no bounds. Her thoughts and attitude towards her parents wasn't something I expected. I empathized with her to a certain degree, at least when it came to my father. I looked over at Henrika. She didn't seem fazed by the woman's words. Perhaps she already knew about Klara's circumstances.

"Let me guess; their debt went to you afterward?" I wondered.

Klara nodded her head in confirmation. "Correct. Loan sharks chased me for months. Nearly caught me until Tanet found me and offered me the chance to come here."

"Yeah, apparently Tanet's sunk his teeth into everyone here," I mentioned and rolled my eyes. It was thanks to conniving bastards like Tanet why I didn't believe in coincidences. "Do you regret answering his call?"

"No," Klara shook her head. "Accepting his offer proved beneficial to me. I have more than enough money to pay off the loan sharks and have enough left over for easy living."

"At the cost of a man's life." I reminded her of Frederick's death. 

"That was his undoing. He chose to gamble all his points. That's all on him," Klara countered. "It takes a special kind of moron to use all their points in the first game."

Not a single lie spewed from her mouth. Her response was entirely logical. However, that wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted to gauge her unreadable expressions. Nothing changed.

She was as cold and uncaring as before. 

 Even though I didn't know Frederick all that much, his death still impacted me. But, Klara was different. She wasn't shocked or disturbed. She didn't care. Whether he survived or not, she wouldn't think twice about the man.

Perhaps in her eyes, no matter what happened in Serendipity, Klara wouldn't bat an eye. She'd shrug off everything until she left with her money.

"Why are you choosing now of all times to speak up?" I inquired. That was one of the greatest questions that bothered me about Klara. There were plenty of moments where she could've spoken up and brought several things to light. Most importantly, the mystery of the traitors and letters could've been solved almost immediately.

Maybe then certain deaths could've been avoided.

"You're angry," Klara spotted. She must've reread my facial expressions. My face stiffened. "You think me being silent caused all this?"

"Certainly didn't help." I retorted. It wasn't my intention to argue with Klara. Nothing would change the past or bring back the lives lost. If anything, it'd be just a bunch of hypothetical scenarios. "If you spoke up about the--"

Klara slammed her book closed. "Arguing over what-ifs is pointless. I didn't speak before because I didn't see the point of communicating with strangers. I couldn't trust any of you at the time."

"That's your excuse?"

"It's my reason. If I couldn't trust my parents, what makes you think I'd trust a bunch of greedy strangers?"

"So, you trust us now?"

"To an extent," Klara nodded. "I know now that I can't wait for these games to end anytime soon. We need to take action, or else we'll all die here."

"If you'd conclude that before, some of the deaths here could've been avoided." I proclaimed.

"Maybe. But, we'll never know for sure. Agreeing to come here and expecting no one to die is foolish. You should count your blessings you haven't died."

"I'm grateful for that. But, I'm still burdened by what's happened here."

"That's your choice. Everything that's happened is because of the choices everyone's made. You can sit there, blaming yourself or me, but nothing changes in the end."

"I know that."

"Then pull yourself together. We've come this far. Let's push a little more." Klara suggested.

It was strange hearing words of encouragement come from her, potentially one of the coldest people here. I didn't necessarily like her, but I didn't have to. I just needed to work with her until we were all free.

"Fine, I'm with you." I nodded my head.

Klara stood from her chair and returned my gesture with a nod of her own. "Good. We'll begin with our plan tomorrow."

"Can't help but feel excited," Henrika pulled Klara and I together until all three of us were bunched up. "We're like a super covert team now."

"Yeah, yeah, make sure to pull your weight. Don't count on me to do everything for you." Klara complained.

"Who was that meant for?" I wondered.

"Both of you," Klara slipped out from Henrika's grasp and left the room.

"She's a little...intense..." I surmised. Klara's attitude and personality far exceeded my expectations. I pictured a shy and timid bookworm initially. But, that was far from the case.

"Try not to be too hard on her. Klara has some trust issues." Henrika stated.

"That's putting it lightly," I said.

"She's rough around the edges, but she has good intentions. I'm sure she feels terrible about what's happened concerning her letters. She's brilliant, and she'll help us catch the bastard that did this." Henrika's voice beamed with confidence. Even I couldn't resist smiling in response.

"That's yet to be seen. But, I'll go along with it. Let's end this," I said. Henrika nodded in agreement with my statement. With that, Henrika left my room, and with a heavy heart and a determined mindset, I fell asleep and hoped for a better tomorrow.