“See? Even Elinor gets it,” Ace said, relieved that she had finally decided to step in. He understood that Janice loved Mandy like the sister she never had, and the idea of being emotionally manipulated by her was something Janice took very seriously and was deeply hurt by the mere thought of it. Still, her reaction was a bit much—especially for a grown woman who had worked in the film industry, where fake emotions were basically part of the job.

“Yeah, and what’s that supposed to mean?” Elinor shot back, raising an eyebrow. “I have friends too, you know. I know what I’m talking about. Layla sold me out to Matthews, and you didn’t see me spiraling out. I worked through my emotions like an adult.” She crossed her arms as if making it clear that if anyone here had the right to complain about backstabbing friends, it was her.

Ace tilted his head. “Wait… does that mean you’ve forgiven Layla?” He was genuinely surprised—Elinor seemed way more emotionally mature than she usually let on.

“No way,” Elinor scoffed. “Next time I see her, I’m gonna make her vomit eyeballs for weeks before I even think about forgiving her.” Her voice was laced with pure malice, but then she casually added, “But yeah, I still consider her my friend. She just has to pay for the betrayal first.”

Ace blinked, thinking, ‘That… is the most McSuile thing I’ve ever heard her say.’

Elinor wasn’t done. She kept siding with Mandy and, surprisingly, Janice.

“But the thing with Mandy is totally different. If you feel betrayed and manipulated just because you think she’s ignoring you on purpose to mess with your emotions, then imagine how she must feel—knowing that you’ve been lying to her since the day you met. Give her time to process it. She’ll come to you when she’s ready… unless you want to come clean before that happens.”

She paused for a second, letting her words sink in before continuing.

“I’m not saying you’re at fault. You did what you had to do to protect her. If anyone is to blame, it’s Ace. He basically ratted you and Delores out to Mandy. If you’re gonna be mad at anyone, it should be him.”

Elinor turned toward Ace, narrowing her eyes.

“Even now, it was Ace who pointed out that Mandy might be playing games with you—when, in reality, she could just be actually busy with work, like she said. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Ace was trying to break you two up by playing devil’s advocate between you.”

She crossed her arms, her voice sharp as she laid out her thoughts.

“The facts are right there. It wasn’t Ace’s place to tell Mandy that you were lying to her. And he shouldn’t have told you that Mandy might be avoiding you because she knows the truth and jumping to assumptions about her playing mind games when he wasn’t certain about either. From where I’m standing, it’s starting to look like Ace has been deliberately creating cracks in your friendship.”

Elinor’s gaze flicked back to Ace, daring him to argue.

“But… without a clear motive, that’s just speculation. A series of coincidences, maybe. Or even a false assumption—unless you think Ace has a good reason to sabotage your relationship with Mandy.”

Ace stared at Elinor in disbelief while Janice shoved him away and shot him a suspicious look. Meanwhile, Elinor smirked, clearly enjoying herself.

“I was part of the debate team as a kid,” she revealed, leaning back with an air of smug satisfaction. “Had to quit when I became a curse user, though. So you better think twice before underestimating me.”

“Ace, why would you try to break Mandy and me up?” Janice demanded, jumping straight to conclusions before giving Ace a chance to defend himself.

Ace scoffed, ignoring her as he turned back to Elinor. “You are evil.”

Elinor simply sipped her mocktail, completely unbothered. “You’re lucky I chose not to be like Father,” she replied coolly before suddenly yelling across the yard, “Lilith, no scorpions! If the Landers see them, they’ll report me to social services!”

“Scorpions are cool, but okay!” Lilith called back, shrugging. With her zombie brides, insects, and reptiles surrounding and playing with her, waiting at her hand and foot, she looked like something straight out of a gothic fairy tale.

Ace barely had time to process that bizarre scene before Janice snapped at him again, “Ace, answer me!”

He sighed, rubbing his temples out of sheer disbelief that she was actually starting to believe Elinor’s nonsense.

“Okay, enough of this,” he said, his patience wearing thin. He turned to Elinor, eyeing her suspiciously, “Where is the real Janice?”

Elinor’s smirk widened. “Took you long enough,” she teased. “What gave it away? Her stunted emotional maturity, right? She’s got a long way to go before she catches up—this one’s only a few hours old, after all.”

Ace’s jaw tightened. Of course, she wasn’t real. He knew something was off. But this? This was a whole new level of messed up.

“No, her stunted emotional maturity only made me suspicious,” Ace admitted. “Then I checked her earrings—nothing off there. But when you painted me as some devil’s advocate trying to sabotage Janice and Mandy’s friendship? That was the nail in the coffin. It wasn’t like you.

“You never accuse someone of something unless you’re absolutely sure. Even if you’re joking, you wouldn’t risk it turning into something serious. So the only explanation was one of two things: either Janice wasn’t really Janice, or you were the fake one. And since I know you wouldn’t leave Lilith under the care of an unstable clone, the answer was obvious.”

Ace crossed his arms, savoring the win while also silently impressed by just how near-perfect Janice’s cloning capabilities were.

Elinor raised an eyebrow. “So it was me,” she said, then smirked. “But I have to ask—should I be worried that you know me this well when we’ve only known each other since last night?”

Ace shot her a dry look and pointed out, “You should be because you’re an open book. That’s not a good thing—it makes you predictable, which gives your opponents a huge advantage. Especially since your specialty is curse spells.”

Elinor actually seemed to consider this, but before she could respond, Ace changed the subject. “Where are Janice and Delores? I need their help.”

“Great advice,” she added with a nod, seriously considering Ace’s unsolicited advice to her joke. “I’ll work on that.”

Ace wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but at least she acknowledged it. That was a start.

Elinor then hummed in thought before answering, “Janice is in her mobile workshop, and Delores and Evil Eyes are out on patrol.”

Listening to her reply, alarms rang in Ace’s head. He glanced at the Janice clone, then back at Elinor before asking, “Should I be worried?”

Elinor hesitated for a moment before responding. “I don’t think so. Apparently, Janice has been using Mandy to help her clones develop emotionally. Since they trust her, they love spending time with her—”

Ace’s gaze sharpened, cutting her off.

Elinor sighed before revealing the truth, “Alright, fine. The truth is, we’ve spotted a few scouts. We identified who they are and which force they belong to, but we haven’t figured out who their target is. For now, we think they might be here for one of four people: Aurelian Eyes, Curse Caster, the youngest Void-tier curse user… or the Samsara Slayer.”

Ace frowned, thinking aloud, “That’s Janice, you, Lilith… and who is this Samsara Slayer?”

His confusion was obvious—he had no idea there was another powerhouse hidden among Janice’s people.

“About that… the Samsara Slayer—it’s you. That’s your slayer title,” Elinor hesitantly informed him before launching into a rant.

“I cursed a Void-tier curseling from several miles away without even realizing it, and Lilith is the youngest Void-tier curse user—but neither of us got a title. Yet you, who apparently did nothing, were given a Slayer title. Not just any title either—a Slayer title. Do you have any idea how hard those are to get? Delores, as an Ocean-tier, had to take down half a dozen Sky-tier curse masters while protecting Janice just to earn hers! But you? You got it without any official records of your so-called achievements that would justify a Slayer title.”

Ace gave her a deadpan stare, completely ignoring her jealousy. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” His voice was flat, but his mind was racing. He wasn’t questioning Elinor’s frustration—he was more concerned about why he had been given a Slayer title when there were no documented accomplishments that would justify it.

Elinor sighed and folded her arms. “The entire C.I.B. and a bunch of other government agencies have looked into the Samsara Cult incident very seriously. They brought in their top pathfinders, diviners, and curse investigators to figure out what actually went wrong. Their goal was to find out who to blame… but instead, they found a hero. The Samsara Slayer, Ace Lander.”

She paused for dramatic effect before delivering the final blow. “A Mortal-tier curse master, without whom it would have been impossible to bring down the Samsara Cult.”

Ace felt his stomach drop.

Elinor smirked, continuing, “It’ll be announced soon to the Mortal World’s curse community. And, of course, it’ll be posted on the Curse Web.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep