Chelidony really died that easily.
Even though it was confirmed, Joey still felt like it wasn't real—because it was all too simple.
Especially since Chelidony's Nen Beast ability never revealed itself at all, which left Joey uneasy.
He was desperate to know everything that had happened before reaching the Fourth Tier.
Tita began to speak slowly: "On the second night after boarding the ship, the Fourth Prince learned about Nen. That same day, I became his Nen instructor.
The Fourth Prince was exceptionally gifted. Within just two days, he had mastered the fundamentals of Nen and began practicing the Four Major Principles.
The night before the banquet, there was an attempted assassination. After that, I began teaching him Zetsu, preparing to assassinate him while he was in a Zetsu state.
But something unexpected happened. I fired the gun—the bullet should've blown his head apart. The blood spatter, the iron stench, the sight of brain matter soaking the floor—it's all burned into my memory. But the result was that the Fourth Prince appeared before me completely unharmed."
Joey listened in silence, his expression slowly twisting. Goosebumps prickled his back and arms.
The timeline was wrong.
The sequence of events didn't match what he knew from the manga.
Due to his interference, the princes discovered Nen one day later than in the original timeline. Yet the Fourth Prince had already started learning Nen and implementing a plan from Tita a day earlier than expected—even the assassination attempt happened a day early.
If that were true, then during the banquet, the scar on Tita's face should've been more extensive.
Joey knew well how the Fourth Prince's Guardian Spirit Beast punished liars.
The first lie left a wound.
The second lie caused much more severe injuries, and the beast would even verbally warn the target.
The third lie meant death—the victim would be turned into a non-human entity.
If Tita had already attempted to assassinate the Fourth Prince once before the banquet, then the beast would have delivered its second punishment by then.
That meant the wound on Tita's face couldn't have been covered up with just a bandage; it should've scarred half her face.
But that wasn't the case.
There were only a few explanations.
One: the assassination attempt was her first lie to the Prince—so the "first lie" from the manga never occurred. In that case, the light wound seen after the banquet could be explained.
Two: the wound from the first lie wasn't on her face, but hidden beneath her clothes. The bandage was for an unrelated injury. Then, even after two lies, her outward appearance wouldn't give anything away.
But Joey doubted that—too much of a coincidence.
Three: Tita had already lied three times by the time of the banquet and had become a non-human entity under the Nen Beast's power.
As for why this "non-human" could still act like Tita—that would be the Fourth Prince's own ability at work.
Regardless, after listening to her, Joey felt sure—Tita wasn't right.
Tita continued in her calm tone: "After the failed assassination, I began speculating about the Fourth Prince's ability—but I couldn't distinguish between hallucination and reality.
So I couldn't determine exactly what had happened—until the day of the banquet, when you passed a message to me. Then, I understood the full picture of that night's assassination.
Time.
Everything revolves around time.
The Fourth Prince's Nen ability should involve time in some way—but I can't pinpoint how.
And it wasn't just me who received that message—he did too. You underestimated him.
After returning to Tier Four, the Fourth Prince questioned me. Because his ability was involved, I lied.
His Guardian Beast attacked me again. If I lied to him a third time—I'd be turned into a non-human."
Tita raised her head toward Joey. He and Salkov looked at her together.
They couldn't quite tell what state she was truly in. But both felt something was off.
"If things ended there, it would've been fine. But then, an assassin from the First Prince showed up in Tier Four and brought the Fourth Prince new intel—that a guard named Dio had intel on Morena.
Right as the Prince became interested in Dio, more info came in: Morena had investigated Dio. Dio was actually Yoshikage Kira.
So the Fourth Prince questioned me again.
But this time, it wasn't about you—it was about his own Guardian Beast."
"So you gave him the wrong answer," Salkov said, catching on, sorrow rising in his voice.
Tita rolled her eyes at him: "If I had, how would I be standing here right now? I gave the right answer—or rather, I gave what I believed to be true. Not just about the Nen Beast's abilities, but also his own.
That included my speculation on Dio—your—abilities. I assumed, like the Fourth Prince, you had some kind of time-related Nen. But I hid that part and only described it as some kind of insect-based manipulation ability.
After all, he saw the controlled fly himself. So he didn't suspect a thing.
Besides, I think he knows something about your ability that I don't."
Joey finally exhaled as he watched her roll her eyes at Salkov.
But he pressed her: "The Fourth Prince was killed by me personally. What about the wounds his Guardian Beast left on you?"
Tita stood and walked to the washroom. When she returned, Joey and Salkov saw the burns like brands—red and raw—on half her face and shoulder.
"As you can see, they haven't faded. So I suspect—either the Fourth Prince isn't truly dead, or his Guardian Beast hasn't vanished."
Turns out Tita had been concealing the injuries with makeup all along.
Joey shook his head. "Impossible. I killed him with my own hands. His Guardian Beast should've vanished with him. The change in the Twelfth Prince's Beast proves it!"
"You're saying the Fourth Prince's death triggered a change in the Twelfth Prince's Guardian Beast? Is that connection certain?" Tita frowned—this didn't align with her thoughts.
In her understanding, once both the Prince and his Beast were dead, any remaining effect from the Beast should disappear too.
Even if the fading took time, there should've been at least some sign of change.
She had sensed no recovery in her injuries all afternoon—clearly abnormal.
"Maybe it needs an Exorcist to remove the effect?" Salkov offered.
Joey and Tita shook their heads at the same time.
"The Guardian Beast required lies from Tita to activate. If the Prince is dead, the condition can no longer be met.
That would mean the contract was broken. It should be impossible for it to persist."
Joey's clone furrowed his brow—too many oddities.
"Then maybe the issue lies with the Prince's other Nen Beast—the one whose ability is still unknown," Tita said.
"Details?" Joey had barely interacted with that Beast—he only remembered its strange appearance. The manga had no info on it either.
Once the Fourth Prince fell into a coma, the Beast had never appeared again. That it was now under suspicion made sense.
It was a Specialist-type Beast—so a unique ability would be expected.
But could that kind of ability really save the Prince?
Joey had confidence in the first bomb. But then a thought struck him. Before Tita could finish her theory, Joey realized something.
But confirming it wouldn't be easy.
As Joey fell into thought, Tita spoke.
"A double. Or a spatial ability. The Prince's weakness is that he must enter Zetsu to activate his ability. If his Beast has a double or spatial ability, it could make him invincible."
"I can see a double working. But if it's spatial—why didn't he just escape with the Beast's help when he was trapped?"
"There must be limits. Maybe the transfer only works on specific targets. Or within a certain range."
"If that's the case, the possibilities are endless," Salkov shrugged helplessly.
He wasn't wrong. If you assumed from the wounds alone that the Prince wasn't dead, there were infinite abilities that could've saved him.
Joey remained silent, but his thoughts sharpened.
Tita was right.
If the injuries hadn't vanished, the likeliest reason was that the Fourth Prince wasn't completely dead. Then, what he blew up—was probably the Beast.
If that were true, the Prince's body should've disappeared the moment it was burned.
But that couldn't be—the feedback from Joey's En and Killer Queen confirmed that what was destroyed was indeed the Fourth Prince.
Given that, if the Prince somehow survived—Joey's mind could only recall one thing:
The secret chamber with fourteen coffins and a strange device in the center.
If those coffins must hold the Princes' bodies...
Could it be, the moment he obliterated the Prince, the corpse was transferred into one of those coffins?
Joey remembered probing Tier Four the first time—he'd confirmed the Guardian Beast could distinguish between targets carrying the first bomb. From that, he deduced it could momentarily glimpse the future.
But when he tried to kill the Prince, the Beast never appeared.
If, in its foresight, it saw that Joey couldn't destroy the Prince, its absence would make perfect sense.
Would the Fourth Prince return?
Joey's clone bit his thumb—he needed more intel on the King's Tier. Especially the room with those fourteen coffins.
Only then could he verify the Prince's true status.
But how to find it?
He thought of Fugetsu.
But before seeking her out, there were other tasks. Pretending to be the Fourth Prince—that was an opportunity he couldn't waste.
While Tita and Salkov continued their discussion, Joey went silent—like a machine in standby mode, sitting frozen in his chair.
Tita wasn't surprised. She and Salkov both knew: this was only a clone.
While Joey investigated, the First Prince noticed something strange.
At first, he thought Tier Four was too quiet. But by afternoon, he realized he was wrong.
Something major had happened in Tier Four.
"We must monitor Tier Eight closely. If Kurapika hasn't broken ties with the Fourth Prince, he might leak intel to him," Benjamin ordered.
"Is there really a Nen Beast that can abduct people without a trace?" Balasamilko asked. "The first case was in Tier Twelve. A guard named Juan escaped and testified—everything's based on Tier Twelve's account.
Then came Lihan's disappearance. If that wasn't caused by the Third Prince's Beast, then it must've been the one from Tier Twelve.
Kurapika has ties to Izunabi from Tier Six, and Biscuit from Tier Thirteen.
Previously, we suspected the teleportation Beast was from the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Prince.
After the Thirteenth was eliminated, those vanishings stopped. So we assumed it was the Thirteenth Prince's ability.
But now the vanishings are back—so it must be the Fourteenth Prince's.
But I checked with Babimaina. All day, the Fourteenth Prince has been mentally stable—no sign of fatigue like after using Nen.
And Babimaina never sensed her Guardian Beast activating.
She's just a baby—she can't endure large-scale ability use. Fatigue wouldn't go unnoticed.
So if a Nen Beast truly did make someone vanish—it wasn't hers."
Balasamilko had done a meticulous analysis. Benjamin scowled: "Then whose Beast is it?"
"No one's," Balasamilko replied. "We know the Twelfth Prince's Nen. The Tenth's Beast hasn't shown itself. The Eleventh's ability involves space, but intel suggests it's more of a transport-type support—not a threat.
The Ninth Prince is our biggest danger, but his power also has nothing to do with space. The Seventh's ability is still unclear, but he's been inactive—always by the Prince's side.
The Sixth is preaching with his Beast. The Fifth's Beast hasn't appeared—it's a possibility, but unconfirmed.
That leaves only the Third and Second Princes—but their abilities likely aren't spatial either.
So there's only one other possibility: the power belongs to Kurapika. His last Nen ability."
Benjamin summed up: "If it's a Nen Beast, the most likely candidates are the Fifth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Princes. If it's not, then it's Kurapika's ability. I can accept the former—but the latter? What's the price for such a power? And Kurapika doesn't show any signs of paying that price."
"That's the heart of the problem," Balasamilko nodded. "Also—word is, the Fourth Prince might be dead."
Benjamin shot up from his chair. "What?!"
"That's what the King's Guard reported. Needs verification. But if it's true—then the Prince in Tier Four is a fake."
"Verify it! I don't care what it costs—I want confirmation immediately!" Benjamin snapped. "No—don't just invite Kurapika and Dio—summon them. I want them in front of me within thirty minutes!"