My body felt like it was filled with sand. My legs and head were heavy and throbbed relentlessly. Concepts of time were sketchy, and I couldn't tell if I reached Yuka and Miku in five minutes or five hours.

"Mayu! What's wrong? What happened?" Yuka asked immediately.

"Dead…" I whispered.

"What? Who? What is happening?!"

"Rin…I can't believe…"

Then the three other figures in the room entered my vision. All of the servants were there. All of the breathing ones at least.

Luka grasped her skull and squatted to the ground. "Not again. Not again. Not again-"

"That is it," Yuka exclaimed, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out of servant's dining room.

I shook away my stupor and was able to croak, "What are you doing?"

She continued to stomp down the halls. "We are getting out of here, right now, we are telling the police, and we are not going to die."

We passed boarded up windows and locked doors, found the front entrance, and pulled the handles. Locked.

Yuka cursed under her breath. I stared at her in disbelief. She had never cussed before.

"We're going to have a talk with the queen," Yuka commanded, seething.

"It won't work. She will find us, and we can't leave the servants here."

"We will talk to her civilly. The police are still in the building. I don't think she would risk hurting us."

"She still won't let us go."

"WELL, WE'LL KILL HER THEN," she burst.

"Don't say that, Yuka. You don't mean it. You'll be hanged."

The girl hid her face and mumbled something I couldn't catch. She looked up with a fire in her eyes I had never seen before and said, "Do you really want to let her get away with what she did to Len?"

Emotions shot through me like a bolt of lightning. Melancholy, frustration, volatility. Every fiber of my being desired revenge, but would that really satisfy me? If we killed her, than we would die anyway, which is what she wanted.

"The only way we can win is if we live. We can't do that if we commit regicide," I replied with constraint.

Yuka simmered down, took a deep breath, and took off down the hall to the staircase. I had no choice but to follow.

"I'm still talking to her," she stated as we ascended the staircase.

It was no use to struggle when she got an idea in her head. The only thing left to do was acquiesce. After what felt like miles of stairs, we made it to the top floor and outside Meiko's bedroom where at this time, she was supposed to be getting changed for dinner. However, no lady's maid was available to open the door.

"Oh, Mayu, Yuka! What a wonderful surprise in these grim times. I would love to talk to you in the parlor in a few minutes, but I am in need of a change-"

"Forgive us, Your Majesty, but we are resigning," I said quietly.

"E-excuse me?"

"We would like to leave!" Yuka said much more loudly, "Please unlock the doors to let us out."

Meiko stared at us for a long time. I could tell she was clenching her fists behind her back. The woman forced a laugh and spoke in a soft voice full of warning.

"That's hilarious, you two. The very notion of such a thing! Where would you even go? The personal musicians of royalty is as high up the social ladder you people can reach. It is perfectly safe here more than anywhere else. Poor darling Rin must have went outside against my wishes, and that is when the serial killer struck."

"We think we can handle-"

"I FULLY," interrupted the queen, "recommend you stay here. For your own safety. Understand?"

I suppressed the shudder running down my spine. "Understood, right Yuka?"

Shooting Her Majesty a look brimming with loathing, she nodded, and we swiftly took our exit.

"We are holding this meeting," began Gakupo, "to discuss the events of the past month and what our actions should be from now on."

I looked around the room. All doors locked. We would speak in quiet voices in case anyone should overhear. What was left of everyone sat at the servant dining table in eerie silence. To the right of me was Yuka. To the left, Miku. Luka, Gumi, and the current speaker were present as well. The butler took the reins since he was the last man standing and the highest ranked servant in the house.

"We need to figure out who is doing this and how we can protect ourselves," he went on. His demeanor altered completely since I first met him. "Her Majesty has made arrangements for our safety, but they may not be enough. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"We know who did it!" Yuka announced right away.

The loyal butler looked incredulously at the short girl. "Tell us immediately. Who has killed three of our own?"

She was less hyper to reveal the actual name now that all eyes were on her. The weight of what was about to be said weighed her shoulders down, and finally she whispered, "Meiko."

Everyone continued to stare at her, waiting for a plausible answer instead of whatever the hell that was. Impossible, the looks on their faces said, lunacy. Only after Yuka didn't waver on her answer for two straight minutes did Gakupo's expression change.

"Blasphemy!" he shouted, throwing away the rule of speaking quietly, "How dare you accuse Her Majesty of such heinous crimes? Murder? Mutilation?"

"Cannibalism," I interjected.

"Cannaba…This story keeps getting better and better. Our queen is a cannibal and killed her servants that she considers family! You know, everything was fine until you two showed up. The police keep questioning you, Ms. Hiki. I wonder why that is," ranted Gakupo. I looked him in the eye to retort, but a new voice spoke up.

"It's true."

The table's attention was now on Miku. She spoke with a finality that doesn't make you question her words. "Meiko ate Len, Rin, and Kaito, and she is going to eat all of us if we don't get out of here soon."