"Number 7:

Tired of stealing stuff from around the mansion and hoarding it in your small chamber until you manage to sell them? Well, future-Bezel, don't forget that you have other, more legal options too! First off, I'd recommend travelling to Parsmount and participating in various lottery games and sports betting. (There are other cities you could try, but Parsmount has the best value/effort ratio, in my opinion.)

Down below I've compiled a list about the best available games and bets, with instructions on how to win them."

— Top 10 Tricks To Get Rich Fast, written by Bezel

"I'm not going into the water," Miranda stated.

"Oh come on Mira, we are almost there!"

"You should have brought me a second pair of shoes if you knew we would have to wade into the stream. Why was your name Shoes, if you can't even do such a simple thing?"

Bezel just crossed his arms and watched her without a word. Miranda returned his stare, standing next to the stream defiantly. In spite of her better judgement, she had agreed to come alone. What she hadn't been prepared for was that Bezel would lead her out on a small trip into the forest.

"Can't you just cover your legs with your powerfield?" Bezel asked. "Wouldn't that be waterproof?"

"It depends on the emotion."

"Then do it with waterproof emotion."

"No."

"Seriously?"

Miranda didn't answer. She had enough of Bezel ordering her around. The man was just a dim-witted bully, nothing more. Just because he was stronger, he thought he could threw away decorum. His tale about the time loop hadn't improved Miranda's mood either. It was worse than she feared. Much worse. According to it, nothing that she did here mattered, because everything was going to be undone. That was just unacceptable. She would need to—

"Alright, I'll carry you then," Bezel said, coming back to her.

"W-What?" Miranda was startled out of her thoughts. "No!"

"Then what are you planning to do, woman? Will you just stand there and wait for the river to run out of water?"

Miranda ground her teeth once more. That bastard didn't have a drop of sympathy in his blood. Didn't he see that she had other things on her mind? He had just casually mentioned something that rocked her entire world, then expected her to cope with it immediately.

Miranda channeled her frustration into her gemstone and enveloped her feet with a sparkling orange powerfield. She made herself taller, extending her powerfield downwards so that her feet wouldn't touch the water. Then, with slightly unsteady steps, she waded into the stream.

She progressed perfectly fine on her elevated shoes—for about thirty seconds. That was the time she needed to make a single misstep on the uneven bottom of the stream and fall face-first into the water. She had tried to cover herself with her powerfield, but wasn't fast enough. Her dress, her hair, her makeup; everything was ruined.

"Good, now at least you can hurry your ass up," Bezel commented after Miranda finished screaming out her frustration.

The cold water made Miranda shiver, that insolent slave didn't even wait for her, he was still ordering her around on her own estate, this world turned out to be a fake that kept repeating itself, and Miranda probably looked ridiculous with her smudged makeup. This was definitely her worst day ever.

"I'm going to strangle you one day," Miranda muttered as she hurried after Bezel.

They arrived to the entrance of the tunnel that Bezel had spoken of, and Miranda followed Bezel as he led the way with an oil lamp. She was cold and trembling, her wet dress clinging to her uncomfortably. She didn't even bother to ask the numerous questions she had, preferring to walk in sullen silence. Only the echo of their footsteps could be heard for a while.

"I can give you a change of clothes," Bezel eventually spoke up. "They might be a bit large for you, though."

Miranda nodded, then noticed that the tunnel ahead of them came to an end. There was a door on the left side. Bezel pulled out a metallic card from the door's frame, pressed it against the door and knocked twice. A soft, whirring sound could be heard before Bezel opened the door to enter. When he turned on the lights, Miranda's breath caught.

The room was filled with crates, chests and shelves, giving the chamber a slightly crowded feel. But even with all the machines and books on the walls, Miranda recognized this place. How could she not, when she had just seen it in a memory a few hours ago? The stone altar in the middle was unmistakable.

Her surprise was increased tenfold when she noticed two black sculptures on the altar.

"How did you get them?!" Miranda exclaimed, then rushed to the altar to pick one of the sculpture up. It was depicting a slender feminine figure in an elegant pose. The figurine had long flowing hair, with a pair of horns emerging from behind her pointed ears and ending at the middle of her forehead.

"That's the one you've sold to the Church," Bezel said. "I stole it about five years ago. It wasn't difficult to track down, because the time loop starts on the day it is carried away from this mansion."

Bezel started rummaging in one of the chests, while Miranda stood frozen in the middle of the room, trying to comprehend the situation.

"What does this mean?" Miranda asked silently, clutching the Krinil Sculpture tight. "If— If everything resets to the way it was, can't we just steal the same sculpture four times?"

"What?" Bezel looked up from the chest. "Oh! No, that's not how it works. The sculptures are the only things that are outside of the loop, aside from this room."

"So, where these two sculptures were originally, there is now . . . nothing?"

"Yeah," Bezel nodded distractedly, pulling out papers and organizing them in a heap. "The Church will come to complain about the missing scuplture on the third day of the loop, which is tomorrow. Since you aren't usually here that time and your counselor can give them no explanations, they tend to get really insulted."

"Wonderful," Miranda said mirthlessly. "And the other sculpture?"

She put down the one she was holding and glanced over at the other. It depicted a muscular male Krinil, his horns curving back from the middle of his forehead, reaching behind his ears.

"I stole that from your cousin's mansion," Bezel said blithely. "He doesn't even realize it's missing."

"You broke into—but of course you have. I swear to you, slave, if you—hey, what are you doing?"

Bezel had walked to the door with a stack of papers in one hand and a lighter in the other. Then, ignoring Miranda's question, he set the papers alight and threw them out to the corridor. After confirming that they all caught fire, he closed the door and smiled.

"I destroyed all of my notes about the start of the time loop, as well as the instructions about how to end it."

Miranda's jaw fell open. "What— Why— Why would you do that?"

"So that you cannot kill me and take over this room, of course," Bezel said. "Now I'm the only one who knows the whole truth. If I die, you have no chance of getting out of this, not even if you collect every sculpture."

Miranda was too shocked to answer immediately. Had this idiot really destroyed vital notes just because he was paranoid?

"I haven't even thought—"

"Yes, yes," Bezel waved a hand dismissively. "I know that you haven't thought about taking over this chamber . . . yet. I've told you too much stuff, and they are hard to digest. But once you had the chance to think things through, you would have decided to off me, I do not doubt that. After all, there are all kinds of benefits if you are the only one who knows about the time loop."

Miranda clenched her fists to stop them from trembling.

"Does this mean that you will off me, too?" she asked frostily. "Once I'm no longer useful?"

Bezel regarded her with a solemn expression. "I have a principle not to kill others needlessly, both outside and inside of the loop. If you don't give me any reason to hurt you, I won't."

"That's it?" Miranda asked, eyes flashing with anger. "You tell me you have some kind of principle, and I'm supposed to believe it?!"

"I don't expect you to believe it right away," Bezel said calmly. "Just keep in mind what I said. I have no misgivings about sharing the time loop with you, as long as we collect all the Krinil Sculptures."

"So you say."

"Yes," Bezel said softly. "So I say."

After a moment of silence, he turned and walked to one of the crates, lifting off its lid. Miranda could see that it was full of clothes, though not in a particularly orderly manner.

"Pick some dry clothing," Bezel said. "I'll step outside while you change."

Although Miranda wasn't particularly shy, she appreciated the offer. It gave her the perfect opportunity to look around without the annoying slave watching her. As soon as he closed the door behind him, Miranda rushed to the crate and started rummaging for decent clothes. She pulled out a large cotton shirt that had a slight smell. She made a face at that, wondering whether the crate was actually the slave's laundry. Or could it be that he was always clothing in smelly garments? Damned brute.

But Miranda couldn't afford to be picky now. She pulled on the shirt, then changed into a pair of shorts that were almost long enough to reach her ankles. She used a belt to tighten the shorts around her waist, then decided that she was done for now. There was no way she would touch any of the socks and undergarments she had found.

She looked positively awful, but at least no one was there to see her. No one, except the slave . . . but that brute had already seen her beaten to the ground and drenched in the river, so the remnants of her dignity were already gone.

The first thing Miranda did after changing was to hop onto the altar. She tapped on the stone ceiling and traced its surface with her fingers, but found no openings, not even a single crack. She also tried to push it upwards—even used some of her powerfield for added strength—but the stone didn't budge.

Next, she attempted to look for records that Bezel might try to keep hidden. She didn't have time to take note of everything in the chamber, so she just started opening the crates near to the bed until she found something to read. A small box contained lots of dirty and folded papers, and Miranda decided to rifle through those.

Hello, Shoes!

I know this is going to be hard to take, but please stay with me till the end of this letter. It's hard to write about this. It will be also hard to hear about this, I know, but there is something I must tell you.

I am your father.

Miranda wrinkled her forehead in thought. If she remembered correctly, Shoes was born within the walls of the Dawngrove estate to a servant girl who accidentally got pregnant. But as for the father . . . ah, she'd have to ask Sebas. Miranda never really bothered with these things—it was only pure chance that she knew the mother at all. She put the letter aside for now, and opened the next one in a hurry.

Hello, adventurer!

I know this is going to be hard to take, but please stay with me till the end of this letter. I've made a grand discovery, but I fear that my life is in danger.

Miranda scoffed and threw away the paper. Who the Hell begins a letter with hello, adventurer? The next paper she grabbed was even more ridiculous.

Beware the curse of the shoe-cleaners!

Are you a shoe-cleaner, and also a young man? Then be warned that the ancient spirits of the dead are going to hunt you down! This is no joke! If you don't believe me, read the text on the other side of this sheet. Everything written there will come true!

"Ah, that's a good one."

"Eek!" Miranda squeaked, whirling around in fright. Bezel had been peeking at the letter from behind her shoulder, sporting an amused smile. For a man as large as him, he was quite good at sneaking up on her like that.

"I've written that letter as a joke," he explained. "It's funny how much you can mess with your own head. Kind of enlightening too."

Miranda didn't really understand what he meant by that, but she refused to act as if she was caught red-handed. "I was thinking about reading through your notes first, to see if you were telling the truth."

"Sure, you can read whatever you want," Bezel said, plopping down on the bed. "Just put everything back where you found them, please."

Miranda took a brief glance at the letter she had thrown on the floor, but made no move to collect it. "What are these letters for, slave?"

"Still calling me names, eh, Mira? The letters were for tricking Shoes to do certain risky tasks for me. I have only one life, but Shoes has many."

"I see," Mira said, mood darkening. "It's better if he dies instead of you, huh? So much for your so-called principle, slave."

"Hey, I said that I try to avoid killing others needlessly. I said nothing about suicide."

"That's not—"

"Oh please, spare me the technical details. I'm not intent on being cruel to Shoes, and let's leave it at that."

Miranda wasn't sure how to feel about it. She didn't know what she would have done with an other Miranda, if she were in Bezel's place. Would she be able to kill her copy?

"Is that what you're doing to me now?" Miranda decided to change topics. "You're trying to trick me into doing stuff for you, aren't you?"

To Miranda's surprise, Bezel laughed.

"You're way too bent on trying to incriminate me, Mira. Don't worry, I have been completely honest with you so far."

"Why?!" Miranda exclaimed, rising to her feet.

"Hmm? What's your problem this time?"

"Why don't you try tricking me?" Miranda asked exasperatedly. "Why do you tell me about the loop? Wouldn't it be easier if you used this time loop to figure out how to manipulate me?"

"Ah, I see. Yes, valid concerns, only . . . how should I put it? I'm not a man of great plans."

Miranda glanced at the box full of letters. "I find that hard to believe."

Bezel shook his head. "I'm not saying that I'm incapable of orchestrating certain events—especially if I can try again and again until I succeed. But after ten years at this, I got tired of this scheming nonsense. I have always found honesty the best approach, so I go with it whenever I can. Admittedly I almost never invite other people to this room, but I find the current setup to be convenient. There is no need for me to break into your chambers and snoop around, if you're going to help me by your own will."

Miranda crossed her arms in front of her chest. "That's what you would say if you were trying to trick me."

When Bezel rolled his eyes Miranda consciously had to restrain herself from punching his ugly face.

"So you want me to believe that you were planning to steal from me, but once I started chasing you through the mansion, you suddenly changed plans and decided to tell me everything? Just like that?"

Bezel shrugged. "It was an impulsive choice on my part, yes. I'm sure I don't have to explain how that goes, Mira. Hate to break it to you, but you're quite impulsive as well."

Miranda scowled, but didn't bother to correct the insolent slave. Deciding to put this issue away for later, she turned to take a better look around the room. Bezel watched her quietly as she walked around, taking note of the weapons, the water barrel and the food crates, the shelves on the wall and—

"What's this?" Miranda asked as she spotted an ornate necklace. It was made of gold, with a large ruby in its center; exactly the same as the jewelry she had in her room. A family heirloom. But the necklace being here wasn't even the strangest things of all; the four other copies of it were much more disturbing. If Miranda had any doubts that the time loop was real, they all evaporated now.

"How— How did you steal these, slave?" she asked, dumbfounded. "And why?"

Bezel raised an eyebrow. "It's not that hard to figure out why. It sells for a good price. You know, it's easy to get quite rich with this time loop going on."

"But how?" Miranda asked. "You said you haven't been in my quarters. Were you lying, slave?"

"No, I haven't been in your quarters. One of your bed slaves is a spy however, so I just had to tell him that I'll turn him in if he didn't steal it from you."

Miranda's jaw dropped. "There is a spy among my bed slaves? Who? Who is it?!"

Bezel began to laugh once again, but held up his hands in a placating manner when Miranda took a few threatening steps towards him.

"Sorry, sorry, I just— It's a shame you couldn't see your own face, it was priceless."

Bezel wiped off his stupid little grin when he saw Miranda getting angrier, then motioned towards the simple chair next to the desk.

"Don't you want to sit down? The explanation might take a while if we get into this."

"I'm good," Miranda said gruffly. "Answer my question, slave."

"It's Tulip," Bezel admitted. "I don't know which House he is spying for. Unfortunately, he isn't able to read so he couldn't go through your documents, but he was still useful for me from time to time."

"Tulip, huh... Why would anyone send a spy who cannot read?"

"A spy?" Bezel asked, amused for some reason. "It's not just a spy, Mira. Your whole damned House is reeking of spies! Hell, I would wager that every second person here is betraying you in one way or the other. Tulip might not be able to read, but he doesn't have to. I assure you that some of the other spies can."

"Don't be ridiculous. How could that—"

"Those servants you hired recently? Those new slaves that you've bought? They are all working on undermining you."

Miranda shook her head in disbelief. "You should make up better lies. All of the new hires were chosen by my counselors. They vetted them thoroughly. They—"

Miranda fell silent as a terrible suspicion crept up on her. Yes, Vince and Grom handled those things for her. Behind her back, basically. They convinced her that hiring new personnel was necessary. Could it be that they were actually working on her downfall? But who were they working for? Her brother? House Foxglove? If her counselors were traitors, what else had they done without her knowledge?

Miranda let out a frustrated sigh, then strode to the chair and sat down, leaning heavily on the backrest. There were too many things to consider. What if it was just Bezel, trying to get under her skin? Maybe this was how he was trying to trick her, deceive her, turn her against her own House. Miranda couldn't let that happen.

"If you don't believe me, I can prove it to you," Bezel spoke up, lounging lazily on the bed. "I'll tell you what will happen in the next couple of days, and you'll see it for yourself."

"Give me an outline," Miranda said. "Will anything noteworthy happen this week?"

"Besides your House falling into ruins?" Bezel asked, smirking. "No, nothing much."

"Do not joke about this, slave," Miranda snapped. "Tell me the truth! I swear to God, if you're lying—"

"I'm not," Bezel interrupted her. "Lots of noteworthy things will happen, Mira. Your warbeasts get loose, the slaves riot, lots of people die, and the other Houses launch an assault against your House."

Miranda was taken aback. That couldn't be possible. Bezel was just trying to confuse her. Why would the slaves...? And the other Houses...?

"What Houses?" Miranda asked, her throat dry. "Which Houses?"

Bezel scrunched up his face. "Why, all of them, I guess."

"What?!"

"Alright, not everyone, but there will be lots of banners. Most of the leading Houses, and some mercenary groups as well. Completely overkill, if you ask me."

"Are you joking, slave?"

"No, Mira," Bezel sighed. "I told you, I'm serious. You'll see, just wait till the end of the week. The loop will end sometime midway during the battle."

For long, long minutes, Miranda just sat still in silence. Her head was spinning, and it was getting difficult for her to breathe. She tried to tell herself that Bezel was just lying, but she couldn't come up with anything as to why he would lie about this.

"What will I do?" Miranda asked hoarsely. "What does Miranda Dawngrove do during the battle, when she doesn't know about the time loop?"

"Nothing."

"Huh?" Miranda looked up and into Bezel's eyes—which were full of pity.

"You'll do nothing, because you'll be dead," Bezel said quietly. "When you arrive back from your meeting, you'll be sick and weakened. On the day before the attack, you will be assassinated."

"No," Miranda whispered. "You're lying."

"After you die, your brother will take over," Bezel continued. "He'll take your Krinil gem and have his surgery right away, but he won't have enough time to get used to its powers. When the other Houses attack, he will be weak and helpless."

Miranda squeezed her eyes shut and hung her head. She tried to empty herself of emotions, as if she was preparing to reach for a memory. She had to look at this logically. If all of these things that the slave was saying were true, she would need to find a way to stop them. With the time loop, she would have the opportunity to figure it out. The slave could help in the battle, with that ridiculous strength of his.

"So, what's the plan?" Miranda asked. "How are we going to save House Dawngrove once we stop this time loop?"

"Save? We?" Bezel asked, surprised. "What are you talking about, Mira? Once we stop the time loop, I'm getting the Hell out of here. You should do the same, if you ask me. There's no salvaging this mess."

"No," Miranda said, squaring her shoulders. "No way. I'm not abandoning my House."

Bezel shrugged. "You say that now, but you'll see that it's a hopeless task. Just hang back and observe this week."

Miranda set her jaw. In her opinion, there was no such thing as hopeless task. As long as she was alive, as long as she was breathing, there was a chance. Yes, she would spend this week observing the events. Then she would come up with a plan on how to correct them. She would collect the Krinil Sculptures, and she would break the time loop.

This was her destiny, she was sure of it now. She would become the Titan from the legends, the person she looked up to as a child.

Miranda Alexia Dawngrove would restore her House to its forgotten glory.