— — — — — —

"The match is over. Victory goes to the Red Team."

Tom’s calm voice echoed throughout the Rift.

Columns of light descended from the sky, carrying the seven champions out of the battlefield and depositing them onto the platform beside the southern commentator’s desk.

The four Blue Team champions were still completely stunned.

They stared blankly at Ariana and the other two, who were grinning from ear to ear.

"How did you even win?" Fleur asked in confusion. "All three lanes were pushed right up to your base. How could Kamio still destroy our base under those conditions?"

"Ah, that’s because we gave all our Magic Cards to Kamio." Ariana proudly rested her hands on the little fox girl’s shoulders.

"At first, we didn’t understand what she was planning either. But afterward, it made sense. With the defensive protection from the Armor Cards and the attack Magic Cards she still had left, she could take down towers even without a goblin wave."

"So that’s what happened..." Daphne muttered to herself, looking at Kamio with admiration written all over her face. "Kamio, you’re so smart. You actually thought of using Magic Cards like that."

Daphne might have been a little spoiled, but she wasn’t a sore loser.

Kamio’s strategy had genuinely impressed her.

"Daph, these are just little tricks." Smiling warmly, Kamio stepped forward and linked arms with Daphne. "I simply studied the rules one more time and wondered whether it might work. I never expected to get this lucky and find something that was actually allowed within the rules."

"If you put your mind toward this kind of thing, you’d definitely come up with something even better."

"Kamio, you’re way too good with words. I’m not that smart." Daphne giggled so hard she could barely close her mouth.

She adored Kamio’s gentle, honest personality. The fox girl always seemed to tell the simple truth.

Thanks to Kamio’s deliberate efforts, Daphne practically considered her best friend by now, even closer than several of her good friends back in Slytherin.

...

After a while, Tom arrived with the referee team after finishing up the remaining issues inside the Rift.

"Tom!"

The lovestruck young lady immediately abandoned Kamio without hesitation and threw herself into the boy’s arms.

"I lost again..."

Earlier, she hadn’t felt much pressure. But now there was only one event left, and her ranking wasn’t looking particularly good. For the first time, a sense of urgency had finally hit her.

Tom chuckled and ruffled her hair, "Who says you performed badly? Daphne, you hid yourself extremely well this match, and that last kill steal was even better. From now on, keep using your brain like you did today. Understand?"

The other six champions fell silent.

There was a lot to unpack in that sentence.

Could it be... Kamio’s face suddenly turned pale.

She whipped her head toward the massive KDA scoreboard.

At the very top sat Daphne... 5 / 2 / 4

Below her came Kamio herself: 4 / 1 / 2

Then Fleur: 4 / 1 / 5

Fleur’s face turned red, and her breathing grew heavier. "Tom... the traitor... huff... the traitor was Daphne?"

"That’s right."

Tom nodded with a smile and pinched Daphne’s nose. "You really surprised me today. Not only did you help the Red Team win, you also ended up with the highest number of kills. Well done."

The expressions of Fleur and the others shifted dramatically.

Once you knew the outcome, it became much easier to work backward and piece together what had happened.

Thinking back over Daphne’s performance during the match, several suspicious moments suddenly stood out.

Everything had seemed normal in the early game.

But later on? The cracks started showing.

First, she had been the one to propose using Magic Cards for defense, which had actually helped the Red Team destroy the two bottom-lane towers instead.

Then, she had suggested splitting up to push different lanes. Not long after that, she got ambushed by Kamio in the jungle and handed over a free kill.

And during the Blue Team’s final offensive, she had also been unusually active, securing several kills in a row.

Instantly, everyone’s gaze toward Daphne changed.

Even the fox girl’s expression turned serious, "Daphne, I underestimated you."

Hidden depths indeed, Miss Greengrass.

Who would have thought you were the type to hide great wisdom behind a foolish appearance?

Unfortunately... Kamio’s plan to use the match as leverage against Daphne had completely fallen apart.

Jauncey’s eyes lit up. "So that’s why you used me as a shield, which got me killed—all of that was part of your plan. Greengrass, that was really clever."

"I really misjudged you," Fleur added, a complicated expression on her face.

She sounded more than a little annoyed. "I trusted you that much. I even suspected Nassim with you."

"Exactly!" Nassim said excitedly in a heavily accented voice. "I told you I wasn’t the traitor! I’m just bad at the game! You should’ve believed me! Believed me!"

"That’s enough!"

The elderly headmaster of Uagadou felt his blood pressure rising.

For heaven’s sake, it would’ve been better if you had been the traitor.

What was there to be proud of about being terrible?

Amid the chaotic arguing, Daphne herself was completely dumbfounded, "W-Wait... I’m the traitor? Since when?"

Tom blinked, "...You didn’t hear the notification at the beginning?"

"What notification?"

Daphne looked up at him with eyes full of innocence and confusion. "I only heard the rules. I never heard anything saying I was the traitor."

Now it was Tom’s turn to wonder whether something had gone wrong with his setup.

"That shouldn’t be possible. The traitor’s identity is announced before the rules are explained, during the period right after landing when you’re unable to move."

"Uh..."

With Tom’s reminder, Daphne finally seemed to remember something.

She became visibly embarrassed and spoke in a tiny voice. "Well... at the beginning, I was too busy looking at the scenery around me. I didn’t really pay attention to what the voice was saying."

Tom: "..."

The champions fell silent once again.

Looking at Daphne’s bashful expression, nobody thought she was lying.

The match was already over. There was no reason for her to keep up an act.

Which meant... Daphne had never known she was the traitor.

She had spent the entire match sincerely believing she was on the good side. And despite that, she had still managed to sabotage Blue Team into defeat.

The moment that realization hit, Fleur and the others looked like they’d swallowed something rotten.

Somehow, it felt even worse.

Kamio wasn’t feeling any better.

She had spent the entire match playing a battle of wits against an imaginary mastermind.

The worst part? She’d lost.

Daphne had somehow stumbled her way into victory without understanding a thing.

Great wisdom hidden beneath foolishness?

Bullshit. This was pure stupidity wearing a clever mask.

She wasn’t even smart enough to qualify as an idiot.

Aside from Tom, this was the first time anyone had managed to shatter Kamio’s confidence so thoroughly.

It was... It was just plain unfair.

"Ahem... anyway, all of you performed very well."

Avoiding the fox girl’s tearful, aggrieved stare, Tom realized the situation had developed very differently from what he’d expected.

If this conversation continued, someone might genuinely start crying.

So he hurriedly changed the subject, "Now Mr. Bagman will calculate the scores. Once the results are announced, you can return to your respective sections and enjoy the professors’ performance while you wait."

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