Chapter 768

"Summon the electors, I will open the Imperial Diet!"

Uesugi Muneyuki's order immediately spread throughout the hall, he ordered everyone to come over!

In the Grand Banquet Hall, panic had been fermenting for an entire morning.

Three corpses.

Three deceased. An isolated ancient inn. And that "Snow Maiden" legend flickering in the snowstorm—though no one had truly seen it, fear needs no facts, only imagination suffices.

The general manager had fainted for the second time, leaning against a female server's chest, twitching continuously.

In the Grand Banquet Hall, some silently chanted Buddha, some were dazed, and from time to time they cast suspicious glances at those around them.

Before everyone lay simple lunchboxes, but most had not finished eating them.

The television was on, playing "Pretty Cure," the cheerful atmosphere of this children's animation could not dispel everyone's fear. On the contrary, the "Hand of God" film crew's camera remained on.

Kinoshita Hiroko personally stared at the monitor, her eyes red from strain, but her spirit was excited as if injected with chicken blood—three episodes of material, three episodes! Real case, real fear, real blizzard mountain villa! This is the greatest luck since the inception of the Getsuku slot!

Great!

We got more material again, family!!

At this moment, the door was pushed open.

Uesugi Muneyuki walked in first.

Behind him followed Shirakawa Mai, Miyawaki Sakura, and Tei Reiji, as well as several inn staff.

His expression was calm, his stride steady, forming a stark contrast with the panicked people in the room.

Everyone's gaze focused on him.

"Uesugi-sensei~!" Ōbayashi Shigeru nearly rolled and crawled to his feet: "How is it? Did you find out? Who is the killer?" "Is it the Snow Maiden?" someone whispered: "I saw it!"

"Don't talk nonsense!" another voice shouted, but it also carried fear: "Say it again and when the police come I'll have them arrest you!" "Be quiet, everyone, be quiet." Uesugi Muneyuki walked to the center of the banquet hall, looked around, and slowly spoke: "Please sit down. What I have to say may take a while."

Everyone looked at each other, but still sat down honestly and closed their mouths; even the nobles no longer acted arrogantly, meekly shrinking into the crowd. Uesugi Muneyuki waited until everyone had quieted down before beginning: "First, the Snow Maiden? Does not exist. Yokai? Does not exist. Serial killer? Also does not exist."

A commotion arose in the crowd.

"Then who is the killer?" someone couldn't help but ask.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not answer directly, but continued: "Tokugawa Ryuichi, Tokugawa Noriko, and Tasō Hisako died. But the one who killed them was not the same person. In fact, it can be said that they killed themselves—more precisely, it was their mutual hatred."

He paused, his gaze falling on Tokugawa Ayako and Tokugawa Kazuya.

The two turned pale, but their eyes showed confusion—they obviously still did not know the truth.

Seeing this, Uesugi Muneyuki let out a quiet sigh.

Actually, the Tokugawa matriarch absolutely did not want everything exposed; this is why she refused the Death Soul Contract's summons after her death, hoping that through her death, her daughter and adopted son-in-law could gain new life.

But I am merely a forensic pathologist; I only need to make everything clear.

"The matter must begin several months ago." Uesugi Muneyuki's voice was calm, as if stating a case unrelated to himself: "Someone among you should know that the Kii Tokugawa family, one of the three houses of the Edo Shogunate, has recently faced a problem: heir. Tokugawa Ryuichi, as the son, should have inherited the family business, but he is worthless, in debt, causes trouble, and brings shame to the family."

"Tokugawa Noriko, as head of the family, made a difficult decision—not to pass the family business to her son, but to her son-in-law Tokugawa Kazuya." Tokugawa Kazuya's expression twitched slightly, Tokugawa Ayako lowered her head.

"This decision made Tokugawa Ryuichi hate his mother, and also hate his sister and brother-in-law. He felt deprived of what was rightfully his, and even caused a scene at my elder brother's wedding. This hatred fermented over several years, eventually turning into killing intent."

Someone sucked in a breath of cold air.

"Tokugawa Ryuichi planned to kill his mother." Uesugi Muneyuki's voice remained calm: "He bought a poison—an alkaloid, colorless and odorless, but capable of causing respiratory paralysis and death. I currently lack sufficient equipment to test and do not know exactly what it is, but there is no doubt he came to the inn and found an opportunity to mix the poison into his mother's daily stomach medicine. This way, she would die unknowingly, appearing as a sudden illness, and since he also suffered from stomach disease, asking his mother for medicine and carrying her medicine for inspection was reasonable, giving him many opportunities."

The Grand Banquet Hall fell silent as tombs.

"But," Uesugi Muneyuki shifted his tone: "Tokugawa Ryuichi did not know that his mother was also planning to kill him."

Tokugawa Ayako shot up her head, eyes wide open.

"Tokugawa Noriko should have planned this Sekizenkan Onsen trip at least several months ago; she likely discovered something." Uesugi Muneyuki said this and fell silent for a moment.

What made Tokugawa Noriko, a woman of deep learning who had weathered countless ups and downs, turn murderous toward her own biological son? The overwhelming probability is Tokugawa Ryuichi's line: "My sister's () might be ()."

The overwhelming probability is that Tokugawa Noriko accidentally discovered the () relationship between her daughter and son, which alone could explain why this samurai-class woman, having endured countless storms and already past sixty, would turn murderous toward her biological son.

Indeed, upon hearing Uesugi Muneyuki say this, 33-year-old Tokugawa Ayako's face instantly turned snow-white, while her husband beside her, 35-year-old Tokugawa Kazuya, obviously unaware of the issue, remained in shock and grief.

"She meticulously planned this hot spring trip and secretly put medicine into the alcohol her son liked to drink. If I am not mistaken, the time of administering the drug was during dinner, when Tokugawa Noriko temporarily left, citing that she could not eat after six in the evening, and during this time she poisoned the sake her son Tokugawa Ryuichi loved."

Tokugawa Kazuya's face changed.

"So what happened last night?" Uesugi Muneyuki's gaze swept over everyone: "Tokugawa Ryuichi returned to his room and drank that bottle of poison; between nine and eleven o'clock, the poison took effect and he died. He did not know the wine was poisoned, died suddenly, died painfully."

"And Tokugawa Ryuichi himself had stomach disease and alcoholic liver fatty liver intestinal obstruction, so dying from acute alcohol poisoning was very reasonable; normally it would not be suspected. Here at Sekizenkan, besides being a tourist hotspot in Gunma Prefecture, it also has close ties between local traditional forces and local self-governing bodies; once a case occurs, local police will very likely close it as 'acute alcohol poisoning accidental death.'"

"The old matriarch played a good hand, but she probably did not expect that, before sleeping, she took her stomach medicine as usual—those medicines already contained poison administered by her son. She died of poisoning between one and three in the morning."

The Grand Banquet Hall fell terrifyingly silent.

Some covered their mouths, some widened their eyes, some trembled all over.

"In other words..." Tsutsumi Kikue trembled: "They mother and son... killed each other?"

"Yes." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: "On the same night, in the same inn, using two different poisons."

Tokugawa Ayako let out a suppressed sob, her whole body going limp in Tokugawa Kazuya's arms.

Tokugawa Kazuya held her, his expression complex beyond words—shock, grief, and something indescribable; he suddenly spoke urgently: "This can't be right? Uesugi Chief, I'm not doubting you, but I know Ryuichi, he's not that smart, how would he think of poisoning...?" "Long illness makes a good doctor." Uesugi Muneyuki said coldly, looking with sympathetic eyes at this partially unaware son-in-law: "Tokugawa Ryuichi long suffered from stomach and liver disease; mother and son both needed medicine, so it's not strange he thought of poisoning."

Tokugawa Ryuichi, that cunning fellow, did not tell Uesugi Muneyuki he had poisoned his mother—Uesugi Muneyuki genuinely did not know at the time, so he did not ask.

Tokugawa Kazuya said nothing more.

"Then what about Tasō-san?" Ōbayashi Shigeru suddenly asked: "She... she also had a grudge against them?"

Uesugi Muneyuki fell silent for a second, then shook his head: "Tasō Hisako was innocent."

Another commotion arose in the crowd: "Why?"

"She had stomach disease. Her stomach medicine was almost finished; after dinner yesterday, she heard Tokugawa Noriko also took the same stomach medicine, so she went to borrow a few pills." "A few pills." Uesugi Muneyuki repeated: "Just a few pills."

"The few pills she borrowed came from Tokugawa Noriko's medicine—those already poisoned by Tokugawa Ryuichi. She did not know. The next morning, after waking up, she took those few pills; at that time someone discovered the body and asked everyone to gather in the lobby, but Tasō-san did not go, choosing instead to wait in her room, so..."

He did not finish.

But everyone understood.

Tasō Hisako, that president's wife who had only come to the hot spring for recuperation, that middle-aged woman who had only borrowed a few pills for a stomachache, became the third victim of this mother-child mutual killing.

"She died in great pain." Uesugi Muneyuki's voice was still calm, but the weight in his words made everyone feel suffocated: "Because she didn't know what had happened at all; she only knew that after taking Tokugawa Noriko's medicine for a period of time, the poison took effect. She struggled, tried to call for help, but the phone couldn't get through — since last night, the mobile phone signal had already been cut off."

Someone began to sob quietly.

"Then... then why did the Tokugawa matriarch die so peacefully?" a servant asked in a trembling voice: "Wasn't she also poisoned?" Uesugi Muneyuki was silent for a few seconds, then gave an answer that no one expected:

"Because she figured it out before she died."

"Figured it out?"

"The time she took the poison was around midnight. By then, Tokugawa Ryuichi had already been dead for several hours; she should have already confirmed or roughly judged that her son was dead. And when she discovered that she herself was starting to show symptoms of poisoning, in that instant, she understood."

"What did she understand?" Sakura said tremblingly.

"In that instant she understood that she had indeed poisoned her son, but the one who would put poison in stomach medicine and harbored extreme hatred toward her... there was no doubt her son had also poisoned her. Previously Tokugawa Ryuichi might have made moves to inspect or demand medicine from his mother, so she understood: her son wanted to kill her, and she also wanted to kill her son. The two of them, mother and son, completed this chain of hatred in the most cruel way."

Uesugi Muneyuki paused, his gaze falling on that tightly shut window; outside was endless snow: "After she understood all this, she didn't struggle excessively, didn't even choose to try calling for help. She just lay there calmly, enduring the pain and torment, calmly waiting for death. Because she knew, this death — it wasn't that she owed her son, nor that her son owed her — it was the shared choice of two people, a shared ending. Mother and son departing together for the Yellow Springs, no one owed anyone anymore."

The grand banquet hall was dead silent.

No one spoke.

Even those powerful elite were completely silent at this moment.

Tokugawa Ayako leaned against Tokugawa Kazuya, tears streaming down her face, yet she couldn't make a sound; Tokugawa Kazuya held her tightly, his eye sockets also red. Tasō Shigefu sat in the corner, his whole person like he had been hollowed of his soul; he opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out — his wife, just a stomachache, just borrowed a few pills, and died just like that.

The entire grand banquet hall was silent and soundless.

A chain of hatred, the suffering of family name succession, the sacrifice of the head of the house and the dispute over inheritance rights — ultimately arrived at this most extreme, most painful, yet also most calm ending.

The son who lost inheritance rights retaliated against his mother in the most extreme way; the mother resolved the family name succession problem in the most extreme way, leaving behind daughter and son-in-law so the family name could continue. Ultimately, with the ending of both mother and son dead, the chain of hatred was thoroughly terminated.

The Divine Hand Film Crew's cameras quietly kept rolling, recording all of this.

Kinoshita Hiroko stood behind the monitor, trembling all over — not from fear, but from excitement.

She understood it all too clearly.

This deduction, this truth, these expressions, these tears — this is a script no writer could write. This is real, cruel, suffocating fate.

Ratings?

Ratings are going to skyrocket.

No, not just skyrocket — they'll break through the atmosphere, heading straight for the universe.

She had even started conceiving this episode's title — "Chain of Hatred; Mother and Son's Death Waltz" or "Borrowed Death; Triple Tragedy in the Blizzard"... no no, Uesugi-sensei's line just now, "two people's shared choice, shared ending," that's the point that brings out the essence... same world, same dream!

President Kameyama! In the end, the winner is us Fuji! Is us Hand of God!!!

As expected, the so-called double win means us Fuji wins twice!

But her excitement was interrupted by Uesugi Muneyuki's next words.

"So." Uesugi Muneyuki looked around, voice calm: "There is no such thing as a Snowy Mountain Villa Case serial killer. These three lives came from hatred between mother and son, from a family's succession pain, from two people driven to a dead end by fate and choice, settling things in their own way."

He paused, his gaze landing on Tasō Shigefu.

"Only Madam Tasō Hisako is the sole misinjury in this tragic internal strife. Because she was familiar with Tokugawa Noriko, she went to borrow stomach medicine she shouldn't have borrowed. She merely didn't come to the lobby to take shelter, merely chose to wait in her own room. Then, death found her." President Tasō lowered his head, his facial expression unreadable.

No one spoke.

No one dared speak.

Only from outside the window came the faint sound of police sirens.

The Gunma Prefecture Police Headquarters police finally arrived belatedly.