Lies
“…A text message? I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Harumu… But more importantly!”
Harumu swung her wooden sword, sending her hair fluttering wildly. The girl who had been spinning the blade with raw, brute strength suddenly stopped her assault and planted her feet. Isabelle, who had been dodging and looking for openings the entire time, also froze in a low stance.
“………”
“………”
Between the two women catching their breath and wiping away sweat, a bright, sunny laugh cut through the tension.
“Go for it, my darling daughter~!”
Kaede was the only one clearly enjoying this deadly serious fight. It seemed like she had been planning this matchup between Isabelle and Harumu from the very beginning. But for what purpose? To defeat Isabelle, the woman who had humiliated her? Had she really pushed her own blind daughter this far just for something so petty? It made no sense.
While I glared at Kaede clapping her hands in delight, the battle resumed. Isabelle moved first, closing the distance in a flash to exploit an opening. But Harumu reacted instantly to the sound. She swung her wooden sword with both hands, aiming straight for Isabelle’s head.
“Ah…!”
I barely managed to swallow the voice that almost burst out of me.
Just before the wooden blade could split Isabelle’s head open like a watermelon, she flicked her eyes upward to track the sword. Staring at the wooden edge closing in on her temple, Isabelle rolled across the gravel.
“Aren’t you supposed to be under me, big sis?!”
Harumu flashed a playful grin at the sound. In a crazy display of power, she poured even more strength into the wooden sword that was already flying through the air, completely altering its trajectory. The horizontal slash meant for her head twisted into an L-shape, relentlessly chasing after Isabelle as she dropped her stance.
Isabelle was still sliding across the ground. She wouldn’t be able to dodge this one.
“───”
“Whoa?!”
Isabelle raised her tonfa at an angle to meet the wooden sword crashing down toward her skull. Harumu sensed it too and poured even more power into the strike, intending to crush Isabelle along with her weapon. But the instant the blade connected with the tonfa, Isabelle deflected the attack without using much force at all.
…Well, I said she wouldn’t be able to dodge it. I never said she couldn’t block it.
“Ugh…!!”
Isabelle was faster than Harumu, who was trying to lift her wildly off-course sword for another swing. Bracing herself against the ground, Isabelle spun her entire body and drove her foot straight into Harumu’s jaw.
“Hngh?!”
Harumu’s balance crumbled from the kick. Even after taking the blow, she still seemed conscious, but—
“You should’ve moved when I told you to get out of the way.”
BAM──!!
Isabelle immediately followed up, slamming her fist into the staggering Harumu’s face and driving her into the ground. A shockwave and cloud of dust similar to when Harumu first swung her sword erupted across the garden. In the center stood Isabelle, brushing off her hands, while Harumu lay unconscious with blood trickling from her nose.
“………”
So this was the kind of woman Noa had been buying time against? A wave of relief washed over me at the thought that I’d have to treat Noa better when we got back.
Once the fight was over, Isabelle picked up the broken half of her tonfa that had shattered while deflecting Harumu’s attack.
“…Haa. I thought she’d gotten stronger since last time, so I let her have a go… but a childish Harumu really is useless. If only she had been my Harumu from the start, that Isabelle would’ve been…”
Kaede muttered to herself, then shook her head. “Never mind. There are still plenty of chances.”
Isabelle gripped the sharp fragment of her tonfa and glared at Kaede, who was whispering with the maids. Then she stepped over the unconscious Harumu and began walking straight toward her.
It still wasn’t time to relax. Come to think of it, her eyes had that deranged look again.
“Stop right there!!”
The shout didn’t come from me, even though my swollen cheek was throbbing with anger. It came from a woman who was frowning as she strode into the garden.
“What exactly is going on here? Agent Isabelle… Lady Kaede.”
“Oh my, are you really going to address me so casually now that I’ve retired?”
“……”
Kaede laughed slyly, trying to lighten the mood, while Isabelle lowered her weapon.
“…The Japanese branch director and the British branch director specifically warned you about this. They know exactly what kind of relationship you two have. Yet you’re doing this right in front of us…”
“Who do you think you are? What are you supposed to be? Just watchdogs sent by those two branch directors, right? You’re nothing but the dregs those old men scraped up to stop me and Isabelle from clashing.”
“Lady Kaede, that’s going too far. If you continue like this, we will have no choice but to use force.”
“Go ahead. I guess this old woman missing two or three fingers looks like an easy target to you.”
The two female agents who had come to mediate were clearly older than Isabelle. I had finally thought I was safe, but the atmosphere suddenly grew even more hostile. I let out a deep sigh.
Isabelle glanced back at the sound, then suddenly bowed her head.
“…I’m sorry. While I was sparring with Agent Yumekawa Harumu, I failed to control my strength… I was in the middle of speaking with her mother, Yumekawa Kaede.”
“That didn’t look like a conversation at all…”
“…What are you looking at? Agent Isabelle and my daughter were simply having a spar. Then the legendary British agent went and did that to my daughter, so I was in the middle of accepting her apology. It’s fine~ Right, Agent Isabelle Kang? Emotions can run high during a spar, can’t they? Harumu will understand.”
“……”
Both of them were hiding their true feelings while keeping an eye on the observers. The observers weren’t stupid enough to fall for such an obvious act, but…
“Haa… If you cause any more disturbances, I will have to issue disciplinary action against both Agent Isabelle and Agent Harumu.”
Before things could escalate further, the agent judged that ending it here would be best for everyone. She stepped between Kaede and Isabelle, delivering a firm warning.
Isabelle nodded with a look that suggested her anger hadn’t fully subsided.
“…Send Harumu to her room. And have one of you escort the guests back to their respective rooms.”
“Understood.”
Kaede, who hadn’t even pretended to listen to the agent’s explanation and was instead picking at her ear, waved her hand dismissively as she gave the order. It was a clear signal of “I’m sick of all of you, so get out of my sight.” The maids bowed deeply in response.
This was for the best. It was the perfect chance for everyone to escape this minefield that could explode at any moment.
“…Agent Isabelle and the other two, please follow me.”
I led the agents away, barely managing to keep the relief from showing on my face. I guided them past the guest annex attached to the main building and showed each person to their rooms. Finally, I stopped in front of Isabelle’s door and bowed.
“…This is the room you will be using, Agent Isabelle. Please rest comfortably.”
“………”
Isabelle used her keycard to open the door, then silently looked down at me. Even though we were alone, she had no choice but to stay on guard. She probably understood that, and would play along with the act appropriately—
“Eek─”
Like a frog snatching a fly, Isabelle’s arm shot out and grabbed my hand. I let out a ridiculous yelp as I was dragged into her room.
“…No listening devices or cameras. Good.”
Still holding me by one hand as I sprawled on the floor, she scanned the room with some radar-like device.
“…Hey, what were you thinking…? What if we got caught…”
Being dragged along by Isabelle was embarrassing, but somehow also reassuring. The tension that had been weighing on my eyes finally eased. The moment I let my usual languid expression and voice return—
“Master, are you okay?!”
“Jesus, you scared me.”
Isabelle tossed the radar aside and shoved her face right in front of mine.
“Your cheek! What happened?! It was that woman Yumekawa Kaede, wasn’t it…! It must have hurt so much… I’m sorry. I should have killed her right there on the spot…!”
“…Were you really planning to kill her?”
Her frantic hand-waving in the air was adorable, especially contrasted with the brutal words coming out of her mouth. Her hands were still trembling with lingering fury as she pulled me into a tight hug. I gently patted her shoulder.
“I really shouldn’t have brought Master to such a dangerous place… If only I had done better…”
“No, I told you it’s fine. Thanks to you, I managed to learn a few things too.”
“Really?”
The whole reason I had infiltrated this place by sharing a single body was to gather information. And the thing I wanted to know most about was Yumekawa Harumu.
Of course, I still hadn’t figured everything out about her, but the conversation between Isabelle and Harumu in the garden just now had given me a clue.
“Back then, you said Harumu was the same as you, right?”
“…It’s certain. That monstrous strength and speed—she was stronger and faster than me, a Saintess. And there was this strange feeling… like I was looking into a mirror.”
I had noticed it too. From our first meeting until now, Harumu had constantly drawn my attention. Her beautiful appearance and aura played a part, but there was a certain feeling that kept resurfacing in my mind. A brightness and warmth like sunlight, something I had felt somewhere before… Yes. It was the same sensation I had felt when I first met Isabelle.
It was exactly like what I had sensed from Isabelle standing in front of the campus. The pheromone-like allure that drew the mask’s owner in. Harumu was the same kind of being as Isabelle.
A human who had read the mask’s text and survived, gaining special power.
Good. Now that I knew this much, my next course of action was clear.
“…I need to find the fake masks.”
“…Fake masks? What are you even…”
Isabelle stared at me with a look of utter confusion.
“Huh? I have the real mask, obviously. I just need to find the rest of the masks… the fakes. Force them to spit out their desires, then destroy them. It’s not the fakes who become the Witch. It’s the mask I possess.”
“…Master? Are you… are you really okay?”
“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Like I’m some kind of weirdo.”
Had I said something strange? Isabelle stood up, her face twisting.
“No. My mask told me so, so it must be right. In this world, there is only one real mask—mine. The rest are fakes. Cheap imitations that dare to dream of becoming the Witch… The one who will obtain a body and become a god… is me.”
Isabelle stumbled backward, her expression sharpening with clear hostility. Even with me standing right in front of her, the mental strength to fight for her Master was impressive. She really was the woman I had taken notice of.
I smiled softly as I watched my child pull a gun from the holster hidden on her leg and aim it at me.
“…Reveal your identity.”
Brave, and quick on the uptake too. As expected of Choi Woo-joo, my contractor… To think he possessed enough desire to make a woman like this his own.
“Well… that’s completely mine now too…♡”