Chapter 95
“I figured you’d be curious anyway, so I brought it.”
Violet held out a button she had taken earlier from the evidence storage room right in front of Bella, who was grinding her teeth.
It was a button from Violet’s Shatra Holy Knights uniform.
It had been crafted by processing a video stone, and on the outside it looked no different from an ordinary button.
The day Violet visited the Shatra Knights for the second time.
Ash had come to pick her up in a carriage that day.
[It’s clothes Marin is giving you.]
Among the clothes placed on the seat opposite Ash in the carriage, the one on top—
It was a neatly packaged Shatra Holy Knights uniform.
The buttons on the jacket and collar were all made of recording stones and video stones.
[If you press this part, recording and filming will begin.]
Before getting off the carriage that day, Ash had briefly explained how to use it.
[This is my first time seeing something like this. Are magical tools like this common in Kaiserian?]
[No. As far as I know, something this sophisticated is only issued to our Inquisitors.]
[That’s really amazing, Ash.]
Ash let out a small laugh.
[When they heard I was assigning you an intelligence mission, they were horrified.]
“I’m not really suited to being a spy. I’m not good at lying.”
“You’re naïve, not stupid. You may not be good at lying, but you’re good at acting. So you’ll do well.”
Ash had said that.
He was right. Violet had never outright told a lie.
After Bella fed Violet a sedative and kept pressing her to be honest, she had laid bare everything on her mind.
As expected, the drug Bella prepared seemed to be a type of sedative, so Violet simply took it.
Besides, after tailing Bella, she had already recorded Bella’s conversation with Marlon. She could roughly predict what kind of drug would be prepared.
‘Ash even sent me a magical tool that detects poison, saying I might need it.’
That magical tool was hidden inside the fountain pen Violet kept in her bosom—a long, thin rod.
If she held the rod after ingesting poison, it would tell her whether she had been poisoned.
‘While I was at it, I asked Bella everything I’d been curious about.’
And when faced with difficult questions, she nodded vaguely.
Bella then carefully hung Violet’s Knights uniform jacket in one corner of the room.
Violet had stayed there wearing only a shirt and trousers, and only wore the pajamas Bella gave her when sleeping.
“Then… don’t tell me.”
After hearing Violet’s brief explanation, Bella spoke through clenched teeth.
“Commander, that statue of the religion you serve. I removed one button and placed it on top of the statue’s head. The angle was excellent.”
“How dare you insult my god? I can tolerate you insulting me, but I will not tolerate blasphemy!”
Bella burst out in fury.
“Let me give you some advice—next time you kidnap someone, how about at least conducting a body search? It was so sloppy I was worried for you. That secret room you locked me in—you said not just anyone can enter it.”
A secret space used by those who worship an evil god.
Such places were said to be extremely difficult to access.
Some temples of evil gods in the capital had supposedly existed since ancient times.
Followers of the cult would construct ordinary buildings over them to conceal the hidden spaces.
And they ensured that those without authorization could never enter.
A representative method was allowing entry only through magic arrays engraved on the body. Bella also possessed the array that opened the door.
Thus, only Bella could open the door to that space and bring Violet inside.
“So I’m sorry about that. You thought you had imprisoned me, but in truth, I was the one who lured you—so you would open the secret space.”
“You vile, cowardly thing. You used me!”
“Since we’re on the topic—why would I walk out on my own? If I just stayed quietly in that room, I got training and proper meals. All sorts of evidence was gathering while I sat there.”
In fact, while Violet had been confined, Marin had visited her once.
Now that Violet was inside the secret space, she could let Marin in anytime. It couldn’t be opened from the outside, but from within, it could be opened freely.
[Violet, are you really going to stay here? You can come out now. Ash will be worried.]
[I’m fine. Ash secretly searched Commander Bella’s office beforehand, didn’t he? Most of the Reinhart family’s training records were fabricated, but one of them was real. Since it’s come to this, I might as well use everything I can.]
The training method Bella mentioned was mostly nonsense.
However, the part about gaining tremendous effects by training in a room that blocked all magical power—
That part alone was real.
‘Now that I think about it, Bella really forged those training records way too blatantly…’
Seeing how she had increased the handwritten training records little by little each day was almost pitiable.
It felt like a student halfheartedly copying homework she didn’t want to do.
“What about the brainwashing I did to you? You took the drug. It had no effect at all?”
“You mean the sedative? Of course it had an effect. That’s why I said everything I wanted to say.”
Violet replied.
But in truth, nothing Bella had done had dealt her any real blow.
‘Compared to where I grew up—Aberdeen—the environment there was far worse.’
Honestly speaking, being confined with Bella was as comfortable as staying in a luxury hotel.
Bella’s words and behavior were almost cute compared to the oppression and verbal abuse Violet’s family had inflicted on her.
“I didn’t lie. It’s not my fault you saw what you wanted to see, Commander.”
“What about the two of you pretending to fall out in front of me? Pretending to fight? Isn’t that a lie? You kept up your act of being virtuous to the very end. I didn’t like you from the start!”
Bella snapped.
As she kept raging like this, Violet began to worry about her blood pressure.
If she was going to live in prison from now on, she really ought to start watching it.
“We really did fight sincerely. Ash kept getting overly angry…”
Violet decided to respond earnestly, with warmth.
Ash’s anger at seeing Bluedin’s advances had been genuine.
Even later, when they met again at the Knights, he had coldly asked whether she had truly cut ties, saying Bluedin seemed to be misunderstanding something.
Listening to it, Violet had grown slightly irritated too.
‘We both know it’s an act—so why is he getting so furious like a madman? Isn’t that excessive?’
Because of that, some genuine emotion had mixed into her performance.
[Ash, it’s not your place to interfere.]
So she had replied in a slightly irritated tone.
That was the full story behind their quarrel.
Violet turned to Ash.
“Ash, it’s already in the past, but it’s been bothering me. Did you really think I was in contact with someone like Bluedin?”
As Violet spoke, the smile vanished from Ash’s face. He had been standing to one side of the room, silently watching them with amusement.
“Of course I had reason to be angry from my position. I didn’t suspect that you were contacting Bluedin—I was worried that Bluedin might still be pestering you. If that were the case, you should have talked to me about it.”
“What are you saying? You’re making it sound like I’m the strange one. Isn’t that too much?”
Between the kidnapping and the operation, this issue had been glossed over. But Violet decided she had to say it clearly now.
“I think it was worth worrying about. Look at what Bluedin tried to do this time.”
“I wouldn’t fall for such a stupid trick. And this time too, you deliberately set up a diversion so Bluedin and I wouldn’t have a chance to meet face to face. I could have handled Bluedin myself.”
“You were going to go to the hotel room where he had set a trap? It’s better not to go near such places at all.”
Ash said coldly.
“I told you it was my business! Of course, I’m grateful you delivered a message on my behalf. You’re perfect for shattering Bluedin’s pride to pieces. That idiot lives only on his pride. But still!”
Violet did agree that there would be plenty of chances later to say something to Bluedin.
“But still?”
“I don’t think I have any obligation to tell you everything.”
“You really think you don’t?”
Ash looked at Violet with a stiff face, completely devoid of his usual playfulness.
‘I should say I don’t.’
Strangely, the words felt stuck in Violet’s throat.
‘Don’t fall for Ash’s tactics again!’
Violet snapped back to her senses.
“Ash, to begin with, I think it’s a bit unfair for you to use that pretty face of yours to toy with people’s hearts.”
“Is that so? Do you really have to phrase it like that when you’re saying you like my face?”
“That’s not what I meant! See? You’re changing the flow of the conversation again. It seems like you’re enjoying this mission quite a lot, Ash.”
Violet said.
“Of course I have to stay close to Bella and observe her carefully. According to the operation, she’s a woman who might kidnap you. Shouldn’t I watch from up close to see how foolish she is, how dangerous she is?”
“Oh? So did you get any results?”
“As you can see, the woman named Bella is foolish and lacking in courage.”
“See? You’re changing the subject again, Ash.”
Even as she replied, Violet thought—
Isn’t this conversation a bit inappropriate for a place like this?
Just as that thought crossed her mind—
“What the hell are you two going on about? I’m right here, you know? You crazy bastards, the pair of you.”
Unable to endure any longer, Bella spat out the words, her tone crawling with disgust.
Being treated like the strange one by a fanatic who followed a cult.
It was truly a rare experience.
