episode_0194

Just as the 13th said, Spade was prepared in the inner room.

A not-so-large, roughly six-pyeong private room.

In the middle of that room, Spade was seated, restrained by several layers of sturdy restraints.

Her eyes were half-open, and her red lips were blankly parted.

I gestured to the 13th, who explained.

“As I explained beforehand, Spade is currently in a state where she cannot be brainwashed. Instead, Dorothy prepared a relaxant, and we fed her a truth serum. …It might be difficult to understand, but she should be able to answer questions to some extent.”

This wasn’t something the 13th did out of his own volition.

Violet wanted to hear the story from Spade herself, so he was just complying with her request.

The 13th already knew the whole story from Spade, but he didn’t tell Violet that fact.

Even if Violet had heard it from the 13th, she would have wanted to hear the story from Spade herself anyway.

Violet made Spade, who had been hanging her head, look up and examined her face.

Neat features. Beneath those half-open eyelids, gem-like red eyes could be glimpsed.

Spade, Spade.

This woman… perhaps, the enemy of my sister.

Violet’s eyebrows twitched, but she calmly took a deep breath and suppressed her anger.

“Then, I’ll ask… What is your name?”

At first, Spade didn’t respond.

However, when the 13th whispered in her ear again, her eyebrows twitched, and she moved her lips slightly.

“Spade…” she answered in a slightly cracked voice.

“Age? Affiliation?”

Violet’s questions continued, and when Spade’s response was delayed, the 13th whispered in her ear as if supplementing her.

Then, whether it was Violet’s question or the 13th’s words, Spade would answer anyway.

Although her speech was slow, and words requiring complex thought were not properly pronounced as if her tongue was loose, she never refused to answer.

Her answers were relatively clear, and she didn’t fail to understand Violet’s questions.

Violet didn’t have much knowledge, but she knew that there was no truth serum that could elicit such a good response from the other party.

If this was made by Dorothy, it could only be described as amazing.

She roughly asked a few questions to confirm that the other person was Spade, and to check her condition.

And, she decided that it would be okay for her to ask any question from here on out.

This is enough.

So, it’s time to get to the main point.

“Spade, I’ll ask you.”

Violet looked down at her and asked, without hiding her anger.

“The villain terrorist incident at the ■■ Department Store seven years ago. Were you also at the scene? Answer me.”

To Violet’s question.

Spade, who had been staring at Violet with unfocused, blank eyes for a while, slowly nodded and replied, “Yes…”

* * *

Violet persistently asked questions, and Spade answered all of those questions without fail.

In the process, the story about her sister naturally came up.

Spade explained the events of that time in great detail.

How she killed the child at that time.

What her feelings were at that time.

How she killed her, and how she shot her.

It was difficult to understand properly because her tongue was almost completely loosened by the truth serum, but it was possible to fully understand what she was conveying.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I remember… the events… of that time…”

During the explanation, Spade often offered words of apology.

Her face turned into a crying face, then frowned, became pitiful, and then returned to a blank face.

She was in a state of blurred consciousness due to the truth serum, so proper Q&A was impossible.

But from Spade’s story, it was possible to fully feel her regret and pity.

She says she doesn’t regret her actions.

However, she clearly feels guilty. That is still a burden on her mind.

“…Stop.”

And.

“Now, it’s okay to stop… Shut up….”

Violet, who had been quietly listening to Spade’s confession, her words of repentance, said so in a heavily subdued voice.

Her eyes were red, and tears filled her eyes and flowed down.

She thought she had cried enough during these two days.

However, she couldn’t hold back the tears that welled up as if it was still not enough.

Listening to Spade’s story, she felt as if the situation at the time her sister died and everything else were vividly reproduced in her mind, making it even more unbearable….

Thud.

Violet, who had been taking a step back, leaned against the door as it was and covered her eyes with her hands.

The 13th watched Violet, carefully lowered Spade’s head, and approached Violet.

“…Boss. Now, what are you going to do.”

Violet said she would kill her sister’s enemy.

The 13th wanted to grant her any request if it was her wish, but he hoped that she would change her mind about this one.

At least after hearing the story from Spade herself, after listening to her confession full of regret, he hoped that her heart would change a little.

However, if it didn’t change even if she did that.

Then… there’s no helping it.

At that time, he would have to accept everything.

Thinking so, and just as the 13th was bracing himself to accept any outcome.

“…13th.”

Violet, who had been immersed in sadness with her eyes covered for a long time, finally called the 13th.

“Yes, Boss.”

The 13th answered, and Violet lowered the hand covering her eyes.

He thought she would be crying her eyes out, but the tears seemed to have stopped a long time ago.

And as if instead of that, anger and murderous intent were filling her eyes.

And that gaze was directed at the 13th, not Spade, who might be her sister’s enemy.

“You–are you making fun of me?”

To the chilling and cold voice that made goosebumps rise.

The 13th’s body froze for a moment.

* * *

-You, are you making fun of me?

To Violet’s words, which even felt cold, the 13th felt goosebumps all over his body for a moment, and he tensed up.

“Yes? No, Boss… suddenly that’s…”

“Immediately.”

Without giving the 13th any room to make excuses, she cut off his words and gestured.

“Get rid of this, immediately.”

“……”

“Can’t you hear me? I said get rid of that.”

Violet’s momentum, which was as angry as fire, was like a raging wave.

The 13th, who was flustered, couldn’t keep up with her at all.

What happened. How did she know.

Violet didn’t allow him even a moment to think like that.

“I can hear you turning your head all the way over here, 13th.”

“I didn’t see you like that.”

“I thought that you, at least, would be on my side until the end.”

“You piece of trash.”

“You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch.”

“You rotten… son of a bitch!”

“If you’re not going to get rid of it, fine.”

“I’ll get rid of it.”

“I’ll get rid of it.”

“I, who believed in someone like you.”

“I, who believed in someone like you, was a fool….”

“I was a moron!!”

It sounded like words of anger as fiery as a flame.

But as she went on, her voice became closer to sobbing.

“I can’t forgive you…! I will never, ever forgive you, 13th!! I will never forgive you!!!”

Saying so with a look and voice that looked pitiful to hear at a glance,

Violet turned her gaze towards Spade who was restrained over there, or rather, towards Spade’s fake.

From the inside of the body, the center of the body, or around the lower abdomen.

From that place, also called the danjeon, she instantly drew up her magic power and shouted.

“[Disappear.]”

“[Illusions and lies! Everything! Disappear!!]”

“[Everything that deceives me, everything that tricks me, everything, all of it, without leaving anything behind–get lost!!!]”

Shake…

Crack crack crack crack crack crack crack crack!

Each word that was added increased the magic power in Violet’s voice.

And, along with that, her surroundings, the space around her, the scenery of the private room where the two were, changed.

The space seemed to be cracking, and like worn-out paint, it peeled off in flakes, revealing the scenery of the ‘real’ private room hidden beneath.

This private room was much smaller than what Violet had first seen.

The room, which seemed to be about six pyeong a little while ago, now seemed to be only about three and a half pyeong.

Furthermore, the space inside was filled with a hazy gas of unknown origin.

Something that looked like an incense burner was placed right next to the chair where Spade was restrained, and it seemed to be constantly spewing out from it.

The chair that restrained Spade also changed.

The steel chair that had been installed as if it was integrated with the ground had now turned into a simple, common pipe chair.

Spade, who had been restrained there, had disappeared without a trace.

There was no one there. As if she had been dealing with a scarecrow, there was no one in that spot.

That was because the Spade who had been in that spot was nothing more than a fake created by Coco’s ability.

Violet’s eyes flashed.

Her head became hot with the situation in front of her.

It felt like she was going to go crazy with the betrayal of the subordinate she trusted the most.

Because she was angry.

Because anger was rising.

Because hatred was welling up.

So she felt like she couldn’t stand it at all. It felt like her blood was running backwards.

Just as Violet, pushed by that anger, was about to turn to look at the 13th next to her,

Thud…!

“Ugh?!”

Suddenly, a hand that reached out from behind her back covered her mouth.

Her nose and mouth were covered with a cloth by someone’s hand.

The sweet smell of the brainwashing drug soaked into the cloth permeated Violet’s mucous membranes, trying to blow away her consciousness in an instant.

“I’m sorry, Boss. I’m really sorry. …Everything is for Boss’s sake.”

The owner of the hand that was pressing down on the cloth was not the 13th.

He was standing next to Violet, making those words of apology with a dejected face.

If that was the case, then there was only one person who could be the identity of the person who was hugging her from behind.

‘Co, Coco…!’

Through the data of the 7th Platoon Heroes, she knew each of their abilities.

And that there was only one person who fit this situation.

The one who created the illusion of Spade that she had made like a scarecrow a little while ago, and the owner of this hand… it was clear that it was that gray-haired Hero.

Perhaps she was also hiding somewhere in this room with her ability. And using a ‘fake’ that was so precise that it could be mistaken for the real thing, while creating an illusion of Spade, she was trying to deceive Violet.

But even if she knew that fact, it was meaningless.

In the end, Violet couldn’t even put up a proper resistance, couldn’t shake off Coco’s arm, and soon the light disappeared from her eyes, and she slumped down.

Coco barely removed her hand long after Violet’s resistance disappeared.