Chapter 144: True Identity
Tamayo and Daki stared at each other with apparent calm for a brief moment.
Finally, Tamayo gave a resigned but gentle smile, and turning around, walked toward the stairs.
"Follow me."
Daki was stunned for a moment, then quickly lifted her chin and followed her. Her figure, as it swayed, conveyed a certain arrogance and satisfaction.
She knew perfectly well that Tamayo wouldn’t dare reject her.
To become infatuated with the new and scorn the old is the flaw of every man.
An older, wise woman would never compete against her new favorite for a man’s affection.
They went down to the second floor.
Tamayo pushed open a heavy wooden door, revealing a spacious laboratory inside.
Various instruments with unknown names were neatly arranged, and the glass vessels gleamed clean under the moonlight.
On the table lay several notebooks filled with meticulous annotations, and in the corner of the room stood several enormous iron cages, empty at this moment.
Daki’s gaze swept over the instruments, a strange gleam in her eyes.
’This is exactly what Muzan-sama ordered me to investigate...’
"What is all this...?"
"Experimental equipment."
Tamayo’s answer was brief, with no intention of offering any further explanation.
Daki waited a couple of seconds and, seeing that the other woman didn’t intend to continue, couldn’t help but press.
"What kind of experiments?"
Tamayo looked at her, approached the table, and began to tidy the notebooks.
"For the moment there’s no particular project. What needed to be done has already been done." Her movements were serene, as if she were tidying HER own study. "Lately I’ve only been doing small experiments related to my own ability."
Looking at her back, Daki frowned.
"What ability?"
"..."
Tamayo didn’t answer, she simply put the notebooks away in a drawer and closed it carefully.
"Come, let’s take a look at the first floor."
Daki gritted her teeth but didn’t react violently.
’No rush... stay calm...’
It was only the first day, and she would have many more opportunities later on.
Sooner or later, she would discover what was inside the test tubes on the table, whose labels she couldn’t understand.
The first floor had the main entrance hall, the reception room, the dining room, and a lounge.
The entrance hall was luxurious, the reception room formal, the dining room cozy, and the lounge functioned as a rather private little room.
The spacious area had a few sofas, several paintings hung on the walls, and in one corner there was a piano.
After taking a glance, Daki lost interest.
These kinds of places that humans used for socializing made no sense to her.
"And the basement?"
She pointed to a small door at the end of the hallway.
Tamayo’s footsteps stopped.
"There’s nothing worth seeing there."
"I want to see it."
Daki wouldn’t take "no" for an answer.
Tamayo stayed silent for a moment, but finally approached and opened the door.
Behind the door was a stone staircase descending downward. A cold, damp air rose from below, accompanied by a subtle smell of blood.
Daki’s nose twitched slightly.
The smell of demon blood.
There were demons...
She tried to go down, but Tamayo stretched out her arm to stop her.
"Only a few test subjects remain." Tamayo spoke in a completely indifferent voice. "They’re no longer of much use, they’re only kept to observe their reactions and carry out small experiments."
But Daki wouldn’t give up. "I’ll go down and see for myself!"
From where she stood, she could barely make out the corner of several iron cages placed against the wall, with what seemed to be a few demons huddled inside them. But since it was dark and far away, what she saw was of little value.
"It’s filthy, better not go down."
With that said, Tamayo closed the door.
Daki kept staring at her, her brow furrowing more and more.
"What kind of experiment are they really carrying out?"
Her voice let a certain tension show through.
Without answering, Tamayo walked toward the entrance.
Her footsteps echoed in the hallway, one after another, without any hurry.
Daki watched her back. Then she cast a sidelong glance at the iron door left behind.
It was locked. But that was no obstacle: she could reduce it to splinters in an instant.
And yet, she raised her eyes toward the third floor, toward Marcus’s room... and in the end she didn’t dare.
She went after Tamayo.
...
In the front courtyard.
The moonlight spilled over the stone path, stretching Tamayo’s shadow. She walked slowly, and the hem of her kimono swayed gently in the night wind.
Daki came running out from inside the house.
"Stop!"
This time her voice was quite rude, which even drew a murderous glare from the guardhouse.
Tamayo stopped. She raised a hand to hold back Yushiro, who was already on the verge of shooting off, and then turned around with a serene smile.
So serene that it made Daki’s hair stand on end.
That look was like the one given to a mischievous child. It held tolerance, resignation, and a touch of... amusement?
And Daki didn’t like being looked at that way.
Except for her onii-chan and Muzan-sama, no one else was allowed to look at her like that.
ABSOLUTELY NO ONE!
"You still haven’t answered my question!"
"If you really are so eager to know what experiments we’re doing..." Tamayo tilted her head slightly. "Why don’t you ask Marcus directly?"
Daki opened her mouth, but was left speechless.
It was obvious she couldn’t ask Marcus, but asking Tamayo was something she could justify as a simple fit of jealousy.
That two women should compete and tempt one another over a man was something quite common in Yoshiwara.
But having spent only a single night together and already prying into Marcus’s secrets... that would change the situation entirely.
She was a little naive, but she wasn’t stupid.
"It’s not like I’m even that curious! I simply don’t like being ignored!"
She lifted her chin, speaking even louder than before. Inwardly, however, she congratulated herself in silence.
’How clever I am!’
’Putting it that way, no one will suspect that I really want to get at his secrets. They’ll think I’m consumed by envy. And what man doesn’t enjoy having women feel jealous over him?’
"Fufufu~"
Tamayo covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
That laugh sounded with exceptional clarity in the night, full of elegance.
But to Daki’s ears it came across as mockery, and it irritated her to the core.
She took two steps until she stood right in front of Tamayo, fixing her with a stare.
"What’s the matter? Still unwilling to answer?" She kept her chin held high, her tone loaded with defiance. "Or maybe... are you going to ask me again by what right I’m interrogating you?"
"Your identity is very clear to me." Tamayo shook her head. "But mine..."
Looking her in the eyes, she suddenly smiled in a strange way.
A smile very different from the one before. Before, it was kind and serene. This one, however...
There was something in that smile that Daki couldn’t comprehend.
"My identity... is it really so clear to you?"
As she uttered those words, Tamayo’s voice changed. And it wasn’t a mere change of tone, but... the entire voice, completely!
What’s more: it wasn’t only the voice!
Before Daki’s stunned gaze, her pupils contracting all at once, Tamayo began to transform.
Over that placid face, the features blurred and reassembled themselves at full speed. The lines, once soft, sharpened; and between the brows a stifling, dense pressure surged, one that weighed down the very air.
The figure grew taller, and the purple kimono distorted and warped under the moonlight, turning into a black formal suit of high tailoring.
The hair shortened into slight waves, and the hair ornament transformed into a black hat.
In the span of a few seconds, the placid milf disappeared.
In her place stood a man.
A man whom Daki knew to perfection. Whom she revered with all her soul. And whom, above all else, she feared to the very depths of her being.
Black suit. Crimson pupils, like those of a beast. And that face of a cold, unchanging arrogance.
"M-MUZAN-SAMA...!?"
Daki’s legs reacted faster than her mind, and she fell to her knees on the ground with a dull thud.
She felt no pain. The only thing she was capable of feeling was... TERROR.
Terror, and a shock that clouded her reason!
’Why? Why is Muzan-sama here? Why has he been posing as Tamayo? Why did he infiltrate the mansion before me...?’
"Daki."
Muzan’s glacial voice came down from above, accompanied by a scrutinizing gaze that made her shrink until she felt insignificant.
"You have disappointed me far too much."
Daki’s body began to tremble.
"Such a simple mission, and you were incapable of carrying it out."
A mission?! How could Muzan-sama speak of that in this place?!
Daki looked around nervously.
Only then did she realize that a layer of black light had already enveloped everything, sealing them off from the outside world. Only then did she relax a little and stammer out an explanation:
"Muzan-sama, I... today was only the first day that... that I saw the human Marcus, but already almost..."
"Silence."
Daki swallowed back any attempt at justification.
"What does it matter that it’s been one day? A day... is no small amount of time." Muzan’s voice sank into the marrow, pure and cold. "It seems to me that, from having lived in comfort for so long, you’ve lost your efficiency in getting things done."
"Or do you perhaps need me to strip away your abilities and your years of life for you to take your work seriously?"
Daki’s pupils shrank violently.
"No!"
Her voice came out so shrill it nearly cracked. "D-Don’t take away my abilities! Muzan-sama, please, rest assured... in three days at most..."
"Hm?"
Trembling, she corrected herself in a hurry.
"O-One day. In a day at the latest, I’ll discover without fail what kind of experiments they’re carrying out. I’ll investigate absolutely everything in this mansion!"
She was completely prostrate, her forehead pressed against the cold stone slabs, a sob crawling up her throat. But the voice descending from above held not the slightest compassion.
"It’s no longer necessary."
Daki jerked her head up sharply.
Under the moonlight, Muzan slowly raised his arm.
From his hand dangled a person, held by the neck.
Blood ran from the corner of that person’s lips, and their hands clutched desperately at Muzan’s arm.
Dull blond hair, a tall figure, and a face with fine features.
Daki’s pupils contracted into two points.
MARCUS!
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