Illusion Report

’He must be considering the possibility of killing me and moving Westley’s body out on his own.’

Brianna didn’t even have to say a word to persuade him. After a moment’s thought, his shoulders slumped. It looked like he’d given up on the idea himself. Even if he could get the bodyguards outside the safe room to leave for a bit, what then?

’Could Fu Tailan, who’s forced back into his true form upon touching Westley, really drag the corpse alone through this massive, unfamiliar manor? Could he get past checkpoint after checkpoint of guards and find the study, all while running around like a headless chicken?’

’The existence of "Secretary Green" was the key to ensuring history unfolded as it should.’

"It’s still a corpse... Do you know how to get to the study without attracting attention?" Fu Tailan asked.

"Of course," Brianna said. "Forget my time as Green—back when I was still Brianna, I lived here for a while."

"And the target Illusion?"

Brianna shrugged. "The key you took... consider it your souvenir for the night. You can hold onto it for me for a few days. After that, we’ll go back to competing for it on our own."

Fu Tailan’s expression darkened. He stood motionless, which seemed to be his way of agreeing.

"But if we’re going to cooperate, I have one condition."

The moment she lowered her gaze, Fu Tailan understood. She didn’t even have to finish.

"I know," he said, shaking the Compression Gun in his hand. "I’ll leave it in the safe room before we go."

"Good. Let it be lost here forever, never to see the light of day again," Brianna said with false sincerity.

’She wouldn’t give up the Illusion or the safe room.’

’Once Westley’s death was discovered, she had to move fast and get a real Vulture into the manor. Hadn’t Fu Tailan said so himself? A Vulture would be able to enter the human world within a few days. She’d have it attach to the corpse, take on Westley’s appearance, and enter the safe room again.’

’Of course, Fu Tailan didn’t need to know any of this.’

She watched as the young man took out an Illusion. Soon, her father was reborn once more, standing before Brianna.

’...I’d better get used to this. After all, I’ll have to see a Vulture disguised as my father soon enough.’

She told Fu Tailan what orders to give. He then activated the communication system, made an excuse, and dismissed Dylan from his post outside the safe room. With one on each side, they propped Westley’s corpse up between them, and, leaning on each other for support, finally left the room.

Whenever they approached a guard post, Brianna would temporarily let go of the body and go on ahead to send the guards away. Luckily, there was no one left alive in the security center, allowing them to haul a corpse past camera after camera and through corridor after corridor, all the way back to Westley’s study.

His daughter gently settled Westley, still in his pajamas, into his chair.

She arranged her father’s arms on the desk and let his body slump forward, making it look as if he had simply fallen asleep at his desk, exhausted from work.

"What about the time of death?"

Fu Tailan asked softly, standing at a distance by the study door.

"Leave it to me."

"Then I’ll leave the cleanup to you."

After a pause, for some reason, Fu Tailan added in a low voice, "...I’m sorry."

The apology came out of nowhere, instantly putting Brianna on high alert.

Fu Tailan was equally worried that Brianna might turn on him, so he had stuck close to her side, giving her no opportunity to call for help. On their way here, whenever Brianna had to go dismiss someone, he had lingered nearby like a shadow, ensuring she couldn’t say anything she wasn’t supposed to.

To ensure his own smooth exit, Fu Tailan had taken on Westley’s identity even before they laid the body on the desk.

’...But so what?’

’Brianna couldn’t care less whether history was predetermined, and she cared even less if Fu Tailan would be screwed without the key. She would absolutely not let him leave this manor with it.’

’How could she rely on something that would be exposed with a single touch?’

’All I have to do is have Dylan and his men seal off every exit from the manor, and not let anyone—’

Brianna’s consciousness blinked.

It wasn’t that Green’s eyes had blinked. Rather, the flow of her mind, her consciousness, had been interrupted for a split second.

She hadn’t even noticed her consciousness blacking out and then instantly returning—just as when you blink, it’s hard to perceive the moment of darkness in your vision.

It was only later, when she replayed and analyzed the events, that she logically pinpointed that "blink."

During the "consciousness blink," Brianna had been turning. She was just turning from her father’s body to face Fu Tailan at the door.

During that turn, her consciousness had blacked out, but she was completely unaware of it at the time. All she knew was that when her eyes fell on the doorway, Fu Tailan was gone.

"...Huh?"

’That guy... wasn’t he just talking about the cleanup? How’d he vanish in the blink of an eye?’

Brianna heard an extremely low, soft voice from the hallway. A few faint words were mumbled, and then it sank back into silence.

"...heard... word..."

’What?’

Brianna took a few quick steps toward the door, but just as she was about to step out, she froze.

’That kid is as cunning as a demon. Could he have another Illusion he’s kept hidden this whole time? Did he just disappear and start muttering in the hall to lure me out?’

’Is that why he apologized so suddenly?’

’Even without going out there, I can still order the guards to set up an inescapable net. In fact, this little trick of his has no effect on my plan whatsoever.’

She stared at the doorway and retreated step by step back into the study. But everything inside and out was perfectly calm; she couldn’t see what kind of trap Fu Tailan could have possibly set.

It wasn’t until Brianna had finished giving her orders and hung up the phone that she felt something was off.

’I just feel... I feel like something’s missing.’

’Am I imagining things?’

Brianna stood there in a daze. After a moment, she suddenly raised a hand to her cheek and waited for several minutes.

The telltale bump pushed up by her tongue never appeared.

"Rumor?" she called out softly, her heart sinking. "...Ru-Rumor? Are you there?"

In the silent study, there was no response. Rumor had disappeared.

Rumor had disappeared from her mouth.

’Why why why why did this happen it has to be transferred through a conversation how was Rumor taken it must have been Fu Tailan but how did he—’

A thought suddenly sparked in Brianna’s mind, like a live current surging through a newly connected circuit.

She slowly turned her gaze to her father’s body on the desk.

She slowly turned her gaze to the study door.

Fu Tailan’s shadow was gone from the hallway.

Brianna clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a long, drawn-out sound that was part sob, part furious howl.

’He can speak through someone else he made me speak he knew how to complete the exchange because he’d already heard it once he took part in that conversation that’s why Dad forgot the password for the handover—’

’It wasn’t my father speaking after all.’

’He pretended Westley wasn’t dead, that he was still holding on by a thread.’

’He said, "I’m sorry." He said, "I hope you win. I hope you’ll be happy." He said, "Take Rumor with you."’

’He tricked the handover password for Rumor out of me, then took Rumor right from my mouth. He deceived me, made me believe that Westley had felt a moment of repentance before he died.’

’So venomous, so vicious, so hateful, so ruthless, so painful, so... thrilling.’

’...As expected of the only person in the world who ever truly understood me. He knew exactly where to strike.’

In a daze, her mind drifted back to the desk in the safe room.

One main hall, with three adjoining rooms.

One master bedroom, obviously for Westley and Jacqueline. But what about the other two?

The books on the desk were all children’s books...

He cut out the tumor and made a new home for himself.

Westley had never apologized to her, not even in death.