Chapter 13: You learn to be honest first!

Description

For Moya’s irritable behavior, Aide raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop her.

Although he preferred to probe step by step through careful maneuvering, if Moya wanted to speed things up, that was fine too.

After all, even if everyone in this mansion came at them together, they wouldn’t be a match for him and Moya.

He was only putting on a clean performance out of respect for the king’s commission, to avoid embarrassing the sovereign.

In reality, how the task was completed didn’t matter to Aide.

The moment Moya’s impatient words landed, the atmosphere in the parlor grew tense.

The middle-aged noble’s flustered gaze felt like a knife stabbed deep into him, revealing a terrified look of being hit where it hurt, followed by the fear of having his secret exposed and the instinctive aggression of a cornered brain.

“I’m not sure what you two are talking about. Just recently, there was another lunatic who said the same thing to my guards. Do you want my men to hear that ridiculous story again?”

This time, his response matched his status much better than his initial greeting.

Aide, who was observing from the side, nodded to himself.

Had the intense sense of danger awakened the noble’s innate bearing?

“Don’t bullshit me. Did you really think Aide’s health-product pitch could fool the old butler, but not you? You know damn well that the body swap between you and Lord Sierfu is a fact. Could you really not tell that Aide’s made-up illness excuse was obviously a lie to investigate the body swap?”

Impatient Moya fired off like a machine gun, wanting nothing more than to finish the job and go home.

“Since you already know why we’re here, why did you still dare to let us meet you? Isn’t it because you want to learn something or gain something from us?”

“And what’s the result? You haven’t said a single honest word since we arrived. Your first sentence was to send us away with that stupid test. What are you trying to do? What do you want to do? Did you really think through what you’re doing?”

“If you can’t figure out what to do, just honestly tell us the truth and let us teach you what to do!”

No longer suppressing her irritation, Moya went all out, her eyes beneath the cloak glaring fiercely at the tramp wearing a noble’s skin.

She felt quite relieved.

It was really annoying.

Moya felt her sweat-soaked clothes sticking to her skin, the clammy sensation making her uncomfortable.

All she wanted was to fly home and take a cold shower.

From Moya’s perspective, her approach wasn’t wrong.

But for that fake, the current situation might have forced him into meeting them.

Aide mentally added, glad to see Moya taking the initiative.

The old butler’s suspicion was growing.

Even if his thinking was conservative, as more anomalies surfaced, he would eventually suspect the body swap the real lord had screamed about before his arrest.

The illness excuse Aide had given wasn’t just to win the old butler’s trust—it was also a way to give the fake lord a face-saving exit, a reason to fend off the butler’s doubts for a short time.

So Aide was eighty percent sure the fake lord would agree to meet him and Moya, unless the guy wasn’t very bright.

The middle-aged noble was clearly caught off guard by Moya’s outburst.

He froze for a long moment, but still didn’t give up.

“Without evidence, how can you—”

“Enough, enough! Do you need me to list out all the reasons you’re not Lord Sierfu? One by one? How much more of our time do you want to waste? Learn to be honest first!”

Impatient Moya’s tone grew more aggressive, her words more cutting.

Moya admitted she was being a bit provocative.

If this fake lord actually lost his temper and called the guards to kick them out, then she would be in a position of passive counterattack.

She could legitimately use the power of the guardian angel to bomb the entire mansion and see if the fake lord dared to talk back again.

She was a master of defensive counterattacks.

“…”

But to Moya’s surprise, the fake in Lord Sierfu’s skin didn’t explode with rage.

Instead, he fell silent for a long time, his eyes even taking on a childlike grievance, as if being scolded by an adult.

???

That’s not right, is it?

The normal follow-up should be him losing his cool, ordering the guards to teach her a lesson, then she’d have a great time showing off, interrogating him, and going home happy.

It did feel like he broke down, just not the way she expected.

Where’s the ruthlessness in your soul’s fluctuation?

It didn’t seem fake, did it?

Why does the script feel off?

Moya’s eyes showed a hint of shock, her irritation somewhat dissipated.

“I… I get it. I’ll talk, okay? Geez…”

The fake lord let out a long sigh, his voice sounding quite timid.

Aide frowned, immediately noticing something strange.

This didn’t seem like the reaction a normal adult male would have under pressure.

Not only did it lack the maturity of an adult man, but it didn’t even feel like the wording a man would use.

Come to think of it, the intelligence he had received hadn’t mentioned that body swaps were limited to the same gender.

The moment he realized this, Aide’s look at the fake in Lord Sierfu’s skin turned rather odd.

It felt a bit too abstract.

It would have been easier to accept if it were the other way around.

Moya, on the other hand, didn’t notice this detail at all.

She just felt the fake lord in front of her seemed a bit effeminate.

“Actually, I don’t know why this happened to me. A few days ago, when I woke up one morning, I had already become like this.”

The fake lord looked up at the ceiling, starting to recall what had happened a few days ago.

“But before that, I hadn’t had much contact with the real Lord Sierfu. I just begged from him a few times when he passed by.”

“Think again. It doesn’t have to be contact with Lord Sierfu. Any strange events or phenomena that happened before the swap could be clues.”

Seeing the fake lord’s momentum weaken, Moya’s expression softened a little.

She felt that if she kept being harsh, it would be like she was bullying him.

“Uh… If you put it that way…”

Hearing Moya’s gentle guidance, the fake lord’s face showed obvious hesitation.

“It’s not like there isn’t anything, but I don’t think it’s related to this…”

“Just say it. Judging whether it’s related is our job.”

Moya took a deep breath, suppressing the irritable feeling that was rising again.

“It’s just that the night before the body swap, I had a dream.”

“A dream? Are you sure?”

Moya’s slightly lax attention instantly snapped to alert.

The fake lord looked at the ceiling, his expression hesitant.

“That’s why I said it sounds ridiculous…”

“No, I believe you. Just say it. What kind of dream?”

She joked that she was a laze who walked through dreams to work—she herself was a living example.

“…A dream of a paradise.”