[Stop spoiling it. It hasn't even been animated yet. Even if the plot is different, the answer to the mystery is probably more or less the same.]
[Spoilers will get you locked in the Black Room, lol.]
"By the way." Touko still had one thing on her mind. "Miss Ashen Witch, why did you say the Gold Princess's appearance was artificial?"
Reines found it somewhat strange. "Her appearance must have been altered through magecraft, no? Not just her outward appearance—the inside should have undergone similar modifications as well."
"No, no, what are you talking about? I meant it literally—she got that face through plastic surgery."
Irena did not speak in riddles at all.
After hearing Irena's explanation, Reines wished more than anything that Irena had been speaking in riddles.
"You can't just say something like that!" Reines hurriedly warned Irena.
"Artificial...?"
Touko fell into thought.
—Who could it be?
Reines thought of something as well.
Come to think of it, if anyone could pull that off, the Crowned Puppeteer before her would certainly be one of them.
There seemed to be something else hidden within her, but Reines had not investigated it.
She was not Irena. Acting rashly like that was absolutely out of the question.
Still, Reines was indeed rather curious about it.
"Don't be ridiculous. Reaching the Root through cosmetic surgery?" Reines sighed.
"How strange. I've never understood why magi want to reach the Root. It's just going to the 'bottom layer of the world' or something..." Irena tilted her head. "Well, magi have always had weird ideas. Respect~ Respect~"
"That doesn't sound like respect at all." Reines retorted. "To other people, it would sound more like mockery."
Once again, Reines deeply realized that Irena was no magus.
Traveling witches and magi were terribly incompatible.
A magus's foundation