Isabel gazed into the darkness as those stories surfaced in her heart and flashed past like foam and illusions.
Her consciousness had grown sluggish within the hallucination, just like in a dream, making it impossible to precisely control her own thoughts.
"...Does this question really have a correct answer?"
Such a doubt surfaced in her heart.
But clearly, that could not be considered an answer.
After hesitating for a long while, Isabel cautiously spoke. "Puppet Mask... who is it?"
"Heh."
That deep laugh rang out. "Not too bad.
"You have insight, but you aren't crazy enough; you have discernment, but you're too clear-headed. You aren't suited to inherit everything from me."
Just as Isabel had given her answer, a humanoid figure appeared within the darkness.
—It was precisely the seductive and enchanting Snake Tail Queen from the first story!
She held countless thin threads in her hands, and those countless threads were connected to the hanging masks.
From the very beginning, all those stories told about her "in the future" had been under her control.
As the threads in the Snake Tail Queen's hands continued to merge, the dark scene around them contracted once more.
That pitch-black, mysterious space transformed into an altar amid an endless sea of yellow sand.
So everything around her had been an illusion.
Isabel suddenly understood.
Silent Snake Tails stood densely packed around her, each one wearing a mask.
Only the Snake Tail Queen standing before Isabel had no mask on her face.
—No, that wasn't right! Isabel suddenly startled.
The Snake Tail Queen suddenly smiled seductively and reached toward her own face.
The Queen removed a pure-white faceless mask.
Beneath the mask was another Isabel.
There was no Snake Tail, no white robe, no golden crown, and no red eyeshadow.
She wore exactly the