Tomitaili the Great Khan paused for a moment, then forced out a smile that still held a trace of surprise. "Don't tell me you're about to say that the one who met me was Black Moon, not some Miss Fina Li?"
"I'm not so far gone that I'd deceive myself about that. I was the one who made a deal with you." Fifi smiled. "It's just that the person you met that year was actually my out-of-body incarnation."
This time, the Ero Great Khan paused for a little longer before speaking in a troubled voice. "Back then, you weren't even twenty..."
"I was eighteen, fresh out of high school—a bright-eyed, innocent prospective college student. I wasn't very good at controlling that ability back then, so my out-of-body incarnation had a very limited range. So I have you to thank for taking the risk of coming to the Solar System in person. It must have been quite a hardship for the esteemed Queen of Ero to disguise herself and travel from the galactic core into the heart of the Commonwealth, right?"
"For the sake of that ideal nation, the risk was worth it. Besides, apart from you, I had other friends—friends with considerable influence in your civilized world. They could help smooth the way. Even if it involved some risk, that was a price I had to pay." The Great Khan had always been keenly aware of the risks she'd taken back then.
"But I truly never imagined that the Black Moon I'd been laughing and talking with was a psychic illusion. That's made me start to question the decision I made back then. How underhanded, Miss Fina. How could you face the generations of friendship between the Black Moon line and the Masegetai royal house?"
"My grandfather only helped your