"If that alone is why you consider Curacao a kindred spirit in some sense... Kumeru, don't blame me for laughing at your naivety."
After exhaling the last trace of bitter tobacco from her mouth, Vermouth leaned back against the cushion behind her, as though she had recalled something from the past.
"Your choice doesn't surprise me, Kumeru. I see you as one of my kind because of what I've observed, not because I jumped to conclusions. Tang Ze Zhao, those children, those things that don't belong to you yet still make people unwillingly attached... In the end, you made this choice. I truly am not surprised."
"That sounded like you were mocking someone."
"Even if I am, I'm mocking myself." Vermouth tugged at the corner of her mouth, unbothered. "As for Curacao, if you want my assessment, she has no value in being considered one of our kind. She is an anaerobic bacterium through and through, bred in darkness. Give her sunlight, and you'll only kill her. She doesn't have your fierce rage, that desire to tear everything apart. She may not even have felt much sorrow over her own fate. Perhaps you should listen to what Rum once said to her."
"You think she trusted Rum more?"
"I think she is a blind woman with empty eyes and empty hands, unable to see the future and unaware of where she ought to look. Unless you are confident you can scrub clean a sheet of white paper already stained black and draw whatever you want on it... you should keep controlling her mind. Don't let her remember what she shouldn't."
Vermouth's voice came through the earpiece, carrying a hint of weariness while still wrapped in the night. Ahead of Tangze, several children tugged Curacao along, laughing and fooling around.
Tangze