Ⅳ
Just as the door of Arthur's carriage was about to close, Jacqueline slipped inside in a flash, while another Jacqueline appeared beside Catherine.
Despite her wooden expression, no one would suspect that she was an illusion.
Not only was Jacqueline normally unsmiling, but Catherine was also helping her maintain the deception.
Arthur looked at the third daughter of the West Berlin Family as she gracefully settled into the seat opposite him, and he could not help sighing.
"You shouldn't have come."
"But I came anyway."
"I knew you would."
"Of course I would, and of course you knew...
After all, you're the 'Medium' of South Los."
Jacqueline sighed as she spoke. The carriage began to move, its wheels making a distinctive sound against the gravel road. The noblewoman sat ever more rigidly upright, her knees together, her hands placed neatly on them, her back straight and her lips pressed tightly together.
Everything about her spoke of rigidity and stubbornness.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that, a mere three seconds later, she began unbuttoning her blouse.
Arthur sighed again.
"Could you try another approach?"
"Yes."
Her hands left the buttons of her blouse and reached for her skirt.
Arthur immediately rolled his eyes.
Then he fell silent.
She stopped as well, the corners of her lips beginning to curl upward, though her voice carried a trace of mockery-
"You really aren't a man with a sense of humor, are you?"
"Humor?
That sort of humor is hardly something to be happy about.
Hell always welcomes people like that, but I'm not ready to go there yet."
Arthur looked utterly helpless.
"Then couldn't we cooperate a little?
I don't want to go to Hell either, but my father keeps trying to force me there.
So I'd like to