Ⅱ
Inside the barrier, Joe, possessed by Mihailo, had taken on a "blooming" posture-his entire body resembled a flower opening, except its petals were skin, muscle, and bone.
And the stamen?
That was his swaying spine.
From the head attached to it came a constant stream of shrill or piercing female cries-
"This is your responsibility!"
"Mm-hmm."
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been ambushed!"
"Mm-hmm."
"Under the Contract, you have to help me!"
"Mm-hmm."
Without a doubt, the conversation between this lady and the Old Lion was not going well.
Every statement received a perfunctory response.
Such dismissiveness made the lady increasingly irritable, until she began hurling crude curses.
But even that failed to change the Old Lion's mind.
As for their supposed Contract?
Naturally, it was over.
"You'll die a horrible death!"
"I curse you and your family!"
Mihailo ranted furiously, but the Old Lion no longer bothered even to humor her. He simply ended the call.
That drove Mihailo mad with rage.
The lady's flowerlike body began thrashing wildly.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, Joe's head was flung off.
But before it could hit the ground, the head flew back, and the lady reattached it to the spine.
Air swirled.
This was Mihailo's breathing.
If it could be called breathing.
Those rapid breaths indicated that the Lady of Pain was calming down.
At least she was no longer flinging her head off.
She now understood that the moment her collaborator had driven his sword through the Marquis of West Berlin's chest, she had ceased to have any value.
She had been squeezed dry.
But she had not come unprepared.
This was hardly the Lady of Pain's first time working with humans. How could she not have made any preparations?
"Did you think I had only