Volume 4, Chapter 5 – The Imposter

Withdrawing her consciousness from her mind, Yisi’s gaze returned to reality.

Because she had been frozen in place, Camilla and Refina, who were waiting on the side, both walked over to her with looks of concern. If it hadn’t been for the Count’s eldest daughter—whom I’ll refer to by her baptismal name, ‘Edith’ for now—if Edith hadn’t called out in time, an anxious Camilla might have come over and shaken her awake. Although she was reluctant to admit it, Edith was indeed a little clever.

Well, from the looks of it, her actions and what she could see were very limited. I wonder if Edith saw me defeat Ariel. If possible, I don’t want her to know my strength.

Thinking of this, Yisi suddenly realized a problem.

I can search the Count’s eldest daughter’s memories anyway, so why not just look at them directly? If I’m going to negotiate with the Count’s eldest daughter later, the more information I have, the better.

It was practically cheating.

Suppressing the strange thought that had surfaced in her mind, Yisi gave a light cough. First, she gave Camilla a smile to set her mind at ease, and then turned to Refina, who was holding her breath and waiting for an answer with worry hidden in her eyes.

“Ahem, just to be clear, to distinguish between her and me, I’ll refer to your master as Edith.”

Refina tacitly agreed to Yisi’s approach, and Yisi continued.

“‘Any questions Refina can answer for me’—if I’m not mistaken, Edith said that to you, didn’t she?”

“Yes.” Refina let out a sigh of relief, believing that Yisi had indeed met the Count’s eldest daughter. “Did the Master say anything else?”

When facing Refina, Yisi had no sense of aversion. Instead, she felt a lot of guilt—not only had she used the Count’s eldest daughter’s identity to drink Refina’s blood, but she had also shared deep kisses with Refina.

Another person might have been able to pretend nothing had happened, but Yisi couldn’t. If possible, Yisi wanted to do something to make it up to Refina.

Yisi chose her words carefully as she replied.

“Edith wants to cooperate with me. She has things that she must accomplish, but I refused her. I cannot accept the conditions she proposed.”

“Is that so… Then how can I see the Master? Will I only be able to communicate through you, Miss Yisi?”

There was no anger in Refina’s eyes, but rather a pleading look. She was probably making the request on Edith’s behalf. Yisi slightly averted her gaze.

“I don’t know, but I will seek a solution. It will require ample time.”

“I understand. Until the Master recovers, we will stay in the City of Termi ahead.”

The conversation had clearly ended, but Refina did not leave. Instead, she pursed her lips tightly, looking as if she wanted to say something but was very hesitant. It was only when Yisi was about to return to the carriage with Camilla that Refina finally spoke with a determined expression.

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“Miss Yisi!”

“Hmm?”

Her voice was squeezed out as if from between her teeth. Refina’s tone contained both an unspeakable plea and a worry about something.

“Please… please help the Master… there isn’t much time left for her.”

Refina’s words made Yisi raise her eyebrows.

Edith’s urgent desire to cooperate with her and Refina’s current words, “there isn’t much time left,” were enough to show that Edith had a problem that needed to be solved, and this problem was already imminent. Yisi’s intuition told her that this problem had nothing to do with her, but with some other third party.

However, rather than pressing Refina about why there wasn’t much time, it was more convenient to look at Edith’s memories directly. Memories weren’t just images; they also included Edith’s thoughts and feelings about the event.

Yisi did not turn around. Instead, she just nodded.

“Mhm, I will. This is for my own sake, too.”

Separating Edith from the body—that was her ultimate goal.

…

Without even deactivating [Third Form Awakening], Yisi quickly returned to the carriage. First, she enveloped the carriage in a defensive barrier, then began to search her mind for Edith’s memories.

Just like when she had searched Edith’s memories before, as long as she thought about “reviewing memories,” various images would naturally surface in her mind.

“Since I can talk to Edith, it means she wasn’t dead from the beginning, but had just fallen into a deep sleep… In that case, I’ll start from the very beginning.”

Although Yisi was initially worried that she wouldn’t be able to view the most recent memories, this worry was clearly unnecessary. Yisi easily pulled the timeline to the last six months—starting from when she had first appeared in this world.

Broken and fragmented memories.

Like a puzzle with many missing pieces, during the time Yisi was in control of the Count’s eldest daughter’s body, Edith could only see the outside world through her eyes.

The content was very scattered, almost like a series of disjointed images. Sometimes, there would be a full month between two frames, for example, one moment Yisi was negotiating with Owen, and the next, she was rescuing the merchant Nix and his group in the wilderness.

Just as Edith had said, she had only grasped a very small amount of information and had been sleeping most of the time. This was why the scenes were so disjointed.

In addition, Yisi also found something worth noting.

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Whenever Yisi fought someone or used an ability, Edith’s memories would suddenly turn pitch black. The same was true even for non-mana-consuming actions like using her storage.

“So Edith still doesn’t know my level or strength. She only knows that I defeated Samael… and she’s completely in the dark about my encounter with Ariel.”

Of course, memories weren’t just video-like images; they also contained the person’s thoughts and emotions.

For example, when Edith saw Yisi’s negotiation with Owen, her inner thought was that Yisi was too naive, and she listed the deeper reasons for Owen’s actions. And when the Count’s eldest daughter learned that Yisi had captured Samael alive and sent him to the Pescia Count, her inner thoughts changed to disbelief, nervousness, and anxiety.

Then, Yisi also saw something interesting.

Back at the Margarete Tavern, Yisi had fallen into a Blood Frenzy because she hadn’t drunk blood for a long time. In reality, the Blood Frenzy had a limited effect on Yisi. The reason her body became uncontrollable was actually that Edith was secretly pulling the strings.

During a Blood Frenzy, a vampire’s control over their body drops to freezing point. Edith had been gathering strength, waiting for a Blood Frenzy to occur. Edith did indeed get this chance.

A few seconds after the Blood Frenzy appeared, Edith immediately began to fight Yisi for control of the body. The red mist Yisi saw in her mind was actually the Count’s eldest daughter’s shadow.

As for the reason Edith failed, first, Yisi’s spiritual power exceeded her expectations, and second, it was due to the blood of a Pureblood girl named Andrea.

As a result, Andrea’s blood had the effect of causing one to lose consciousness. After Yisi drank Andrea’s blood, this effect simultaneously acted upon both souls. Edith, whose spiritual strength was insufficient, was forced into a deep sleep, while Yisi only yawned a few times.

“Was it just a lucky coincidence…? Well, even if I hadn’t met Andrea, there’s no way Edith could have beaten me.”

It was from that moment that Edith’s memories once again sank into a month of darkness. She had realized Yisi’s power, and because she was unable to resist, she began to feel a slight fear toward Yisi. Even if she was unwilling to admit it.

After that, as time passed, the time gaps in her memories gradually became smaller—this meant that Edith’s mental state was recovering. When Yisi was leveling with Camilla’s group on the snowy mountains, Edith even had the energy to try to talk to her.

“The ‘You’re a strange one’ I heard back then was from Edith…”

Unfortunately, that one sentence alone had consumed a third of Edith’s energy.

“I kind of feel sorry for her.”

Soon, Yisi’s review reached the point after she had lost consciousness. And it was from here that the Count’s eldest daughter’s memories became rich and colorful. Yisi could even feel the joy and emotion the Count’s eldest daughter felt after getting her body back—finally being able to feel the stimulation of outside information. Even the pain made Edith ecstatic.

Her sympathy grew by another notch, to the point that Yisi felt guilt and remorse. No matter what, she was currently occupying the Count’s eldest daughter’s body. Even though she hadn’t done it intentionally, the guilt still remained.

“Maybe I can consider cooperating… but I won’t hand over half of the control.”

After that, Edith began to guess the reason she had taken over control of the body. Before Yisi fell unconscious, Edith had done nothing and was even in a state of deep sleep. It was only when the excessively vast information from [Third Form Awakening] appeared that Edith was suddenly awakened, and Yisi fell into a deep sleep.

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“In short, my unconsciousness was because the benefits of [Third Form Awakening] were too great and the information too vast. Well, that’s understandable…”

Not to mention the doubled stats, there were also a huge number of extremely abnormal buffs. When you put it that way, it would have been strange not to pass out.

Of course, Edith didn’t know the effects of [Third Form Awakening]. She only guessed that [Third Form Awakening] was the key that allowed her to take control of the body. And that’s why Edith had instructed Refina to have Yisi use [Third Form Awakening] after she woke up.

The things she didn’t understand were all cleared up at once. It was like all the work that had piled up for several days had finally been completed. Yisi had an indescribable feeling of comfort and stretched herself with a long yawn. Even her wings at her waist, the cat ears on her head, and the tail behind her stretched out straight.

“Ah~ah~ so that’s what happened. Come to think of it, now that I’ve used [Third Form Awakening], Edith can’t control the body. This means Edith can, at most, only talk to me in my mind. From now on, I don’t have to worry about her suddenly taking over the body and harming Camilla and the others.”

As for which soul had greater spiritual power—a level 427 soul or a level 22 soul—you could figure that out even with your toes.

Yisi couldn’t help but feel like she had tens of billions in her hand while shopping at a mall. This absolute confidence allowed her to start thinking about cooperation. Given her spiritual power, Edith could not possibly seize control from her no matter what.

Furthermore, this body originally belonged to Edith, and she was the outsider. Whether it was out of guilt or sympathy, she could perhaps lend some of the body’s control to Edith, so that the two of them could share the same body. Of course, if Edith made any moves to threaten her, she would immediately take back control.

“Otherwise, it would be no different from imprisonment. Speaking of which, I still haven’t checked what Refina meant by ‘there isn’t much time left.’ What exactly is Edith’s plan, and why did she say there isn’t much time…’”

Yisi closed her eyes and once again searched Edith’s memories.

After five seconds passed, Yisi frowned slightly.

“I can’t feel it?”

“I only slept for a little while, and I find you doing something so crude. Has no one taught you not to casually peek into other people’s secrets?”

The Count’s eldest daughter’s voice, along with her illusion, appeared in Yisi’s mind, followed closely by a surge of anger. It was as awkward as being caught by a big sister in person while using her photos as a side dish.

Yisi could only pretend she hadn’t heard anything and stretched.

Edith’s anger deepened.

“You’re feeling guilty.”

Telepathy is really the worst.

With no option to escape, Yisi could only choose to face her. After she had clarified that she was in a position of absolute advantage, Yisi no longer saw Edith as an enemy.

She had also seen Edith’s memories and knew how moved Edith was after regaining control of her body—it was a feeling of “gap moe” compared to her terrible personality—and now, getting along was the most important thing.

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That is, if Edith could pretend she hadn’t seen Yisi peeking at her memories.

In reality, Yisi reached up and covered her mouth, giving a cough.

“Ahem… can you hear me?”

“Is this your attitude of apology? If you truly think you did wrong, you should honestly stand in front of me.”

“No no, if I stood in front of you, you’d definitely kill me.”

Sensing the killing intent coming from Edith’s emotions, Yisi’s gaze wandered, and she began to think about how to distract the Count’s eldest daughter. Although only a few minutes had passed since she had boarded the carriage, Edith’s impression of being cruel and capricious had faded a great deal.

“Ah, that’s right. I think I might know how to solve the matter of body control.”

In her desperation, Yisi threw out her trump card.

As expected, the irritation on Edith’s face disappeared, replaced by her beautiful eyebrows furrowed in a frown.

“I’ve already tried to take control of the body. There’s a barrier around here. I can’t leave this place.”

As Edith spoke, she paced back and forth in the dark space of her mind. When she had walked about ten steps, a white barrier suddenly blocked her path.

“She just said she secretly tried to take control of the body in front of me. Should I call that a lack of a sense of danger, or just pure arrogance…”

“This is just my guess,” Yisi chose her words carefully. “The white barrier you see is probably the [Mental Interference Nullification] magic. Also, my soul is stronger than yours.”

“So as long as I deactivate the permanent buff [Mental Interference Nullification] and then lower my control over the body—for example, by trying to let go of my consciousness—you’ll be able to control this body.”

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but Yisi swallowed them back. Edith still hadn’t answered her questions.

Because Yisi had stopped at a crucial point, Edith frowned in annoyance.

“So?”

“You answer my questions first. Why don’t you have much time left? What are the things you said only you can accomplish?”

Yisi had thought that Edith would be impatient with her for answering a question with a question, but surprisingly, the feeling that came from Edith was one of approval.

“It seems you’re not as simple-minded as I thought. You’ve slightly risen in my estimation. Indeed, it was my fault for not explaining everything to you.” As if adjusting her mood, Edith paused for a moment. “My purpose is to get rid of an imposter—and I don’t mean you. I mean the scum who is now sitting beside my father, giving orders in my name and deceiving him.”