Chapter 24
I shouldn't have called out her name.
Hisoka realized this almost the instant he revealed his acquaintance with Rae.
This would not bring him any benefit, and would even add trouble to his plans.
But he has already done it.
If he were to reflect on the reasons for making such a grave mistake now that it had already been made… Hisoka thought that it would probably be because some of Illumi's words suddenly flashed through his mind.
I first learned about "Lay" from that guy.
They had clearly agreed to go to the dangerous place together, but halfway through dealing with the enemy, Illumi suddenly did a backflip and withdrew from the battle. He took out his phone, glanced at the time, and said ruthlessly:
"Ah, I have to go now. The rest of the guys are yours."
Hisoka's dissatisfaction wasn't due to the hardship, but rather because he thought, "Ugh, these guys are incredibly boring..."
“There’s no other way,” Illumi said expressionlessly. “Today is the day my sister is coming home. If I don’t go see her right away, she’ll throw a tantrum.”
"You still have a sister." In the midst of the chaotic battle, Hisoka casually finished off another target, blood splattering and staining half of his body red. He unconcernedly pushed the corpse aside and continued talking to Illumi.
Illumi succinctly replied, "Yes, there is."
Before he finished speaking, he vanished from the spot.
After that, I would hear bits and pieces of news about my "sister" from him.
As docile as a squirrel, she always had a smile on her face, and her long black hair, like soft, smooth, fine satin, would shimmer in the sunlight.
He speaks very softly, and even when he lies, his eyes are sincere. Although he grew up in Zoldyck, he has never taken on a mission.
“Because her training was only to develop self-defense skills,” Illumi said.
"How about we try having her do a mission?" Hisoka suggested casually.
Illumi considered it seriously for a moment, and a few days later, he sent back the result of the proposal: it was not suitable.
“After Ray made his move, the employer was unable to identify the target's body, which affected the acceptance process,” Illumi said.
It sounds like just another Zoldyck.
Even at this point, Hisoka still showed absolutely no interest in the special being that Illumi had mentioned.
However, one day, after his meeting with Illumi ended, he saw the girl with his own eyes.
As Illumi said, she was as beautiful as a rare collectible in a shop window that was not for sale. She always smiled slightly, but her expression was indifferent, and there was no warmth in her eyes. Even the corners of her mouth that were raised were cold.
She didn't see him because he was far behind them.
He noticed that Illumi appeared exceptionally domineering and overwhelmingly authoritarian in her presence—the girl walked intimately alongside the brother-like man, her head bowed, as if she were a parasite dependent on him, unable to function without him.
However, just like her dangerous characteristic of endlessly draining the host's energy and eventually killing the host, there was always a terrifyingly coldness in her indifferent gaze.
"He doesn't seem as obedient as you say~" Hisoka commented.
Illumi, expressionless, stared intently into the distance, seemingly gazing at something unseen, and answered in a completely flat tone:
"Of course Ray will listen."
Then he turned to look at Hisoka and said confidently, "Because she loves me the most."
Even Hisoka sometimes found Illumi somewhat unreasonable.
“That’s all she can do,” Illumi added.
Hisoka immediately understood.
What Illumi enjoyed was Rai's submission to him out of fear—unlike his other brothers who would tuck their tails between their legs as if they had encountered a natural enemy when they saw him, Rai's fear, caught between the blurry line of appeasement and avoidance, was always just the right amount to make people feel happy.
“It’s probably because they inherited their mother’s abilities,” Illumi knew that his “sister’s” gentleness and thoughtfulness were just a facade. “They can manipulate language.”
I still can't truly understand it.
Hisoka couldn't understand what reason supported Illumi's endless fascination with his "little sister".
But the investigation ends here, because Hisoka has no interest in probing further, and Illumi will not reveal any more.
One day, he vaguely heard Illumi mutter that he had been blocked by his "sister".
“They get angry very easily,” Illumi said, then sighed dramatically. “Kids these days are just too hard to manage.”
Oh, so the two of them are in a cold war for now.
Hisoka briefly focused his attention on the news, but quickly became distracted again, his thoughts flitting from one flower to another like a butterfly.
He never imagined that he would later encounter this girl, who had temporarily escaped Illumi's control, in the absence of Illumi.
The beautiful collection is riddled with cracks; its cold, hard exterior has been stripped of its thickness, leaving only a thin layer that reveals a soft, tearful interior.
The moment it shatters will probably be quite beautiful.
But this beautiful collection, no matter how it was dropped from a high place or how many cracks it was covered in, never truly fell apart.
Her waist was slender and supple, yet always ramrod straight. Her eyes were always slightly smiling, but deep within them lay a chill. Even the hands that wrapped around her lover's neck seemed icy cold, as if they could take his life at any moment.
In that instant, Hisoka finally understood why Illumi was so fixated on him:
The illusion of being able to have something you can't have is always the most alluring.
She made no attempt to hide her ruthlessness, yet she seduced everyone as if it were a divine blessing.
Just like now.
She showed him the ring that symbolized her ownership, and openly invited and encouraged him to launch a rebellion to overthrow his friend's throne.
She said nothing, but her eyes were filled with tender affection, while the corners of her lips curled up in a malicious anticipation of the casualties in the chaos of the rebellion.
Her eyes seemed to be looking at him, yet also looking past him, waiting for the answer from the young man behind him.
The person in front of you who looks obedient, timid, and affectionate, like a fragile princess, is actually a witch in a black robe, most skilled at bewitching people.
...
Hisoka straightened up.
"Let's forget about it," he said with a smile.
The witch, who always offered what could only be described as wicked advice, looked saddened upon hearing this. Her brows furrowed slightly, and her voice was as soft as if she were afraid of blowing away a flower.
“Well,” she said, “there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Then, she changed her expression and smiled at the third person present—the blond youth who was still warily holding the chains and confronting Hisoka—and said:
"It seems I really have no choice but to follow you now."
She didn't look at Hisoka again.
Almost the instant the words left his mouth, the tall, red-haired man broke free of his chains and turned to engage in a fierce struggle with the blond, chained hand.
...In a neglected corner, the instigator of this chaos, Ray Adrian, smiled even more broadly.
"Oh dear..." she muttered regretfully to herself, "How did they actually start fighting?"
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