Chapter 102: Threads of Deception

Iris pressed the end call button and hummed a cheerful tune as she stepped into the elevator.

Her grandmother, who lived in the countryside, was coming to see her after a long time, and she was overjoyed.

This was the first time they’d met since Iris became an adult and her grandmother had left for the countryside to recuperate.

Iris had tried a few times to visit her grandmother first, but her grandmother’s worries about the countryside being overrun with petty thieves— and the possibility of getting robbed on the way— had forced her to cancel those plans.

Meanwhile, her grandmother had been busy taking care of and tidying up the rural house.

Unfortunately, their contact had been limited to frequent phone calls exchanging well-wishes.

But now, it was her beloved grandmother who had come to visit her first.

Iris felt sorry that she hadn’t informed her grandmother right after awakening her powers and then come to the countryside instead.

After arriving home, Iris took a thorough shower and had dinner.

Meanwhile, a message came from her grandmother asking if there was a place to park.

Iris replied thoughtfully.

‘Oh, right. Grandma has a motorcycle, so it’s probably much safer for her to come by that than using public transport. She was worried earlier when I said I was driving. She doesn’t have to worry anymore…’

Iris hesitated about how much truth to tell her grandmother when she came this weekend.

It was best to keep her abilities a secret as much as possible, but she didn’t want to hide it from her grandmother— not from the one who had raised her alone and loved her more than her parents after they passed away.

Just then, another message arrived from her grandmother.

Iris opened the message window with a big smile, but her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

The message’s content was strange.

「I’m coming to see you and also to participate in a church event happening around here. Since I’ve been going to church lately, I hardly have a moment to feel lonely.」

‘Huh? Could this be… No, it can’t be.’

Her grandmother had always been non-religious.

Iris’s brown eyes glanced at the Enrakakyo flyer resting on the corner of the dining table.

The event her grandmother mentioned didn’t seem like an ordinary event held by one of the four major religions.

Was it just a misunderstanding?

But ominous premonitions always came true.

As more messages came in, Iris’s eyes widened in shock.

「You might not know about Enrakakyo. All the old folks around here seem to believe in it. I was bored, so I tried going to the church a bit myself.」

「Grandma, that place is…」

Iris was about to type, ‘It’s a cult—’ but shook her head and deleted the message.

Enrakakyo was indeed a suspicious religion.

The priests used skills to deceive people, and they harbored one of the villains who could bring destruction to Gyodam City.

But Iris still didn’t have enough information.

If she called her grandmother’s faith a cult out of the blue without much knowledge, she would only be the bad granddaughter with a fiery temper.

‘Anyway, since I was planning to check out the Enrakakyo church this weekend, I’ll just follow Grandma there.’

Iris bit her lip anxiously.

She worried that her grandmother might have been affected by the deception skill.

There was no way to confirm now, so she had no choice but to wait until the weekend.

「I see. Please come safely. When you arrive, we’ll eat lots of delicious food!」

After exchanging goodnight messages with her grandmother, Iris sighed deeply, her face pale.

Thinking that the grandmother who had raised her like a treasure had become prey to Enrakakyo made her feel unbearably bad.

If something bad had already happened, she vowed that, before anything else, she would destroy Enrakakyo as her grandmother’s granddaughter— no matter what.

「Did you get home okay? I wanted to take you there.」

With her resolve firm, Iris was scrolling through her phone with fiery eyes when she suddenly paused.

There were multiple messages from Laika.

Laika, who had tried to start the engine again after eating pizza, had scared her off like a fugitive.

Now he was sending messages expressing regret for not seeing her off, saying he still had energy but was worried because she looked pale, and telling her to eat well and sleep early, worrying about her health.

It was hard to believe the sender was a Villain given how kind the messages were.

‘It’s nice that he cares, but it makes me feel really uneasy.’

Iris’s expression turned awkward.

She had been preparing diligently for her debut as a righteous thief—even commissioning a fake ring from the Antique Shop owner.

Yet here she was, seeing Laika’s messages worrying about her while she was unaware of everything, and she felt pangs of conscience.

‘No, what conscience? This is for justice. I’m a righteous thief acting for the peace of Gyodam City. Like a Robin Hood figure.’

She sent a moderate reply and ended the conversation with Laika, using tiredness as an excuse.

Just talking with him a little made her lower abdomen tingle with pleasure from the previous night’s ecstasy.

But he was someone she shouldn’t get attached to.

She planned to steal the ring soon and then quietly distance herself.

Once Laika found out the ring was missing, she would be the prime suspect.

So she needed to run before that happened.

‘I might have to move. I earned a good bit from the Potion Truck delivery mission, so if I add that to the deposit, maybe I can move somewhere else… But then again, it’s the same place, isn’t it? Laika doesn’t even know where I live. Moving just because I’m scared won’t change anything— it’s still Gyodam City. There aren’t many relatively safe and cheap places nearby.’

This area was relatively safe aside from pickpockets, snatchers, armed robbers, and petty thieves.

Although she earned double pay from the successful Potion delivery mission, it was still a modest amount for moving.

Technically, she could move to a slightly bigger place, but she would still be stuck in this neighborhood.

At that moment, a brilliant idea struck her.

A plan to be shamelessly shameless, so to speak.

‘Right. Why didn’t I think of this before? There’s really one safe place—Senior Teresa’s house! It’s way safer than here and huge, so there should be empty rooms!’

Since it was a remodeled temple, there were many vacant rooms.

Even the detached building had plenty of empty rooms.

Of course, this time she was determined to pay rent properly.

She didn’t want to impose too much, no matter what.

And now that her powers were so strong, it would be a win-win for both of them.

Senior Teresa would feel much safer living with Iris rather than alone.

Iris decided to contact Teresa soon and closed her eyes tightly.

She hadn’t realized it earlier because she’d been preoccupied planning her theft, but her body ached all over.

It was because she’d had intense sex five times on her first experience.

After patting her shoulders and stretching her legs for a long time, Iris’s breathing finally evened out.

***

“Ah, I absolutely must not report this. If I do, it’s over.”

James, Johannes’s driver who had just returned from a leave to preserve his life, was sweating profusely at night after receiving a message from the watcher assigned to monitor Iris.

The watcher reported that Iris had entered a luxury apartment and only came out the next day.

That apartment was where the actor Laika— whom Iris had been on a date with at Ru River—lived.

The watcher’s voice came through the phone.

The young master wasn’t bothered by the previous date incident, but this one is a bit… Since you said to report everything without omission, should I report this?

“Ah, no. Just… better not to say anything.”

I agree. I can’t imagine how shocked the young master would be if he knew this…

“Yes. Even though he said he didn’t care who Iris meets, once he hears this… he’ll be hurt badly.”

The concern that others around him might also get hurt lingered briefly before fading.

There was no benefit in gossiping about Johannes to the watcher.

The watcher clicked their tongue regretfully and spoke again.

Okay. Then I’ll omit this from the report for now.

“Alright…”

The call ended, and James slipped his phone into his pocket, letting out a deep sigh as if the ground had collapsed beneath him.

This was how it had turned out.

An actor named Laika—she had said she was working as staff, but now it had developed into a relationship between Iris and the actor.

He heard that Johannes found out about their date while James was on leave.

Johannes might have seemed fine, but that was not the case.

The watcher mostly reported to Johannes via calls, so he couldn’t read the expression changes on his face.

He gave meaning to every action Iris took, and there was no way the young master, whose emotions fluctuated wildly because of Iris, was unaffected.

‘Phew, I can only hope the relationship between that actor Laika and Iris ends quickly. I wonder how the young master will react if he finds out…’