Chapter 7: Thought I’d Been Found Out

“The train to Farisa departs in ten minutes. Any remaining passengers who haven’t boarded, please come for ticket inspection!”

An elderly man in a dark green uniform held a cup of hot tea, dragging out his voice as he called through the waiting hall. His loud, resonant shout echoed across the hall.

Not that he was really calling anyone — he was basically strolling around. Train tickets weren’t cheap. For most people, taking the train was a big deal, and anyone who bought a ticket would arrive at least an hour early. It was extremely rare for someone not to board.
And if someone did… well, that person was definitely rich.

“The train to Farisa leaves in seven minutes. Last call — if you haven’t scanned your ticket, hurry up and get over here. If you miss the train, you’re not getting a refund.”

Those final words dropped into the quiet hall like a stone thrown into a still lake — ripples immediately formed.

“Uh… uh—there, there’s mine.”

The old man shook his head. These young people, honestly — only mentioning money could get them moving. Sigh…

Helplessly, he accepted the ticket handed to him, looked it over carefully, and neatly clipped a corner.

“Here — keep this safe. They’ll check again on the train.”

He extended the ticket back — but the moment he saw the person’s face, he froze.

Pure white hair like the finest silk. Golden eyes that glowed like sunlight. A simple long dress. Pale calves faintly visible beneath the hem.

Beautiful — too beautiful. For a moment the old man nearly couldn’t restrain the blood surging in his chest.

“Grandpa, is there something wrong with my ticket?”

“Ahem—n-no, no problem. Uh… Miss Peleti, the train’s departing soon, so please mind the time.”

“Okay…”

Dispel — no.
Now she was Peleti.

The name “Dispel” had been mercilessly rejected by the ticket clerk the moment she tried to buy a ticket — she was even suspected of stealing someone else’s ID.

Whichever genius invented the idea of putting photos on identification documents… If she ever met that person, she would personally inquire about the quality of their life choices.

But the current problem was that she couldn’t use her original identification at all.

No choice.
She had to use the “dead-fish-face” ID — the one he gave her.

One train ticket to Farisa, plus a fresh morning city newspaper — all together just right at two silver coins.

And the clothes on her now — from the inner layer to the outer, absolutely perfectly fitted to her body. Not a hint of discomfort. It felt tailor-made.

But psychologically?
The discomfort was severe.

She was a boy in the prime of adolescence! Even if she had become a girl now, walking around in clothes like this was no different from a boy being forced into women’s clothing.

A normal man would NOT survive this!

Damn it — was this also part of the price?!

Peleti wanted to fight back, but the moment she remembered Josuna’s twisted smile, she felt it was best to leave as quickly as possible.

The absurd part was — when she arrived at the station planning to buy a ticket, a train to Farisa just so happened to be arriving within the hour. Not too long, not too short — the perfect amount of time for her to think.

But now?

Now Peleti only felt a chill crawl up her spine.

To be calculated like this — this dead-fish-face was the first. It wasn’t just that he understood her.
He knew her every move, as if everything she did was already in his grasp.

That feeling was deeply unsettling.

“Miss Peleti!”

Peleti, walking ahead, suddenly froze.

No way. They say “grandpas will always be grandpas,” but surely this old man didn’t see through her, right?

“Grandpa… Is there a problem?”

Peleti forced a stiff smile.

“No big problem, just wondering if you, uh… have a preferred type.”

Peleti: “?”

Was this old man asking what type of people she liked?

Impossible. She knew she looked better than before, but not to this extent…

A man?
Sorry — that was just too weird.

“Sorry, but I prefer girls.”

Peleti hit the old man with a critical blow — those nine simple words inflicted irreparable damage to his fragile heart.

What a joke. She was a steel-straight man. If she liked anyone, it would be gentle, beautiful girls — absolutely not yanderes who pretended to be one.

She was genuinely traumatized by Josuna now.
A childhood friend of ten years suddenly drugging her, locking her in a basement, torturing her day after day… just thinking of the basement made her nauseous.

But she still couldn’t understand.
Josuna had always been cheerful, bright, and full of smiles — a lovely girl. How could she suddenly become someone so warped?
A person’s psychological collapse required time, signs, something. Josuna had shown none of that.

Something was wrong.
Something must have happened during this period — something Peleti didn’t know about — that twisted Josuna into someone who believed “locking up the one you love means you can monopolize them.”

And the only possible source…
was the Church.

Only the Church had that kind of influence.

Peleti silently added the Holy Light Church to her mental blacklist.

But she had no idea — none of this had anything to do with the Church.

Leaving the old man whose brain had blue-screened, she boarded just before departure.

In the train car, heads turned. The rate of second glances hit an astonishing two hundred percent.
Men and women alike couldn’t resist turning back to look.

Peleti didn’t care. As long as no one started saying weird things, she could tolerate this much.

Normally, second-class seats were cramped. Every seat occupied, luggage stuffed into every corner.

Strangely, the seat next to hers had been given a wide empty space.

A young man sat beside it, hugging his backpack. He looked like a recent graduate, eyes tightly shut, his face bright red — as if he was desperately suppressing something.

Was he… feverish?

Forget it. If this polite fresh graduate was being considerate, Peleti wouldn’t cause trouble. She simply opened her newspaper and began reading.

—— Yesterday, a convenience store located one kilometer from the Black City villa district was attacked by an unknown force. The resulting explosion leveled the store and its surrounding buildings.

According to Church investigators, the explosion was a targeted assassination attempt. The perpetrators were extremists from the Church of Gluttony, aiming to assassinate the Holy Maiden’s First Candidate — Miss Josuna. Fortunately, the First Candidate was unharmed.

One civilian, however, died in the incident —
the sole heir of the Dronfos family,

Dispel Dronfos.

His father had once been a well-known figure in Black City…