The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 450: Real or fake?

"All right, let's not complicate this unnecessarily—no one move from where you are."

I spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear me.

The longer it took us to figure out which ones were fakes, the more complicated the situation would become, so I quickly thought of a solution—and it really isn't that complicated.

I looked at Silvia in front of me and then at the other one.

I called out to the latter, and she came closer.

I analyzed the way she walked and acted—and even her aura—and couldn't find any difference from the original Silvia. To me, they both seemed to be the real one.

"All right, let's make this quick and simple. Tell me what I'm thinking. The one who gets it wrong will end up just like that guy."

I said as I pointed to what was left of my double.

I also made sure to think of something out of the ordinary so the fake one wouldn't have an easy time guessing.

"You're thinking that… ugh! Whether or not I have inverted nipples." (Silvia x2)

"Damn it, even the hesitation was identical."

Yeah, this isn't making it easy for me—they repeated the exact same thing without a moment's delay and acted the same way.

It was like a mirror, and it was something that could only be done if you had that ability, but copying abilities and recreating them—at least temporarily—was within a god's capabilities.

This is going to be harder than I thought. I needed to find the real Silvia. She, with her eyes, would be able to see what—or who—is fake; she'd sort out all this mess.

I could do it too, but I'm just a doppelgänger and I can't use the Eyes of Lust.

'Alright, let's do it the old-fashioned way.'

I'm going to ask questions that only the real one would know the answer to, until one of them gets it wrong. I'll start by asking if she likes Willlian.

The one who says no… is the fake one.

"Hey, idiot, how's i—."Fragor!" "Fra—" (Silvia x2)

At that moment, to my surprise, I saw both Silvias speak to me at the same time again, but halfway through, they both pointed their hands at each other and cast the same spell—but one was faster and…

Bomm!

The spell struck the one who was slower.

"No! Silvia, don't die! Stay with me!"

I still didn't know which was which, so I approached the one who'd been hit, ready to cast healing spells or whatever, but when I got closer, I saw she wasn't dead.

In fact, she had a protective barrier around her and came out almost unscathed.

"Hey, Silvia, are you okay? Take down that barrier—let me check your wounds. Don't worry, I'll stop any other attacks."

Still, I wanted to make sure she was all right.

"Huh? Yeah, sure, I—"(Silvia)

Crack!

Or, at least, that's what I led her to believe. Because when she removed the barrier, I pounced on her, and without hesitation, snapped her neck with a single swift movement, killing her.

Yes, that was the imposter. I realized it because the real Silvia's previous attack hadn't killed her, but it had severed one of her arms, And what came out wasn't blood—it was sand.

It seems she didn't realize that gave her away and removed the barrier after I promised to help her. Either that, or these things are designed to truly believe they're the real ones—which makes them even more dangerous."

"눈_눈," (Silvia)

I felt a piercing gaze; out of habit, I thought it was Elena, but when I turned around, it turned out to be Silvia.

"Hmm, what's going on, Silvia?"

"You really aren't trustworthy at all. How could you just decide like that which one was the real one?" (Silvia)

"Ha, ha! Come on, Silvia. Knowing how tsundere you are, I knew you'd deny it. It was a trap for the fake. "

I said, placing my hand on her shoulder to calm her down a bit.

"You're lying. Remember, I can't read minds." (Silvia)

"Ha! But what are people's intentions, if not a reflection of their thoughts? Let me tell you, you shouldn't trust everything my intentions reveal."

Yes, after all, I learned from my mistakes and started practicing so that I wouldn't be so easily affected by skills like Silvia's.

For starters, I have excellent control over my thoughts. Thanks to my mental palace, I can store information and tuck it away in a corner so I can forget about it.

Also, using the "Parallel Thought" ability as a reference, I've learned to divide my thoughts into superficial and deep ones.

But, as Silvia says, she reads intentions, not thoughts. But that's even easier: I just have to make my external thoughts believe that's the reality, which will cause her intentions to say the same thing.

That, plus the fact that I know how to manage my memories—thanks to the mind palace—is what also allows me to deceive Aeloria.

At least while I'm in her presence, my external mind is truly a devoted believer who has forgotten all the crap she did and sees everything good that has happened to me as something caused by her.

But I need to be careful, since I might end up staying devoted. That's why it's always a parallel thought that does it, while the real one stays in the background, observing and shielded so Aeloria won't notice it.

It really is a disgusting feeling to be so devoted to Aeloria, but what can I do? I'm the only crazy person who, despite having one of the fourteen God-Hunting Legacies, still maintains a connection to a god.

"…So you really had it all planned out?" (Silvia)

Well, it seems she noticed I wasn't just acting on a whim, but…

"Nah! Damn it, why are you running around like a madwoman attacking without warning? You almost gave me a heart attack."

Yeah, my plan was to trick the imposter and test a few things—the fact that they suddenly started attacking each other caught me off guard. I'm going to add "self-destructive pyromaniac" to her file.

"Who are you to say that to me? You did the same thing." (Silvia)

"Oh, right—minor details. By the way, what made you so confident you'd be faster than your double?"

"Seriously? Sometimes your mind works, and other times you seem to forget important things. Have you forgotten what usually happens in places like this, that mimic people and their Skills?" (Silvia)

"Ah, right."

Yeah, sometimes things slip my mind. What Silvia says is true: places that replicate people like this aren't perfect.

It's impossible for the gods to replicate blessings, and replicating S-rank or higher abilities is difficult for them.

I get it now. She believed her (Ex) affinity would be much better than the clone's, and if they cast the same spell, she'd be much faster—and she was right.

"Now what? You know, besides the clones, this place is restricting our rank. I feel like I'm roughly at rank three."Skills

Yeah, that was something I noticed too—that's why at first I had trouble circulating the art and felt heavier.

At rank three, I don't meet the minimum requirement to circulate the fifth posture of the Art of Lust.

But that doesn't matter; limiting rank is also something the gods commonly do.

The important thing is to find the rest of the clones. Now that I have Silvia and her ability, it's time to sort this out.

I called out to Elena, Selene, Cordelia, and Aurora, who were on the other side of the room.

It was time to clear up my doubts.

"Well, let's put that aside for now. First, tell me if this Eira is real or just a pile of sand. I suspect she's fake because she's been so quiet. 눈_눈"

Obviously, I started with the suspicious Eira who was standing nearby without saying a word.

"Idiot! Do you think I'm not suspicious that you and everything else are just a bunch of sand crap? That show earlier might have just been a ploy to win my trust." (Eira)

"Damn it! You're way too paranoid. Hmm… You sound fake 눈_눈. So, Silvia, she really is made of sand, right? I'll give her a quick death."

"Go ahead, you son of a bitch! I'll rip off that sand head of yours first." (Eira)

She said as she created frosty ice claws.

Yeah, that Eira was way too bad at pretending to be the real one. My lovely girlfriend wouldn't be like that. This is just a pathetic copy that—

"(ㆆ_ㆆ), she's real."

"Oh, my sweetheart, I always knew it was you! I never doubted it for a moment!"

Yes, I knew it, and I didn't hesitate to go over and hug her to get the final confirmation. And yes, this is my beautiful, real Eira.

"Grrr, that shameless behavior is impossible to fake. It can only be you, you damn scum." (Eira)

"Hey, Silvia, are you sure?"

It doesn't hurt to double-check one more time. Who knows if she made a mistake.

"I'm going to kill you, you idiot!" (Eira)

"Wait, I already know you're the real one—let's not fight. Now we have to figure out which one is the fake. Okay, Silvia, out of these four, which one is—"

[Wait! Are you really going to rely on someone else's judgment to figure out who's the real one? It could be like the little cat said—even those with a double might be fakes, putting on a show.]

He had already confirmed that Eira was the real one. Now it was time to find out how many of the four were actually real.

But Quetesh stopped me.

'Huh? What the hell are you talking about? Didn't you see what I did?

I don't understand what Quetesh is talking about. She, who was inside me, should know better than anyone that I'm not actually relying solely on Silvia.

I looked at my hand to check, and sure enough, the two drops of blood hadn't turned to sand. Silvia and Eira were real.

After all, once I realized that even when they're alive, the doubles' wounds turn to sand, I thought of a way to check if they're fake.

When Silvia complained about my method and I put my hand on her shoulder, I numbed her pain receptors in that area, made a small cut, and drew a little blood. I did the same thing when I hugged Eira.

[Ah! dear, when did you do that? Ugh! You really are an anomaly! That double-thinking of yours even confused me. You really came up with a solution quickly!]

"Come on, is it such a big deal? It's easy to think that when you see her turning into Arena, isn't it?"

[I don't even know where to start. You even tricked me—and I'm the one reading your mind. It's like that busty girl says. You usually act like an idiot—and you really are one—but when the situation calls for it, you're actually a different person.]

'Hey!, who are you calling an idiot? I'm always a rational, deep-thinking person. Anyway, don't interrupt—I have to keep figuring out who's real and who isn't.'

[Huff, that takes the fun out of things. I thought you'd end up asking for my help. You know, since I was the one who decided the divisions and I know who the real ones are. It's a shame.]

'（⊙ｏ⊙）, I hadn't thought of that! That makes things easier. Tell me who they are!'

[Yeah, you really confuse me. And what's the point of telling you? Even if I do, you'll just confirm it with your own method anyway, won't you?]

'Well, that's true.'

I trusted Silvia a hundred times more than I trusted Qetesh. So what she says is true, and I'd better not keep wasting my time. Now, with all four of them in front of me, I started with Elena.

"So, Silvia, is this Elena a fake?"

"Do I look like a fake to you, Sir Christian? 눈_눈" (Elena)

"You know, Silvia, forget it. That look is unmistakable. She's the real—"

"(ㆆ_ㆆ) She's the fake one." (Silvia)

"NOOO! Elena, tell me she's lying. Tell me something only you and I know. Tell me something that'll make me believe Silvia is the fake one. It doesn't have to be anything too private—anything will do! Let's put an end to that imposter who's trying to frame you!"

"💢 Idiot! I swear, one of these days I'll—!" (Silvia)

At that moment, with doubts and regret in my heart, I walked over to Elena and took her hands.

I couldn't believe she was the fake one, because that meant I'd have to get rid of her.

"I don't understand why you're reacting this way, or what you want me to say to Sir Christian. You and I don't have any deep connection, like the one I have with Will-."

[Hahah! True, it's obvious, but these clones are based on memories. Obviously, the gods only saw what I wanted them to.Haha, this clone must have a ton of memories, NTRing you with—]"

"Don't say another word! Damn it!"

There was nothing I could do anymore, and even my test came back positive.

The evidence was everywhere, and before this fake Elena could try anything, I—

Slash!

I quickly slit her throat…

This place and the god behind it… Now they're really starting to get on my nerves.