Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 371 - 82 - Passionate Apology_1

Chapter 371: Chapter 82 - Passionate Apology_1

"And then?" Catherine pushed, "Who has the deepest involvement with the cult? And what exactly happened today? I still haven’t figured out your relationships and stances, who is on whose side?"

"Well... how do I explain this to you?" Indulgence struggled to find the words. "In general, everybody has their own plans."

"Judging by what just happened, Elegance is the most entangled with the cult. He may have even become fascinated with the concept of resurrection after death and has already become part of the cult. That’s why he was able to manipulate those people into cursing Joseph. But that guy’s too good at hiding his true intentions, always keeping a poker face. If he hadn’t decided to make the casino district his next target, we probably wouldn’t have discovered his true colors."

"Next would be Suspicion who backs Joseph. Brutality was completely outplayed by Suspicion; in fact, we were all fooled by him. Nobody expected that Joseph never betrayed him. That idiot Brutality thought he was the puppet master behind Joseph, thinking that he maintained contact with the cultists via Joseph. But in reality, it was Suspicion all along. It’s no wonder he rushed to assassinate those cult members to ensure that all of this would remain merely speculation, devoid of any tangible evidence."

"Brutality and Curiosity should rank third. They probably also have some connection with the cult, but they’re far less involved compared to Elegance and Suspicion. We and Madness are the least connected, especially after we accepted the assignment from the chairman. We dared not associate ourselves with the cultists."

"So as I said earlier, all of us are traitors, but if we’re looking for the most entrenched traitor, that would be Suspicion and Elegance. Ironically, the deceased - Brutality and Curiosity, they were innocent. Hence, they are the ones who died."

"As for the relationships and stances you asked about, you saw it firsthand. On the surface, everyone’s target was Passion and me. They’ve tried to break up our alliance for several years now, but they’ve never succeeded. This time was no different. Brutality targeted us primarily, but he was too greedy. He also wanted to take down Curiosity, so he instigated Curiosity to engage in battle with Passion, hoping both sides would obliterate each other. He staged an act with Madness, making her pretend to betray him while planning to assassinate me from afar. Little did he know that Madness has already sided with us, leading to his total defeat."

"Curiosity targeted only us. He dared to attack Passion as he erroneously believed that Suspicion would help him control Passion. But Suspicion not only failed to suppress Passion but instead disrupted his attack. Consequently, Curiosity was swiftly killed by Passion in the confusion."

"Suspicion’s targets - I initially thought it was just us and Passion, but I now realize that he had Curiosity in mind as well. He used Passion to kill Curiosity while also using Curiosity to severely injure Passion. This left me exposed to the others. Brutality wasn’t his real target. He painstakingly infiltrated Brutality’s system using Joseph as a mole, hoping to gain maximum profits by slowly siphoning the rewards, and we disrupted his plans. I assume that Suspicion planned to use Brutality to finish me off after having Curiosity severely wound Passion. Therefore, when Madness and I counterattacked and killed Brutality, he tried to make a move on me. Fortunately, Passion exerted all of her strength to hold him back, and Vivian kept him at bay from a distance. This saved me."

"I’m still uncertain about Elegance’s goals. It seems like anyone is a potential target. As long as others die which can expand his influence, he would be satisfied. So, initially, he targeted us, because Passion and I were relatively weaker. But when we killed Brutality, he pivoted and targeted Suspicion. Using a curse, he killed Joseph, which would lead to a fragmentation of the forces among us representatives within the card organization. Consequently, the casino district, which was Suspicion’s major source of funds, would revert to a free-for-all. Losing the casino district was a considerable blow to Suspicion."

"As for Madness... due to some unique circumstances, I guess, she’s like half an ally to us."

"Unique circumstances?" Catherine asked, puzzled. "And why is she only half an ally?"

"Well... it’s very special... circumstances." Indulgence sighed softly. "I can’t talk about the reason. Furthermore, it’s not just about that. Madness said that she’s had enough of not having anyone to trust. She wanted to find a truly trustworthy ally. Passion and I actually think that there’s a large amount of sincerity in her words, rather than just a ploy to mislead us. That’s why I decided on this somewhat risky counterattack plan."

"But why is she only half an ally?" Catherine asked.

"Because we haven’t fully trusted her," Indulgence replied. "Even now."

"But you didn’t trust her and still let her come at you from behind with a dagger?" Catherine asked in surprise. "From that stab of hers, it seemed so real. The angle was only off by a few millimeters, just missing your spine. Otherwise, you’d be dead, right? Since you don’t trust her, why did you allow that?"

"That’s why I used the cover of darkness to ask for your help. I asked Mr. Pannis to keep an eye on Madness. I believed that with his perceptive abilities, if she actually wanted to kill me, he would be able to tell and stop her," explained Indulgence. "To my surprise, even though I used you, you still responded to my plea without hesitation. What surprised me more is that Mr. Pannis not only kept an eye on Madness but also joined forces with the Elf to suppress Elegance. Otherwise, it would have been much harder for us to successfully kill Brutality."

"You’re the client." Catherine retorted agitatedly. "If I ignore your plea for help and you die, who’s going to pay me?"

Clearly, Catherine’s grumpy response had raised Indulgence’s hopes. He lightened up and chuckled, "Relax, my knight in shining armor. We won’t shortchange you. We’ll make sure you’re satisfied."

"We’ll sort the payments later." Catherine replied noncommittally and continued, "So, after this incident, will a half-ally become a full-fledged one?"

"Of course not." Indulgence shook his head. "Only now we’re half- allies. People like us don’t easily commit to alliances."

"But you and Passion..." Catherine instinctively turned to look at Passion. Her eyebrows shot up at once: "Excuse me, dear Mr. Pannis, what are you doing?"

"Uh, I’m just helping Lina out." Pannis looked innocent. "It’s purely assistance, ha ha ha ha."

Indeed, Pannis was being helpful. Passion had internal injuries; her organs had displaced, and some had even protruded out of the body. That kind of injury could not be cured with a mere divine spell or potion. The displaced organs needed to be pushed back into her body before a divine spell could be used to accelerate the healing process. This was what Lina was doing right now, and Pannis’ task was to help her keep the abdominal wound open so Lina could work.

"So, you’re helping, huh?" Catherine clenched her fists and said grimly, "If you could wipe off the drool from the corner of your mouth, change your gleaming gaze, and suppress your lustful expression, I might just believe you."

Because of the healing procedure, Passion’s upper body clothing was removed, revealing her muscular body typical of physical department professionals. Although her stomach wound somewhat marred her beauty, Pannis seemed to see beyond that. His eyes were nearly closed in delight; drool trickled down the corner of his mouth. Passion, who should have been unconscious due to blood loss, had somehow flushed and her body mightily trembled. It seemed she had awakened for some time now.

"Hey, hey, Catherine," Pannis said, startled, "I’m trying to save a life here. It’s important work, you can’t distract me."

"That’s fine, we only need to use divine spells for further treatment now." Lina patted her blood-soaked hand, speaking expressionlessly, "There is no need to keep her muscles tense or the wound open. In other words... You’re no longer needed. Go ahead."

Then, after a scream, silence returned to the world.

"I’m sorry for using you," Passion, who had dropped the pretence of unconsciousness, apologized to Catherine, looking directly into her eyes. "I hope you can forgive us."

Catherine blinked, as did everyone else, including Pannis, who was feigning death on the ground. They were all shocked. They didn’t expect an apology, especially from Passion who had always seemed indifferent. They definitely did not expect such a heartfelt apology from one of the leaders of the City of Innocence and the team captain. Even though Indulgence had technically apologized earlier, it sounded more like an official courteous apology, nowhere near as sincere as Passion’s.

"You’re the first ones to truly treat us as friends." Passion’s voice was weak, but she insisted, "We don’t want to lose you four as friends. So please, forgive our mistake."

"Um." Catherine was at a loss. Passion’s heartfelt apology made her swallow her retort. She wanted to tell Passion that she didn’t mind, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to show it. All she could do was to huff, "Let’s hear the entire story first."

As Catherine settled down to listen to the rest of Indulgence’s story, she didn’t see Lina warning Passion with her eyes behind her, nor did she see the smirk on Pannis’s face who was still pretending to be dead. The deception by Indulgence and Passion had hurt Catherine more than she liked to admit because she sincerely trusted her friends. So, when a semi-conscious Passion asked Lina for help to apologize, Lina, who didn’t want to see Catherine hurt, suggested a sincere apology would work better than any explanation or compensation. As it turned out, she was right. (To be continued. If you like this story, please visit (qidian.com) to vote. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)