Different treatment?
Kain fell silent at Lacus's question, which carried a faintly gloomy emotion.
She was not wrong. He had indeed treated Lacus differently.
To him, Lacus was simply his employer, and he was only a mercenary she had hired. Their relationship was that simple. There was no need for excessive closeness.
[Cagalli, Miss Murrue, even Stellar and the others. Your attitude toward all of them is clearly better than it is toward me. Are you wary of me?]
Her follow-up question came again, and he seemed to sense her emotions sinking even lower, carrying a trace of sadness.
After a long silence, he finally tapped on the tablet and sent his reply.
[Yes. I am wary of you, Lacus. To me, you are extremely dangerous.]
She truly was "dangerous."
Because when Lacus asked him questions, he found that he had almost no resistance to answering.
She appeared so harmless that people would completely lower their guard around her and feel no need to defend themselves. She seemed like someone safe to confide in, someone to whom a person might reveal even the secrets in their heart.
That was especially dangerous.
His answer left her truly silent.
Until half an hour later-
[Mr. Kain, sorry to trouble you again. I still can't move yet, so please come in and carry me out.]
Her tone no longer held sadness. She seemed to have returned to her usual self, but Kain felt that something was slightly off.
It was as though there was the faintest trace of "malice" in it.
When he walked in, he saw most of her snow-white limbs still submerged in the bathtub.
[Don't call Cagalli or Miss Murrue. Let them rest. I'll have to trouble you to dry me off and help me get dressed too.]
The "malice" in her tone grew stronger, yet at the same time, it gave the impression of a purely innocent request from a young woman, one without any private intentions at all.
[Mr. Kain, you wouldn't be embarrassed, would you? In that case, I'll add more money and hire you to do these things. You wouldn't refuse a request from your employer, would you?]
Before he could even answer, she continued speaking, as if determined to block off every route of escape and make him dry her body and dress her.
The gentle smile this girl usually wore was enough to make anyone who saw it feel happy. But in Kain's eyes at this moment, it was the dangerous smile of a little devil.
At this moment, the phrase "pink on the outside, black on the inside" fit her rather well.
Kain did not answer. Calmly, he fished her out of the water and carried out his employer's orders.
In the blink of an eye, dawn had begun to brighten.
Hurried footsteps approached. As the door opened, the blond girl who stepped into the room looked toward the balcony.
"Lacus, are you all right now?"
She looked fine and seemed energetic enough. Otherwise, she would not have been singing out on the balcony. Even so, Cagalli still could not help checking on her with concern.
"Yes. I'm fine now."
Even so, Cagalli stepped forward and checked her, confirming whether her temperature was normal.
When Lacus had been lying in bed, the most obvious abnormality had been her slightly elevated body temperature.
"Mm. Looks like you really are fine."
Her temperature was normal.
Speaking of which, where was that guy? He was not in the room.
As for the androids codenamed 2B and A2, one was with Cagalli to protect her, while the other was with Miss Murrue.
The one codenamed 60 was standing by in the fighter, ready to activate if anything happened.
When Cagalli thought of what had happened yesterday, how she had accidentally kissed him, her face turned red.
Then she became a little annoyed. Afterward, that guy had acted as if nothing had happened at all, as though he had no idea she had accidentally kissed him, or simply did not care.
"Cagalli, do you think Mr. Kain is afraid that I really can brainwash people? Or make people trust me unconsciously?"
"Huh?"
Cagalli was a little confused as to why Lacus would ask that.
"Probably not. That guy seems incredibly bold. If he was afraid you really could control people, why would he tell us you might be an Accord with psychic abilities? And why would he hope you become more familiar with that ability and grow even stronger?"
If he were afraid, he would not have said that. Saying it would be contradictory.
"Yes."
Lacus also felt that it was contradictory. In that case, when he said she was dangerous to him, it did not seem to refer to her ability.
Or perhaps there was some part of her ability that he had kept hidden, some undisclosed power that was dangerous to him?
Now Lacus felt a little regretful.
Because of her tiny bit of mischief, it seemed she had made Mr. Kain even more wary of her.
She raised her head and looked into the sky.
He was up there, teaching Stellar how to pilot the Ho 229.
By the afternoon, they were in a special holding room.
"How much do you still know about the biological CPU program?"
Lacus questioned the utterly wicked man before her, Lord Djibril, but all she received was silence.
However, as Lacus stared at him, several images faintly surfaced in her mind. This was her testing out the so-called mind-reading ability.
Those images were what Lord Djibril was thinking at that moment, but to Lacus, they were somewhat fragmented.
It was like a television being disrupted by strong electromagnetic waves. The picture flickered between clear and distorted, full of static.
This was also because it was her first time using the ability, and she was still unfamiliar with it.
Still, from what she had glimpsed so far, she had obtained at least some useful intelligence.
Among it was something unexpected: there were actually people inside PLANT who were colluding with LOGOS, and one of them was someone Lacus had met before.
This person was involved in resource allocation and had obtained rare materials from LOGOS that were difficult to acquire on space colonies. One of those materials was related to nuclear energy.
It was probably for the construction of GENESIS.
And this person was fairly close to Rau Le Creuset. In all likelihood, Rau had guided him into contact with LOGOS. The question was whether he knew that LOGOS was the true mastermind behind the Bloody Valentine tragedy.
Cooperating with the murderer?
Rau really was overflowing with malice.
Someone like that was far too dangerous.
"Lacus, let's stop the questioning here for now."
Murrue could tell that Lacus's mind was somewhat unfocused. Clearly, using that ability had worn her out.
"Let's leave it at that, Lacus. Don't you still need to speak with the other people?"
The afternoon's schedule also included conversations with the three ZAFT personnel who had been captured. All three of them had quite significant backgrounds, enough to make Cagalli click her tongue.
If those three also defected, the blow to PLANT would be no small matter.
Or perhaps they could become insiders, allowing them to learn about some of PLANT's secret operations.
"Yes."
Lacus nodded. She also still needed to speak with Athrun and the others.
In the blink of an eye, night fell again.
"Huh? That guy left?"
Cagalli had only been called away by her father for a while. When she came back, she learned from Lacus that he had "temporarily" left.
The news struck her completely off guard, leaving her thoughts in chaos.
"Will he come back?"
"He will. He'll be back in a few days."
"Really?"
The one who asked for confirmation again was not Cagalli, but Stellar.
"Really."
Hearing Lacus answer with such certainty, Murrue, who was also present, felt the restlessness in her heart ease slightly.
Inwardly, Murrue gave a wry smile. This feeling should have been suppressed, yet the moment she learned that he had suddenly disappeared, her chest had felt so tight.
Had she developed feelings for this man, who seemed a little younger than her?
"Stellar, while Mr. Kain is away, I'll have to trouble you to guard me."
Stellar was an Extended, and her physical abilities were not inferior to a Coordinator's. But Lacus did not actually intend to make this child protect her.
She simply wanted to keep Stellar by her side so she could watch over her. After all, the child had some mental issues, and Lacus also wanted to see if she could remove the forbidden-word suggestion that could cause Stellar's mind to collapse.
As for why Mr. Kain had left, it was because Miss Harutsuki had requested that he come over.
Lacus also had a plan.
She intended to leave her own world as well.
She wanted to go to Miss Black Cat's world.
And not only by herself. She also intended to invite Miss A2, Miss Tessa, and Miss Saeko Busujima to go with her.
Perhaps from them, she could learn why Mr. Kain was wary of her.
And then, perhaps, she would no longer be dangerous to him.
(End of Chapter)
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