When Talulah heard that Kashchey intended to hand those garments over to Jeanne, a sense of unease welled up in her heart. She knew she had to stop this before it went any further.
If Jeanne got her hands on those clothes, there was no way that person would burn them! Jeanne would never rest until she found the perfect opportunity to force those outfits onto Talulah!
Looking at Jeanne, whose interest was visibly growing beside her, Talulah realized that if she didn't get those items into her own hands, the rest of her life might become very difficult indeed.
"After you receive those things, you'll stay on my side and destroy everything Kashchey gave you... right?"
Talulah stared directly into Jeanne's eyes with a clear, piercing gaze, hoping desperately to hear words of support.
"Of... of course. Naturally, I'll help you destroy the clothes you don't like. You have to believe me—we're friends, after all!"
Jeanne returned the gaze with an expression of utter sincerity, trying to convince Talulah that her words came straight from the heart. She was, after all, the biggest supporter of all Talulah's actions...
At most, she'd just give those things to Alina for safekeeping... Alright, fine—she truly was captivated by the idea of seeing Talulah in different styles. Almighty God, please forgive your follower for this well-intentioned lie!
"You know, Jeanne. There's one thing you haven't noticed until now."
Suddenly, Talulah reached out and pinched Jeanne's cheeks with both hands, a "benevolent" expression appearing on her face.
"Wh... what haven't I noticed?"
Jeanne looked at the "Silly Dragon" before her, whose mood had clearly shifted. Talulah's aura in this state seemed to completely suppress her.
"You probably haven't noticed, but whenever you say something against your heart, that ahoge on top of your head starts swaying left and right. Right now, it's spinning fast enough to be a windmill—who do you think you're fooling?"
As Talulah spoke, she began pulling Jeanne's cheeks back and forth. Because they were in the mental world, Jeanne didn't feel any physical pain from the stretching.
However, Jeanne wasn't about to let her off easy. She grabbed those two dragon horns again and started shaking them side to side.
Kashchey watched the two of them bickering with a look of helplessness. He felt as though he had been treated like thin air—they were completely ignoring him! Was he, Kashchey, really that insignificant?
But looking at the situation, one was his current landlord whom he was still plotting to dispossess—best to keep a low profile so he wouldn't be "evicted."
As for the other one... she was practically an "Ancestral Goddess"! If she got upset, she might call down hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Soldiers overnight to surround him and kick him around like a ball.
Fine. Both were people he couldn't afford to provoke. He'd stay here and quietly watch their contest. It was for the best if they forgot about him entirely.
"Stop, stop! Weren't we here to get an explanation from Kashchey? Why are we fighting amongst ourselves?"
After a long struggle, Talulah had fallen into a disadvantage because her "head peripherals" had fallen into the hands of the witch. She hurriedly tried to break off the skirmish and pull the derailed discussion back on track.
At that moment, they both released their hold simultaneously. They stared at each other; if one ignored the gripped head-parts and the distorted cheeks, it was actually quite a romantic sight.
In the next moment, following a silent exchange of glances, both sides let go. The matter was put aside for now; once those things were in Jeanne's hands, they weren't going anywhere anyway.
"What exactly have you been doing lately? Something feels off whenever I see you here, and you're even making mistakes with simple things. You aren't brewing some other shady plot, are you?"
Talulah was quite curious about Kashchey's abnormal behavior lately. Even his presence in the mental world wasn't quite normal. Who knew if he was secretly stirring up trouble again?
"Naturally, I'm cooperating with the Emperor's investigation! Otherwise, why would they trust me? I have to provide the real deal! Lately, even my rest time is being squeezed dry by that No. 29 fellow..."
Hearing Talulah's suspicion, Kashchey immediately started complaining to his "daughter" about the hardships he had endured. However, his daughter felt no sympathy; in fact, she almost wanted to laugh.
Kashchey didn't know if that Emperor's Blade (No. 29) was simply dedicated to his job or if he was retaliating for Kashchey's past taunts. These days, the various tasks had forced Kashchey to give up even his hibernation time.
In just a few days, Kashchey felt as if his soul was fading. That bastard Emperor's Blade was like a ruthless taskmaster, finding ways to torment him without even paying a wage.
"That's wonderful news. You've been slacking off for so many years; it's about time you put in some overtime."
Talulah felt quite gratified by Kashchey's misfortune. If Kashchey weren't unwilling to appear before her in a physical form, she'd make sure he didn't even get to think about resting, let alone just working overtime!
While Kashchey continued to rant about the inhumane treatment he received from the Emperor's Blade, the two people before him had no energy left to listen to his tragic life story. They abruptly vanished from the space.
The moment she woke up, Talulah lunged forward to snatch the dress from Jeanne's hands, but she was a step too late. The quick-reacting Jeanne had already hidden it behind her back.
"Jeanne, let's talk. How about you give me back my dress? Such expensive clothes must be kept carefully. You don't understand these things; it's better to let your 'Big Sister' handle it."
Talulah felt she had the upper hand and began walking toward Jeanne step by step. She still wanted Jeanne to give up on "protecting" the clothes and allow her to carry out a humane destruction of the garment.
"This dress is very expensive. Do you really have the heart to just burn it? If we sold this, we could buy enough candy to last us a year! You're clearly wasting a good thing, Tal-rua."
Jeanne was not to be outdone, immediately striking back with clever rhetoric. Simultaneously, her hands weren't idle; she stuffed the garment into her luggage and quickly shuffled things around.
"Besides, what are you worried about by leaving it with me? Keeping it here prevents Kashchey from usurping your body just to play dress-up. It's not like I'm going to force you to wear it in a formal setting."
Jeanne tried to move the Dragon with sincere eyes and earnest words. Talulah felt there was some logic to what Jeanne said, and as a result, her "single-threaded" brain fell into a state of confusion.
"Alright, alright. Instead of obsessing over this, shouldn't you be thinking about what to say at the meeting the day after tomorrow? After all, you are the leader of Reunion!!"
Seeing Talulah's brain heading toward overload, Jeanne struck while the iron was hot and tossed the upcoming negotiation at her.
Just as Jeanne suspected, Talulah blankly agreed and went off to think about the problem alone. By the time Talulah snapped out of it, she could only manage a bitter smile.