"Phantom Thief-san, do you know Mama Cocolia? Could it be... Phantom Thief-san was sent by Mama Cocolia to save Seele?!"
Hearing the familiar name from Ren Amamiya's lips, Seele's eyes instantly lit up with brilliant radiance. She looked up expectantly at Ren, her small, fair hands clasped tightly over her chest, a beautiful smile blooming on her lips from joy and excitement.
Things proceeded just as Ren had anticipated.
As he deduced, Seele Vollerei was indeed connected to the mastermind, Cocolia.
And Cocolia's actions perfectly matched Ren's stereotype of her—she truly used the orphanage she ostensibly founded as her personal supply depot for experimental subjects, subjecting those poor, unnoticed orphans to cruel and dangerous human experiments.
Cocolia even brainwashed and manipulated those orphans, who lacked worldly experience, whose minds were immature, pure as blank slates. Despite subjecting them to extremely dangerous human experiments, she still cloaked herself in the guise of love, making the orphans who survived the experiments feel indebted and grateful to her.
Poor Seele, played like a fiddle by Cocolia.
Even after ending up in such a desolate situation due to Cocolia's cruel experiments, she still believed Cocolia would find someone to save her. She was truly naive; no wonder Cocolia selected her as a test subject.
Conducting human experiments on trusting orphans in the name of love... if the experiment failed, there was no loss.
But if it succeeded, Cocolia gained a powerful pawn completely obedient to her command. Truly a calculated move.
"Unfortunately, I merely know of Cocolia. I haven't even truly met her in the real world... We are merely passing through this place, not emissaries sent by Cocolia to rescue you."
Ren crossed his arms, rubbing his chin lightly, delivering his reply to Seele like a splash of cold water.
Seele clearly still harbored unnecessary, superfluous expectations of Cocolia.
If these self-generated expectations weren't extinguished, Seele obviously wouldn't recognize her true situation, let alone divulge any real information related to Cocolia.
Kaslana recommended this special Palace of "Seele Vollerei," clearly intending for Ren to gather intelligence from Seele, this exploited test subject of Cocolia's.
Of course, since they were already here, Ren wouldn't mind stealing the Will Seeds and Treasure from this Palace as well.
After all, the mere existence of a Palace caused distortion in the Palace Ruler's heart in the real world. It was better to share the Will Seeds and Treasure for Ren to steal.
This way, Ren gained new equipment and increased his strength, while the obsession and distortion in Seele's heart would disappear. A classic win-win situation!
"Is... that so... Phantom Thief-san wasn't sent by Mama Cocolia and Bronya-oneechan to save Seele..."
After hearing Ren's cold response, the hopeful light in Seele's bright blue eyes instantly dimmed. She bit her lip gently, lowering her delicate face, exuding the pitiful aura of a bullied white rabbit.
Seeing Seele's crestfallen look, even Ren, who had intentionally given her a cold answer, felt a sharp pang in his heart, a strong sense of guilt washing over him.
"You know Bronya? I have some dealings with her too. If you're willing to cooperate obediently, letting me take you out of here and back to the real world to meet Bronya isn't out of the question."
Hearing Seele mention Bronya's name, both Ren and Hare raised their eyebrows almost simultaneously.
Come to think of it, Ren mused, as members of Cocolia's faction, it's not surprising that Seele and Bronya know each other.
After all, based on appearance, they seemed like girls of the same age who could get along well.
Bronya had already been injured by Ren using Jizo Mitama.
Due to Jizo Mitama's cognition-altering power, Bronya had even anonymously tipped Ren off about Cocolia's movements. It was only a matter of time before she completely defected to Ren's side.
If Ren could use the connection with Bronya to pull Seele into his camp, he wouldn't mind promising Seele a meeting with Bronya at all.
"—Bronya-oneechan?! Phantom Thief-san knows Bronya-oneechan?! Is Bronya-oneechan okay right now?!"
Hearing Bronya's name from Ren, Seele, who had been lowering her head in dejection, suddenly looked up.
An excited and thrilled expression lit up her flawless, delicate face. Her beautiful sapphire-blue eyes practically glowed with anticipation as she looked at Ren, eagerly awaiting news about Bronya's current condition.
"...The last time I saw her was just two days ago. She seemed quite well at the time."
Ren's gaze flickered slightly as he truthfully replied to the excitedly expectant Seele before him.
Ren wasn't lying. When Bronya tried to assassinate him, her condition was undoubtedly excellent.
However, after failing the assassination attempt and being wounded by Jizo Mitama instead, Bronya's current condition was uncertain.
"As long as Bronya-oneechan is okay, then Seele can rest assured..."
After getting news of Bronya's condition from Ren, Seele instantly clutched her chest, a look of relieved reassurance washing over her face.
Just knowing Bronya's current status seemed to make Seele quite happy.
"...What's wrong, Hare? Do you have a question?"
While Seele closed her eyes with a relieved expression, Ren still felt an unusual gaze lingering on him.
Ren followed the source of the strange gaze and turned his head, only to find it belonged to Hare, standing beside him.
"Joker... When did you encounter Bronya?"
A hesitant expression appeared on Hare's gentle face. She had originally planned to ask Ren in detail privately after everything was over.
However, under Ren's encouraging and permissive gaze, Hare hesitated briefly before finally asking Ren the question that troubled her heart.
...Huh?
Why does everyone know Bronya?
Should I get to know this girl named Bronya too...
Hearing Hare's soft question to Ren, a bead of sweat appeared on Mei's forehead. She felt a sense of disconnect from her teammates present.
Who exactly is this Bronya?!
"Hare, you know Bronya too?!"
Not just Mei, even Ren widened his eyes in astonishment at Hare's softly posed question.
Seele looked at Hare curiously, carefully observing Hare's figure and appearance under the firelight cast by Persona Huodou.
Seele and Bronya grew up together in the orphanage; she knew something about Bronya's past.
Simply put, Bronya was already a complete orphan. Her biological parents and the uncle who adopted her had all passed away. She shouldn't have any other living relatives.
This lady the phantom thief called Hare... her words were filled with concern for Bronya-oneechan. Seele couldn't mistake that.
Meaning... this Miss Hare had some close relationship with Bronya-oneechan? Could she possibly be Bronya-oneechan's long-lost relative?!
Realizing this possibility, Seele's breath caught in her throat.
She quietly and obediently listened to the conversation between Hare and Ren.