Lyudmila's little face red, her fingertips touching, then she covered her cheeks and said:
["Is that so? Hehe, lately a lot of people have been complimenting me like that. It makes me feel so happy."]
She was very cute and clearly enjoyed this job a lot; if not for discovering the real Momo, no one would suspect she was an undercover agent.
Lyudmila was even very dedicated, asking what the Traveler had come for.
[The Traveler casually found an excuse: "I just came to see you."]
[Lyudmila's face turned red with shame, her tone flustered: "I... Eh? Ah, eh?"]
[She covered her face with both hands, only peeking at the Traveler with her eyes, her tone soft and sticky: "S-Sorry, I don't quite understand what you, you mean..."]
She was really so cute—did all the children from the House of the Hearth turn out like this?
Of course, the focus of this story wasn't how cute Lyudmila was, but rather a tale of Momo and the Traveler rooting out Fatui spies.
Mm... That's the story, no mistake, but there's not much to tell; anyway, the Traveler successfully dealt with the spies.
Worth mentioning was that Momo's contact was Sayu; she had written a 'code sheet' for the Traveler, but some parts were blurry, seeming like water stains—Sayu's saliva.
This was also because Sayu didn't know the code sheet was for the Traveler; otherwise, she would have tried harder.
Mm, tried harder not to drool.
Cough, back to Lyudmila's side: Momo had prepared a special omikuji; the powder on it would stick to the other party, allowing Elemental Sight to see them.
Using this, the Traveler followed Lyudmila and met her 'superior,' also a child from the House of the Hearth.
Lyudmila had been dragging out the mission; he was already impatient, so he gave Lyudmila one last task—poison the people of Watatsumi Island.
He thought this might incite a second war between Watatsumi Island and Narukami Island, allowing the Fatui to profit from it.
Moreover, with "Signora" just dead, a war would produce more orphans, which could recruit new forces for "The Knave," and if this plan succeeded, it could even elevate "The Knave's" prestige among the Fatui.
Arlecchino felt a bit helpless: She didn't need that! This person named Yefim was a child trained by the previous Knave and was still perpetuating the previous Knave's brutality.
Inazuma's missions were already complete; doing this had no meaning at all, and Arlecchino herself didn't like deliberately 'creating orphans.'
The House of the Hearth's primary task remaining in Inazuma should be gathering intel; this was somewhat overestimating oneself and biting off more than one could chew.
Just as well—because of Lucian's orders, this 'teacher' had already been summoned back; Arlecchino planned to teach him a lesson, teach him the House of the Hearth's new rules!
In the story, Lyudmila was somewhat distraught, feeling her life was about to end.
If she didn't carry out this mission, the teacher wouldn't let her go; if she did, she would undoubtedly die.
But rather than incite war between both sides, she would rather just die like this.
Just then, the Traveler appeared, confronting her.
[Lyudmila laughed loudly: "Don't blame me—blame yourself for learning things you shouldn't have!"]
["Hehehe, hahahaha!"]
She wanted to die, so she put on a fierce act and charged at the Traveler.
However, the Traveler didn't kill her, because her act was too fake—one look and it was obvious.
In the drawing, Lyudmila lay on the ground, pouting.
["Eh! N-No... not really, is it that fake?!!"]
In reality, Lyudmila was terribly embarrassed; her current disguised identity was as an employee at Yae Publishing House, so she was naturally reading Lucian's book.
As an observer, seeing her own 'convincing' acting skills, she cringed hard.
But she really liked this story, because the Traveler and Paimon in the story truly wanted to help her.
Paimon said they wanted to help her; the Traveler naturally doted on Paimon and backed her up.
Then the two chose to seek Momo's help, because Miss Momo could make fake people, which could assist in performing the ninjutsu 'Feigned Death Escape Technique'!
Momo said with her mouth that she didn't want to help, but in action, she had the Traveler gather materials to make the fake person—clearly planning to help, the typical sharp-tongued soft-hearted type.
However, Momo's help had an accident: when 'killing' Lyudmila, she was discovered and captured by the Fatui. Fortunately, she had shattered the powder, allowing the Traveler to track via Elemental Sight.
In this secret prison cell, ronin who had defected to the Fatui were interrogating Momo, while the Fatui outside chatted.
They were worried how much of this plan had been exposed; this was 'teacher's' private plan to begin with, without reporting to 'The Knave.'
Never mind whether Arlecchino would be happy if it succeeded—now it had already failed!
In the story, 'teacher' had already been summoned back to Snezhnaya; these Fatui were worried he would shift the blame onto them.
In reality, he had also been summoned back to Snezhnaya this time—now he was in for it.
He was originally unwilling to listen to Arlecchino, a remnant from the previous generation; now it had given Arlecchino the opportunity.
The Traveler rescued Miss Momo, but during the escape, the shattered powder got into her eyes, and now one eye had been poisoned blind.
But she herself didn't mind; blinded in one eye, in exchange for the Fatui's annihilation and saving that Lyudmila—she felt it was worth it.
Though her mouth was always very 'sharp,' she was truly a gentle person; she hadn't escaped because she wanted the Fatui to believe it was she who had killed Lyudmila.
However, Lyudmila had already left; she left behind a letter and all her savings.
The content of the letter was roughly blaming herself: it was she who had caused Miss Momo to lose an eye; she used all her savings as compensation, feeling she had no face to face Momo.
[Momo: "Tch, really, what 'it's all my fault, causing Miss Momo to lose an eye.' Nonsense—my eye wasn't blinded by her."]
["If anything, this counts as a work injury? If compensation's to be given, it should be the Yashiro Commission giving it, right."]
Kamisato Ayato smiled helplessly: Yeah, how could it not count?
For Yashiro Commission members like Momo, he was very willing to spend money to support them.
Momo told the Traveler to chase Lyudmila; she planned to completely hand over the Hyakume identity to her. Hyakume was the High Priestess's shrine maiden—if she went missing, watch out for the High Priestess throwing a crying fit.
Moreover, Yae Miko liked the Hyakume that Lyudmila was impersonating.
Perhaps because of personality differences; teasing Momo wasn't fun, but Lyudmila was much more interesting—she would get shy and fidget.