But soon, Jeanne, Chiron, Astolfo, and Mordred closed in.
Jack the Ripper immediately retreated.
Fiore, shaken by the scare, harbored a deep grudge against the Assassin. "If Assassin launches another sneak attack when we start our general offensive against Shirou Kotomine, we'll be in serious trouble."
"Yeah, leaving her alone is too dangerous!" Haruka Kasugano said, feigning worry.
After extensive investigation by Jeanne, Astolfo, Chiron, and Caules, they determined that Jack's goal was to slaughter magi to obtain the magical energy needed to maintain her existence in this world. Although Haruka Kasugano had already secured Reika Rikudou and Jack, he had ordered them to continue the killings specifically to create this exact situation.
"I have an idea. Let me act as bait to lure Assassin out, and then you all can swarm her!" Haruka Kasugano proposed during the war council.
"No! I absolutely cannot let you take that risk!" Jeanne stood up abruptly, being the first to object. Though she didn't understand why her opposition was so intense, the reaction felt like pure instinct.
"Among everyone here, I'm afraid there is no better candidate than me. After all, the Assassin of Black knows the other Black Faction Masters! Only if I go can we guarantee she'll take the bait!" Haruka Kasugano countered.
"Then I'm going with you!" Jeanne blurted out almost subconsciously. Once the words left her mouth, she felt a bit embarrassed, but her gaze remained firm.
"Ruler, you are a Servant after all. She'll easily see through your identity," Haruka Kasugano said, deliberately looking skeptical.
"I... naturally I have a way to hide my presence! It's decided! You and I will be the bait!" Jeanne shouted stubbornly.
"Fine... Ruler really is headstrong~!" Haruka Kasugano sighed, pretending to be helpless.
"Not as headstrong as you..." Jeanne muttered under her breath as she sat back down.
Haruka Kasugano lowered his head, a predatory smile creeping across his face.
Here it comes. Jeanne would definitely let Leticia take control to hide her Ruler presence. Because of that, during the "date," Jeanne (through Leticia) would be exceptionally intimate!
Hehehe... Leticia is definitely worth conquering too!
------------
In the afternoon, the sun was bright. Haruka Kasugano waited at the castle gates. Fiore and Caules were there to see him off, but Jeanne was nowhere to be found. She had returned to her room under the guise of changing clothes—likely swapping consciousness with Leticia. Their memories and knowledge were shared now, so it was really just a change in who held the "steering wheel."
"Sorry~! I'm late~!"
Jeanne ran out, her hands swinging at her sides like a little duck. Her gait was incredibly cute. As she passed Fiore, she called out, "I'm heading out~!"
"Oh... good luck..." Fiore felt a sense of dissonance but couldn't quite place it.
Jeanne walked up to Haruka Kasugano and smiled. "Kept you waiting~!"
Haruka Kasugano nodded. "Alright, let's go—"
Boop! Jeanne tapped Haruka Kasugano's forehead with her pinky and giggled. "Okay, strike one! Relax a little! We're supposed to be bait, remember?" She even gave him a playful wink.
Oh! Could this be Leticia?
Haruka Kasugano began to stroll with her toward the nearby town.
"I'm a Possession-type Servant, so if I suppress my mana, Assassin will take me for an ordinary human," Jeanne chatted, her hands clasped behind her back. "But you're different. You're a homunculus—prime mana nourishment for an Assassin. When she appears, I'll hold her back, and then the Black Faction Servants will jump in to finish her. However... if anything unexpected happens, please run with all your might! I will protect you!"
Jeanne said this with a face of total sincerity, forcing Haruka Kasugano to reply: "I understand."
Recalling his lines, Haruka Kasugano asked: "Is it really okay for 'you guys'...?"
"Us?" Jeanne blinked, then suddenly beamed. "Oho~! Are you worried about Leticia?"
Wait, this tone...
Was he talking to Leticia or Jeanne right now? Haruka Kasugano was starting to lose track. Usually, such a bubbly personality meant Leticia, but that specific wording...
Seeing Haruka Kasugano's dazed expression, Jeanne looked down and whispered: "...I'm worried too." She was referring to the complex emotions in her heart for him. "But this is also what Leticia wants."
Jeanne had already convinced herself to blame all her feelings for Haruka Kasugano on Leticia. Her tone now sounded almost like a matchmaker's.
"Huh?" Haruka Kasugano was even more baffled.
"Mhm! Leticia and I have been watching over you together~! She definitely has her own thoughts~!" Jeanne laughed lightheartedly. It was as if finding an excuse for her feelings made her incredibly happy.
"I... see?" This only confused Haruka Kasugano further. Which one was it? If the goal was to hide her Ruler aura, it should be Leticia... but this tone... had the swap not happened yet? Or did she just switch back to Jeanne for this topic?
He gave up thinking. Same body, same person—close enough.
The two continued to walk side-by-side. Throughout the walk, Jeanne kept stealing glances at him, her mind clearly elsewhere.
------------
"Look, look~! It's a souvenir stand!" Jeanne wandered through the bustling market, as excited as a little girl. "Let's go check it out, come on!"
Haruka Kasugano was lost. Was this Leticia or Jeanne? Was Jeanne's personality really this lively and cute? Or did he just have a stereotype of her? She was just a teenage girl, after all... it was natural for her to be excited by a busy street. In her past life, she was a farm girl who spent her later days in war...
"What's wrong?" Jeanne asked with concern, seeing his wooden expression. "Are you worried our acting is bad and Assassin will find out?"
She squatted down at a souvenir stall, playing with some trinkets. "Actually, I thought about it a lot this morning... but I still couldn't think of anything that would make you happy..." She looked troubled for a moment but quickly realized the potential awkwardness and stood up to explain: "If we act carefree, Assassin will definitely take the bait!"
"Ah... right." Haruka Kasugano rubbed his head. The "stink of romance" in the air was getting a bit awkward.
"Besides, it's your first time in a bustling market, isn't it?" Jeanne smiled.
"Ah... yeah," Haruka Kasugano smiled wryly.
"It's a rare opportunity. Let's look around and talk to people," Jeanne said, taking his hand with a smile.
Just like that, Jeanne pulled Haruka Kasugano along as they ran through the streets. Along the way, she was incredibly happy, introducing modern society to him, talking about what humans are, and greeting all sorts of people. Truly, both she and Leticia were farm girls who knew nothing of love. This was their first time walking with someone they cared about, and their joy was boundless. Of course, Jeanne attributed all this happiness to Leticia, claiming she was just "helping her out."
Later, Jeanne talked about her childhood. "When I was little, I played in the mud every day. I was just a plain, ordinary girl~!"
By this point, Haruka Kasugano didn't care who was in control; they were effectively the same. "Wait, even the Holy Maiden was that ordinary as a child?" Haruka Kasugano remarked, feeling a bit bored.
Jeanne's face turned bright red instantly. She stepped in front of him and shouted: "I told you, stop calling me a Holy Maiden!"
"Uh..." Haruka Kasugano was stunned.
Realizing she was being awkward, Jeanne quickly changed the subject. "Haruka Kasugano, are you going after Assassin just because she killed people?"
"I think it's more because she betrayed her comrades," Haruka Kasugano explained after a moment's thought.
Jeanne sat down on a flower bed and took his hand. "It's very difficult to distinguish purely between good and evil... I didn't care about my life for the sake of my goals, though I was eventually burned at the stake. I don't regret it, but I still wonder: at the moment I was being burned, did I abandon my own 'good' to satisfy the 'evil' of others?"
"Huh? You consider that evil?" Haruka Kasugano blinked.
Jeanne smiled. "But I have always believed that the human heart is fundamentally kind."
Ah!
Haruka Kasugano remembered this conversation from the original story with Sieg. The "best response" was clear. Haruka Kasugano squatted down in front of her and smiled: "How should I put it... you've worked really hard, haven't you?"
Sizzle—
Jeanne's face turned a violent shade of red. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. From the time she started the uprising at 17 until her death at 19, no one had ever spoken to her like that.
It was an affirmation of her life's work!
A massive ripple surged through her heart. "Ah... that... thank you very much!!!" she said shyly.
"That's not really something you need to thank me for, is it?" Haruka Kasugano chuckled.
Jeanne immediately stood up and shouted: "To me, it is worth thanking!" She turned away quickly, looking up at the sky dyed red by the sunset.
...Me.