Faced with that bewitching smile, Emma showed no visible reaction.
She simply stood there, her violet eyes fixed on Sayuri's face for four or five seconds—yet said nothing.
Noticing her stillness, Sayuri tilted her head curiously. "Emma? What's wrong? Why so quiet all of a sudden?"
In response, Emma smiled faintly before asking with feigned puzzlement: "When did you two realise?"
Sayuri blinked. "Realise what?"
Seeing Sayuri still playing dumb, Emma merely gave her a look before continuing: "You didn't actually think I couldn't distinguish between scents, did you?"
As she spoke, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Sayuri Sawamura's arm, slowly pulling up the black mourning sleeve.
Instantly, Sayuri's clenched fist was revealed.
Between the fingers of that fist, one could faintly glimpse crushed white petals.
Emma let out a soft "heh" as she pried open Sayuri's palm bit by bit, observing the crushed white erica flowers before remarking:
"Though these flowers smell quite similar to male bodily fluids, unfortunately, the scent you deliberately released by crushing them is far too fresh."
"So fresh it makes me suspect it happened mere seconds ago."
"Yet I know that while you might have the audacity to cheat, that doesn't mean you'd be willing to misbehave in front of Eriri."
"Women of the Sawamura family don't lose their heads to anger!"
"Sayuri, isn't that your own favourite saying?"
Hearing this, the wrist-grabbed Sayuri adopted a regretful expression:
"I see... So the mistake was in the freshness of the scent."
"These were just precautionary props I specially prepared to provoke you. I never expected to slip up here..."
"Sayuri."
Just as Sayuri was mid-sentence, Luo Shu's warning cut in:
"She's bluffing you with rhetoric!!"
Sayuri froze at these words, sharply turning to Emma.
At that moment, the corners of Emma's lips curled slightly as a playful smile appeared.
She released Sayuri's arm, took two steps back, and said with a smile:
"My apologies, Sayuri~"
"Fresh erica flowers might differ slightly from male fluids in scent, but unfortunately, having never smelled the latter, I actually can't tell them apart."
"You were too tense... so tense you overlooked the possibility I might be bluffing..."
As she spoke, Emma retreated several more steps. After glancing at Luo Shu, she turned back to Sayuri with a smile:
"Both your earlier suggestive rhetoric and specially prepared erica flowers revealed your nervousness."
"You seem to have made many preparations to provoke me? Pity you lack experience in such matters..."
"Of course, had I actually been male, your methods might well have succeeded in agitating me..."
"Unfortunately, you still haven't realised I'm actually female..."
As Emma said this, she made to flee, but Luo Shu's eyes momentarily darkened. In the next instant, an electric current-like paralysis surged through Emma's body.
—Luo Shu had bestowed the state of electrocution upon Emma in that instant.
The paralysis forced Emma to abandon her escape attempt.
This brief skirmish made clear the low odds of successful flight, so she stopped again, addressing Sayuri:
"You formulated this plan based on my personality when playing Robert, didn't you?"
"You failed to break free of that mindset, still seeing me as male?"
"It seems you truly do hate me, only..."
Emma shook her head slightly at this point, looking at Sayuri Sawamura with pity as she said:
"Unfortunately, the Leonard Spencer Robert you knew never existed from the very beginning."
Hearing this, Sayuri clicked her tongue and sneered coldly:
"You're trying to provoke me into killing this body of yours so you can escape, aren't you?"
"It seems this Emma avatar still holds some value for you..."
As she spoke, Sayuri glanced at Luo Shu. Seeing his indifferent expression, she immediately understood that the situation was still under his control.
Clearly, even with just an avatar captured, Luo Shu seemed to have cards left to catch Emma's true body.
This realisation eased Sayuri's mind somewhat, but she soon sighed regretfully:
"After all my preparations, to fail at the first plan..."
"I was originally planning to let you see Luo Shu putting his hands under my clothes during night watch..."
While Emma's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, Eriri's face turned beet red.
"Shameless..." Eriri muttered under her breath, only to meet Sayuri's glance.
Immediately, Eriri shrank her neck and fell silent.
Meanwhile, Luo Shu used Calamity Bestowal to transfer the vegetative state to Emma before addressing the immobilised woman:
"Still thinking of escaping?"
Though effectively subdued, Emma maintained her smile as she replied:
"It appears the facts prove I truly don't have complete confidence in escaping a Demigod's presence."
Tilting her head slightly to glance at the exit Luo Shu had blocked, she added:
"Though I imagine you're all aware this body is merely an avatar?"
Emma wore a frivolous smile as she spoke:
"You can keep this avatar of mine, but can you find my true body?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu remained silent, merely reaching his right hand into the void and summoning a book with a black cover bearing a cross design.
It was a replica formed from pages of Nia Honjo's Angel, Raziel.
During their previous transaction, Luo Shu and Nia Honjo had exchanged portions of their abilities.
This allowed Nia limited access to the Divine Pantheon's internal network to utilise some system functions, while Luo Shu obtained partial power of Raziel.
Holding Raziel, he gazed at Emma without speaking.
Yet that simple action alone made Emma's expression turn grave, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Staring at Raziel's black cross-emblazoned cover, Emma's face grew solemn:
"It seems you came prepared with an Abyss Artefact to counter me!"