MCFATTKM

73

"It's nothing."

Lelia answered calmly and looked out of the window.

[Now that I know they are still suspicious of me, I need to get the Holy Relic, heal Kalix, and get the Philosopher's Stone as quickly as possible.]

She felt like the path forward was pitch dark in front of her. Ever since she escaped the fate of the original story when she was young, she hasn't been so scared of death.

She feared that she would die at the hands of her friends, which was the scariest thing to her. Lelia thought that if she really did die at her friends' hands, she would not be able to reveal the truth to them. Even if she revealed the truth to them at the moment before her death, she would die because of the Golden Words spell.

[If they knew the truth, they would certainly feel guilty and sad...]

Like how in the original story, Emperor Perseus grieves when he learns that Lelia was his biological daughter.

So even if she were to die by the hands of her friends, she would rather die as 'Leo's enemy'

Her friends can take complete revenge for Leo's death, so that they can live the rest of their days in peace.

Of course, she will try to prevent that from happening, one way or another.

***

The ball was reserved only for the young nobles of the aristocracy. The organizer, Princess Julianna, said it was a place for all the ladies of the capital to attend. As if to prove it, there were a lot of beautifully dressed unmarried noblewomen. There were many noblemen as well, but looking at the numbers, it seemed that not many of them were required to participate.

Cedric and Damien seemed to have joined in to save their sister's honour. Lelia saw them having fun chatting with some young noble ladies.

"The atmosphere is a bit strange." Romeo remarked, as he held a glass of champagne and swirled it lightly.

Lelia was standing near the terrace with Romeo after making eye contact with Princess Julianna, her ladies-in-waiting, and Ruth, who she saw in the distance.

"What?"

When Lelia asked, Romeo pointed the tip of his chin to one place.

Looking there, a young woman glanced awkwardly around. Upon closer inspection, it was the red haired lady that she had seen at the first tea party.

[Did they say her name was Grace?]

That's what she remembered anyway, because she was one of Julianna's ladies-in-waiting. She was the young woman that Lelia inquired about at the private tea party.

"And look over there."

When she looked at another place Romeo had pointed to, young women and men had gathered.

When she paid close attention, they were pointing fingers at Grace from afar and laughing to each other.

"There again."

Romeo pointed to another place.

Princess Julianna, and her ladies-in-waiting, were seen.

They were talking while looking at the red haired Grace, and laughing at her in the distance.

" Oh..."

Lelia immediately understood what Romeo was saying.

In the aristocratic world, it was very common to openly bully someone.

She heard a lot of similar stories in the Superion Territory. The actions of many young nobles were similar.

But now, it was a little tricky.