I will not die a Villainess's death

"Should we seek out a doctor for your injuries? You need to get your hand looked at. I am pretty sure it is bent at an unnatural angle."

Victor clicked his tongue as he watched Lady White fret over Elysia's hand. Their interruption has been too timed for him not to be annoyed.

And that kidnapper, he had been too close to letting out his secret to the party. Victor had not worked so hard to cultivate his relationship with Elysia to let it all go down in drains.

He did not mind letting Elysia know since he could always manipulate her into thinking that he was helping her out. Besides, she was too meek to say anything to her brother.

The mere fact that Victor had managed to remain unscathed so far was a testament to this fact. As long as she kept her mouth shut, no one would be able to make accusations against him.

'Still, I cannot depend on her staying quiet forever. I need to create a situation where she is indebted to me and remains quite under my control. She is my key to the Dirac fortune.'

Victor had a plan before where he could not see the end. But now he could see the beginning of the road he had to take.

The kidnapper had been right in saying that a ruined lady was of no use to anyone. So if Victor somehow managed to ruin Lady Dirac's reputation completely, then he could have her.

At that point, even Lord Dirac would have no other option but to give her to Victor.

"We cannot stay here any longer. Victor, you go to the administration office and tell them what happened. We will go home for now and report to Lucas about what happened. We need to gather all our thoughts and decide on our next course of action."

Victor snapped out of his thoughts as he felt those sharp eyes looking toward him. That bastard familiar had come running around soon enough and Victor knew he no longer had a chance.

So he needed to retreat and then think over his options again.

______________________________

"That man got off too easily. If only Victor did not kill him, I would have had that man captured and tortured to know who ordered him to kidnap you. Man, this sucks."

Elysia wanted to comfort Sora and say that it was alright but it was not alright to her as well.

She could guess who was behind this fiasco from Lady White's ashen face and Elysia felt bad for the other noble.

The lady and she had started on a bad foot but the current Lady White did not seem to hold the same feelings of hate for Elysia.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Let's go back and have my hand checked up. I am sure brother would be surprised to see us back so soon."

"Surprised? More like worried and ready to murder. Were you just as bad at taking care of yourself before coming to us or were you always this accident-prone?"

Sorias seemed to be babbling right now. It showed how scared he was and how much he cared about this situation.

But Elysia's eyes were fixed on Lady White's face. She looked in awe at seeing the worried expression on Sorias's face. There was a small blush on her face as well which betrayed her feelings.

'Ah, did the young lady have a crush? It's cute but futile I guess.'

Elysia knew that the right thing to do would be to discourage Lady White before she got hurt. Sorias was too old and too devoted to looking at her.

But Elysia could not find it in herself to stop Lady White's feelings. Just because she had needed to confide her feelings did not mean other people needed to as well.

'But isn't it good? Lady White died in my vision because she went after the Crown Prince. But if the object of her voice changed then won't she be saved?'

It was just a passing thought but that was all Elysia could focus on.

Suddenly, she had a way to help Lady White out and Elysia wanted to take that chance. It might end up in a disaster for Lady White but she would be alive.

"Sora, let's go home. Lady White, do you want to accompany us back to the Dirac Estate? I am sure brother won't mind if you stay a night. You might get targeted again so it is better to stay safe than sorry."

Lady White looked surprised at Elysia's sudden offer but she did not take long to agree with her.

The excitement in her voice sounded real enough to convince Elysia that she had not been wrong about the younger's crush on her familiar.

Familiars often ended up mating their contractors but it was not a hard and solid truth. If Sora managed to fall in love someday then Elysia would let him. He deserved that much at least.

______________________________

The Dirac mansion was as cold and dark as ever but it was becoming like home to Elysia. She entered the mansion with her hand clutched close to her body.

As expected, it had been broken but it was a clear break. She would recover soon enough with the hold of the potions and other things.

But as things seemed, Elysia was restricted in what she could do.

"Look at Lady Dirac! Do you think she accidentally ran into a wall and broke it since she cannot see?"

"Don't be a fool. She likely did it deliberately to gain the Crown Prince's attention. All she knows is how to cause trouble."

The maids were as rude as ever. No matter how many times they were changed, these topics did not stop.

Her brother had intended to fire them all but Elysia had stopped him from making that mistake.

No matter who came to serve them, these words and rumors would not change. Humans liked to gossip by nature and there was nothing that would stop them.

But the maids did shut up and go pale as twin glare headed their way. Elysia was surprised to see Lady White join her familiar in his pursuit to stop the maids from talking.

"How rude. Such servants would have been beaten until they bled back and blue at the White Estate. I don't know how you manage with such rude servants. Why don't you hand them over to me and let me deal with them, Lady Dirac? I am sure I can get them in shape."

The maids that had been gossiping suddenly seemed to have realized how loud they had been talking.

Their face lost all color as they watched Lady Emma white heading their way. The dark look on her face dragged out a yelp from the maid's lips.

Their helpless faces looked over to Sora before they landed on Elysia's face. There was a soundless plea for help.

"Hey, what are you looking at? I am the one talking to you and you dare look away? Do you not care for your lives?"

Elysia would have felt bad in any other given situation but her body was too tired to feel much of it right now.

Lady White was acting like a typical villain and the maids seemed to be scared of her.

"But since Lady Dirac is not well today I will let you two go. If you beg for your lives then I will spare you."

The maids looked sick at that order before they realized that no one was going to help them out. Elysia was just not conscious enough to pay attention to them.

"I-I'm sorry. It will not happen again."

The maids looked scared when they said that. Their eyes looked at Emma the whole while as they begged but it seemed to be enraging Lady White even more.

"Not to me, you idiots. You need to beg Lady Dirac for offending her."

The maids instantly changed their target to her but Elysia was not in much of a mood to entertain them.

"You are free to go. But there won't be the next time."

The maids seemed to be startled at her cold tone, their hearts freezing. They had likely never seen their meek noble lady say such strong words.

The words would be out about Elysia's current mood by tomorrow and her carefully cultivated reputation would take a hit. Head Priest would make Elysia hear an earful as well.

But despite all that, Elysia found herself not caring much about anything.

She would have gone directly to her room to sleep the day's tiredness away if not for the whistle that stopped her short.

Sora's annoyed groan was all Elysia needed to know that the one who had whistled was someone she knew well.

"That was hot Ely. I knew you had that cute and cruel side to you and I missed that so much. I won't mind if you show more of it to me and-"

"Calm down half-ling or I will be forced to throw you out. You are testing my patience with your excitement. I cannot handle this much and let her go before you make Elysia's injury worse."

It was a shock to feel someone hug her out of nowehere. Elysia almost lost her balance before the taller one stabilised her.

"Sara, what are you doing here? I did not see you after the Kelvin town incident so I thought you went away."

It was only after Elysia finished speaking did she realize how dumb she had been to say that. Of course, Sara would not go away when her future was connected to Eve.

It was more likely for her to have been near Eve than to visit Elysia.

"Hahaha, so funny story. I had nowhere to go after that incident so Eve offered to bond with me in a familiar's contract. Head Priest Yohan was annoyed to see me but he let it finally go yesterday and let me come out."

Sara made it sound like a small deal but Elysia knew that this was anything but small.

Head Priest Yohan was surprisingly possessive when it came to Eve and how he let her close to her. As such, his acceptance of Sara just solidified her position and importance in Eve and Adam's life.

And it also stung to realize that Sara had been accepted by him in a week while Elysia was still fighting hard to gain his recognition. The world was so unfair sometimes and Elysia was not even sure why she was getting hurt over this.

She should be all but numb from what she had experienced but it never stopped hurting.

"So, what are you here to do?"

Sorias asked, seeing as how Elysia had stopped talking.

"She is here to give us an invite. The temple is asking the Duke's house to pay a visit and to hold the next ceremonial feast. Elysia, he wants you to take…..would someone like to tell me what happened here?"

Lucas came out as well and froze as soon as he saw Elysia.

"Hahaha, so you see, it's a long story…."