A Villainess Should Be Strong

"Chase after him? As in, you are going to track him down? How would you do that? Not even I was able to tell where he was when you disappeared. He kept popping up and going away, what a confusing stealthy man," Yulia commented.

"I will find out somehow. Don't worry too much, just focus on your own things. Since you two are here in Alfheim, there must be something that you want to accomplish, right? Have fun,"

"Anyway, since you two have just been contracted, things should change within yourself. Be sure to document it, alright? I will meet back up with Shirley and prepare for my departure from Alfheim," Estelle said, bidding her goodbyes to the pair of siblings.

The two also did the same.

After she was gone from their sights, however, Minerva looked at Yulia with a piercing gaze. "Until when are you going to lie to her? Forever? Are you bringing all of the secrets to your grave?" she asked with a harsh tone.

In turn, Yulia also dropped her good expressions as she rolled her eyes, speaking as if Minerva was a bothersome existence who she wished to remove.

"Don't joke around with me. You also still have some lies you haven't cleared up with her yet. One day, she will learn all of it. It's just not time yet."

"Not time, not time. You keep saying that, but you know that the time isn't determined beforehand. It just takes any of us courage to say everything straight to Estelle, and all of it would crumble down," Minerva gritted her teeth as she restrained the vexed feelings she was collecting. "If she finds out on herself instead of us telling her straight away, she is going to kill us and hate us forever. I don't know how this makes sense to any of you. If you know that she is the _______, then why not just tell it? It would make everything easier, and the journey she has to go through will yield her the same result in the end. There's just no point of making up all these farces if our goals can be accomplished in a much shorter way,"

"And how does that affect us? Remember, Minerva. We can't afford to lose out as well. I am just doing what is best for all of us. For Heine, that shitty boss. As much as I hate him, we can't deny that he is strong and is able to provide us with resources that nobody else would be capable of getting. This is perfect work for me. If you think that you are not up to it, just tell it straight away and declare that you're quitting," Yulia blatantly said. "Unlike them, we aren't direct players to the story. We are supposed to just be bystanders, but Heine recruited us into the game, and that is why we are here now. We are not picky, are we? We can just follow his orders and receive the bountiful gifts,"

After saying that, Yulia left the place without saying anything else.

Minerva was left alone in the corridor, feeling a huge sense of loss overlapping inside her heart and mind. Her sister had been starting to change ever since Heine made her do stuff that wasn't even disclosed to her. Naturally, she also had her own missions and rewards as part of the plan. However, Yulia changed so much that Minerva feared for their bond.

Minerva was quite a scaredy cat despite the strong personality that she maintained on a usual basis. It was very easy to get her to fear someone. And to the people she trusted, she found out that things weren't all like how it seemed on the surface. The years she spent huddling with her comrades. The memories.

All of it turned out to be a joke.

Minerva took a sigh, remembering about Estelle's painful journey. It was very unlucky for the girl to have been burdened with the duty of shouldering all the responsibility that came with her identity and such. She felt bad, but Yulia's words had some truth.

From the beginning, when Heine recruited her, she accepted because she thought that things wouldn't get this bad. A dumb mistake on her part. It was no longer something that she could recover from once Estelle realizes the full puzzle she was captured in. By then, everything would already be unstable and chaotic.

_________

By Estelle's side, she headed towards where she knew Shirley was. Her study. The woman mentioned that she would be returning there before they parted ways completely.

Opening the door to the room, Estelle entered and saw Shirley diligently working on her documents. Her sharp eyes swept through the words that were printed on the papers, and her hands were moving about.

She noticed Estelle's arrival and looked upwards. Instantly, a happy expression bloomed on her face. "Good day, my- Estelle!" Shirley almost slipped and addressed her as a Goddess, but she quickly corrected herself.

Estelle sat down on a nearby chair and spoke.

"Shirley, I am about to leave Alfheim. I will trust you to cover for my matters once I have left. I don't mind using any method as long as the matter doesn't get perpetually bigger," Estelle said as she faced Shirley, whose face started to cramp up upon hearing her words.

"Ahh.. right. You have to leave. I will.. prepare a lot of things before you go," Shirley's happiness instantly warped into sadness as she sighed.

"Don't worry, I still have my space rifts, remember? I can visit you as long as I will it. I'll make sure to check up on your state from time to time. Don't make such a disappointed face, alright?" Estelle assured the older woman, chuckling as she spoke.

"Y-yes, that's right! Then, I shall call my attendants to prepare for your departure. Neil! Niki!" Shirley called.

The two attendants dropped down from who knows where and asked Shirley what her orders were, to which Shirley listed some things that Estelle was roughly able to understand.

Shirley wanted to grant Estelle some faux identity and valuable items so that she would be safe from now on. Estelle had been going around saying that her name was Estelle Clareste. If the girl truly wanted to stay safe from the ones who targeted her, then having a real false identity would be ideal.

Now, she was not Aleksei's disciple. She was Eirlys, a half elf, half human who was thrown out of her town for not meeting the living conditions there. The two attendants made up a plausible backstory, a heartwrenching one.

"I suppose that you will be okay with using your true identity in Vaitral, but the same can't be said in other countries. Vaitral's dwellers aren't much of a busybody. The others, however, have a chance of knowing a Duke of your father's caliber. Alynthi may not be known for the best reputation ever, but your father is quite peculiar. He is well known to be an upright man. I am sure that you already know about this. He stands out from the rest, and is really capable. Good enough to be called as my sister's son," Shirley told the child with a melancholic look to her face.

Silvanna Villarante was probably dead and already buried somewhere, same with Richter. However, it still couldn't help her shake off the hate and lvoe relationship Shirley had with her. So many years had passed, but she still couldn't forget that the sole reason why she was here sitting on the throne today was because her older sister chose to disappear and live a life of freedom.

Thanks to that, she was also able to meet Estelle and even become her apostle. Shirley thought that she ought to voice out some compliments because she was finally able to get rid of some of her troubles in one go just due to Estelle's arrival.

"The documents I will forge for you will help in many cases. Use them as you like. These have been approved directly by the royal Alfheim seal, so they would have a hard time trying to disprove this fake identity's integrity," Shirley said, stamping on a piece of paper before handing it to Neil, who stored it for himself for future uses. "You will have to wait one more day, I suppose. But it will definitely aid you a ton,

Estelle nodded, agreeing with Shirley's suggestions.

"Ah right, do you know a knight named Olsen? He was stationed by the Sanctuary's door yesterday," Estelle remembered about the man she thought was promising that day. He was quite memorable.

"Olsen...? There shouldn't be someone named Olsen.. What are you talking about?" Shirley was confused.

"Hm? He told me that he was from the First Order. Isn't he a reputable knight if that was the case?"

"No, that's exactly the strange part of it. I should know everybody who is on rotation guarding the Sanctuary. Who on Earth is Olsen? I know no such name," Shirley tilted her head as she felt extremely confused. "Also, I made sure to clear the people in front of the Sanctuary before you even entered. There shouldn't be guards at that specific time. I already entered through a specific pathway and realized that since you were going to come anyway, it would be more efficient to clear them up. I told them to disperse. How did you meet any guards?" Shirley asked, starting to become suspicious of the looming matter.

Estelle, too, thought that something was wrong.