I will not die a Villainess's death

Elysia tried to keep her mouth shut in this situation but the silence was too much for her. Eve hardly ever ignored her and she never ignored Elysia in the company of other sisters and temple members.

But the current situation was different from their usual norm. Elysia was not a member of the temple but a noble of the Duke's family.

"Eve, are you not going to ask me anything? I can see that you have questions for me."

Elysia decided to be the first one to break the ice. She felt like it was her responsibility to take the first step toward establishing communication.

After all, it was her fault this awkward situation occurred in the first place. Had she not gotten involved, this conflict would not have occurred between the Dirac house and the temple.

"I'm sorry Lady Dirac, but I am just trying to establish boundaries between us. It will not be proper for someone of my status to talk with you directly."

Elysia tried not to flinch at the formal address. She had never been treated like this by Eve before.

"Eve, there is no need to be this cold to me. We grew up together so there is no need for such formalities between us."

Elysia could feel Lord Sorias's disapproving glare being aimed at her. She just needed to turn her head to read his message - 'Don't lower your head against anyone else.'

But Elysia could not change her instincts when it came to Eve. She did not like to fight with Eve and she also knew she needed to make up with her as soon as possible.

'I need to smooth things over before the mission starts tomorrow. Otherwise, Eve will not accept my help.'

Elysia knew Eve quite well and Eve had a massive ego when it came to her work and missions.

If she had accepted this mission then Elysia was sure Eve would do anything to see it get fulfilled because of her. Outside help was not appreciated by her or the temple.

'But the Head Preist asked me to do this so I must help Eve out.'

"Oh, so now we are close friends. I was not aware Lady Dirac considered me such a close friend and still keep such massive secrets from me."

As soon as Elysia heard those words she knew that Eve was not mad at her about the earlier situation. She was likely mad at Elysia's untimely departure from the temple.

Elysia had left the temple all of a sudden without any explanation. And from Eve's perspective, it did sound like a betrayal of her feelings.

"I'm sorry Eve, I did not have much time or choice before I was asked to return to the Dirac estate. But it should only be for a year or two. I will be back once my coming-of-age ceremony is over." Elysia assured her friend.

This was something Elysia was certain about but she could read doubt and suspicion on the other sister's faces.

They were not saying anything in front of Eve but Elysia could read their eyes. These sisters did not believe that Elysia would leave the luxury of the Dirac house if she had a choice.

"I see. So you were called back because of your coming-of-age. Sometimes I forget that you are a member of the Duke's family. You always seemed like a normal person to me but it is times like these that remind me how big of a social difference is between you and me."

Elysia knew that Eve did not mean her words maliciously, but she also knew these words meant something else for everyone else.

As expected, the sisters surrounding Eve jumped on the opportunity to make Eve's words become something they were not. f𝔯𝒆𝚎𝚠𝑒𝚋𝓃૦νℯƖ.co𝘮

"Don't worry, sister Eve. Social status doesn't mean anything in the eyes of god. No one would be able to question you once you take the saintess title. Not even the noble will be able to bully you."

"So true. Once you become the saintess, the world will finally know who the real 'noble' lady is."

Elysia ignored the provocation in the sister's words. It did not matter to her what they said. Nothing was going to make them like Elysia anyway.

"Huh? When did I say that? I never…"

"You don't need to defend yourself, Sister Eve. God is always watching us all and he will be our final judge."

"But there are things even God cannot interfere in. Personally, I would be more careful to poke the danger if I can help it. You never know who you might offend with your words."

The sisters jumped as soon as Lord Sorias spoke. Since he was in the form of a child, everyone ignored his existence.

Even if they had seen his powers in action, no one paid much attention to a familiar like him. No one knew his real form or his power level so he was no threat in the people's eyes.

Only Eve looked a little skeptical of the child, her eyes hard and focused on Lord Sorias's words.

Whether Eve could tell if there was something special about Lord Sorias or if she was acting on her instincts to vary of him, Elysia could not figure it out.

Finally, the silence was broken by Elysia. She had just managed to clarify the situation. She did not want another misunderstanding to form.

"Sora, I think we should retire for the night. I am quite tired and I also want to go over the case before we start the investigation tomorrow. Eve, you can find me in my room tomorrow if you want to talk. I will send the case data over to your room so that you can look over it tonight."

Elysia decided the best thing to do for now would be to leave the room and gather her thoughts.

"Elysia, wait. I still want to talk with you…." guilt was visible in Eve's eyes. Elysia could tell she felt bad for how the situation had turned out.

"Eve, let's do this tomorrow. Everyone is too on edge today and I also need to report back to Lord Dirac about my arrival. I am sure you have work you need to finish as well tonight." pan(da-n0vel.c)om

Elysia knew she was running away by pretending like she had work. But her excuses were genuine and she also needed to give Lord Sorias time to calm down.

Her familiar was in a bad mood and Elysia did not want him to snap at Eve. She wanted the pair to make a better first impression of each other. f𝐫ee𝘄ℯ𝚋no𝐯𝐞l.c𝘰m

"Alright, I will let you go tonight. But I want you to myself tomorrow afternoon. Keep your schedule clear."

Eve finally agreed with Elysia over his topic. Not that Elysia had thought Eve would force her right now.

"Afternoon? If you buy me to lunch then I will think about it."

"Alright. Then, it will be a date."

Elysia shook her head at Eve's familiar actions. She had gotten used to it a long time ago so she did not even consider those words to be serious.

But when she turned back to Lord Sorias who had an amused expression on his face.

"What's wrong? Your grin looks creepy." Elysia was not to let Lord Sorias's grin get to her but it was difficult to not pay attention to him.

"Ohhhh nothing. I just think I discovered something super fun right now. Don't mind me and my creepy grins since you will be seeing a lot of them in the future."

Elysia had a lot to say about this topic but she decided to keep her words to herself. In the end, she did not want to draw Lord Sorias's attention to meaningless details.

Not when she was planning to sneak out tonight and go on an adventure on her own.

Time passed and night came far early than anyone anticipated.

Elysia quietly jumped out of her window. The dead of the night made it easy for her silhouette to be hidden from the public eye.

She had made sure to give Lord Sorias strong sleeping medicine before sleeping out of the room. She did not want to be discovered by anyone tonight.

Elysia had not wanted to come out initially but she also knew that this was her best opportunity to gather information.

Besides, Elysia had tried falling asleep but sleep won't come for her tonight. There was a restless air tonight and Elysia had to go out to know more about it.

She quickly made use of her magic to lighten her steps and jumped out. A pair of beautiful black wings sprouted out of Elysia's back and helped her gain flight.

This magic was a complicated spell that had taken Elysia a long time to perfect. But she had ended up succeeding in the end.

'If anyone saw me now they would think I am a demon out to take their soul.'

Black wings were often associated with the devil but Elysia was not able to change her wing's colors no matter how much she tried.

In her vision, she knew that Eve will end up sprouting white wings while Adam would have the traditional dragon wings one day. Those shining wings will make Elysia's inferior copy pale in comparison.

But it was a topic for another day. For now, Elysia had to make do with what she had and quickie makes her round around the town.

_________________________________

"She is a fool to think human medicine will work on me. I let her get away with this because I thought Elysia might try to escape tonight. I guess I will be following after her now."

Lord Sorias had woken up as soon Elysia had left the room but he had waited to not be discovered.

His mouth still had the residual flavor of the sleeping medicine. It was a futile attempt but one that was well executed.

Lord Sorias went to follow Elysia before his sharp eyes caught another set of moments in the corner of his eyes. A shadowy figure was running through the town and they seemed to be in quite a panic.

That was what would appear to a normal person. But Lord Sorias could see past the fog of illusion surrounding the street and saw what was following the running figure in the street.

"Oh, a mutt? I guess I will not be following Elysia tonight after all. This incident looks far more promising to me."

Lord Sorias jumped down from the window and into the mist. He made sure to land near the place he had seen the figure run, and then he trusted his nose to lead him ahead.

But he soon discovered that he was not the only one with this idea in mind.

"You? I thought it was time for humans to sleep."

It was the chosen one who had stepped in Lord Sorias's path. She did not look happy and she had a weapon pointed at Lord Sorias's throat.

"What are you planning? You should be guarding Elysia, not running through the streets. What are you playing at?"

It seemed like Lord Sorias was not the only one who varied from this world's chosen one. The chosen one was equally suspicious of him.

And it was all connected to the person this world was trying to fuck over. How ironic was that?