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The greens waved in the gentle breeze. The trance lasted only for a moment, and the crowd snapped back to their senses.

Everything in front of them was back to normal. It was almost as if the dazzling green field they saw just now was just an illusion they saw under an unspeakable power.

“Y-You… What did you do to me?”

Lord Gregory sat paralyzed on the ground. His trembling hands fumbled about his body. The more he could not identify what was wrong with him, the more panic he became.

No, no, no… This must be a bluff! I’ve never even heard of this law of Cause and Effect! How can something as absurd as this even exist in this world!

“Life is ever-changing. Just bear with it, it will pass.”

The man patted Lord Gregory’s shoulder. He had a world-weary look on his face that seemed to tell everyone most people would not be able to bear the things he had experienced in life.

“There is no wound that time cannot erase.”
“N-No… That’s impossible.”

Lord Gregory’s face went pale. He did not seem to hear the man’s heartfelt words. His lips trembled as he shakily took out a spectrum stone from his chest pocket.

The man shook his head helplessly and looked at the sky. “Why would you want to do that?” He sighed.

Beep…

The call went through.

“M-My… My love, what are you doing now?” Lord Gregory tried his best to speak calmly, despite his inner turmoil.

“Hnn… Hnnn… Ahh… It’s you, my dear. I… I’m… e-exercising… right now…”

Crack.

Lord Gregory immediately crushed the spectrum stone in his hand without saying a word.

“ARGH! B̲A̲S̲T̲A̲R̲D̲!”

His eyes turned red as his entire body trembled with anger.

His wife was so frail and thin that moving a vase would be a difficult feat for her. She was also weak from being plagued by sickness all year long. Even jogging a short distance would leave her panting like she was dying. Why would someone like that suddenly exercise?

Who was she trying to trick?!

“Y-You… Just you wait!”

All his apprehension and uncertainty turned into a full-blown rage.

At this point in time, Lord Gregory knew there was nothing else he could do. He could only imprint the face of the culprit into his mind so that he could deliver a good revenge in the future!

Not only this middle-aged man, but also this blonde girl with an unknown background. Both of them better watch out.

Those b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲e̲s̲ back home and those b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲ who had the blood of some common folks running through their veins as well. He swore upon his name that he would make them all pay with their blood!

“Pfft.”

The sudden laughter stabbed Lord Gregory right in his heart like a sharp knife.

It was only at that moment, the duke realized in his panic that this was merely the beginning of hell.

As the saying goes, don’t air your dirty laundry. What just happened was no different than doing that while broadcasting the news to everyone in the city. Those who found out were the people whom Lord Gregory would never want them to know.

The Maids of the White Stockings was made up of women of all ages. They were known to regard gossip as the joy of life. Now that this information had fallen into their hands, it was going to be spread out at the speed of sound.

Even at this moment, the duke could feel their burning gazes and passion to share things selflessly. If nothing unexpected happened, that adulterous pair would probably be the last to find out that their secret had been exposed.

Damn it… These people are going to pay for this some day!

Lord Gregory clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms and drew blood. Only by doing this, he could use the last of his rational thoughts to calm his emotions.

The princess tried very hard to keep the corners of her mouth from lifting up, then ordered, “Enough with these theatrics. Show our guest the way out.”

“Right away, Your Royal Highness.”

With this turn of events, Lord Gregory calmed down instead. He suppressed the resentment in his eyes, and pretended like nothing happened. He even hid the blood on his hands under his sleeves. With another bow, he retreated from the garden.

Watching Lord Gregory retreating with the maids, Lesiah waved to dismiss more unneeded servants. She turned to look at Lilith, then sighed in exasperation. “You’re still as viscous as always, Lilith.”

“Hehe. How can you call me vicious? I’m just giving him a punishment that he deserved. Am I right, Little Green?”

“Of course, Your Highness,” the man responded obediently. It was almost as if his overbearing presence just now was merely an illusion.

“But…”

Lesiah raised her eyebrow, then covered her lovely smile with her hand. “I must say, that was really satisfying. That Lord Gregory is a lecherous man. God knows how many good women he and his b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ son have destroyed. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to take matters into my hands due to his position and the lack of evidence. You have indeed given them a small punishment this time. I bet everyone in town would find out that he has been cuckolded before long. That will be enough to shame him for a long time.”

Lilith placed her hands on waist, then smirked. “Of course. You should know that everything I do is for a reason!”

“Don’t get too cocky now.”

Lesiah flicked Lilith’s forehead.

Lilith clutched her forehead, and looked at Lesiah tearfully. “How mean! You actually did that to a knight who sincerely wanted to help you! I’m so disappointed, Princess. Ah, I can’t go on anymore. I need a hug from you to energize me. Otherwise, I can only stay by your side like a useless salted fish.”

However, Lesiah took a step back to avoid Lilith who was going to jump on her. She smiled at her. “I don’t have any knights who are less than 1.2 meters tall.”

Lilith stood rooted to the spot with a dumbfounded look on her face.

“I don’t have any with a bust size less than 60 cm either. After all, we don’t have such small armors available,” Lesiah added.

Lilith looked like she just got struck by lightning.

“Oooh, I see. You seem to have gotten bolder during my absence.”

Lilith bared her teeth and said viciously, “Looks like we have to set some rules here today, otherwise you’re going to walk all over me.”

Lesiah’s face flushed slightly as she hissed, “Wait, Leniah is still here.”

Lilith chuckled mischievously, showing no signs of stopping. “Don’t worry, Leniah is a good child.”

She took out a candied fruit skewer at lightning speed and offered it to Leniah. At the same time, she gave the little princess a look.

“I saw nothing.” Leniah looked at both of them with her big eyes, then focused on savoring her candied fruit skewer seriously. However, her statement obviously did not match the reality.

……

“Wait a minute! You’re my younger sister! How could you betray me for a candied fruit skewer! She’s bribing you!”
“I’m not bribing her. Right, Leniah~?”
“Yep, not bribing… Hehe… Candied fruit skewers are really yummy…”
“If this isn’t bribing, then what is? Lilith, what exactly have you done to Leniah? I haven’t seen her for only a few hours and she has become like this.”
“I’ve done nothing. We just had a few very normal conversations (training~) with each other.”

……

In the pink and girly bedroom, there was a round bed with a gauze canopy draped over it. Two ladies with perfect figures sat across from each other on the bed.

“Is this the black card that you speak of?”

Lesish handed over a card to Lilith. On it were familiar writings in the language from her previous world.

Lilith’s gaze swept over the black card then said, “So you’ve received one too, just as I have expected.”

“What in the world is that?” Lesiah asked curiously.

“I have no idea either. But this definitely isn’t anything good.”

Lilith shook her head.

“Oh yeah, did anything strange happen around you lately?”
“Strange?”

Lesiah lowered her head and thought for a moment before her face turned serious.

“Now that I think of it… Coleman, a former bodyguard of mine, has suddenly gone missing.”
“Missing?”
“Yes. He has disappeared without a trace or warning. I’ve sent people to track him down, but all efforts have been in vain.”
“How mysterious. Did he evaporate into thin air?”
“I’ve no idea. Before Coleman went missing, he behaved rather strangely.”

Lesiah knitted her eyebrows together as she tried her best to recall what happened. “Back when we were captured, the misunderstanding would have been very easily cleared up had he come forward as a witness. But at the time… he told the academy… that I was an impostor.”

“That sounds like something is… rather fishy about Coleman.”
“I don’t know, but he was indeed acting very weird at the time.”
“Ah, there goes our clue. Looks like things aren’t as easy as I have imagined.”

Lilith massaged her temples. Even if she was the Dragon Princess, this tsunami of problems was overwhelming enough to cause her a headache.

“Are you in some sort of trouble, Lilith?”

Lesiah could sense Lilith’s discomfort with her keen senses. She grabbed her small hand and said gently, “You can talk to me about it. I’m sure I can be of help.”

“…You’re really an angel, Lesiah…” Lilith could not help but put her arms around Lesiah’s slender waist and sobbed.

“Please stay by my side.”
“What?!!!”

Lesiah’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the unexpected words that came out of Lilith’s mouth. She was flustered.

“W-Wait, why are you talking about that all of a sudden?”
“It’s not sudden, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”
“B-But… But that’s too sudden and extremely casual too! S-Shouldn’t you have picked a better place to do it?”

Lilith tilted her head to the side, looking confused. “What’s wrong with this place?”

“W-Well… I mean nothing is wrong with doing it here, b-but… but it’s too casual… It’s nothing like what I have in mind…”

Lesiah lowered her head, wishing so badly that she could hide her face in between her chest. At the end of her sentence, her voice was barely audible.

Lilith lay on her back in front of Lesiah, so that she could look at the crown princess’ flushed face. “Well, do you accept?” she asked seriously.

“Y…Yes.”
“What? Louder.”
“I said… Yes.”

Lilith smiled and held Lesiah’s hand. “Great! Then you can lay down the burdens of being a crown princess and stay by my side from now on.”

“Yes, I’ll do that right away… Wait. Why do I have to step down as the crown princess?” Lesiah asked with confusion.

Lilith blinked at her. “You’re going to stay by my side from now on. Someone else will definitely need to replace you as the crown princess,” she answered matter-of-factly.

“All the time?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Lesiah, you and a few of my other friends have been targeted by some mysterious existence. For the time being, I have no idea what they are trying to achieve. For safety reasons, it’ll be best for all of you to stay by my side. It’s the only way I can protect all of you.”

“……”

Lesiah’s body shook.

“So by asking me to stay by your side, you mean…”
“I was asking you to stay by my side. Is there a problem? Uh, why do you have such a weird look on your face, Lesiah?” Lilith asked in confusion.
“Weird? Hehehehe… Not at all.”
“W-Wait, you definitely look very weird. What’s wrong with you, Lesiah? Don’t tell me you are possessed too?”

“Lilith…”
“W-What… is it?”
“You’re really asking for this.”
“W-What… do you mean?”
“Let me beat you up.”
“Huuuh? Why? …W-Wait! Why are you suddenly swinging your fist at me…! Argh! …I knew it, Lesiah! You’re definitely being possessed by something!”
“DIE, YOU FLAT-CHESTED B̲A̲S̲T̲A̲R̲D̲!”