Chapter 55: Chapter: 53

"What is it, Miss Goldway?"

Grizel innocently asked, she is neither lowering herself acting like a pitiful girl to gain attention, nor behaving in arrogance.

After all, this is her first debut into society, as the old saying, the first impression is the most crucial moment to form one's image, the results will vary depending on the observer's eyes.

"Prince Rex is injured, even though you are the first candidate to be his fiancee, you shouldn't stick onto him at this kind of moment"

Lily warned Grizel with her fake tears showing how much she is worried about Rex with her cries, and purposely uses those words to emphasize the bad rumors of Grizel always clinging to the Prince.

Just like what was taught by her mother, tears are a woman's biggest weapon as some of the nobles nodded in agreement with her.

Gasped!

Grizel gasped loudly as if surprised hearing Lily's words, beneath her wide-open eyes, her trembling hands are covering her mouth.

"How could you..."

Grizel stopped a moment while facing the floor, her shoulder is shaking tremendously while clenching her fists seem to hold up her feeling.

Satisfied by Grizel's reaction, there is a hidden faint smile within Lily's fake tears, in her eyes, Grizel is boiling in anger and jealousy, it will be perfect if the infamous Belial's young Miss throws a tantrum in this kind of situation, her reputation will tumble down beyond repair.

But...

"How could you think about the candidate for the Crown Princess while His Highness is struggling with his injuries?"

Grizel's said in a sympathetic expression as if speak up for the pitiful Prince, speaking as if defending Rex from the heroine's ulterior motives.

"Huh?"

Lily is dumbfounded by the unexpected response, if the rumors are true, Grizel should be throwing a tantrum by now due to her provocation.

Moreover, she didn't say anything about the Crown Princess and only said candidate for the fiancee, but somehow her words were twisted by Grizel and now it sounds as if she was aiming for the crown.

Unlike Lily's confusion, Rex's was startled hearing Grizel's burst of worried words, he is indeed in pain, but it's not like he's going to die anytime soon, there's a sense of happiness bloom in his heart, though he knows Grizel is probably just using him as the shield to defame that Goldway girl.

Cough! Cough!

Huff!

Huff!

Being a supportive fiance he is, Rex coughed even louder and his panting breaths could be heard by the surrounding people, showing as if he is indeed suffering a lot.

"Oh my God, could you see His Highness is in pain? I can't believe you would be concerned about a petty rivalry for the crown over His Highness's condition"

Using the chance given by Rex, Grizel once again attacks the heroine by exaggerating the Prince's pain, the 2 devils joined hands putting the blame on the confused little Lily.

As Grizel turned the table, now the lovely Goldway Princess looks like a selfish ambitious girl who thinks only about the candidate of the crown Princess and doesn't empathize with the suffering Prince whatsoever.

Witnessing Lily's insolence behavior to the only daughter of the Belial family, the nobles started to mumble, they weren't under the heroine's charm anymore as they get temporarily purified by Grizel, right now they gained back their senses and attitudes as the prideful nobles.

"Seems like Goldway family is after the crown as well"

"Tch, the lowly nobles who tried to bite than they can chew, such unsightly endeavor to behold"

"Indeed, not knowing their place"

Nasty stares along with all the negative comments from the gathering aristocrats directed to Lily, she, who has always been praised and treated like a Princess, living blissfully as the center of affection, and envied by many, for the first time in her life, shivering due to the hateful gazes toward her.

"Wh-what is this?"

Lily stuttered as Grizel and Rex tried to hide their laughs, they are merciless even towards this little naive girl.

Truth be told, Lily is not entirely wrong when she said Grizel was only a candidate for Rex's fiancee, it's because their engagement wasn't officially announced yet, or when she stopped Grizel from approaching Rex since the out-of-breath Prince needs some space.

Unfortunately, Lily picks the wrong opponent as Grizel can turn White to Black or vice versa since twisted words, manipulative speech, and propaganda were already grasped devil since long ago as the former World Peace Ambassador who inflicted conflicts here and there from behind the curtain.

For her, it's effortless to turn a white lotus into a black rose.

"Miss, I'd appreciate it if you could step back"

Grizel said trying to release her hand from Lilly's grip lightly, but the heroine's trembling hand is quite persistent.

"You! I know you are approaching Prince Rex with an ulterior motive as well as the other girls"

Lily desperately trying to reveal that Grizel is no different from her, it's better to bring Grizel down along with her crumbling reputation, she still has her blessing anyway, it won't take long to be forgiven by society and wait for her fame to soar once again.

Shreaaak!

Grizel takes back her hand from Lily's grip, this time she did it roughly while staring at the naive 10-year-old heroine in front of her.

"Unfortunately, I approached His Highness not as a candidate for the Crown Princess..."

Stretching out her hand right before Lily's eyes, Grizel manifested a tiny bit of her mana into the shining white healing magic on her palm, the thing that can only be done by genius soon after the awakening stage since a normal awakener takes years of proper training to manifest magic.

"I am here as a healer"

"Because your precious tears will not change anything, Miss Liliana Goldway"

Grizel closed her palm as the demonstrated healing magic disperses into the thin air leaving the witnesses with jaw-dropping faces.

Her tone was moderate yet firm, neither hatred nor displeasure could be heard from her voice despite Lily's rudeness towards her as if she was a priestess whose intention is solely to heal the suffering Prince.

"Isn't she quite mature? She's the exact opposite of the rumors surrounding her"

One of the nobles whispered to his friends, sparks the new beginning of the murmuring among the crowds.

"And who would've been thought that she was so talented to manifest her power in such a short time"

"The one who spread the rumors might be blinded"

"Sshh, it most likely that Orthodox faction who spread the rumors since they are in bad term with the Belials"

"Ha! those arrogant Orthodox bastards who always bragging about their prestigious bloodline are doing nasty things to an innocent little girl just because she was as Belial"

"I can't even find a single mistake since her entrance to the hall, who in their right mind would say she is talentless?"

"What a shame she is about to engage with the Prince, otherwise she might become the most wanted daughter-in-law"

A lot of nobles started to admire and at the same time pitying the only daughter of the Belial family who became the victim of the false nasty rumors, most of them are from the non-Orthodox faction who respect the independent Belial, though, they don't support this engagement since they dislike the Imperial family who conquered their land in the past.

"What the h-"

Lily was about to shout out her anger but perfectly held by her parents, her mouth was covered with her father's large hand, they wouldn't let her mess their plans more than this and ruin everything.

Grizel smiled innocently when she is passing through the 3 glaring Goldways to where the suffering Prince is. They don't have any right or ways to stop her anymore as they are nothing but wealthy lower-class noble without the blessing, unfortunately...

The traitors are not only the Goldways.

"Halt!"

A disrespectful voice from within the crowds stopped Grizel, a strict-looking man with a black fancy suit suddenly appeared in front of her, it obvious that he is one of the highest echelons of the empire as the way he looks down upon Grizel is the proof of his superiority, unlike the heroine who jumped on Grizel and carelessly offending her, this time a little mistake could be fatal.

If the Goldway family is the traitor in the neutral faction, the remaining 2 traitors are the head of both Orthodox and non-Orthodox faction.

Their plan is in a mess, the Goldway family failed to ruin Grizel even with the help of a legendary blessing and got ruined instead.

It should be a time for the 2 remaining traitors to assist, but...

non-Orthodox faction members admired the Belial family, as the head of the faction, this traitor couldn't simply come out and confront the daughter of the Belial family who started to gain popularity.

There's only one person left, the one who can openly humiliate Grizel without any suspicion as his faction despises the Belials as well due to their envious toward the highest and only Archduke noble title in the empire.

The head of the Orthodox nobles faction.

Judas De Cassius.

'Finally, one of the biggest traitors whose role is to deteriorate the empire from the deepest part of the political affairs whose words alone may ruin other's life'

Grizel said inwardly as she bows a curtsey in grace to greet the most influential nobleman in front of her.

"Greetings, His Grace Duke Cassius, Grand Chancellor of the Azure Empire"

To be continued...

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Author's Corner:

To be honest, I want this engagement arc to finish soon since I'm not into drama, though I enjoyed their battle of words.

But...

I miss the adventure life soo bad...

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But I need this arc for character development, especially for Rex and Grizel, more for Rex tho.

Heroine's charm aside, there will be something that will change these two to be more... *cough* like a real lover, trying to understand each other, build trust, and sync perfectly in the evil way of life.

But I think it would take at least 2-3 more chapters before that 'something' happens.

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No guys, it's not a lewd thing whatsoever.

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P.s: writing formal English for the interaction between noble characters is such a headache for a non-English native speaker like me.

It takes me extra time just to make a line which I'm not even sure it is grammatically correct.

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