I will not die a Villainess's death

Eve stepped into the Dirac inner grounds with a nervous face. She had thought that she was ready to face whatever happened and whatever punishment she got from Lucas Dirac for losing his sister.

She was afraid to face Lucas Dirac and be judged as incompetent. Lucas was Elysia's brother and Elysia held him in high regard. So if Lucas asked Elysia not to ever speak with Eve again once she was brought back home, then Eve was sure that Elysia would comply.

And that would end u breaking Eve's heart in the process. She did not want that to happen to her.

'No, I should not be thinking like this. Elysia won't shun me for something that was not my fault.'

"You don't have to be too nervous Eve. Everything would be alright. Lucas is a decent person and he won't fault you for Elysia's disappearance. Besides, he asked for your help because he believed in your innocent."

Sara's words brought little comfort to Eve. She would not be able to sake this uneasy feeling until she came face-to-face with the Dirac heir.

With a heavy heart, Eve stepped into the inner corridor of the palace and immediately came to a halt.

The shade of familiar black that she saw took her aback. With that white skin paired with a dark clothing style, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Lucas was related to Elysia.

It had been a year since Eve had seen Elysia last and she had not even realized that she had begun to forget the simpler details about Elysia's look.

But looking at Lord Dirac brought all those thoughts back to Eve's mind. It made her eyes sting with tears as her brain recalled various precious memories she had made with Elysia.

"You are finally here. Good, this means that we can finally begin our strategy."

Lucas signed for Eve to come closer and she did with a nervous smile. Those blue eyes that were looking back at her certainly felt like they were judging her every move.

Eve also had blue eyes but it was different to look into the shade of blue Lord Dirac had. It just made Eve miss Elysia.

"You are looking better than I expected you to be. It is nice to see that you are taking care of yourself. I won't need to wait for you to recover this way."

Lord Dirac's words made many of the nearby soldiers frown at the tone he used. Eve might be an alley but she was still the Saintess. Many of the soldiers here adored her and liked her as well.

They certainly wanted Lord Dirac to be careful and not lose the Saintess's support.

But while everyone else thought that, Eve heard something different. She heard the underlining relief and her body relaxed all on its own.

Suddenly, breathing became easier and Eve felt calmness fill her heart.

"I am alright so there is no need to stop this plan for me. We need to get Adam to the throne as soon as possible. I heard some things and it seems like the war is inevitable at this point."

Eve was not saying this out of the blue or due to the rumors she had heard. She had seen the temple holding on to the firearms to repel an attack.

And the temple was the last line of defense this empire had. If even they were preparing for war, that meant that it was all but agreed upon to form the empire into one.

"This is terrible news. Thankfully, we will not let things come down to this. So, here is the plan we will be following. I will be counting on you to take charge, Saintess Eve."

Eve was startled by the sudden address but she happily accepted the responsibility she was being handed.

She had been waiting to be the center of the rebellion for some time and it was finally time.

'With this, I should have enough power to protect Elysia once she comes back.'

___________________

Elysia was having fun participating in her first official hunt. It was different to be with a lot of people who were younger than her and trying her best.

Elysia had been on solo hunts with Lexus before but that experience was different. It was focused on honing one's skills and increasing one's level while this one was more based on teamwork.

This was Elysia's first time participating in a group activity. It was a pity this was being held in this new world and not in Elysia's old one.

But it also made sense to Elysia why that happened. These people did not know what kind of monster Elysia was so they had no reason to fear her. She also had Lexus's backing which made people think twice about speaking ill of her.

"Elysia, take team 3 with you and corner the beasts from the backside. I will attack from the front to earn the needed points."

The leader of team 1 spoke those words, causing massive unrest among the other students. These points were very critical to placing nicely on the final scorings and only Elysia had enough credit score not to need them.

Even if she did not kill a single beast in this hunt, she would still graduate in the top 10s of this year due to all the extra work she had done.

But that was not the case for others in her team. Most of them were dependent on this hunt for their final scoring.

Many of her team members looked at Elysia with hopeful eyes. They did not want her to accept these ridiculous conditions and fight for equality.

And that is what Elysia would have done under normal circumstances but she did not. There were times a person could bend and times when they could not.

And Elysia's team currently had no member except herself who could take on high-level beasts.

"I understand. We will take the back route but any discovery and herbs we gather will count for our points."

Elysia could hear the dissatisfied yelling from behind her. Her group did not understand why they had to be the bait.

"Then, we should split up here and do our assigned task. Team 2, you take care of the runaway monsters. This way, we will be done much sooner."

Even team 2 did not look happy with their assignment but they did not complain. If they competed with team 1 for resources then both of them won't get enough points.

It was better for them to earn little than to earn nothing.

"Why did you agree to those ridiculous conditions? We will all fail because of you."

"Yeah. Just because your position is secure does not mean we are all that lucky. What will we do if we fail to score well?"

"So true. I don't have money if I don't earn my scholarship this semester. Will you take responsibility for your actions?"

Elysia had a lot of fingers pointed toward her right now. Many of them were justified as well since Elysia did rob them of an opportunity.

But she had an explanation for that.

"Do you think that we can kill all those elite monsters on our own? I know I can but what about you? None of you know the basics of combat so how can you expect to gain points back there."

"Instead, you should focus on gathering what you can so that you have enough points. You can always take care of the smaller beasts in your way as well."

There was a secret to this test and that was to save time.

Yes, beating larger monsters would get you more points but there were several other ways to gain points during the hunt.

For her group, Elysia knew that the best way was to keep out of sight and work in the shadows. And Elysia could see that those who had potential understood her words.

But some people wanted to cause trouble for her or did not like her at all. One such person was the lady who had made the fuzz about Elysia's unfair dealing.

She looked unimpressed and dissatisfied even after Elysia had explained things to her.

"Well, I don't care what you thought we should do or what our capabilities are. I want to take the top score so I will go and kill those large beasts on my own. Those who agree with me should follow."

"Y-Yeah, right."

"We should not let a grown-up tell us what to do."

The children in front of Elysia complained. They seemed to have unified into two different groups - one that agreed with Elysia and those that did not.

"Grown-ups are all problematic in their way. What did you think? That being four years older than us would make you smart and all-knowing? Well, guess what? I do not care. I will be hearing out now."

With those parting words, the troublemaker left with her group. Seeing that scene gave Elysia a bad feeling and she knew she had to do something.

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