I will not die a Villainess's death

"Wahhhh, look at this skin tone and that complexion. And then add that gorgeous red hair of yours. Everything in here would compliment my lady so much. Which one do you prefer? The red shades or the black ones?"

The over-zealous Royal Tailor seemed to be in a great mood today. Her eyes shined at seeing her new customer who entered the shop with the Crown Prince.

She, along with her assistant had served the royal family for generations but never had the Crown Prince ever brought anyone in here.

Even when Lady Elysia had come for her previous fittings, she had come alone. This unusual behavior from the Crown Prince could only be because of his 'true love' for Lady Eve.

"Anything simple would do. I don't want to take up too much of your time Lady Florance. Besides, I am just here as a substitute for Elysia."

'Oh, this poor girl is in for a hard time. She is trying too hard not to sound disappointed but I can hear it in her voice. Lady Elysia is an evil lady to stand in the way of this true love.'

Lady Florance felt tears come to her eyes as she watched the next saintess tough her feelings out.

The poor lady was in a bad spot but she was still not complaining at all. Instead, Lady Eve seemed to have accepted her fate and was resigning not to cause problems.

'I want to support this true love I see in front of me. And I will make the best dress possible for my Lady so that the Crown Prince won't be able to take his eyes off her.'

"Don't be sad my Lady. By the time I'm done with you, you will be the most dazzling lady of the night."

Lady Florance was not saying those words lightly. She was making a promise she would hold up at any cost.

And then she would be hailed as the 'Lady of Love' by everyone who heard the story in the future.

"NO! That's not something I want. I just want to get the night over with."

The poor girl was still trying to be considerate of the 'fake' fiance the prince had. It was such a heartbreaking thing for the elder to see.

"My Lady, you are so kind and gracious. I will make sure the Royal Crest shines brightly on your clothes during the ball."

The Royal Tailor had a lot of ideas on how to make that happen. She had designed the clothes for the royal family so she knew her way with the stuff that was being used.

"What? No! You cannot just mark any clothes with the Royal Crest. Besides, she's my fiance's 'temporary' stand-in. There is no need for you to mark her with my symbol."

"Yeah right. I don't want your stupid symbol on my body either. I am just doing this as a favor for Elysia anyway."

Seeing the couple fight brought a sob to Lady Florance's throat. She could not believe how much they must care about each other to fight over this stuff.

'This cannot be allowed. I will not allow such a good couple to break up because of soem stupid misunderstanding.'

Lady Florance had dealt with some tough people in her life. Two unreasonable teens were not something that bothered her at all.

"Prince Adam, Lady Eve might not be your 'fiance' but she is someone who is accompanying you. It would be better for her to have the Royal Crest on her clothes to mark her status. Think about Lady Eve's reputation."

Lady Florance nodded after she finished speaking. She knew that if she framed it like this then the Crown Prince would have no other choice but to go along with it.

"And why should I care about her 'reputation?' I am sure Eve is more than capable of doing that."

Lady Florance was shocked at the admission. Where had the charismatic Royal Prince gone? He was never like this when Lady Elysia was around.

'M-Maybe Lord Adam is showing his true colors because he is with someone he trusts. Yes, that must be it.'

Lady Florance refused to admit that she was wrong. She had seen something like 'fate' between the pair so she was willing to believe her senses.

"Is something going on here? I thought I heard some fighting. You are not bullying Eve, are you Adam?"

Lady Florance breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she heard that voice.

Finally, someone who could side with her and get Lord Adam to see sense had arrived. Even Lord Adam hardly refused the orders of his mother, the queen.

"Lady Von Benefiel, please talk some sense to Lord Adam. You are the only one who can make him see sense here."

The queen looked surprised at the sudden request before moving her eyes toward her son and the next saintess.

"So, what is the problem here?"

All this while there was only one thing the Crown Prince's aid could think. He could see the mischievous smile Her majesty had on her face and he felt scared for what was about to come next.

'I hope you were here Lady Elysia. You are our only saving grace in these trying times.'

_________________________________

In the Dirac mansion, Elysia sneezed for the sixth time that day. The sun was still high in the sky and there was no dust flying around to pin the blame on dust allergies.

'Is it the pollen? Am I allergic to it all of a sudden? Or am I getting sick?'

"Ely, is something wrong? You've been sneezing quite a lot today. You should go and see a doctor if you're feeling sick."

Sora's voice sounded worried. Those childish eyes were wide and filled with concern as they staredElysia down.

Lord Sorias had gone back to his kid form once he had settled back into the Dirac mansion. This was easier for him to get by in human society.

"It's likely the pollen in the air but nothing big. I will go and see the doctor later. For now, we should head toward the central hall. I heard that brother has something special planned for us."

Elysia was excited and worried about what Lord Dirac had planned for today.

It was nice to finally spend some time with family but Lucas was a tyrant when it came to teaching staff.

He skipped over explanations when he picked up a topic and he was also prone to get agitated fast.

As good as Elysia was at learning stuff, she was just not good enough to get it after only one explanation. It caused some tension to arise between the pair.

Thank god Lord Sorais was there to keep Lord Lucas's temper in check or Elysia would have been chewed out once or twice already.

"Elysia, Sorias, you finally made it. I would like to apologize for the past few days and how unreasonable I was. I should just expect that I am not a good teacher for Elysia."

The Head Priest had said to Elysia that geniuses never made for a good teacher because they were not on the same level as everyone else.

The more time Elysia spend learning from Lucas, the more she felt as if those words were true.

The steps Lord Lucas skipped in his explanation were not necessarily important but they did build up the base for learning. It made the future lessons tougher for Elysia to not know those smaller steps.

"So you finally decided to look back at your actions. Now, what solution have you come up with?"

Sora sounded pissed off but glad as well. He was the one most frustrated with her bother's behavior.

Elysia was used to harsh and tough love. Not being able to meet Lord Dirac's expectations was not something new to Elysia. (Though the lack of punishment for failing was new.)

"I was coming to that Sorias. Since we don't have much time to teach Elysia everything before the Charity Ball, I asked a acquaintance of mine to help me out in teaching her. Don't worry since he's a good person and a good teacher as well."

Lord Lucas sure sounded confident in his claim.

"A teacher? Hoh, I wonder how many acquaintances you've got whom I don't know about. How did you rope someone to help you out?"

"Believe it or not, but the person volunteered himself. I also thought it was a good idea to let him and Elyisa get acquainted with each other."

By the way, her brother spoke, Elysia had a feeling that his 'acquaintance' was going to stick around for a long time. But Elysia could not think back at any such connection in her memory.

She had spent a lot of time memorizing the names and connections between various noble houses when she had been in the temple.

But she did not remember the Dirac house having such an amazing connection.

"You can come in now Victor. It is time you meet my sister officially."

The person who walked into the room looked similar to the Head Butler but he was infinitely younger than the Head Butler.

He was also a little taller than Elysia's brother and had a smooth face.

But for some reason, the more Elysia stared at him the harder it became to remember the man's face. It almost felt like magic but not quite.

"Hello, little miss? Hasn't anyone told you that staring is a rude habit? And your companion looks ready to rip me apart as well. Oh my, I don't think I feel quite safe here."

Elysia got a weird feeling when she looked at the man. she did not feel safe with him but Elysia was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

For all she knew, the man could turn out to be the gentlest person Elysia knew.

"Victor, this is my younger sister, Elysia. You must have heard about her from your uncle Hector. I need you to take her in and teach her the basics of what is needed."

The man's smiling face froze for a second before Victor's eyes snapped toward Elysia's own with a sly smile on his face.

Sora took a few careful steps to place himself in front of Elysia but it was far from enough to hide her from that tall man's staring.

But finally, the man extended his hand out to Elysia, his palm open and inviting Elysia.

"My lady, it is so nice to meet you. May I have the honor of making your acquaintance?"

Elysia gulped but she knew she was safe in her brother and Sora's company. That was the only reason she gave the man her hand.