A Villainess Should Be Strong

"..Wait, wait, wait. So... The two guys I met.. One of them was pretty rude and distrustful of my identity, while the other quickly accepted me and gave respect. I was planning to commend the respectful knight, but.. Who the hell did I talk to if there was no guards stationed there? A ghost? No, that can't be right, that's not sensible at all," Estelle quickly fired up her list of thoughts.

Shirley had her hand positioned by her chin as she thought deeply.

"..Perhaps, an infiltrator that is here to spy on our matters?" Shirley gasped as she came to the dangerous conclusion.

Estelle's brow raised as she heard Shirley's words.

"That could be it, but this is the Queen's chamber we're speaking of. Not only are there many guards, there are also barriers erected here, right? If they really were infiltrators.. They would have to possess great skill to even bypass the security system in the first place, not to mention getting to the Sanctuary," Estelle retorted.

"You are right. Infiltrating Alfheim's castle is notorious to be known as a hard challenge, and I doubt that anyone would attempt it,"

"I'm getting an extremely bad feeling, you know? If those guards truly acted just to play along to my existence, then... Haa, this doesn't make any sense," Estelle's head spun around with conclusions. She was unable to determine the right answer. She memorized the two guards' faces because of her strong memory, but that wouldn't really prove to be a great help anyway since they had no clue on where to start.

They conversed for a couple more minutes, distraught by the new gripping situation they had just unravelled. Out of nowhere, this mystery was dug up. It was way too unexpected.

"Haa.. since they haven't made a move yet, then we can't do anything but stay vigilant and make sure that nothing will be breached. Especially the Sanctuary area. It shouldn't be a coincidence that they were there," Shirley rubbed her temples as she began to sip her cup of tea, which had been turned rather cold since she drank it in a slow pace.

Estelle too decided to give up the matter since there were too little leads to work on, and there was nothing like a surveillance camera that they could peer into.

"Alright. One more thing to update you on, I have successfully taken in Minerva and Yulia into the Constellation, but we can't find Heine anywhere. That might be something you want to touch up upon. The last sighting was in the forests, but apparently he had visited the Castle too," Estelle warned. "He's acting rather suspicious, and his intentions are unknown. It's best if we keep our senses high,"

"Of course I will. Entrust Alfheim to me. As the Constellation member hailing from Alfheim, I will make sure that my duties are fulfilled to the utmost limits, and that nothing shall pass through my radars," Shirley accepted the warning with an open heart.

"Thank you. It's reassuring," Estelle chuckled, looking at how serious Shirley was. "Then, I will go and take a walk. Can the documents be done in a day? I'd like to finish up my conquest as soon as possible," Estelle said, standing up from her seat and heading towards the door.

"I think one day would be enough to register you in the database. Please come back later," Shirley smiled as she sent the girl off.

Estelle walked away from the study and went into the gardens, where she saw Aleksei standing and looking at the sky with blank eyes.

"Aleksei, you are here," Estelle called out to the man, who was zoning out.

After thinking for a long time, Estelle was finally able to set aside her differences with Aleksei. She possessed her past memory, but the current Aleksei should be a confused soul who knew not much about the truth. He was on the same boat she was a few years back. Thus, she was at least able to separate her loathing mindset for the time being.

Only after Estelle had called him several times did he respond and turn his head towards Estelle. "Yes? What's the matter? Is there something I can help you with?" It was an instant response, like he had been programmed to say that.

"I am going out of this country tomorrow. Do you have anything to say to me? Let's go meet Frey, I also want to properly say goodbye to her. You have been taking care of me a lot ever since I came here.. I want to thank you for that," Estelle scratched her face as she said.

"En, I see. Then, let's go and meet Frey, shall we?" Aleksei had a tired smile plastered on his face as he turned around and let Estelle follow behind him. He quickly accepted Estelle's request without bothering much, which showed that he clearly had something in his mind that caused him to act this way.

Estelle wondered what had gotten into the usually quite spirited man, but she did not question much about it as she just followed him without a word. It must be an important matter, but it wasn't her business to meddle in his affairs. They walked side by side towards their destination.

When they arrived at Frey's usual resting place, which was the library, they entered without a single thought and called her out. The witch came out from the back compartment as she tilted her head, wondering why she had been called.

"Umm.. So, I will be leaving Alfheim and going to Vaitral, so I wanted to say thank you for helping me all this time. Also, to say my parting words," Estelle said.

"Ehh, you're leaving tomorrow?? That's super soon! Why is that? Is there something that made you feel unwell here? I will personally remove pests for you, alright? You're a really interesting person!" Frey immediately voiced out her complaints, her enthusiasm making Estelle back away a few steps.

"No.. I just have more things to do in the rest of the world. Didn't I come here because of a mission? I've finished that mission, so I can't stay here for long. I still have things to do. Alfheim is a nice place, so if I one day get the chance to pick where to settle down, I suppose I will build a house around here," Estelle truly enjoyed Alfheim's atmosphere. It was calming and rather peaceful.

"Is that so... Then, it can't be helped. I wish you a safe travel. You came here to say goodbye, right? Why don't we travel together for the last time?" Frey proposed, to which Estelle nodded. Since it would be their last outing for a long time, it wasn't too bad of an idea. Although the time she spent here was short, she had already became accustomed to the people in the castle.

"Right, I also wanted to ask you two if you wanted to join me as a Constellation member, but I suppose you two will decline.. right?" Estelle asked, a bit hesitant as she spoke. Shirley had already told her that the two would have a low chance of wanting to join.

In the first place, since Shirley was already here, and Yulia had connections to the elven community, recruiting another member from this country seemed to be overkill.

"Aleksei and Frey both had complicated expressions when they were asked with this question. They both seemed to want to apologize.

"Ah.. Don't worry. Shirley already told me that you two will probably reject, so I didn't have a high expectation. I just wanted to ask for formality," Estelle waved her hands frantically, worried that she would make the two troubled.

"..I'm grateful that you understand. I am really not someone who is suited to joining organizations in the first place. If you have something that I could help with, I would gladly do it, alright? Don't worry,"

"The same goes for me," Aleksei interjected from the side.

Estelle nodded, taking in their input before spending the rest of the day with them. She wanted to get the most out of her experience in Alfheim, so their time was spent doing productive things rather than relaxing.

The day ended as she returned to her room and took a rest. The next day, she was woken up with a bright sunlight and received her documents, which marked her availability to leave the country.

She stayed until lunch time, when the people who knew Estelle's true identity and some others gathered up to send Estelle off. The princess of Alfheim who was going to abandon her title right after recovering her worth to handle said honor.

She was Estelle Clareste, but she now also had a new name. Written in her forged documents was the name Eirlys.

"Then, I'm off, alright?" Estelle lightly bowed her head as she rode up her turtle ship and watched as they waved at her, saying goodbye. Estelle activated her ship and flew away, soaring high into the skies.

Her journey in Alfheim was finally over.