A Villainess Should Be Strong

The two stilled. One out of confusion, the other out of pure amusement.

"What have gotten into you?" Estelle looked at Heine in surprise. The man came out of nowhere and gave a subtle kiss to her hand, something that he had never done before. "Why.. why did you do that, I mean,"

"I'm just greeting someone I like. Is it wrong?" Heine beamed with a suspicious smile. His fingers trailed over Estelle's right hand.

"..No, but a person's intent behind said greeting is important," Estelle retrieved her palm and gestured for Heine to sit on her opposite side.

The fae did so, sitting on the chair. "There's no bad intent. Don't you humans like to do these types of gestures?"

"Well, yes, but I've never done that.. I don't think. I haven't made my social debut yet, my father shields me too... It's fair to say that I lack social interaction on a disastrous scale," Estelle said.

"...What, are you going to hit me for stealing your 'hand chastity' or something?" Heine backed away.

"I'm not going to do that! What the hell is hand chastity anyway?!" Estelle raised her voice, making Heine laugh hard.

Estelle grumbled, displeased with Heine's actions.

"Forget about that, what were you saying before? About the magician," Heine dropped the jokes and finally asked about the matter.

Estelle was reminded of her wails before Heine arrived. When she thought about it, this trouble was also notified by Heine.

The evolved monsters were a force to be reckoned. If someone with a pure [Holy] attribute came near it, perhaps they would collapse in seconds just based on how potent the Black Magic was.

"The magician.. or is it multiple people? Whoever is behind Duke Alfonso. Is there no way to target them? Duke Alfonso is annoying, but ultimately he still can't do anything without the ones who actually experimented on the monsters,"

"Hmm... Is that the case? Do you really think so? A magician?" Heine mused, pursing his lips.

"..Am I wrong?" Estelle was sure that it would be a Black Magician going by how strong the magic was.

Indeed, non-magician classes could wield the Black Magic, but why would they even delve into the realm if they didn't want to reap the complete benefits of said element? It was stupid.

"What about an omnipotent being who just wants to call chaos upon the world?"

"Is there someone like that?" Estelle frowned at his suggestion. It seemed farfetched.

Heine gave a smirk. From within his inventory, he took out a piece of document.

He then slid it over to Estelle. "Read it," he said.

Nodding, Estelle unraveled the document and carefully read the words.

With each passing second, her brows furrowed and her eyes widened.

She couldn't believe what she was looking at.

"..What?" Estelle turned her head to Heine in disbelief.

"Aren't I amazing?"

Praising himself without batting an eye, Heine grinned.

She read the entire thing from start to finish once more. Did her eyes see wrong? If not, how was he able to document this down?

After making sure that her eyes didn't fail her, she pinched her temples as she leaned backwards against the chair.

"The matter with my reincarnation.. Sierra's feud... and now this. I can't seem to grab a hold onto you. I can't read your thoughts. You're so unpredictable!" Estelle complained.

"Isn't that the point? Faes are meant to be full of mysteries, you are also full of mysteries, and so am I. If you can read my thoughts, won't it be boring?" Heine flashed Estelle with a tender gaze.

Ever since he had told her about his knowledge of her past, Heine found her even more mystical. Just like how 'Reina' was merging with 'Estelle', he himself was experiencing the same thing.

'Astarte' started merging with him from years ago. Little by little, it corroded 'Heine'.

To the point of making him confuse Estelle with Astarte's sister.

It was a pleasant feeling. Being with Estelle felt like he reunited with something he once lost, something he had missed in the past.

Not the romantic kind, but deeper than that. A sense of longing which stemmed from his entire being.

If he had to describe it, it would be like separated soulmates. Once born from the same source of life, then pulled apart by the twists of fate. His natural instinct as someone who bore a part of Astarte drew him closer to Estelle.

If he was once afraid of the child, now that sentiment was replaced by pure fondness and the desire to protect.

Heine chuckled, wondering how he became this dumb. A fool for what was left unsure without any proof to showcase.

He was pretty certain at his hunch at Estelle being the original Astarte's sister, but he could be completely wrong.

"Where do you get these information.. really," Estelle was dumbfounded by the sheer clarity of the news Heine constantly brought to her table. Even for a Fae King, this was too uncanny to be true.

"Everyone has their own secrets," Heine replied. "One day.. one day, when the time comes, you'll realize everything. Learn everything. And begin to understand who your soul truly belongs to, not who Estelle Clareste is,"

That piece of meaningful sentence would remain inside Estelle's mind for the rest of her life, until she finally deciphered what Heine meant.

After imparting her with those words, Heine turned around and left.

Maybe his clues were too much, he thought.

Maybe he revealed what shouldn't be, he thought.

Alas, what has been said cannot be retrieved. He left in high spirits, excitement brewing inside of him.

"I wonder when she will return," Heine whispered as he flew in the air, enjoying the light breezes of wind hitting him.

Speeding up, he left for his next destination. After being released from his official duty, he became more unrestrained. Sylvania still needed him, but he didn't have to bother with the painful chains that once restricted him with the title of [Fae King].

He too, realized why he was unsatisfied with the title. Because he was him.

A very simple, yet strange reason.

_________________________________________

Back in the manor, Estelle was still pondering over the information Heine relayed. How could it be?

The revelation was shocking, but when she thought about it, it made sense.

It could make sense.

The information detailed a certain place. One that could be one of the operation's bases. Although this one was a relatively smaller sized location, it was still relevant.

The place was located inside the Dukedom. On the main street, to add into it.

"How could we have missed this.." A cockroach had slipped into their territory. No wonder they were so fast to respond to whatever happened in the Dukedom.

Estelle should've suspected something more than Sierra lurking inside the Dukedom.

There could be multiple spies.

"Even so... the mastermind is him, huh. Surprising," Estelle commented, glancing at the document once more.

A name was printed on top of the paper, standing out from the rest.

Someone she had never met, but one that she has heard the stories about.

__________________________________

"Ha? So you're going there?" Minerva yelped in disapproval after hearing Estelle's story and seeing Heine's document.

"I mean, what else could I do? Just let them be and patiently wait for the next attack to happen? I'm leaving soon, the last thing I should do is demolishing those pesky rats,"

Minerva sighed. The girl just started to pick her pace back up, but she was already on her way to throw herself into another danger pit.

Estelle pouted. She knew her limits. She wouldn't do anything out of her bounds.

And yet, there was a bad feeling about this trip.

Hence why she told Minerva before going, in case something did happen. Was she crazy for insisting on going even though her instincts told her not to?

"I can't hold you back from fulfilling your wishes, but just.. Just keep yourself safe. A lot of people were hit hard by the news of your disappearance, even though we tried our best to keep it from spreading," Minerva advised.

"En. I'll do that. Thank you,"

"Don't say thank you, I'm just doing my part as a mentor.. or am I? Am I still your mentor?" Minerva questioned.

Estelle chuckled. It was a dumb question to her.

"You and Heine will always be my mentors. That will never change,"

"...Then that's good," Giving a tired smile, Minerva laid her arms on the table surface and planted her face on top of that.

The two went silent, each with different sets of thoughts.

"As expected, fear doesn't go away that easily," Minerva whispered to herself, making it inaudible for Estelle.

Would people mock her, the Crimson Witch, for fearing a child?

Heine had told her that the child wasn't someone to be afraid of, but one that she should accept.

But how could she accept such an out of the world human? Was she even human?

Outside of Estelle's own mind, the people around her also had lists of unanswered questions.

It wasn't just her that sought for answers.

Although everybody had different things to ask, they were all just as lost as her in this world.

"Minerva," Estelle felt like she had to say something. "We haven't really gotten to know each other,"

Heine had told her about how the two Witches and even himself used to fear her.

For what reason? She didn't know.

But one thing was for sure. Minerva was the most outgoing out of the three, but at the same time, she was the one Estelle knew the least.

Similarly, because Minerva couldn't fully open her heart to Estelle, the redhead didn't know Estelle very well.

"...Yeah," Minerva acknowledged. "We should get to know each other someday,"

"Someday." Minerva repeated, glancing over to the gleaming sunlight and back to the other girl.

She let out a smile, watching as the girl fiddled with her fingers, perhaps in nervousness.

Estelle herself didn't know how to interact with Minerva after Heine told her what their real sentiment towards her was.

She even went as far as to doubt her parents.

Fear.

It was easy to fear a strong entity.

It wouldn't be surprising if everyone she thought was very close to her actually ended up being the ones who feared her more than anything else.

But then, just as her anxiety increased, Minerva said one more sentence.

"We shouldn't worry about trivial things.. We really shouldn't,"

It was a message for both of them.