A Villainess Should Be Strong

"That actually just makes me even more curious~ Even though I'm still keeping my manners and not peeking into her status.. Well, I doubt that peeking would tell me everything, though," Frey sighed.

Estelle twirled her finger as she averted her gaze and pretended not to know anything.

"Teacher," Aleksei called in a strict voice. His face hardened, indicating his seriousness regarding this matter.

"I got it, I got it. I went out of the line. I won't tease her anymore," Frey waved, telling Aleksei to drop his overly serious attitude. "You're really no fun, you know that?"

"At least I'm a decent person who knows his morals," Aleksei retorted, snatching Estelle to his side and pulling her backwards.

Estelle jolted from the sudden jerk, but quickly found her balance and looked up to Aleksei.

"Alright, I won't tease her anymore. I will wait until you two sneaky people reveal everything to me personally! My beloved student, how could you be so rough with your teacher~" Frey complained, acting coy.

"Teacher, we are leaving now. We will come back if we need anything else," Aleksei ignored Frey's endless rant as he turned around and gestured for Estelle to follow him.

And what did Estelle choose to do? Of course, it was to follow Aleksei as his 'filial student'.

Definitely not in order to escape Frey.

Frey, who was left behind, stomped her feet on the ground multiple times as she berated the pair of master-student who readily left the scene.

Once they had gone far enough, Aleksei stopped in the middle of the road.

Estelle, who had been following closely behind the man faced his tired expression. Aleksei was usually quite calm and could be considered as having a sunny disposition, it was her first time seeing him this gloomy.

"Say, is it okay to treat her that roughly? Isn't she your teacher?" Estelle questioned.

The man acted quite disrespectful, which was a shocker to Estelle since she did not expect Aleksei to be able to say and do those things.

Aleksei looked at her with lifeless eyes, making Estelle instinctively take a step backwards.

"W-what is with that look of yours?" Estelle became apprehensive.

[Did I say something wrong?] She thought internally.

"She's my teacher, indeed. But have you see how she purposely acts? Especially around me?" Aleksei rubbed his temples.

It was Estelle's first time seeing Aleksei have a troubled face. Of course, she had just arrived in Alfheim and only met the man for a short while.

"I saw.. what about it?" Estelle did not manage to find anything strange.

Aleksei sighed even more, clasping his hands together as he panned his head towards the sky.

"Now, imagine an old woman, a really really old woman, who should have been turned into a fossil long ago acting like my teacher towards you, what would you do?"

"..I would retreat,"

The visual imagery was quite shocking.

"There you have it. I'm not good at facing my teacher. If I could go back to the time before I asked her to mentor me... well- never mind, forget it," Aleksei was about to say something, but he immediately stopped himself.

Estelle looked at the man's behavior and deemed that something deeper was loming behind the two's relationship, but decided to not pry into it.

"Who is Frey anyway?" she asked.

Aleksei thought for a short moment before answering.

"Who is Frey? That's a difficult question to answer. She has many names. She never liked to tie herself down to anything, so practically every country has been helped by her. She doesn't even proclaim herself as an Elf. She introduces herself as Frey Agatha, but that is not even her real name,"

"Do you perhaps know her real name?"

Estelle asked carefully. Aleksei and Frey clearly had a deep history, but she did not know if it was a sensitive matter.

Everyone has goals, and methods they choose to approach those goals. Whatever Frey's intentions are to hide her identity, she must have one.

"...No one knows. Not even me, not even after I've spent countless years knowing her,"  He looked quite vexed as he said that.

Estelle pursed her lips, nodding slowly as she thought about Frey's seemingly secretive identity.

"Hey... I have a question," Estelle fiddled with her fingers, unsure on how to imply the matter.

However, before she was even able to bring the matter up, Aleksei spoke up first.

"About what? My teacher?" he asked.

"En. You.. must have.. ah, forget it. It's probably just in my head," Estelle shrugged, dropping the matter.

Like he read her mind, Aleksei laughed.

"Did you think that I brought you here just to read books?" Aleksei smirked, bringing the conversation up once more.

Estelle looked up to the man with confused eyes.

"..So, was my meeting with Frey on purpose?" It was a question she had been meaning to ask.

Aleksei broke into a string of low chuckles as he placed his hand over his hip and continued speaking.

"What do you think? Will the famous librarian, the one who brought up Heirieth in the first place show up in a random aisle out of nowhere? With no purpose at all, when the library doesn't have any soul in it?"

"Ah, you and your teacher-" Estelle showed a displeased expression, which was responded by the man with a silly smile.

"I'm leaving now, it's up to you to decide what truly happened," Aleksei waved at the girl and began disappearing into somewhere.

"En, take care," Estelle waved back.

After Aleksei's figure disappeared, she took out a pocket watch and lowered her gaze.

"I should probably go back,"

She already knew the map of the palace, so she would have no problem getting back there.

Unbeknownst to her, however, there was a pair of eyes that tailed her movement from a faraway place, observing and scrutinizing her every movement.

______

"YOU DUMB FUCKER- I swear to God, I've told you not to do this so many times! Look at what happened now?!" The ringing sound of a slap echoed throughout the sizeable room.

In the middle of said room, two figures could be seen.

One had crimson blazing hair. Her facial expressions were distorted. Her hand stayed in the air after slapping the other person.

The one who had just been slapped possessed emerald green hair. He stayed unmoving even after receiving the hit, not talking or responding any sort of way.

"Talk. Where is she right now? Where the hell is that girl?"

"..Probably Alfheim. To unlock her bloodline on her own," The man finally spoke up. His brows were creased as he broke free from the woman's grasps and stood up.

The two people's identities were of course, Minerva and Heine.

Minerva had inklings about Heine and his master plan, but she would've never expected that he would be so daring as to do it in such a straightforward way.

She knew that something was not right.

That he was changing right before her. In a visible pace.

It did not happen in mere seconds, but Minerva, who had known the man for who knows how long, trusted him and his judgement.

Who knew that the crazy bastard failed to contain himself?

The Fae King that she shared a long history with?

She was fuming. Estelle was a significant presence, one that should not be disturbed too much.

For she was the World's one and only.

She clenched her fists, letting her nails dig into her skin and causing it to draw blood.

"We're going to Alfheim. I will bring Yulia with me," Minerva scowled, striding away from the room with hasty steps. "I didn't expect that you would be this crazy. You are disgusting. I don't know what to do with you, really,"

Before she completely went out, she stopped.

Her breath was still unstable. She did not turn her head around. She was afraid that she would not be able to suppress her actions anymore if she saw the man's face one more time.

"You.. damned Fae. I'm disappointed in you. Thoroughly," she said in a dejected tone.

A trace of sadness flashed through her face, but she quickly hid it and proceeded to walk to fetch Yulia, shutting the door loudly and creating a thundering sound.

Heine stayed inside the room, still in a trance as he longingly looked at the room's ceilings.

"...I knew I was wrong from the start, and I was fully prepared to take everything on by myself. Bring back the princess, bring everything back to its rightful state," Heine mumbled before snapping his fingers.

Several figures clad in black clothes appeared and kneeled down in Heine's presence.

Heine let out a long breath as he averted his gaze to the windows, from where the wide blue sky could be viewed.

"Even if I succeeded, everything is not going to be the same. Nothing can fix this cursed web of fate," Heine muttered to himself.

He raised his head to look at his loyal shadows.

"We will make a move. It is time to announce our presence. To Alfheim we go," Heine announced.

"Understood," Everyone responded in harmony, with a low enough volume to not catch any attention.