A Villainess Should Be Strong

"..There you have it," Estelle lowered the bow, turning her head to face Neil, whose splendid expression brought the utmost joy to her.

Neil and Niki had different reactions.

Within seconds, Niki had made slow claps and elbowed Neil with a wide grin on her face.

Neil took a longer time to digest what happened in front of him.

With his qualifications, he couldn't have mistaken the scene.

Estelle did complete the challenge, although she made several alterations to the original way.

Neil crossed his arms and frowned, thinking deeply.

After a few moments, he finally gave in.

"...Alright, you have made it," Although Neil still had a complicated expression due to him not wanting to believe what he was seeing right, now, Neil was a relatively upright person who stays true to his words.

If he didn't specify something enough, and his plan to kick Estelle out of the country was ruined because of that, then Neil would still acknowledge the results as valid. Because he was the one who stated the rules, and Estelle was just there to follow.

If Estelle found a loophole around his rules, then that would be his fault.

"Aren't you curious?" Estelle grinned.

"What do you mean?" Neil raised a brow at the girl's cheeky expression.

"Ao, I thought that you would be skeptical or something, aren't you curious on how I completed the challenge?"

"At the end, you are just shooting the Moonlight Bow, which is something that all of us present right now can do. Skepticism.. No, I will not do that. I believe in what I see, and you have indeed shot the Moonlight Bow without wronging the conditions I gave for you. In short, you passed, there is nothing more or less," Neil listed his judgements down.

Hearing that, Estelle blinked repeatedly before coming to a grumpy expression.

"I thought I would be seeing a lot more.. colorful reactions, but I guess I was wrong," Estelle pouted.

She had been waiting to flip around the tables and corner Neil, but who would've thought that Neil actually took everything with an open heart?

"This isn't the end. Since you think that you're so great, then please await more challenges in the near future.. Just like how you told me to," Neil's lips curved upwards with a challenging smirk.

"Hmm... I will be waiting, then," Estelle chided.

"Now, please excuse me as I still have my duties to attend to," Neil made a light nod with his head before turning around and walking away without waiting for any responses.

"Ah, wait! You can't just go away like that?!" Niki wanted to catch up with her brother, but turned back and went to approach the pair.

"I will follow after him, alright?" Niki said to the pair.

After saying that, however, the woman approached Estelle closer and gave a wide smile. "Well, I certainly did not expect you to succeed, but congratulations anyway. Neil is.. a complicated person, but he is pretty nice once he accepts you. Your feat may not have won him in one go, but his views towards you definitely increased with this challenge,"

"What about you? Do you approve of me?" Estelle chuckled.

"Well.. It would be a stretch to say that I fully approve of you, but let us just say that you are no longer that much of an eyesore. You have proven your capabilities and talent, that's more than enough to me," Niki waved her hand.

Within the twins, Niki was unexpectedly the one who gave in easier. Perhaps it had something to do with her less rigid perception of her work and the world, but Niki was willing to somewhat accept Estelle's existence now.

"Then.. that's a relief," Estelle said.

"Relief? You shouldn't be relieved for something like this. Neil won't.. commit untruthful injustices, but he can be bitter. Since you have became the victor this time, that guy will raise his bars. Expect a harder challenge by tomorrow. If there is nothing more to say, then I will leave right now, okay? Goodbye, you two!" Niki walked away in high spirits.

She had once thought that Estelle would be gone for good with this challenge, and she also berated Neil for quite some time as a result.

However, who would've thought that Estelle actually passed, with flying colors at that?

She could not wait to tease Neil about this matter.

The two were soon the only people remaining in the area.

"And.. cut. That's the end of it. I must thank you for the help, I wouldn't have made it. Especially with the purification," Estelle came to a realization that she actually did not possess any forms of purification.

If it wasn't for Aleksei and his methods, she still would've failed even with Frey's help from that time.

"It was nothing much," Aleksei shrugged the matter off. "More than that, you should be careful and take care of your body. Prepare for the backlash, because it's not going to go away before long,"

"...Yeah. I will rest for today. Neil will probably come and haunt me with more challenges tomorrow, he lacks the chill to do otherwise," Estelle sighed. "If.. If I come across more trouble, then would you still be helping me?"

"Well.. that depends on the matter. I am a very flexible person, you see? Everything will depend on what I feel like doing at that certain moment," Aleksei gave neither a yes or no answer.

Estelle pursed her lips, thinking on whether she should form a tighter relationship with the man before her.

Something was up about him. His whole persona screamed 'I am far more complex than what I look like'.

It made Estelle want to dig up everything about him. Investigate him.

Not right now, though.

"Haah, then so be it. Once again, thank you very much!" Estelle made a polite bow before raising her head up again to look at Aleksei. "I'll be going back to my room now,"

"Alright, take care," Aleksei said, nodding in agreement.

"You too," Estelle replied before leaving towards her room.

_______

As Estelle was walking back to her room, she passed through a few corridors.

Unluckily, she came across someone who she was too tired to be dealing with right now.

Yulia Eire, another Witch that was once someone she greatly admired and had fun spending time with.

But with her recent discoveries and the turn of events, how could she bring herself to trust them further?

From the beginning, there was something that Estelle immediately realized after she met with Minerva for the first time in Alfheim that made her be aware of their knowledge behind her back.

The fact that Minerva wasn't even surprised after seeing Estelle in Alfheim, even after knowing that she had passed out and was in an unstable state.

Again, not once did she discuss Estelle's past matters in the conversation they held. Not a question of worry, but instead avoidance of the matter.

Wasn't that just an obvious clue on how the sisters actually knew what was going on?

Right now, that sentiment repeated.

Yulia Eire was standing there with a complicated expression, stopped in her tracks and unable to move forward.

Estelle, however, continued to walk further.

Once she had gotten to a close distance with Yulia, Estelle halted.

"...Yulia," she called out. "What brings you here?"

Her expression was by no means a happy one.

If she wanted to continue being gullible, believing that everything was fine and well, then she could've definitely played all of this off like nothing happened.

But she did not want to do that.

"What's with that expression you're making?" Yulia tilted her head. "Are you not happy to see me?"

"I don't know, maybe it has something to do with people I have trusted for so many years haunting me with a betrayal?"

"...See, about that matter-"

"I'm tired right now, can we talk at another time?"

Estelle was not ready for a confrontation, especially one that would involve her emotions.

She hated to admit it, but she had grown far too close to her colleagues.

With the sudden destruction of trust, making everything that she had gone through seem like a big, fat lie, Estelle was extremely shaken up.

"Estelle..." Yulia called out, but the girl did not stay in place any longer as she started to walk away, continuing her journey back to her abode.

Estelle reached her room in a few minutes, and entered it with a tired spirit.

She directly went for the bed, falling on the soft surface and entering a deep thinking session.

"I don't like this tension, too," Estelle mumbled. "But I can't afford to have my trust broken again,"

How many times had she reminded herself to not be deeply involved with someone else?

How many times did she have to be brought down before she learned for good?

How many mistakes will it take?

Painful memories, and an uncomfortable past piling up behind her back, when will she learn to stop making the mountain bigger?

Estelle sighed, closing her eyes to rest for the day.