Chapter 370: The Solution - Part 2

The pre-meeting gathering began the following morning, and Elena was already regretting every decision that had led her to this point.

She stood near the entrance of the hall, dressed in clothes similar to Kael’s usual attire, while Lyra stood beside her with a smile that looked far too forced to be natural.

Elena had done her best to imitate Kael’s appearance and attitude after changing her body with magic. She had even gone so far as to adjust her posture and expression, but she had quickly realised that looking like someone and acting like them were two entirely different matters.

And judging by the way Lyra kept glancing at her, she was not doing a particularly good job.

“Master Kael! It’s a pleasure to see you here!”

A middle-aged man approached them with a welcoming smile, and Elena immediately returned the greeting with a stiff nod.

“Likewise. I hope we can have a productive discussion today.”

The words themselves were perfectly reasonable, but something about her delivery seemed to make the man hesitate.

He glanced at Lyra, who was standing beside Elena with her arms linked around hers, before looking back at the supposed Grand Master.

“Ah, is this your companion for today? You are matching… Could it be that you are dating? What a beautiful union of two souls. But things seem… strained between you two. Is everything alright? If you want to spice up your relationship, then I can suggest a few places to visit.”

Elena nearly rolled her eyes at the question, but she quickly replaced her expression with a laugh.

“Ahaha! Of course! We’ve simply been busy with guild affairs lately. You know how it is when there’s so much work to do!”

She laughed a little louder than necessary, hoping to discourage any further questions, and the man eventually nodded before moving away to greet another group of hunters.

The moment he was out of earshot, Elena leaned closer to Lyra.

“Could you at least pretend to be happy standing beside your boyfriend? You’re making it look as though we’re about to announce our breakup.”

Lyra’s smile twitched.

“Excuse me? I’m doing perfectly fine! You’re the one acting like a corpse!”

“Then perhaps you should stop looking at me as if you want to strangle me.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you acted more like Kael!”

Elena took a deep breath, reminding herself that murdering her temporary partner would defeat the entire purpose of this arrangement.

Before she could respond, another pair of hunters approached them, and both women immediately straightened up.

“Master Kael, we’ve heard quite a bit about your guild’s recent activities. It’s reassuring to see you looking well. We were beginning to wonder if you were going through a difficult period.”

Elena felt her heart skip a beat, but she quickly recovered.

“Nothing to worry about. I’ve merely been getting less sleep than usual. There are plenty of things that require my attention at the moment.”

She delivered the answer with a casual smile, hoping it sounded close enough to something Kael would say.

The hunters seemed satisfied, and the conversation soon shifted towards the upcoming meeting.

Elena answered what she could while carefully avoiding anything that might require knowledge she did not possess, occasionally allowing Lyra to speak whenever she thought her own answers might raise suspicion.

It was exhausting.

By the time the pre-meeting gathering finally came to an end, Elena felt as though she had spent the entire morning walking through a minefield.

Still, they had managed to get through it without anyone discovering their deception.

Elena quietly let out a sigh of relief.

‘Now, if only the actual meeting goes this smoothly…’

She started to walk towards the meeting hall when Lyra stopped and looked around before letting go of Elena’s arm.

“What are you doing?”

Elena asked in a hissing voice, trying to grab hold of Lyra. But the demon queen looked as though she was feeling sick.

“I need to use the restroom. I just need some space for now. I will be back soon.”

She promised, but Elena had a feeling that it was going to take Lyra some time to come back, which made her sigh.

Still, she decided to wait for Lyra and stand against the wall.

It did not take long for someone to approach her and stand beside her. It was a woman she had never seen before. But the woman was dressed rather boldly for such an affair, almost as if she wanted to catch someone’s eye with her cleavage and physical closeness.

“Master Kael, are you alone here? Where did your partner go? Don’t tell me… you got stood up by your date?”

The unknown woman asked as she leaned forward. It made her breasts stand out more, causing several people in the area to turn their attention towards her.

But the woman only had eyes for Kael, making Elena sigh.

‘This is getting a bit annoying. I had better get out of this before some weird rumours start circulating about Kael. How would Kael deal with this…?’

There was one way Elena knew, and that was to act clueless. It was something Kael did all the time, and it usually worked.

So she decided to use that tactic as well.

“My partner went to the bathroom, and she specifically asked me to wait here. So I am waiting here for her to come back. What about you? Are you waiting for someone as well?”

Elena asked, doing her best not to notice the way the woman was pressing herself forward.

She had no intention of falling into the woman’s trap and giving her something worth talking about.

The woman immediately noticed that Elena was not responding as she had expected, and frustration appeared in her eyes. She leaned forward a little more, just enough for her body to touch Elena’s. Any observant person would have noticed this and decided to take a step back… or press forward.

But Elena pretended not to notice even more deliberately.

‘Ah, now I see why Kael pretended to be ignorant all this time. It truly works wonders.’