Chapter 199: Refusing To Believe

Her friends had been talking about a classmate’s disastrous attempt at baking, and the short-haired girl sitting across from Irene was enthusiastically reenacting the way the poor girl had cried after burning an entire cake.

Irene barely heard any of it.

"Irene?"

One of the girls finally stopped talking and leaned closer.

"You’ve barely eaten anything."

She glanced toward the untouched pastries before looking back at Irene with concern. "Are you feeling unwell? We shouldn’t have come if you needed to rest. We only came because we were worried that... what happened at the annulment ceremony might have affected you more than you let everyone believe."

Irene lifted her head. A gentle smile immediately appeared on her face. ℯℓ.

"I’m fine. Really." She carefully lowered her cup onto the saucer before adding, "I’m actually glad you came. The house has been too quiet lately."

Her smile faded slightly, and her gaze dropped as she murmured, "I’m only worried about Aisha."

The girls exchanged glances, seemingly surprised.

"She left the mansion, and nobody knows where she went. No matter what happened between us, she’s still..." Irene allowed her voice to trail off.

Her friends immediately began speaking over one another.

One reached across the table and squeezed Irene’s hand while another looked genuinely offended on her behalf.

The short-haired girl finally slapped her palm against the table. "That’s exactly why you’re too kind, Irene. You shouldn’t even be worrying about her anymore. She dragged your name through the mud in front of the entire Imperial Hall, and you’re still thinking about whether she’s safe?"

"She isn’t even your real sister anymore," another girl added. "She’s an adopted daughter. An orphan and a low-rank Guide. You’re the true heiress of the Novalis family, Irene. You shouldn’t be afraid of her at all."

"If you ordered her around, nobody would even find it strange." Another friend joined in.

"Exactly. If anything, she should be grateful that the family allowed her to stay for so long."

Irene listened quietly.

She lowered her lashes and thanked them softly, allowing their concern to make her appear touched by their kindness.

Inside, however, their words only stirred something unpleasant in her chest. ℯ𝐥.

Ordering Aisha around was no longer something Irene could do, not after Aisha had walked out of the mansion and certainly not after that night.

Her fingers tightened around the handle of her cup.

The memory returned without warning.

Aisha’s hand had pressed over her eyes, and she could still hear the words Aisha had whispered to her.

For the following two days, Irene had hated her own parents and brother with a bitterness she couldn’t explain, while she cried and clawed at herself and the maids stood helplessly outside her room.

Irene’s frown deepened. She remembered using her ability on Aisha first. She had even succeeded in touching her.

Yet somehow, she had been the one who ended up on her knees. Her own mind had been seized and wrenched from her control by Aisha.

But Irene still refused to accept that Aisha had done it herself.

Aisha was only a D-rank Guide.

Even an S-rank Guide shouldn’t have been capable of controlling another person for two entire days, especially when there was no apparent reason for Aisha to possess that kind of power.

There had to be another explanation.

Perhaps she possessed an artifact capable of controlling someone’s mind.

Something like that had to exist somewhere in the galaxy, probably hidden in one of the black markets where wealthy people could buy things ordinary citizens weren’t even supposed to know existed. Aisha must have used the money she took from Prince Soren to buy it. That was the only reasonable answer to what happened to her.

The more Irene thought about it, the more convinced she became.

Where did Aisha buy it?

If only she knew, Irene would get hold of one for herself to use in the future.

"Oh, by the way!"

The sudden excitement in her friend’s voice pulled Irene out of her thoughts.

The girl had already set aside her tea and leaned across the table, her eyes shining with the eagerness of someone who had been waiting for the right moment to share gossip.

"Did you see the news this morning?"

Irene blinked.

Seeing Irene’s confusion, the girl continued excitedly, "Everyone is talking about it. They said the Admiral of the Association can no longer perform his duties, so they’ll find someone to replace him soon!"

"Do you think they’ll really choose someone else?" One of the girls frowned.

Irene’s expression became still.

For a moment, the garden around her seemed to fade. Her mind immediately returned to the man who had walked beside Aisha through the doors of the Grand Imperial Hall.

His pale hair had fallen loosely past his shoulders, catching the light of the chandeliers with every movement, while his cold golden eyes had remained steady and unreadable as the entire hall watched him.

The admiral had worn a white hooded mantle embroidered with silver filigree, with layers of jeweled chains and emerald ornaments adorning his chest and waist.

The moment he entered, nearly every pair of eyes had abandoned the throne to follow him.

Even Irene, who had spent the past year observing the Empire’s strongest Sentinels, had forgotten to breathe.

She wondered who he was then. And when she learned who he was, she couldn’t forget him anymore.

He was the youngest Supreme Commander in the history of the Association and the only SS-rank Sentinel on Gaia.

Admiral Zeke Valaerion.

She had remained curious about him ever since.

A man like that was far more worth her attention than a prince of the empire.

"His condition must be really serious if the Association hasn’t released a response." Irene finally said, her fingers curling slightly around the handle of her cup as she allowed a faint trace of disappointment to settle across her expression.

She quietly muttered, "If the Association really replaces him... then I probably won’t have the chance to see him again."

The girls continued discussing the Admiral, their voices fading into the background as new thoughts quietly took shape behind Irene’s gentle expression.