I will not die a Villainess's death

Elysia froze as she heard footsteps headed her way. She quickly pulled Enma to the award herself and closed his mouth so that he would not be able to make any noise.

She was afraid that she would be found out by Feize and his partner. Elysia still lacked evidence and knowledge of what they were planning.

'I need to get away from here somehow. But how do I do that?'

Elysia was too deep in her thought and she did not notice how tightly she was holding Enma. But that did not mean that Enma was unaware of what he was going through. It was getting harder and harder to breathe for him.

So he decided to lick Elysia's hand to make her let go. The feeling of a wet tongue on her palm made Elysia instantly let go of the kid she was holding.

Enma panted, now finally free. He looked annoyed at being held captive and seemed to not have noticed what was going on.

And Elysia got a brilliant idea to get out of this situation.

"Enma, if they ask what you are doing here, just say that you got lost while roaming around. I doubt they will take a kid like you seriously."

Elysia whispered to Enma as she hid behind a tree. She was not sure how well her tactic would work out for her since Enma did not sound or act like a kid.

But people generally tended to be careless around kids, thinking of them as harmless and not very attentive. The chances of Enma not even being noticed were high as well since Enma was not very tall.

"Hey, what do you…"

Enma tried to whisper when the bush he had been hiding behind got pushed off. Two pairs of suspicious eyes looked back at Enma, which made him freeze.

The only thing that could go wrong with this plan was if Enma broke down under the pressure and confessed, or if he was not believed in his lie. But both of them were things Elysia could not help him with.

"What are you doing here? Queen's palace is off-limit for everyone who is not her servant."

Feize sounded confident and a little angry, so unlike any other time, Elysia had seen before. He looked like a teen trying to hide something dangerous.

Enma looked and acted nervous as well. Elysia could make out his shaking body from where she was hiding and she felt sorry for springing all this on Enma all of a sudden.

"I…did not know where I was. I was trying to chase after a stray cat and somehow ended up here."

Enma's voice shook when he made that excuse. Elysia would have called him out on his life right then and there. But that was also because she knew Enma well.

She was able to tell when he was speaking the truth and when he was lying. But it was not so easy for the others to do.

"Hey, have we met before? Your voice sounds familiar to me."

The brown-haired man asked, suddenly interested in Enma. Enma seemed to have recognized him as well from the description that had been provided to him. But he still chose to lie anyway.

"Hahaha, maybe? But you don't feel familiar to me at all. Like, not even one percent."

Elysia was sure that the brown-haired man and Enma had not met face-to-face before, but they likely had information on each other that made them feel familiar to each other.

But bringing up that right now would be like giving himself away.

"This is not the time for making a useless connection, Boras. We need to do something about this kid. He might have heard something from our discussion."

Feize sounded nervous when he said that and Enma's panic worsened. Maybe he felt like his life was threatened because he suddenly started backing away.

"N-No need to be concerned about me. I need to g-get going now anyway. The temple...I mean, the Emperor needed my help. Bye."

Enma quickly retreated from the fight. Both Feize and Boras watched him flee, deciding whether to chase after him or not.

Elysia was sure that Boras would chase after Enma when Feize stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"What? I thought you wanted to make sure no one alive knew about what we were doing?"

Boras sounded confused as he turned to face Feize back. That confusion that Elysia could read in his eye caused Feize to sigh out tiredly.

"If you were going to do something, then you should have done it when the kid was with us. It would have been easier to clear than if you go after him now. Besides, we need to head in now. The Queen is waiting for your arrival. Did you bring the artifact with you?"

Feize looked torn between killing Enma and completing the mission he was here for. And in the end, the desire to complete the mission won him over and he sighed tiredly as he walked inside the palace.

Elysia thought she saw Boras look her way before he followed after Feize. The last few minutes had been so nerve-wracking for Elysia that she did not even feel when her legs gave out beneath her body.

She felt tired and worn out but she quickly got over it. She needed to follow after Boras and Feize right now.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Do you have a hobby of watching children like this?"

Elysia had not been even halfway through the palace when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

She turned around with a rigid body, waiting to see if she needed to kill now or not. And surprise - she met the last person she expected to but had been running into everywhere in this kingdom.

"Lady Dirac, are you alright? You look pale and a little worn out. What are you doing in the Queen's castle? Like, I know you are stalking my brother but I want to know why and-"

Elysia had a feeling that if she allowed Feize's sister to continue talking, then it would take a whole day before she was allowed to move again. The lady seemed to lack a filter in her mouth and her words also had no pause.

But above all, Elysia feared that Feize's sister had misunderstood her intentions as interest. It would only fuel further into her delusion that Elysia was interested in her brother.

"I don't have time for this discussion, Lady-"

"Julia."

"Lady Julia. As I said before, I don't have time for all this. I have a feeling that your brother is in trouble. The person I was following was that brown-haired man with your brother. He is the person the empire looking for currently due to a break-and-run incident."

Elysia didn't bother using denial to clear up the misunderstanding she was being subjected to. Instead, she decided to use facts to clear up things.

Feize's sister, Julia, looked taken aback by Elysia's words before understanding flashed across her eyes.

And then it was replaced by fear. She looked toward the hallway where Feize had disappeared with a scared look and then she faced Elysia again.

"M-My brother is not in any huge trouble, right? M-Maybe he doesn't know what kind of company he keeps?"

Elysia very much doubted that but she allowed Juila to brew in her one delusion for some more time. Her current task was to make sure she got to the bottom of this mystery.

The Queen's involvement, in this case, made things just that much worse for everyone. And it was clear that the Akatsuki kingdom was headed toward something big.

"Let's follow your brother, for now, find out what he is doing with that criminal. We can talk about what to do with your brother later."

Julia looked a little heartbroken but a lot more determined than before. The fire in her eyes was blazing brightly and Elysia had a feeling that she would be alright in the end.

Now, what mattered was to go after Feize and Boras to know what they were planning. Since they had mentioned 'temple' and 'artifact', Elysia felt like it was something connected to Herman's rite.

And if her feeling was right, then this ceremony might turn out to be much more important than it originally looked to be.

'I hope Enma brings my brother here soon. I have a feeling we will need his help if we want to confront the Queen in her own home.'

Elysia had never wanted to be a part of a political scenario but she was dragged into one time and time again.

So if she was going to be dragged into another one anyway, she might as well invite herself and create a safe spot for herself before things unfolded.

"Look, there they are. They are entering the Queen's private quarters. How do we listen into their conversation?"

Julia sounded concerned but Elysia had a solution to such a situation. After all, it was not her first spy mission.