Chapter 9: 9

Standing alone in the banquet hall, Michelle calmly sipped on some wine with her violet eyes stoic as she remembered how the moment she entered the hall with the Archduke by her side, a nobleman came and pulled him away from her, leaving her alone with Mare. Then, a “clumsy servant” poured some wine over Mare and led her away so she could change her clothes, leaving Michelle all alone.

It was clear that someone wanted to get her alone to scheme against her, but that actually made her highly excited, anticipating what would happen next. But, to her disappointment, since Mare was led away, no one dared to approach Michelle, leaving her disappointed.

After such a long time of being left alone, Michelle started wondering that the person scheming against her might be after Mare and not her, as if trying to warn her, but if that was the case, Michelle wasn’t the least bit worried as Mare could take care of herself if something happened.

Feeling disappointed that nothing happened, Michelle continued sipping on the wine before she lifted her gaze to look at the three Young Ladies approaching her. Seeing them, Michelle concealed a smile, keeping up the calm façade, even though she was highly excited that someone finally approached her, because that meant that the drama was about to begin. The person targeting her was finally making a move.

The three Young Ladies arrogantly stepped in front of Michelle, with fans covering their mouths. “Hello, Young Lady Grace! How are you lately?” one of the three asked with a cold glint in her eyes. Her tone might have been sweet and polite, but her eyes were glaring daggers at Michelle.

Seeing that, Michelle smiled a bit. She was quite happy that she had at least some small fries to keep her entertained until the real schemer appeared. It was clear that none of the three was the real mastermind and that they were merely manipulated, which meant that the mastermind didn’t want to show their face, but Michelle was planning to force them to make a move.

“Thank you for your concern, My Lady. I’ve been doing just fine. What about you, My Ladies?” Michelle put on her perfect, charming smile with her purple eyes narrowing into beautiful smiling crescents as she looked at the three Young Ladies.

The three Young Ladies were momentarily stunned by Michelle’s smile, but quickly regained their composure. “We are all fine, Young Lady Grace, but we were all concerned about Your Ladyship. There was a rumor that Your Ladyship lost your memories after an ‘unfortunate accident’, and everyone was worried. Young Lady Grace, are your memories back already?” one of the three ladies spoke, her eyes dripping with malice. She didn’t even bother to try to hide it.

Michelle’s smile widened when she heard that. The “unfortunate accident” the Young Lady was talking about was when the original Michelle found the Crown prince on a date with his lover. She got enraged and tried to slap the lover, but instead, she got pushed by the lover and hit her head. After that, the Crown Prince invited Michelle to the cliff and pushed her off, but that was already unknown to the people. They only knew that Michelle hit her head and fainted.

When Michelle then didn’t appear for a whole week, they started suspecting that she was too ashamed to show her face, and when the Archduke announced that she had amnesia, everyone guessed that Michelle was too embarrassed to be reminded of the incident so she convinced her father to announce that she lost her memories.

The three Young Ladies clearly intended to remind Michelle of the incident and make her expose herself of not losing her memories to embarrass her, but they didn’t know that they weren’t dealing with the easily-angered and naive original Michelle, but a ruthless and scheming assassin from the 21st century who took their “schemes” for nothing more than an entertainment for herself.

Michelle lowered her eyes a bit and let her smile slowly disappear, acting like she was sad. “I apologize for worrying you, My Ladies. I’ve never intended to do so, but it seems that even though the wound on my head has recovered, my memories still remain covered by a black blur… It’s pathetic, but I don’t even know how I came to have such a wound in the first place. All I know is what my servants told me, and that is just that I hit my head and fainted.”

With Michelle’s flawless acting, everyone was shocked. She was acting like a completely different person. Even if she did lose her memories, they expected her to be arrogant and spiteful, but she was actually calm and graceful, and with the sadness her expression showed, it was clear that she wasn’t lying or acting.

But they were direly mistaken. Michelle wasn’t the least bit sad. Actually, she was quite excited to be able to mess with some small fries, as she was getting bored. The sadness was all just a mask she portrayed to make others believe that she really lost her memories, because having memory loss would be a good excuse for the change in her temperament. She had no intention to act like the original Michelle did.

Seeing how “sad” Michelle looked, the three Young Ladies felt a bit guilty for bringing up her memory loss, but when they remembered the atrocities “Michelle” did before her memory loss, they forgot all about the guilt and decided to poke where it hurts. “Your Ladyship, did your servants tell you why you hit your head?” one of the Young Ladies asked, smiling maliciously behind the fan.

Hearing that question, Michelle put on a confused expression. “No. Wasn’t it just an accident?” she asked with a tilt of her head. “Or is there something I don’t know?”

Seeing Michelle’s “confused” expression, the three Young Ladies sneered secretly, excited to embarrass Michelle. “Your Ladyship, your servants probably didn’t tell you because they didn’t want your feelings to get hurt, but we believe that even though the truth might hurt, you should know it,” one of the Young Ladies spoke up “gently”.

Michelle only nodded a bit. “Please, tell me the truth,” she said calmly.

The moment her words fell, the Young Lady who spoke sneered. “Well, Your Ladyship, you got shunned and eventually pushed by your fiancé, His Highness, the Crown Prince, after you acted disgraceful,” the Young Lady spoke arrogantly, no longer hiding her malice behind sweet words.

Hearing these words, Michelle opened her fan and his with a cold sneer. She no longer felt like acting pitiful, but the situation didn’t allow her to shed the façade just yet. She had to wait a moment longer.

While Michelle was sneering behind the fan, to the eyes of others, it looked like she was trying to hide the fact that she felt “hurt”, so some people started whispering and snickering about her.

Michelle quickly wiped the smirk off her face, her eyes downcast. She remained silent, gripping the fan tightly, her hand trembling a bit. It seemed that she was really hurt and embarrassed by what the Young Lady told her, but no one showed her pity since everyone remembered what she acted like before losing her memories. In the eyes of the aristocrats, a villainess like herself didn’t deserve any pity even if she was momentarily helpless.

Seeing that they had achieved their goal, the three Young Ladies wanted to attack more, but the announcer’s voice filled the banquet hall.

“His Majesty, the Emperor, Her Majesty, the Empress, Her Grace, Imperial Concubine Helens, His Highness, the Crown Prince, Her Highness, the Second Princess, His Highness, the Third Prince, Her Highness, the Fourth Princess, Her Highness, the Fifth Princess, His Highness, the Sixth Prince, His Highness, the Seventh Prince, and Her Ladyship, Young Lady Phelerion!”

The neglected Eight Prince wasn’t present.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep