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nThe following day after her encounter, Angel and her friend continued walking in silence; Angel was still lost in thoughts; she couldn’t stop thinking about him; their encounter had been short, but it was memorable, and she couldn’t forget thinking about him.

nFinally, Angel decided to consult the girl beside her; however, she was not going to say that it was her who was troubled; instead, she would say that it was another person, not a drama she had read.

n“Say, Elaine, I need your opinion on something I read.” Angel suddenly said. l

nElaine smiled inwardly while thinking, ‘I knew you’d ask my opinion.’ however, outside, her expression remained expressionless as she said.

n“Go on. I’m all ears.”

nTaking a deep breath, Angel started explaining the story,

n“Once upon a time in Empire, a girl from noble middle class met a handsome youth; this youth was extremely handsome. The handsome youth immediately struck a conversation with the girl, and the two chatted until it was time for the girl to leave; hence she excused herself; the two promised to see each other again; however, shortly after, the handsome youth traveled to a faraway land, he won’t be coming back soon. The news saddened the girl; it was at that time she came to know that she had fallen for the handsome youth. Being a girl who pursues what she wants, the girl decided to make the handsome youth fall for her like this the two would marry. She started investigating the handsome youth in the hope of learning more about her future husband; unfortunately, she came to learn that the handsome youth had several women already. Saddened and heartbroken, the girl decided that she would bury her feelings because she couldn’t have the man only for herself. Here’s my question what would you do if you were in her place? Will you bury these feelings and try to forget the youth? Or will you continue loving him? This will mean accepting the fact that you’ll be sharing him.”

nAngel stared at her friend from the same class after finishing her story.

nSmiling as if the answer to this question couldn’t be more obvious, Elaine, the dark green-haired girl, declared.

n“What a stupid question. Naturally, I’ll share him with the other women if I love him. Or are you perhaps thinking that the girl should make the other women leave the youth like this she’ll have him all for herself?”

nElaine, who was from a relatively modest family, raised a question that made Angel’s body flinch; she turned her head in the other direction. She refused to answer; however, not responding showed her stance. Truth be told, Angel had thought of that. She thought that maybe she could make the young man fall deeply in love with her, and once it happened, she would ask him to leave the other women and only live with her, only love her. It’s selfish, she knew, but women are selfish creatures after all. One must only think about one happiness, even if it means you’ll have to hurt others.

nElaine shook her head and brought out Angel of her stupor by saying,

n“You’re too naïve if you think like that. Tell me, what guarantees you that what you did to others, another woman wouldn’t do the same to you? If it happens, you’ll be thrown away because the new woman wishes for it. You’ll then experience what the other women experienced when you make the man leave them. Tell me, do you still think you should make the man leave his woman for you?”

nAngel’s body shuddered, and she stopped walking. Now that her friend had talked about she never deeply thought about what that decision of her entailed. She wants to be happy herself regardless of the costs. She felt ashamed of herself.

nElaine glanced at her before saying in a voice full of disdain.

n“The man who will accept leaving his woman for another one is scum; he didn’t deserve to live, while the woman who made the man do this kind of thing was not better either. If the man accepts doing this kind of thing once, be sure he will do it again.”

nAngel felt more ashamed; her head was hung low. Snow chuckled when she saw her; she decided that it was time to stop pushing her.

n“I hope you’ll never think like that. If you cannot accept sharing him, bury your feelings and move on. You’ll encounter another man in the future; maybe this one will only love you. Even if he is not like the previous one and chooses only to love you, that would be for the best.” Elaine concluded.

nFinally, Angel lifted her head and glanced at Snow’s eyes filled with gratitude; it seemed she had come to some sort of decision. Smiling, she bowed lightly and said, “Thank you, Elaine. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I know what to do; no, I meant I know what the female inside that book should do.”

nRolling her eyes at how Angel was still thinking that she wasn’t aware that Angel was talking about herself, Elaine replied, “You’re welcome.”

nShe decided to continue playing pretend.

n°°°°°

nTwo hours later, Angel, who got separated from her friend because she had something to do to take care was lost in thoughts.

n~Angel POV

nMy name is Angel Marylou Neos, the second princess of the Luxiria empire, human strongest empire.

nMy mother died shortly after giving birth to me; like one could guess, being born into the royal family was a fortune as well as a misfortune. You may possess a higher status than other children, but at the cost of that, there would be no love between you and the other siblings simply because of the Crown.

nI never intended to vie for the throne because it repulsed me, yet others didn’t care whether you showed interest or not; you are considered their enemy automatically because of your status. Therefore, everybody started scheming to make life difficult for others, and how could a lone wolf like myself who had nobody to support me fare, especially when I was a little bit more talented than some of them? I was bullied, almost every day; thus, I came to hate the palace more, came to hate my bloodline.

n‘How good it would have been if I was born commoner.’ I often had this thought; I became shut-in after the bullying got intensified; I became really scared because I remembered that even the former Crown prince died mysteriously when I was two years old. I don’t know why but I was sure that the Empress had a hand in the matter; shortly after her son became the next Crown prince, it was true that he was talented but not talented as the former Crown prince, and the atmosphere inside the palace became morbid after the former Crown prince died, the Emperor started neglecting the Empress, everyone inside the palace was aware of this fact, not to be dragged further into the muddy water I became a complete shut-in.

nI only went out after classes started at the Heaven Star academy; I thought maybe life would not be too boring over there. Yet, the first year was truly boring as everyone inside my class tried to make connections with me. Because I was not particularly eager to interact too much with others, they started hating me, talking behind my back, and comparing me to my other siblings. I didn’t show any reaction; this infuriated them more, I was aware that some of my siblings were fueling the flame from the dark, yet I still showed no reaction as I continued going into classes.

nAlthough I didn’t wish to become the empress, others kept provoking me. To the extent that recently I have started regretting my decision, I don’t want your **ing throne, so why won’t you let me live my life happily?

nShould I become the next Empress? Maybe like this, I could impress that man. Recently I started having these kinds of absurd thoughts.

nIt couldn’t be helped that I’d have this thought because after I encountered that man, the genius of this year, Kyle Blake, I couldn’t concentrate as I used to do. My thoughts were all about him.

nPreviously, I’d never expected such a day to come. I don’t know what was happening to me. Maybe that man had cast a spell on me but just by thinking about him made me have many absurd thoughts, for example, what I’m about to do right now.

nI was with my friend Elaine when I sensed assassins coming after me; I got separated from her because I didn’t wish to have her dragged into my problem.

nThis was a normal occurrence, so she was not really surprised; however, if the same thing happened again, even if you didn’t wish to react, you would be forced to do because if you didn’t, others would think you are just a pushover.

n”Time for some change.” I declared.

n°°°°°°

nShe had no idea it was because of what Orpheus did.

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