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"Right! But the one I feel the worst about is Lord Tsurugi. He took in such a snake into his home and now it came back to bite him in the back."

"But wasn\'t Lady Tsurugi the designated next head anyway? It was her father who was the previous head. I also heard that Akabe Tsurugi could not tame beasts and that was why he had to step down."

All kinds of rumors circulated in the hallway of the party. Amane just laughed inside as she heard the rumor regarding getting worse and worse as they passed along.

The hall was already divided into two fractions when concerned with her.

But frankly, Amane did not want to cater to any of them. Those who opposed her were looking for an opportunity to blacken Amane\'s name.

Those who were defending her were doing so to get in her good grace. Both sides were playing out a role they had decided before the party.

There were no sincere people who could try to approach her tonight.

"Yoko, how is the party? Are you enjoying it right now?"

Charlie Suzuki walked toward Amane which caused the hall to go quiet. No one had seen this development coming.

Of course, everyone had heard that it had been Lady Suzuki who invited Yoko to this party but no one had thought anything of it.

That was, up until Lady Suzuki walked up to Yoko out of her one accord and initiated a conversation.

"It\'s quite boring. None of these people know how to play the game right so it\'s quite irritating for me to be here. Can\'t I go home now?"

There was a silent gasp filling the hall. People looked at Amane with eyes full of disbelief.

This was likely the first time they had seen someone talking like that to Lady Suzuki and everyone wanted to see what would happen next. What would Lady Suzuki do to retaliate against this insult?

There were a lot of ideas floating around people\'s heads.

But Lady Suzuki just laughed out loud at Amane\'s words which added to everyone\'s confusion.

"I know what you mean but please don\'t mind these children. I am sure you will find one or two who is to your liking down there."

Lady Suzuki gestured toward the hall. Everyone down there stiffed at the attention and avoided the Divine leader\'s eyes.

They almost looked afraid to look at Suzuki which was weird and irritating.

\'Are they all afraid that Charlie would curse them or something if they looked at her? How disappointing."

Amane looked over the hall, the eyes in front of her looking away as she glanced them over.

She had Lady Suzuki\'s support which made the most courageous of people back down and stop saying anything about her.

\'Tsk, useless. I thought I could make connections here but they are all useless. They can\'t even look me in the eyes.\'

Amane had been hopeful but she should have known that finding the right support would be difficult.

Unexpectedly, her eyes met a pair of silver hidden behind the green curtain. There was one person who looked Amane straight in the eye without flinching.

"Ah, so the granddaughter of Marshal Zhen caught your eye? Her name is Ely but I don\'t think I\'ve ever talked to her. Would you like me to introduce you to her? Awww, I am so jealous of Ely Zhen."

Charlie whiled beside Amane but her tone was not serious.

Instead, she looked excited to see Amane looking at a new prey. That look screamed trouble which Amane did not want.

Across the hall, another pair of eyes were trained on Amane and Charlie but this one was more of a resigned pair.

Lord Helios finally sighed and made his move. He walked toward the pair and placed his hand on Lady Suzuki\'s shoulder.

"Mother, there are people who are looking to greet you. Can you come with me and meet theme right now?"

\'I never thought I would be so glad to see a man helping me out. I hate social functions but they are a necessity in life.\'

As Helios took Charlie away, Amane passed him a grateful nod. She got a resigned but tired one in return.

Even those who wanted to categorize it as romantic could not do that in this situation. There had been nothing romantic about the exchange that just happened between the pair.

As soon as Lady Suzuki was gone from Amane\'s side, the people down the hall turned toward her with predatory eyes.

\'Charlie did that on purpose to show them all that we were close. I will have to swat away so many flies today.\'

Amane dreaded heading down the stairs but she had no other choice. But at least she had prepared for this occasion.

She had let the phoenix chick outside and asked it to fly inside once Amane gave the signal. She gave the signal as soon as she was descending the stairs.

Was she trying to form an image in everyone\'s mind about her? Yes, she was. Was it working? Most likely since people had turned to look at her in wonder.

And with the addition of a new member on her shoulder, Amane dared the others to approach her tonight. People would be too frightened of the beast on her shoulder to try anything now.

___________________________

Ely heard the people talk around her about Yoko and her sudden appearance.

There were a lot of rumors and talks going around about her right now. Most of it was negative but some were looking to take advantage of her recent success.

Ely found this all to be rather disapproving and she was worried about Lady Yoko as well. The poor girl had to endure all this because of something that she didn\'t even do.

\'Look at that poor girl. She\'s standing up there all alone and getting harassed. I wish I could do something to help her out.\'

People had told Ely that she tended to see the world from a rose-tinted glass. But Ely knew her heart and she knew she was a good judge of character.

And she knew Lady Yoko was a good person. That was why Ely looked the other in the eye when everyone else turned away from Yoko\'s eyes.

Lady Yoko seemed to have changed but in a good way. She looked a little more comfortable in her skin.

Even her coming down the stairs with the small bird-beast on her shoulder was an event that looked out of a book.

It left most of the people looking at her in wonder. But no one tried to approach Lady Yoko in her corner.

\'Should I go and try making friends with her? I don\'t know how to break the ice."

Ely looked in Lady Yoko\'s direction. The lady had alienated herself in the corner. She looked too alone but the bird on her shoulder was giving everyone a stinky eye.

"Oh god! She even brought a beast to the party. Were the rumors about her powers true?"

"Don\'t be an idiot. The bird was likely tamed by Lord Tsugugi and Yoko just took it from him. We should not fear her."

The bird gave the people a glare for their words but it settled down in Lady Yoko\'s arms.

Everyone who had an opinion about her could no longer say anything. It was only Ely who continued to look in her direction.

"Ah Ely, it is nice to see you again. I see that you are still longing for Lady Yoko\'s friendship. Then, should I help you out?"

"N-No, there is no need to do that. I was about to approach lady Yoko on my own. You don\'t need to worry about me."

Ely tried to diffuse the situation. The man who had asked Ely this question had an unremarkable face.

To be honest, Ely did not even remember who that man was or why he was there. But if he had sought Ely out like this, then he likely knew her.

"I see. But now you need to compensate me for helping you out. I did offer you help so how about you and I spend some time together."

\'Help? But I just refused his help. Why does this man want me to compensate him?\'

Ely was confused and uncomfortable by the words she heard. The man in front of her was scaring her a lot with his words and actions.

Most of all, Ely just did not want to deal with someone else while she wanted to approach Lady Yoko.

But her polite nature would not let her decline the man\'s invitation to accompany him and the man knew it as well. There was a knowing grin on his face.

He extended his hand toward Ely, asking for her to take it so that he could accompany her.

But before Ely could put her hand into that man\'s, her wrist was gripped by someone\'s strong hands and she was pulled back into a full chest.

"I don\'t think the lady wants to go with you, mister. Now, how about you find someone interested in you for real and leaves us alone?"

The man\'s face went white and then blue in rage. He looked ready to vomit out a few words in response to Yoko\'s words and it caused her to flinch in shock.

This was a situation that was not supposed to happen to her.

\'Why is Yoko here? Did she see me being uncomfortable and decide to help me out? She should not help me out or she would get into trouble. Oh, what do I do now?\'

"Excuse me? Can you let go of Lady Zhen\'s hand? I was about to talk to her about something important."

The man tried to weasel his way out of the situation and take Ely with him. Ely did not want to go with the man but she did not want to trouble Lady Yoko as well.

She was confused and terrified at her current predicament.

"No. I want to talk with Lady Zhen as well so I think I will be taking her now. Oh, if you have any complaints, then please address them to my pet. I am sure he will be delighted to keep you company."

The bird on Lady Yoko\'s shoulders gave out a thrilling squeak. It was loud enough to attract the attention of people a few tables away as well.

As soon as the man realized that all eyes were trained on him, her let out an angry huff and left.

"Wow, for someone who looked desperate, he gave up pretty quickly. You didn\'t get hurt, right?"

Lady Yoko\'s concern was touching. The elder had no reason to pay attention to Ely or to help her out and yet the elder had done so.

Not only that, but the elder had also chanced to offend someone to help Ely out. This was a favor Ely did not know how to repay.

"T-Thank you for your help. Lady Yoko did not need to go out of her way to help me out and yet she did. I will find some way to repay her in the future."

Ely inexpediently broke down. She expected Lady Yoko to be on her way now and find Ely\'s behavior to be disgusting.

But surprisingly, Lady Yoko did not do that. Her face held no signs of disgust or even frustration.

She gently took Ely\'s hand in her own and helped her stand up.

"You don\'t have to be so on-guard with me Lady Ely Zhen. Your grandfather and my uncle are good friends so I want to get along with you as well. I hope you don\'t find this too troublesome."

Lady Yoko\'s unexpected words caused Ely\'s face to flame. She had never been asked to become someone\'s friend like this.

And Ely was not going to miss this opportunity at any cost.