"I....I don't understand what you mean, lady Rienne..." Evelina uttered. She felt extremely embarrassed right now!

"Rienne! Your being too rude! Why do you hate lady Evelina so much..!?" Rulias shouted.

Hearing him defend Evelina, Rienne felt more furious! He even had the audacity to call her by her first name!

"Why....." Rienne laughed. "Why!? Don't tell me you forgot!"

Rienne pointed at Evelina and said in outrage, "can't you see!? She's pretending! Your all fools to believe her!"

"That's enough! Get out! Your no longer welcomed here!" Rulias was furious and in a fit of rage kicked her out.

There was an uproar in the crowd. Did....he really kick lady Rienne Balloria out!?

Even though many didn't like Rienne, they were still shocked and dumbfounded. No matter what... Rienne was still a Balloria!

Looks like trouble is coming...

"....uh-...ugh! Fine!" Rienne marched towards the exit. But before she did, she did not forget to shout at Evelina one more time.

"Evelina, don't forget that you have a fiancee now! Stop flirting with other men!" Only after she finished, did Rienne leave.

Evelina sunk into Chase's embrace. As if she was seeking shelter in his arms.

Seeing her pityful state, the men around suddenly felt an urge to pamper Evelina.

However Chase felt slightly uncomfortable. But since they were engaged, he shouldn't reject her. However he couldn't say he wasn't regretful that his fiancee is Evelina and not Angelina.

Earlier when he saw how close Evelina was with some young men, he felt uncomfortable. No one would like to see their fiancee close with the opposite gender.

Unfortunately for Chase, he could only sigh and not complain. It was a political engagement after all...

***********

A friend of lady Rienne ran after her.

"Rienne!"

"What!?"

"Maybe...maybe you should just stop bothering lady Evelina. By doing this, your only damaging your's and young master Rulias's relationship."

"So what...! I don't care about him anymore anyway! Rulias is a scumbag! He's not worthy of my friendship anyway!" Rienne with a frustrated face said.

"Rienne! You can't say that!" The friend suddenly shouted. Her outburst even shocked Rienne.

"Don't be so unreasonable, Rienne! Young master Rulias won't like a brat like unreasonable lady. You should act more like lady Evelina-"

"Wait...! Did...you just say I'm a brat...!?"

"Huh...?"

"You......ha....haha..." Rienne began to laugh. She should have known...

"I....I can't believe I didn't notice....your just like them! Always saying I'm a brat...and no one would like me! Are you any better than me..!?"

"What are you talking about..." The friend was conflicted.

"Now that I think about it.....you were always like this.... Telling me what to do, saying I should always apologize..... You always stood up for Rulias and that Evelina!"

"Wait....i-"

"You do not need to speak..." Rienne's tone turned more quiet.

"I'll be leaving now" Rienne said as she made her way to the direction of where her carriage was.

"I........Rienne..." The friend was frozen in place. She couldn't think of any words to defend herself.

************

When they arrived at the temple, Angelina and her two companions were greeted with the sight of a priestess in between the two guards.

"You must be lady Angelina Skyler" the priestess greeted her and nodded to Marie and Eric.

"Indeed. It's a pleasure to meet you, priestess Naya." Angelina nods with a delicate smile on her face.

Earlier yesterday, Angelina told Alice she needed to meet someone from the temple to perform a ritual of cleansing the sould. But she was conflicted if she even would be let in.

Eric still had the dark aura around him. The priests and other people I the temple would definitely not let him in.

Then Alice told her she had a friend in the temple, and that friend was priestess Naya.

Fortunately, the priestess accepted the request.

"Thank you for coming all the way here" the priestess smiled gently at the group.

"Oh no no. We should thank you for being willing to help us." Angelina said in a gentle tone.

They headed inside the temple and the priestess let them in to an empty room.

On their way there, they passed by statues of past saints and the goddess. The temple was all who, with some tint of gold. The gardens in the temple were peaceful and beautiful. Everything carried a tranquil feeling and atmosphere.

Inside the room was a big statue of the goddess, and in front of the statue was a table covered in food offerings.

Eric felt uncomfortable. It was so bright here....

To him who spent years in darkness, this was really blinding...

Marie, however was in complete awe. She gazed at the statue of the beautiful goddess and the gold items with stars and admiration in her eyes.

The priestess took a book out of a bookshelf nearby and flipped through a couple pages, before stopping at one.

"Your the one who i'll be performing this ritual, right?" She approached Eric and asked.

"Yes" Eric replied with a blank face. He didn't seem worried or nervous.

"Very well. Please come over here" the priestess led Eric in front of the goddess's statue and told him to kneel.

"This might take a while, so feel free to wait outside." The priestess told Angelina and Marie.

"Thank you" Angelina said as she grabbed Marie's arm and dragged her outside with her.

"Bam" Angelina closed the heavy door closed.

"Miss! Miss! Let's go over to the garden!" Marie said excitedly.

"Yes yes...." Angelina was clearly the younger one, but somehow Marie is more childish than she is...

Inside the room, the priestess made Eric repeat her words as she read the book in the holy language.

As Eric repeated her words, golden text which was in a language he didn't understand, circled around them.

He was in awe but had to focus on repeating the priestess's words as they both kneeled in front of the goddess statue.

Then the priestess told him to kowtow three times to the goddess's statue.

Once Eric was done kowtowing, his forehead was red and little painful.

And lastly, Eric repeated the words of the priestess again and asked for forgiveness.

Once they were finally done, the priestess used healing magic to heal his sore forehead.

When Angelina, Eric, and Marie met up again, Eric's dark aura was completely gone.

************

When Evelina was dropped off by Chase back to the Skyler Mansion, her cheeks were rosy red.

"Thank you for going all the way here, brother Chase" Evelina smile ear to ear. Her smile was bright and adorable.

But Chase merely smiled warmly and said his goodbye before going back inside his carriage, and going back home.

"If it isn't my dear sister, Eve" Angelina got off her carriage and approached Evelina with a forced smile.

"...." Evelina's eyes twitched and she did not hide her frown. Seeing Eric step out of the carriage, Evelina's frown deepened.

"Must be nice having your fiancee bring you back..." Angelina spoke with indifference as she walked pass Evelina.

Marie made a funny face as she passed Evelina and Eric didn't even spare her a glance.

"You!" Evelina was about to burst in rage, but there were servants inside the mansion, so she could only took a deep breath and put on a gloomy face.

The duchess was walking down the stairs with Alex, when she saw that her two daughters has came back.

"Eve, Lina, welcome back." The duchess reached the end of the stairs and saw Evelina's sad expression.

"Eve? What's wrong dear..?" The duchess said with concern.

"Nothings wrong mother." Evelina smiled sweetly as she hugged her mother. But her smiling appearence only made everyone more concerned and worried.

"Eve you can tell us what's wrong. Don't keep it to yourself" as a protective and caring older brother, Alex couldn't stand seeing his precious sister upset.

"Ugh...." Angelina muttered quietly and rolled her eyes. She didn't want to witness this act of familial love so she immediately went upstairs with Eric and Marie.

*************

After performing that ritual with the priestess, Eric was exhausted and immediately fell into a deep slumber.

Marie wanted to accompany Angelina, but her hungry stomach stopped her. She had to give in and leave Angelina to fill her empty stomach.

Angelina returned to her room and noticed something on her bed.

It was a letter....

And on that letter was the seal of the royal family of the Vancelia Empire.

Without hesitation, Angelina opened it and read it carefully.

[ Lily, how are you? I hope your doing alright in there. Your debut is approaching and I can't deny that I'm indeed looking forward to it. Perhaps it's because I've never been to your debut even during our past life. As I have said before, don't be afraid to ask for help. I know how stubborn and prideful you are. But there's no need to be too shy or ashamed to ask for some assistance. I'll always be on your side]