"What did you do to her?" Ivan asked.
A bit of confusion appeared in book Aristia’s eyes.
"Brother Ivan, what do you an?" She asked calmly.
Ivan saw her confused state, and uncertainty appeared in his eyes as he thought that maybe he had misunderstood sothing.
But as his eyes landed on Carolyn’s teary face and aggrieved expression, he frowned. He didn’t think Carolyn would just cry for no reason.
So he turned to Aristia. "I should ask you what you an." He said.
When Ivan’s blaming gaze fell on her for the first ti because of a girl, Aristia couldn’t see original Aristia’s face, but she could feel that Aristia’s face had a strange expression.
Seeing the strange look in her face, Ivan felt a pang of guilt. But Carolyn... He rembered the girl in the garden.
At the sa ti, he rembered his cousin sister’s reputation and character of being an to others. Even though she wasn’t that way anymore, who could say that she had changed for the betterl?
He put on a stern expression and said with a stern tone.
"Tia, it’s ti you stop acting like this. You’re a princess of this kingdom. You can’t just act this way to the people of our kingdom. Don’t bully her just because she has lower status."
The scene attracted attention from others in the banquet hall.
"It’s Princess Aristia and Baron Cornwell’s daughter."
"Baron Cornwell’s daughter is so sweet and kind. The third princess must have done sothing to her."
"But it’s been a while since princess Aristia..."
"Just because it’s been a while doesn’t an she’s not the sa."
Original Aristia was speechless. If it had been anyone else, she would have either made them regret what they did or she wouldn’t even bother with them.
But this was Ivan. Her cousin, family, whom she had grown up with.
This made her unsure of what to say. At the sa ti, she felt a twinge of disappointnt for him.
At that mont, Wade appeared.
"Prince Ivan is right. I know you look down on those of lower status, princess Aristia, but I don’t think Miss Carolyn has done anything to you."
Seeing the newcor, Aristia’s eyes narrowed.
She was a bit hesitant to speak to Ivan, but that didn’t extend to Wade.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, soone appeared beside her.
Both original Aristia and Aristia herself knew who it was without even looking.
Liam stared down at the two with narrowed eyes.
"Ivan, I didn’t expect this from you." He said, making Ivan turn from Aristia to him. "You’re accusing Tia."
"I’m accusing her?" Ivan asked in disbelief. "Can’t you see what she did to Miss Carolyn?"
Liam’s gaze moved from Ivan to Carolyn.
Carolyn, on the other hand, was a bit lost.
She wanted to say that Aristia didn’t do anything to her and she had just been sad that she didn’t want to be her friend, but she didn’t get the chance.
Liam scoffed at her teary eyes and turned back to Ivan.
"How do you know that Tia did sothing to her?" He asked.
Ivan frowned.
But it was Wade who replied. "If she didn’t, why would Carolyn be crying?" He asked.
In his mind, this girl who had bravely stood up for him without caring about status wouldn’t cry so easily, unless soone bullied her.
"I don’t know why she’s crying, and I don’t care. What I want to know is why you’re accusing Tia with proof." Liam said coldly, feeling a bit of disappointnt for Ivan.
They were both Aristia’s cousins. The royal family also valued familial ties.
But here was Ivan. Instead of supporting his cousin even if she did wrong, he was siding with an outsider. The best thing to do would have been to find a way to dissolve the situation and speak to Tia privately instead of causing a scene and embarrassing her.
Did Ivan have a brain?
Aristia herself was disappointed. [Really, is this the sa Ivan I know? How co I didn’t notice he was this dented?]
At the sa ti, she felt herself liking Liam more.
[No wonder original Aristia is closer to him compared to the other family mbers.]
The way Liam stood by her side without swaying was comndable.
Ivan stopped. There was indeed no proof, but was he wrong?
Liam then turned to Wade. "And who do you think you are? What right do you have to talk to Tia that way?"
Suddenly, Aristia held his arm.
Liam’s gaze t hers only to see her shake her head.
"It’s alright."
Liam was about to ask just how this situation was alright, but seeing that she didn’t want to pursue the matter, he took a breath and stopped.
Just as they turned, he sent one last glare at Ivan, Wade and Carolyn.
He scoffed inwardly when Ivan and Wade stepped in front of Carolyn, as if protecting her from his unfriendly gaze.
He held Aristia’s hand and led her away from there.
Behind them, Ivan was confused as he watched their backs. He kept wondering whether he had done the right thing. He thought to ask Carolyn what had happened.
"Are you alright? She didn’t touch you, right?" He heard soone ask.
Turning around, he saw that it was marquis Oswalt’s son. He was hovering in front of Carolyn and making sure she was fine.
Carolyn blinked, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I-I’m fine."
Seeing this, Ivan forgot his intention of asking her what happened.
Original Aristia hadn’t seen this scene, but Aristia saw it.
A sigh bubbled in her chest.
[Is that the power of the female lead over the male leads?] She asked inwardly.
She had gotten so clues about the novel.
It was clear that Ivan was a main lead, and judging from the scene that had just played out, it seed that Wade was also a main lead.
Her attention returned to the current scene. Liam had taken original Aristia away from the three.
At this mont, they had returned to their group.
The others saw them and seed to notice that sothing was wrong.
They had been with Liam when all of a sudden Liam seed to notice sothing.
He excused himself and left. The others hadn’t sensed anything wrong then and had assud he had sothing to do.
In truth, Liam had been listening to the conversation when his eyes noticed sothing in the distance.
His cousin sister and her cousin brother. There was also a girl he didn’t know there too.
Ivan’s expression was not good as he looked at Aristia. This made Liam frown.
He moved to check what was going on, and saw the illegitimate son of Marquis Oswalt also going there.
By the ti he arrived, he managed to catch Ivan and Wade’s words to Aristia.
The others in the group asked what happened, but neither Aristia nor Liam replied, causing them to abandon the topic.
At that mont, Aristia woke up.
She did not know how long she had been in that dream but after taking a look around the dark room, she could guess that it was still nightti.
The first thing she did was look beside her.
She imdiately noticed Millie sleeping in the sa position as she had been.
Aristia sat up. Fortunately, she could control her own movents. It felt weird in the dream where she was moving, but couldn’t control herself.
It was just like watching a movie, but through soone else’s eyes.
She rubbed her hand on her face.
So this was the information the first book she had read in the real world omitted.
Not only was she not the female lead, but she was the villainess.
Ivan was the book’s male lead, and possibly Wade.
She would still have to confirm this. Thankfully, the dreams would make confirming it easy.
[If it can be called dreams. I think it would be better to call it original Aristia’s mory.]
She just hoped that she wouldn’t be filled with anger as she watched the scenes.
Because just the little she had watched had already filled her heart with anger toward Wade and most especially, Ivan.
She was angrier with Ivan because he was family, and family should stick up for each other against outsiders, not let them face scorn from others.
Not only had Ivan not done that, he had gone ahead and outright blad Aristia without caring to know what had happened.
She scoffed lightly. [Aristia bullied Carolyn? It’s better to say that Aristia was the one bullied in the end.]
[And he wanted to ask Carolyn who he just t what happened later? Why didn’t he ask Aristia? Or has his little crush fried his brain?]
But she felt that after what happened, with original Aristia’s personality, if Ivan had later asked, she wouldn’t have said anything.
But if it was herself that had been accused and later asked what Happ, she wouldn’t say a thing either. She might even add a punch for her own comfort.
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