Chapter 37 – Déjà vu (2)
Lila couldn’t help but direct a question to her at that moment. “Hmm you have a sharp tongue, are you by any chance, close to the Wipere family?”
Edith’s eyes grew wide at her query. “What? The Wipere family?” Shelooked genuinely confused so Lila had to retract the thought. “Why is that name coming out when we’re talking about you getting married?”
“That’s the only place where information about my remarriage could come from. You must be very close to them.”
Lila tilted her head with an innocent expression, even though she knew that there was almost a zero percent chance of Edith being connected to the Wipere family she still wanted to test the waters. The Wipere family did not socialize, as they would often ignore calls from the emperor. Those with the Wipere name only socialized among themselves, they only compared themselves to those who could control rings, and even then those people were considered below the Wipere family.
Edith seemed to have jumped back on her feet. “You’re marrying someone of the Wipere family, right?” Edith thought things through quickly, and the crowd became loud again.
“I heard that Count Lacias Wipere is coming to this party”
“That can’t be true.”
Lacias hated socializing the most out of the Wipere family, officially he had never attended a single party.
She looked at Lila and asked with an almost condescending tone. “Are you marrying Count Lacias Wipere?”
Lila tracked where her mind was going. There were only a few unmarried men left in the Wipere family, and since Lacias was coming to the party he was a very possible option. The crowd of onlookers went on a little wild talk after her question, but they calmed down soon after, with their condescending look replaced with a more respectable one. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that Edith was actually trying to help her with her reputation.
However, Lila doubted herself. No, why would Edith help me when we’re not friends? Few people ever helped Lila nevermind someone who she didn’t know very well. Edith had to have been no exception. Lila shrugged and stepped back after excusing herself.
“It can’t be Count Lacias. He refused the princess’s offer.”
“Can’t you see that she’s bluffing? She disappeared without an answer.”
Edith’s eyes were chasing Lila among the whispers. She seemed to have a different thought in mind.
*
Lila moved to a side of the room to check what the aristocrats were doing before Hild Senior arrived. She remembered Lacias telling her that he would arrive late so she really had nothing to do until he arrived, doing something useful with her time was always the option she’d opt for.
This is a good spot.
Lila observed the crowd as she needed to learn the relationships that had not been explained in detail in the original story. After a small while, Lila spotted a suspicious-looking short man with a tight-led suit.
Why does he look so out of place?
The man reminded her of a puzzle piece that was placed in the wrong spot, he seemed to be unaware of social manners and did not remember the aristocrats’ names that approached him, citing that they were on friendly terms.
He looks vaguely familiar though.
Lila’s eyes traveled towards him despite the man being a stranger to her.
Is that Baron Doug Blake?
His attire and crest on his chest confirmed this theory. Even though he was barely even mentioned in the original work, Lila could vaguely remember him as someone she knew well. She only knew his name because she had memorized the details of each aristocrat before the party. However something about him still seemed off.
Doug seemed to be sharing the same thoughts because he was giving her the same look she gave him.
But we have not met each other?
He most certainly never attended the original Mrs Marshmell’s wedding, because Lila had also seen and memorized every guest who attended from previous invitation cards listed. Officially Mrs. Marshmell and Baron Doug Blake had no known connections. Yet Lila couldn’t shake off the strange déjà vu feeling he gave her.
Feeling strangely uncomfortable under his watchful eyes, she decided to confront him with a stare of her own, Unbeknownst to her, he had gotten up and was walking her way. Now, her attention on him only seemed to make him quicken his pace to a power walk hurrying over to her table. Lila only had one thought in mind. Menacing.