Chapter 56: Whisk in Some Color

Chapter 56

Whisk in Some Color

The young woman’s eyebrows knitted together as she stood outside the circle of conversation. It was clear that if Aria were allowed to continue speaking, everything would just fall apart. This was not the capital city; this wasn’t a place where everyone had to respect the upper class. As the professor had said before, coming here meant abandoning their own statuses to work diligently because this was a crisis. Thus, there was a specific rule for this scenario: those who work were the important ones...

"Who do you think you are! You think you can lecture me...."

"Lady Aria, Lady Vida, I saw that someone was looking for you. I’m not sure if it’s urgent or not." Ellie could no longer stand by quietly. If everything continued according to Nara’s plan, the priest’s assistants here would instantly become supporters of the other party, and that meant in the future...Nara’s reputation from her first mission would surely follow her.

Aria, abruptly interrupted, glanced around irritably. She was about to teach this lower-class woman a lesson, but then someone intervened!

However, after seeing who it was, Aria’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

She wasn’t foolish enough to think that Ellie appeared to help Nara, who was a former best friend. It was obvious how much the two despised each other, whether it was Nara’s feelings or Ellie’s. Thus, this interruption must have had another meaning.

Vida, already unable to keep up with Aria’s words, knew that Ellie’s arrival was a lifesaver for Aria, not letting her companion, who lacked forethought, fall into a difficult situation. So...after a moment of silence, Vida spoke up,

"I will check on it myself." The noblewoman lifted her chin like a queen and walked away, leaving the confused crowd behind. Aria turned to look at Nara wanting to say more, but ultimately, she turned back to follow Vida and leave the awkward scene behind, leaving many thoughts with the people. However, one of those thoughts was certainly Nara’s dissatisfaction.

"Ellie, why are you interfering in this?" Nara said through her gritted teeth, her voice not very loud but loud enough for Ellie to hear.

"Hmm? What did the prospective priestess say? What am I interfering in?" Ellie replied instantly, her voice not soft at all, and she emphasized "prospective priestess" quite loudly.

Nara’s eyebrows furrowed, clearly aware that Ellie knew what she was saying, yet the other acted as if she didn’t understand at all. Nara wanted to grab Ellie by the collar and shake her in frustration. The plan she had been carefully devised all day was about to collapse because of this foolish woman!

"Sigh, never mind, just don’t get too close to Lady Aria and the others. The attitudes of the two of them aren’t quite appropriate," Nara feigned a sigh, unable to proceed with her plan.

Ellie smiled when she heard this, as if she truly appreciated the warning, but that smile only irked Nara more.

"Thanks for the lecture, prospective priestess. You must have had a fun day playing the role of a priest’s assistant. Soon you’ll be a true priest and then you can properly order around the assistants. I think you should treat the assistants well so that everyone will be eager to help you seriously in the future."

"As for Lady Aria and Lady Vida, actually, they don’t really have such bad attitudes towards us. If it weren’t for the rumors this morning, they wouldn’t have...." Ellie pretended to cover her mouth as if realizing something. However, her words had already created enough trouble.

After the people around heard that Nara was actually a prospective priestess and would be working with the assistants in the future, many students who were still confused about why Nara helped the seemingly unimportant assistants nodded in understanding. Some even voiced their thoughts aloud.

"I was surprised why that scholarship student was defending the assistants, especially after she had expressed her displeasure at being punished by Professor Regan. Turns out...she’s positioning herself to become a priest in the future."

"I thought the same. When Professor Regan punished her, she kept saying it was unfair. Everyone heard it, and even many assistants laughed at her having to do this work."

"Exactly. Turns out...This scholarship student is quite smart, isn’t she?"

"I almost thought she had turned into a good person. Good thing I stayed to watch until the end."

"I think the same as that botanic scholarship student. Lady Vida and Lady Aria aren’t bad people usually. Normally, if no one cause them trouble or they are left to themselves, there wouldn’t be any issues. But it’s because of scholarship student Nara who keeps creating problems."

"I saw on the first day of orientation, although the front seats were for the upper class and the scholarship students’ seats were at the back—a setup that has been the same for decades—suddenly this scholarship student took Lady Vida’s seat. Where else were Lady Vida and Lady Aria supposed to sit? If they had to sit behind the scholarship students, wouldn’t that diminish their dignity? At that time, I thought this student was really creating problems for herself."

"But what makes her so sure she’ll become a true priest! She’s confident so early; shouldn’t she graduate first before being so confident?"

"She is a clever woman. I believe she will graduate. Look at the man she clings to; he’s not much higher in status than her, but his financial resources should help her get through. With Lord Wint’s strength, if she tags along with him on missions, she should be able to score well."

"She dares to snatch someone else’s fiancé and commit such disgrace while undertaking missions to help people, even appearing in a man’s tent like that. What else do you think she can’t think of?"

The students whispered among themselves, and what started as a quiet discussion gradually grew louder until these words spread far and wide. The priest’s assistants who overheard everyone’s comments felt a pull back to reality. Many still remember that Nara really displayed her displeasure when she was punished for working with them. After recalling this and combining it with Nara’s earlier performance, many assistants immediately expressed their dissatisfaction.

"It seems like that woman plans to use us as tools, right?"

"Exactly. I thought she was defending us and was a good person, but actually, she had other expectations all along."

"If in the future we have priests like this, it would truly be a misfortune for assistants like us. Truly evil, even coming up with things like this."

"I was initially surprised too. I heard that the two ladies only insulted her and her man, but as it turned out...this woman claimed the two ladies insulted all of us as well. It made me angry at the two ladies too."

"Same here. If I had expressed my dissatisfaction earlier, and then the families of those two ladies wanted to take it further, we would have been the ones in trouble."

"Soon, when she becomes a priest, she won’t have to endure the whims of the upper class anymore. It will probably just be us fools who continue to suffer our fate!"

Hearing such rapidly changing opinions, Nara clenched her fists in anger. Her gaze fixated on Ellie, who had suddenly become involved. If looks could kill, Ellie would have died hundreds of times over!

"Why does the prospective priestess look at me like that?" Ellie pretended to be scared, but her eyes hid a glint of amusement, which made Nara unbearable. She did not want to see the sinister face of the other party anymore!

"Ellie...remember this, you have chosen to be my enemy today," Nara said spitefully.

"Hmm? Prospective priestess, what are you angry with me? What did I do wrong? If I have misspoken, please show mercy," Ellie feigned fear. However, her demeanor was enough for everyone to see how Nara was abusing her power.

The once close friend watched Ellie’s performance with great displeasure. Deep down, Nara felt that this former friend had changed significantly, almost as if she was not the Ellie she once knew.

If it were the old Ellie, she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her schemes. Moreover, Ellie used to believe everything she said, without any contrary thoughts. Above all, how did Ellie acquire such acting skills? Wasn’t this poor girl supposed to be naive and simple? How could she catch up with the tricks that even she herself couldn’t do? When did she start practicing?!

If Ellie could hear Nara’s thoughts now, she might just burst out laughing. Her acting skills were not poor at all; otherwise, how could she survive in an office environment filled with constant scheming? It all depended on whether Ellie chose to listen and ignore or to retaliate... Such was life at work.

Seeing the disapproving looks of many people watching her, Nara didn’t want to say anything more. She flicked her cute ponytail and walked away, leaving Ellie standing there alone.

Wint, who was unable to catch up with the exchange full of women’s acting skills, looked after Nara. He turned to Ellie, who still appeared worried.

"Today she must be very tired to have shown such behavior towards you, but I think you shouldn’t overthink it. After all, you and she were companions before. She’ll probably calm down soon enough."

The young man, foolishly naïve, offered consolation. Ellie couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at the dim-witted person walking away. Wint was indeed a simple man who couldn’t keep up with others’ schemes. Even now, he still believed everything Ellie said, probably because he had seen Ellie and Nara as companions before, so he assumed there was no issue with Ellie’s words.

If one went back and listened to everything Ellie said, there really shouldn’t be any problem. Everything she said was true. Wint was the type not to think things through. Seeing Ellie smile at Nara and initially complimented her, he understood that Ellie genuinely meant well for Nara. As for Nara’s anger, he took it as her just being overly tired.

This man, so innocent to the point of stupidity...If Ellie was Narra, perhaps she might feel even more exhausted. Comparing Wint to Aman, it seemed like Aman would end up being the perfect hero...

After Wint left, Ellie immediately stepped out of the increasingly contentious situation. People began to talk more about Nara’s expectations of becoming a priest, and the resentment among the priest’s assistants increased. Eventually, the discontent reached the ears of the priests working at the place. Their displeasure towards Nara grew as one word turned into two, then three, changing dramatically before the true message reached the priests.

Some priests heard that Nara was positioning herself as their equal even though she hadn’t been officially accepted by the Church yet. Others heard even more; they heard Nara demeaning them for their inability to manage the epidemic.

Of course, all this only attracted more resentment towards Nara, without Ellie having to do anything extra...Well, with the hatred of the person who said it, whisking in some color was inevitable indeed.