Heroine On Strike

She wasn’t sure how that woman had gotten here, but what made her come this far was certainly Cladis’s declaration to break up with her. Ella heard about the breaking of an engagement twice before. However, Clara doubted her just because she was with Cladis in this room.

‘I know I made an expression that can cause a misunderstanding, but her looks tell me everything that happened. Tsk tsk,’ thought Ella.

She felt a bit sorry for Clara, whose efforts were now in vain, but she still felt great because she didn’t need to worry about a disaster from the empress. Ella might have faced the worst-case scenario of having to leave the country with her loved family of Marquis behind. Also, if Cladis had abandoned Clara, then it also meant that he wouldn’t care how she dealt with her.

Ella’s lips rose on one side. She didn’t even need to dirty her hands to take care of Clara. She just needed to remove the protective lid that she had on just a little. It could be tomorrow or today.

‘It’ll be annoying if this causes a fuss, so let’s do it after Cladis returns to the Academy.’

After contemplating when she’ll make her move, Ella suddenly realized what she was thinking about and froze. The thought that Ranhee would never even think to try had so easily controlled her. Chills ran down her back. Since when did she think of such thoughts so easily? She was afraid that the unreasonable logic belonging to nobles only of this world had become so accustomed to Ella herself.

Ella then looked at Clara with a new thought in mind. What might she be thinking as a fellow foreigner? Is she as confused as me? Come to think of it, this was the first time they were talking to each other privately.

They would have happily greeted each other if the circumstances were different. Not only that, they could have asked where they were from and shared their fears and discomfort. But their relationship was uncomfortable as Clara’s current expression was. Ella came to hate her even more because she twisted the situation even further. So, she wanted to see her face distort even more.

As she watched Clara, who seemed unable to wake up from her shock, Ella smiled brightly and asked, “Lady Mellin, may I ask you a question?”

“No,” responded Clara.

Her response was immediate, but Ella didn’t mind. She knew Clara would decline, but the question actually had more meaning only because she hated it. She then asked, “Where are you from?”

“What?”

“I heard from Xyle that you’re from another place.”

Angered by Ella’s weird question, the woman’s face turned right at Ella after mentioning Xyle’s name. Her expression turned dark as if it had witnessed the corner of hell and drastically turned when she heard about “another place.” It was hard to tell, but a strange hint of arrogance appeared on her face that irritated Ella.

“I’ll tell you since you already know. I’m from Sailyn, the most blessed land in the Lanail continent, where the grace of only the god Yggdrasil flows. It’s a land where you can see the World Tree from anywhere and where you can live under its graceful influence. It is incomparable to this god-forsaken land.”

‘Lies! What the heck is she talking about?’ Ella was left dazed by Clara’s unexpected speech. But soon, a cold smile appeared on her face as she thought, ‘She’s from a different world?’

She never thought of the possibility that Clara might have come from a place other than Earth. It was an unnecessary guess. That’s why Ella asked the question. She anticipated that if she heard a familiar name from Clara and witnessed her confusion, then she could keep her sanity as a modern person. But she never expected such an answer.

‘You never know what’s ahead of you. Another world, huh? Unbelievable.’

Ella first got rid of the word “lies” from her head. Then she also ripped off the title, “the only other foreigner who’s from the same world,” from Clara, which was the only thing that saved her until now.

After thinking of Clara as some weirdo from a completely different world and not as a fellow person from Earth, it completely changed how Ella thought of her. The slightest of hesitation had just completely disappeared because of her revealed identity. Clara, however, didn’t know Ella’s opinion had changed and was still within her daydream of the world of her past.

“People like you who have been abandoned by God will never understand. I know. I sound crazy, right? There are some who doubt it even om Lanail if they aren’t from Saylin. They dare to deny the existence of Princess Rylien. But nobody would dare deny her if they had seen her. Even those nobles and the royal family who are blind for power bow to her. An ordinary person like you could never imagine her beauty and mysterious power.”

She spoke with sparkly eyes as if that princess was in front of her. Ella thought Clara was someone who deeply believed in a cult that she had seen on TV once. Was it because of that? She decided to trust her, but her stories still sounded like nonsense. Who would have thought that she would speak such nonsense on and on with that mouth of hers?

‘A princess that makes even the royal family bow? What kind of hierarchy is that?’ Ella had never heard of Lanail, where some weird princess lives. She just scoffed at such words. All she could imagine was Europe, the other end of Earth, or somewhere on Earth where the novel was published, and there were people who enjoyed it. ‘Isn’t it weird to think that there are people from another world who have read the same novel I read?’

Ella reconfirmed her knowledge and tried to deny these usual circumstances. But Clara’s explanation was more detailed. She then remembered when she was curious about where Clara might have come from. It was right after she had heard about another foreigner from Xyle.

“There are often ones like you. Those who believe the world they have read is all it is and think that they are the protagonist of this world.”

‘Ones that believe the world they have read is all it is.’