Lady Misfortune: Daddy, I'll Be A Righteous Villainess!

"There you are, Young Miss."

Sylvia breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing Lady enter the car and settle down at the passenger seat.

She said she's just going to drop by at a flower shop somewhere near their destination. That store seems to be starting to top the bakery in her list of favorite places. She knows that it's where she always buys flowers for her grandparents, but she doubts that's the only reason why her visit there is getting more often these days. 

"Your father wouldn't be happy if you're late for your cousins' party, you know," Sylvia reminded. 

"Father is never happy with anything I do," Lady snorted.

"What did you do there, anyway? I thought you already reserved an order yesterday morning?" 

"I met up with a friend!"

Her personal attendant paused and blinked.

She knows her well enough by this point. In fact, almost everyone in the household does - and they're all aware that her making 'friends' outside the school can mean trouble. That's because the only kinds of people she always ends up befriending are either a mob of gangsters or a group of street children. This had even turned into an issue of safety and dignity among the family back then.

"Were you wandering around in some backstreet again, Young Miss?" 

"Huh? No, I wasn't. I already told you I went to the flower shop." 

"Who's this friend of yours? And how's he so important that you've even taken time to make a detour just to meet up with him?"

"His name is William. I'm close with him and his mother… I think. He's fun to talk with. Just a little shy and a bit aloof. Kinda reminds me of Fallon." 

"Please, refrain from befriending just anyone. You have to think about-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, Sylvia. More importantly, shouldn't we be on our way now? At this rate, we'll really be late."

And with that, the matter is closed.

Sylvia would just have to report this to Maximilian later. She's not going to let Lady off the hook that easily – not after she insisted she'd want to see this William on their way to the party location.

Speaking of which, it seems that the whole family is going to gather together tonight in order to celebrate her cousins' academic achievements. Apparently, they've just earned enough merits to join the academy's Student Elite Society, which should indeed call for a celebration.

However, Lady has never been in a good relationship with Bryce, Art, and Travis. Whenever they're around, some kind of trouble would always pop up. Fallon used to be the one who would clean up after them. But recently, he began joining the fight and playing pranks on the three boys instead.

Sylvia can't say that Lady is a bad influence on Fallon, though. 

"Hey, how's my favorite cousin doing~?" she heard her Young Miss coo the moment they arrived at the party venue and found the Young Master waiting near the entrance.

As always, the event is large-scale. They reserved a whole five-star restaurant just for it. But since the family alone is already quite big, it's only reasonable. 

Sylvia watches as Lady gets scolded by Fallon. 

Her greeting didn't work, it seemed. She knew she only made up that 'favorite cousin' part after she noticed his foul mood. As it turned out, she was late for twenty minutes, and he wasn't too happy about it.

"I don't even know why I agreed to wait for you in the first place. Escort, my ass. I should've just let you have your so-called fashionable entrance on your own," Fallon ranted.

"But a true star always arrives late!" Lady retorted. 

"And earn their parents' wrath? Huh. Suit yourself. I'm not doing this again."

"Okay, fine! I'm sorry! I'll be early next time! Just be my escort again!"

"Whatever."

"Fallonnn!!!"

With a nonchalant look, he turned around and started to walk back inside, leaving her behind. She whined as she ran after him, but he continued to ignore her. When she reached him, she grabbed a hold on his arm and wrapped her hands around it, tugging him back to match her pace.

Sylvia can't help but smile at the scene. Among this family, Lady and Fallon really have the most interesting dynamic.

No pretense. No competition. No getting jealous of the other.

They may bicker and banter a lot, but it's clear that they deeply care about each other. Perhaps, that's the reason why their other cousins are giving them envious looks sometimes. They may not be as accomplished as they are right now, yet they always seem to be having so much fun.

"Hey, you two, Grandfather is calling for everyone. We're taking a family picture."

Speaking of the devil.

Bryce suddenly appeared just before they entered the banquet hall. Art and Travis are behind him – all three in their own exquisite formal attires. Lady and Fallon stopped to acknowledge them. 

"I see that you two never changed. Fashionably late as always," Art commented sarcastically.

"You really should stop hanging around this girl, Fallon. She's only holding you back. Honestly, you would've already made it to the SES too if you won't let her distract you all the time," Travis scoffed. 

"Don't get it wrong, Fallon. We're only looking out for you. You've got huge potential, after all. Before she came, you're one of us," Bryan added. 

Lady made an unimpressed look while Fallon showed an uninterested one. 

Both were exasperated - of course, they'd have to come in and ruin their evening the moment they had the chance. But instead of giving them the satisfaction of riling them up, they gave each other a glance and had a silent agreement to just play it cool.

After a short moment of silence, Lady beamed brightly at the three of them. From her side, Fallon lifted his chin up and cocked his head condescendingly. 

"Congrats, you three! You're all amazing! Even though it had only been two weeks since you started high school, you already achieved so much! We're so proud of you!" she cheered out of nowhere, bamboozling their cousins.

"Yeah, congrats. You're impressive," he chimed in next, bemusing them even more. 

"We should spend more time with one another, you know. That'll be a good opportunity to strengthen our bonds! I know that school is important, but there's more to life than that. You have to enjoy yourselves sometimes!"

"I don't think they'll understand, Lady. They're too busy entertaining others to entertain their own selves. Makes sense that they worked so hard they made it to the SES. When they're not holed up in their rooms and studying their butts off like there's no tomorrow, they're showing off somewhere else."

"Oh, that's quite sad – stressing yourself out for the sake of having something to boast about, that is. But I think you can enter the SES without trying that hard, Fallon. You can have fun and work hard at the same time."

"Got any plans to join me?"

"Nah. Our cousins' are right. It's not for me. But I'd rather receive no honor than be a crowd-pleaser. It's already enough that I pass."

"That's too bad. Pretty sure it'd be boring there without you."

"I can try for your sake. You have to help me study, though."

"Even if I do that, I know you're not going to take it seriously."

"I will if I've got the proper motivation! And you're my motivation!"

"Hmph. Cheesy."

"I'm serious!" 

Bryce, Art and Travis have no idea how to react. 

They've got the implication, but they're dumbfounded regardless. It's just that the way they're talking doesn't feel like they're present in the conversation at all. After congratulating them, they didn't look at any of them again – almost as if they'd turned invisible. They're also completely unaffected by what they said. Maybe they couldn't even care less.

It's almost scary how they do it in perfect sync. 

As they remain at a loss of words, Lady and Fallon continue on with their teasing – lost in their own little world. Then, just like that, the two of them walked past the three boys, heading for the banquet hall where the rest of their family was waiting. 

Sylvia was watching from the side the whole time. Based on what she just witnessed, Lady and Fallon were using the 'I-Don't-Give-A-Damn' treatment on their cousins again. She doubts they'll stop with only that, though – in fact, Bryce, Art, and Travis should probably be bracing themselves right now. 

'Knowing those two, they probably already have another one of those pranks prepared.'

---

"My lovely flower! You're finally here!" 

Penelope was the first to greet Lady as soon as she and Fallon arrived. She continued to hold onto his arm the entire time, which was probably too much since she could see everyone turning their heads in their direction almost instantly – their closeness was too attention-catching, it seemed. Benedict was the one to welcome them next. 

"You two are really like twins! Ever the inseparable!" 

Lady can't help but grin at what they've just been called, and to her delight, Fallon seems to like it as well – if the smirk he shows then is anything to go by, that is.