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

It may not have ended in a killing spree, but it sure is mental torture.

Maximilian took longer than usual to give Lady a stern lecture. It would have been not too bad if it was not for the grim and ominous look he had on his face the whole time. Weiss and Fallon were witnesses to the scene – much to her chagrin. They got to watch the entire thing from start to finish.

"Are they always like this?" Weiss asked, looking all awkward and tense.

"Unfortunately, they are. It's hell to live under the same roof as them," Fallon answered nonchalantly.

"Wait, you're living together with Lady?"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't even dream of that."

"Why not?"

"You'd know if only you'd spent so much a day there. Once, we've had a sleepover in their place, and I've had barely gotten a wink of sleep. She's snoring so loud all night long, and she's a terrible sleeper. The morning after wasn't any good either. Not only did she end up occupying a large part of my bed even though she had her own, but it also took a lot of time and energy to wake her up. I couldn't even catch a break and get a cup of coffee back then since I still wasn't supposed to be allowed to drink one."

"Oh, wow... Sounds kinda fun."

At that, Fallon regards Weiss with an incredulous face.

He felt like he didn't hear that right – simply because he believed that no one would've ever said that it's fun in any way. But after seeing how he's looking at him with poorly concealed jealousy, he's finally convinced that there's nothing wrong with his ears.

"Seriously, dude?"

"What?"

Cutting off their conversation then was Lady. She suddenly burst forward then hid behind Fallon. He turned to look at where she came from and saw Maximilian coming over while still glaring daggers. Deciding that he didn't want to get involved, he stepped aside and left her uncovered, which caused her to whine out complaints before choosing to move towards Weiss instead. 

"W-What's the matter, Lady?" he blurted out, taken by surprise and confusion.

"This is bad, Weiss! This shouldn't be happening at all!" she half-whispered, half-screamed at him while clutching his arm tightly, which ended up with her unconsciously pressing her chest against him. 

"U-Ummm… L-Lady, my arm-"

"Him scolding me for already half an hour! That's what's bad! He shouldn't have given a damn about me and just went straight to the principal's office where the love of his life is waiting! This is a total waste of time!"

"H-Hold on. I-I think you s-should let go first-"

"Oh, gosh! He's still coming for me! Hasn't he had enough yet?! Please, help!"

Getting the feeling that prying his way out of this predicament won't work when Lady was being like this, he forced himself to calm down and forget about the incredible softness that's pushing against him for a moment. Yet, trying to do so turned out to be harder than Weiss thought, so instead, he resorted to reciting the periodic table of elements in his head if only to shift his focus somewhere else. It was effective, but it wasn't enough to put him anywhere near at ease once Maximilian stopped right in front of them. 

His ire changed targets then. He's now scowling down at him in extreme displeasure – as if he's repulsed. He's eyeing one certain spot. 

Weiss knows that Maximilian knows what Lady doesn't know.

"What do you think you're doing with my daughter?" he hissed, pure venom in his tone. 

"Maybe she'll let go if you stop scaring her, President," he dared retort even though he felt himself stiffening under the intensity of his gaze.

"Me scaring her? Why would she be scared?"

"I mean, she already received quite a scolding from our homeroom teacher earlier. She's barely hanging on by the time you've begun doing the same, just so you know." 

Weiss would've said that it's because the expression he's making is terrifying. But he discerned that pushing buttons won't make a good first impression. He chose to hold back since this was Lady's father he's dealing with. Now's not the time to be conniving. Maximilian won't probably believe him if he told him the truth anyway. 

"Who are you to talk to me like that, boy?"

"My name is Weiss. It's a pleasure to meet you, President Mireille."

"Surname?"

"Oh, umm-"

"Weiss Oh-Am? What a weird surname. Kinda explains your weird hair color too. Is everyone in the Oh-Am family weird?"

From the side, Fallon can't help but explode in laughter. He immediately covered his mouth before Maximilian noticed. Weiss already caught on to it, though.

"Don't call Weiss weird, Daddy!" Lady suddenly piped, hugging Weiss tighter.

"Get your hands off of him, Lady," Maximilian ordered, getting more and more vexed by the second.

"No! You're being rude to him! Apologize first!"

"What does that even have to do with anything?"

"So you're admitting you're being rude?!"

"Don't put words in my mouth and test my patience again, young woman. If you don't stop clinging to him, I'm about to be more than just that-"

"We're friends! What's wrong with clinging?! We do this all the time!"

"All the time?! Do you even know what you're saying?!"

Weiss can't seem to get another opportunity to cut in. Maximilian and Lady are already too lost in their heated exchange.

Having realized just that, Fallon finally decided to step in and announce, "Excuse me, Uncle Max. I think you're expected to meet up with Principal Abel since thirty minutes ago. Lady, go on and take him there already."

It took almost ten more attempts like that to put a cease to Maximilian's fit. He was only fully persuaded when Lady released her grip on Weiss and agreed to walk close to him on their way to the principal's office.

Fallon had a really fun time that day. 

---

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

Lady, upon hearing the news from Ms. Mirabella, was in utter shock.

Sarah is sitting across from her at the moment – arms folded against each other, lips curved down in a frown. She appears to have turned into an empty, lifeless shell, unable to look straight at Lady. Maximilian has taken the seat right beside her, looking nothing but inconvenienced.

"So then, how do we resolve this issue if no one can come for her?" he asked the class adviser, his bored expression making her shift slightly behind her office desk.

"We already contacted her guardian ourselves. But nobody at home was answering," she tried to explain but was still too flummoxed herself. 

"You called even though she already told you that she could not get in touch with anyone from her family?" 

"That's not completely the case, Sir. She's living with her mother."

"And she can't reach her? That's it?"

"She could, and she did. But she said she won't be coming."

Lady was frozen distraught throughout that entire explanation. In some way, she looks worse than Sarah who's just quietly moping at the other side.

She just heard Ms. Mirabella say that Regina won't be coming. She just saw Maximilian act like he couldn't care less about it.

'Huh? She's not really coming? Why? Did something go wrong? Is she okay? How did this happen? What's going on? Did I manage to change the story again? She'll appear, right? Maybe she's only late?'

Questions after questions flooded Lady's brain. Then, as if on cue with her inner calamity, Sarah bolted up from her seat and stormed out of the office. 

"Ms. Gracelyn?!" Ms. Mirabella called, taken aback.

"Please, I already explained the situation. I'm going to take responsibility for the whole issue with our essays, Ma'am – I'll take the punishment. There's nothing else I can do to bring my mother here," Sarah muttered with a hint of annoyance and exhaustion before closing the office door.

"Wait, Ms. Gracelyn, we still have to-"

"I'll go to her, Ms. Mirabella," Lady chimed in and stood up.

"And why do you have to do that, Lady?" Maximilian rasped.

"I'll just talk with Sarah. Be back in a moment."

Without giving them any more time to speak, she headed out and looked for Sarah. She didn't notice passing by Weiss and Fallon as she hurried down the hall outside the faculty office. Thinking that she couldn't have possibly gotten that far yet, Lady decided to check some of the classrooms.

And sure enough, she's inside one of them.

Lady found her packing her things up in a haste. She knew that Sarah heard her enter, but she did not turn around. 

"Sarah, listen-"

"Are you satisfied now?"

Out of nowhere, she snapped at her. She's thrown off guard by how shaky yet icy her voice came out. Rather than anger, though, she senses shame and humiliation. That must explain why she refuses to face her. 

"What else do you want from me? I already said I'd take the punishment.. Do you still want me to apologize? You know that I haven't cheated," Sarah huffed exasperatedly while all Lady could do was cringe inwardly.