“Huh?” Lilian was dumbfounded by Ian’s words.
Although Lilian didn’t attend yesterday’s courtship ball, she was present at the scene.
Naturally, she heard Aetherina’s reason for rejecting Veronica: that she wasn’t independent enough.
And now Ian was telling her to go find Aetherina and help her search for her lost pearl? Wasn’t that just setting her up to be disliked by Aetherina?
Could Ian have betrayed her? Even though Veronica had fired him, was he still siding with her?
At this thought, Lilian’s deep red eyes shimmered with tears, her voice trembling with a hint of a sob, as if she might cry any second.
“Bad Ian, you never planned to help me win Aetherina over.”
Since Lilian was brought back from the common folk by the Saintess family, she had only been valued by the family initially.
As Veronica rose to prominence again, Lilian gradually fell out of favor.
After all, an era could only have one Saintess, and everyone else in the family was just a backdrop.
Lilian had tried hard too, but without the family’s resources, she couldn’t keep up with Veronica.
Under Ian’s guidance, Veronica’s strength kept growing, completely leaving Lilian behind.
Now, Veronica’s Saintess bloodline had been developed to 9%.
She was just one step away from earning the Goddess’s approval to reach 10% and become the true Saintess.
And Lilian? Her Saintess bloodline development was still at 3%.
Only by passing the first Saintess trial could she break through to 4%.
She had been trying hard to pass the first trial, but it was incredibly difficult.
The first Saintess trial required earning others’ recognition, which for the naive and clumsy Lilian was undoubtedly the hardest challenge.
Ever since Veronica passed that trial, no one believed Lilian was qualified to be the Saintess.
Sometimes, she even wondered if she truly belonged to the Saintess family.
Perhaps she was just a tool the family brought in to spur Veronica on?
Yet the Saintess blood flowing through her veins told her she was indeed part of the family.
After Veronica passed all three Saintess trials, Lilian stopped thinking about them.
To her, they seemed pointless.
She had always lived in Veronica’s shadow.
Even when she saw Aetherina, like Veronica, she believed Aetherina was the one who saved her as a child.
But what could she do? If even Veronica couldn’t win Aetherina over, could she?
In her mind, as long as Veronica was around, Aetherina would never choose her.
Even if Aetherina didn’t choose Veronica, it wouldn’t be Lilian’s turn.
But when Aetherina rejected Veronica’s confession yesterday and Veronica fired Ian, Lilian knew her chance had come.
She believed that with Ian’s help, she might have a shot at turning the tables in the battle to win Aetherina.
But now, Ian’s actions left her disappointed.
“So, even after Veronica fired you, you’re still siding with her, Ian?” Lilian’s voice quivered, tears threatening to spill, though she held them back.
As a child, the silver dragon who saved her had told her that crybabies weren’t the type people liked.
Since then, no matter how great her grievances, Lilian never let a tear fall, at most letting them well up in her eyes.
Seeing Lilian’s red eyes, on the verge of tears, Ian was baffled about what he’d done to upset her so much.
Wasn’t he just giving her normal advice? She must have misunderstood something.
“What do you mean I wasn’t planning to help you win Aetherina? I’m seriously giving you advice here.” Ian said.
“Really? Then why are you telling me to go find Aetherina and help her look for the pearl?” Lilian asked. “Didn’t you just tell Veronica that Aetherina likes independent people and should search alone? Now you’re telling me to go with her. I don’t think you’re trying to help me win her at all.”
Ian finally realized he hadn’t explained himself to Lilian.
But how could he explain? Tell her straight up that Aetherina was a manipulative woman and her “liking independent people” was just an excuse to reject Veronica?
Would Lilian even believe him? And how could Ian explain how he knew Aetherina’s words were an excuse?
Just say he wasn’t from this world, that he’d transmigrated from another? Then Lilian would probably look at him like he was crazy.
“I can’t explain it in a way you’d understand right now, but trust me, I’m not lying. I’m telling you to do this for a reason.” Ian tried.
But Lilian still looked at him skeptically, clearly unconvinced by his words.
Seeing her distrust, Ian felt frustrated.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him, recalling a childhood swearing method from his past life.
Ian extended his right pinky. “If you don’t believe me, we can pinky swear.”
Hearing Ian’s words, Lilian’s expression softened.
Unbeknownst to Ian, this world had no culture of pinky swearing.
His past-life thinking made him overlook this, focused only on getting Lilian to trust him.
Lilian, eyes still red, looked at Ian’s extended pinky and said, “No need for a pinky swear. I believe you.”
This was the swearing method taught to her by the silver dragon who saved her as a child.
No one else should know it.
She didn’t know why Ian knew it too, but she didn’t want to do this with him.
In Lilian’s heart, it was a special gesture reserved for her and the silver dragon.
“Alright, stop crying. Aetherina won’t like a little crybaby.” Ian comforted her.
Lilian’s face flushed, embarrassed. “Who’s crying? I don’t see any tears.”
Seeing her flustered expression and darting eyes, Ian couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Argh, don’t laugh! I’m not crying!” Lilian flailed like an angry kitten at Ian.
“Okay, okay, I won’t laugh. Now go find Aetherina.” Ian said.
“By myself?” Lilian pointed at herself, uncertain.
“Who else?” Ian replied.
Ian had no intention of getting near Aetherina right now.
Just that morning, he’d taken the pearl from her chambers.
Though the pearl’s power was miraculous, suppressing the dragon blood in his body and masking his demonic aura, what if Aetherina had a backup plan?
Going to her now would be like a sheep walking into a tiger’s den.
So, staying away from Aetherina was the safest bet.
“But I’m a bit scared to go alone.” Lilian clutched her skirt, nervous.
“Scared of what? Aetherina’s not going to eat you. And even if you wanted her to, do you think she’d agree?”
“I think Aetherina’s the one who should be scared of you doing something to her.”
At Ian’s words, Lilian’s face turned bright red. “What are you even saying? Your mind is so dirty!”
“Wait, you actually understood that?” Ian had thought Lilian wouldn’t get it, given her naive demeanor.
“Hmph, I’m not going to eat Aetherina.” Lilian pouted, clearly displeased.
Then she added softly, “At least not now.”
“Alright, alright. Go find her now. If you wait too long, she might find the pearl, and then she won’t need you.” Ian said, turning to head back to his dorm to sleep.
But after a few steps, he felt a tug on his clothes, stopping him.
“Come with me.” Lilian said.