“So you’ve returned too. Pfft, I’m so happy. Sylvia, you haven’t been… home in a very, long time, have you?”
Celthina looked at the panting girl before her, then shook her head with a light laugh. Her playful gaze drifted toward the temple beside them as she chuckled softly.
“But, what a shame. That Miss Keti seems to have already entered the Sacred Tree Temple with Mr. Lynn. They’ve already gone inside. You seem to… have arrived one step too late. How tragic…”
Her calm words made it seem as if the person who had just hurried Keti and Lynn toward the temple didn’t exist.
The Lord Regent only showed her usual gentle smile — no, it was a smile she wouldn’t show to anyone else — as she looked intently at the girl before her.
*Slap!*
A crisp slapping sound suddenly rang out in the air. Layla’s whole body tensed at the sound. When she realized what had happened, she looked at the scene before her in shock.
Sylvia’s hand was suspended in mid-air, her eyes filled with fierce hatred. On the other side was a situation the purple-haired jellyfish-haired lady couldn’t understand even more.
A bright red handprint had actually appeared on the face of the mage executive, Lady Celthina.
The force was so great that a trickle of blood even flowed from the Great Elf’s nose, and her figure even swayed slightly.
Everything seemed to indicate that the slap — which looked like it was intended to kill — had actually been delivered by Sylvia to Lady Celthina!
‘No, no, no, this is… this is way too much. What is she doing?!’
Layla, who completely misunderstood the situation, was scared witless. ‘What did Sylvia just do? She slapped the Executive right in the face? Did she… did she have a death wish?!’
*Click…*
‘Now, even though I’m her teammate, I have absolutely no idea how to save her. What on earth is going on? Will I be caught and executed as well because of their association?! This is agony —!’
*Gulp.*
The jellyfish-haired lady swallowed nervously. However, after a moment, she realized the situation wasn’t quite what she had imagined.
Celthina didn’t rain down thunderous fury, and Sylvia didn’t kneel to beg for mercy or claim she was mentally unstable. On the contrary…
Sylvia remained aggressive, looking as if she wanted to explode at the other woman. Meanwhile, Lady Celthina merely covered her cheek, wearing a look of disappointment and grievance.
‘What is this situation? Huh?’
Even though she couldn’t understand it, Layla’s brain was desperately trying to find an explanation. ‘Wait, could this Lady Celthina be an imposter?’
Layla wasn’t even sure if she truly remembered Celthina’s face. ‘Is it possible this person isn’t the Lord Regent at all? But when I called her name earlier, she responded, right?’
*Click…*
‘That doesn’t make sense then. I couldn’t have remembered it wrong. That means… oh, right! Right!’
In an instant, Layla seemed to realize something. Come to think of it, Sylvia was an Elf too.
And judging by Celthina’s words just now, there was clearly a connection between the two of them.
‘But… what kind of connection? In any case, it must be to the extent where Sylvia can slap her and she doesn’t even dare to speak up, right?’
*Hiss —*
‘In that case, isn’t my teammate even more powerful than the Executive? No way —!’
In a flash, the Priestess went through every time she had offended Sylvia recently. The more she thought, the more terrifying it became.
Fortunately, when they first formed the team, she had helped Sylvia out a bit. She didn’t know if her merits and faults would cancel out enough for her to survive. *Gulp…*
So, what was the deal? What was the relationship between these two?!
Layla held her breath. After a long while, she heard Sylvia beside her look up. With a dark expression, Sylvia asked Celthina coldly:
“So, have you had enough fun yet? Heh… Heh heh heh. Lord Regent, why did you find one or two teachers from the Magic Academy to enter the temple? You clearly sent them there to die! What exactly are you trying to do?!”
It was an almost hysterical roar. Layla couldn’t help but worry that Sylvia would collapse from the exertion and hurriedly stepped forward to support her.
However, the Priestess was pushed aside by Sylvia. Then, the green-haired Elf continued shouting hysterically at Celthina:
“Haven’t you had enough? Isn’t it enough?! Everything I had… everything was stolen by you! You demon! You bastard! You pervert! Even the last thing I wanted to have… you want to take her away too?! You… you…”
“Hmph… How unsightly…”
Celthina covered her swollen cheek and slowly looked up, revealing a playful smile. “Sylvia, what are you doing fiddling with that eyepatch? Do you want to… activate that Magic here and… kill me?”
“I do! I really do! I’ve wanted to kill you for so long! I want to kill you 10,000 times over!!! Aaaahhhh —!”
Layla quickly stepped forward and hugged Sylvia, whose body was twisting in pain. She frantically cast Holy Light.
However, this was purely out of habit; it was useless. After all, Sylvia’s body hadn’t suffered any physical damage, so healing magic was ineffective.
But this time, Layla actually remembered Calming Magic. She hurriedly cast the formation. A moment later, Sylvia collapsed weakly into Layla’s arms. She then gritted her teeth at the other woman.
“Mind your own business…”
“Ugh, Sylvia, calm down. You’re always so impulsive. That’s the mage executive…”
Layla wiped the cold sweat from Sylvia’s forehead. Only then did Sylvia take a deep breath and slowly stand up.
However, she was still gnashing her teeth. It seemed that the moment she saw Celthina, the Calming Magic lost its effect.
What exactly had happened? What kind of story was behind this? Why did Sylvia harbor such intense malice toward this woman known as the great elf and mage executive?
Layla wiped the sweat from her own forehead, feeling confused. Then, she saw Celthina let out a helpless sigh, shaking her head with a cold laugh.
“Though I’m used to you always accusing me, you’ve truly misunderstood me this time, Sylvia. You think I sent them into the temple to die? Heh, that’s impossible. Because…”
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