The current situation left Floralia no room for further hesitation.
Outside, Sophia was clearly growing impatient; even the knocks on the door were becoming more urgent.
Not to mention the way Floralia had just opened and closed the door—any ordinary visitor would find that behavior extremely strange.
Without a doubt, it would raise Sophia’s suspicions from outside.
Even if she hadn’t recognized Floralia at first, after all that commotion, it was hard to guarantee she wouldn’t start doubting her.
At this point, the safest approach was to stay calm and steady—responding to any change with unchanging resolve.
Floralia took a deep breath, pulled out a small mirror to check her appearance, then made up her mind and decisively opened the door again.
“Hello!”
Her expression was calm as she fixed her gaze on the tall, graceful, and strikingly elegant young woman standing outside the door.
Noticing the faint trace of confusion flickering across the other’s face, Floralia didn’t give Sophia a chance to speak further and quickly continued:
“Sorry, dear guest, I was a bit abrupt just now. I thought… the person knocking was a friend who’d arranged to visit today, so I didn’t react properly. Truly, I apologize—”
As she spoke with sincere tone, a genuine apologetic look appeared on Floralia’s delicate and charming face. Her bright eyes shimmered with an endearing, lively moisture.
At the same time, Floralia slightly tilted her head and fixed her seemingly casual gaze intently on Sophia’s expression, observing every movement and reaction.
Sophia simply stood at the door, her eyes settling on Floralia’s wheelchair as she quietly examined it for three seconds.
Those three seconds felt like three hundred years. Floralia could feel her heart pounding so hard it was about to leap out of her throat.
Though after years in the Villain System, she had learned to lie to heroines without a flicker of emotion, the deep-rooted guilt that came with lying was impossible to completely suppress.
Just as Floralia was suffocating under the young woman’s relentless stare, Sophia finally withdrew her gaze, nodded slightly, and said in a gentle voice:
“It’s alright.”
Her expression was kindly and approachable, with no hint of hostility. Every gesture was polite and well-mannered.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Sophia, currently a Senior Member of the Sacred Princess Knights. I’m here on a home visit for little Sylvie—”
As she spoke, she clenched one fist over her chest and gave a knight’s salute, then curiously asked:
“You must be the ‘Teacher’ Sylvie mentioned at home? She probably told you about my visit, right?”
Floralia watched her every move in a daze.
Polite and courteous words, a clear and pleasant voice, fair and youthful features, and eyes as straightforward and innocent as a gentle fawn.
It was exactly how Sophia had looked when she was recruited to be Floralia’s Closing Disciple back then.
In Floralia’s eyes, the young woman at the door gradually blurred, merging with the image of the once-spoiled girl she had bossed around like a toy.
“Oh, um… So it’s Senior Member Sophia, my apologies.”
Floralia snapped out of her daze, feeling both astonished and relieved.
It seemed Sophia hadn’t suspected her at all… perhaps it really was just a coincidental home visit.
“My little Apprentice explained it to me—that the new Reserve Holy Knights have to undergo a family background check. I had no idea there was such a rule…”
Floralia opened the door wider and moved her wheelchair aside to make room.
“There’s not much to offer here, so please forgive the humble hospitality. Please come in and have a seat. I’ll ask Sylvie to pour you some tea.”
“Thank you very much.”
Sophia’s tone remained soft and natural, a faint elegant smile playing at the corners of her lips.
Her gentle and approachable aura, paired with her pleasant voice, was utterly soothing and refreshing.
No wonder Sylvie had said she “didn’t seem like a bad person.”
When Sophia stepped into their modest living room, Floralia finally let her whole body go limp, fully relaxing.
It looked like she had gotten through it—
Floralia was deeply aware that everything she had done to Sophia back then, while not exactly monstrous, was certainly deserving of the title “wicked.”
Ordering her to lie on the floor and serve as a human chair in public, forcing her to kiss her feet and toes humiliatingly to please her, attending to her before baths by helping undress and change socks…
Those were just the tip of the iceberg of the evil deeds Floralia had committed under the Villain System’s urging to motivate Sophia.
It was precisely those humiliations that drove Sophia to exhaust her potential, training tirelessly to strengthen herself.
All with the aim of one day returning every insult tooth for tooth.
And Sophia had not disappointed—she had successfully become a full-fledged member of the Sacred Princess Knights as the top Reserve Holy Knight recruit, breaking a century-old record for cultivation speed.
But now, Floralia’s greatest fear was that Sophia might recognize her…
If her identity were exposed, Sophia would realize that Floralia’s death escape was a complete lie, and she would lash out with all the rage from years of humiliation and betrayal.
“Ugh…”
Just imagining that scene made Floralia’s delicate shoulders tremble in panic.
If her identity slipped out, at that point, Floralia knew she wouldn’t stand a chance against Sophia.
Not to mention that Sophia had since grown into a pillar of the Knight Order, both physically and mentally matured—
While Floralia herself, having lost the system’s assistance, also lost her Pocket Assistant that once gave her perfect insight into people’s hearts.
Plus, every time she performed a death escape, she’d expend a large portion of her strength to make it convincing, and her previously injured spine and waist hadn’t fully healed.
Now her physical condition was feeble and weak in comparison—her whole body had shrunk and grown frail.
Even without sitting in the wheelchair, her height barely reached one and a half meters.
The young Sophia of her memories had only reached about her lower abdomen.
But now, standing before her wheelchair, Sophia was like a towering, graceful mountain.
…Thankfully, the young woman’s straightforward and sincere personality hadn’t changed much.
Thinking this, Floralia silently breathed a sigh of relief.
From what she knew of Sophia, if she had recognized her, she definitely would have shouted out immediately.
But so far, Sophia was just calmly sitting on the sofa, chatting familiarly with little Apprentice Sylvie, showing no sign of suspicion.
If that was the case, then with her understanding of Sophia’s personality, handling this ordinary home visit was a piece of cake.
Once this unexpected incident was dealt with, Floralia could finally relax and continue enjoying her retirement in seclusion—