"So, the maid finally decided to stop hiding~..." Damien muttered with folded arms, slowly pushing his back off the wall he was leaning on.
Lillian paused in her step, standing still - her abruptness caused the woman beside her to also slow down to a halt with a curious look in her eyes.
Aurelia looked out from around Lillian’s side before quickly bowing her head at the sight of Damien.
"G-greeting, sir Damien!"
She then glanced up at Lillian’s face, expecting Lillian to show Damien the exact same level of respect. Instead, however, she found the Rabbit giving Damien a wary, narrowed gaze.
Unlike Aurelia, Lillian wasn’t one bit surprised at the ’unexpected’ appearance of the young man - in fact, she had been expecting him the moment she saved Aurelia.
She watched as Damien calmly tilted his head, looking around her and settling his gaze on Aurelia.
"Greetings to you, too, Miss. I hope this maid here hasn’t done anything terrible to you~"
"Huh? T-terrible?" Aurelia repeated, confused. "N-no, it’s quite the opposite - actually, you see, these four girls brought me here and—"
Wanting to quickly clear up the misunderstanding, Aurelia spoke, but was unfortunately interrupted partway through.
"There’s no need to lie for this maid’s behalf, dear kind miss. I’ve already heard all I needed to know from the four that helpfully guided you here."
"H-helpful?" Aurelia stuttered, even more confused - where on Earth had he gotten the idea that those bullies had helped her out of kindness? There was a mistake!
Lillian continued to watch like a spectator as Aurelia seemed to try to clear up the misunderstanding that Damien had about it.
’So, they did lie.’
It was all within Lillian’s expectations that the bullies would immediately report her to the person whom they knew had the highest power in the event. Lillian was aware of the blatant lie they would spin up to make themselves appear more amiable and innocent in the eyes of Damien.
Unless it was for a good or even beneficial reason, Lillian detested these kinds of people.
"I promise you that this maid didn’t attack them for no reason!" Aurelia exclaimed, becoming frustrated as Damien seemed to ignore whatever she said. "They’re the ones that were being rude towards me, Miss Lillian isn’t that kind of person!"
Damien, having been ignoring and deflecting back Aurelia’s words with smiling indifference, found himself perking up, interested.
’Oh~? So, that’s what her name is~...’
Sparing Aurelia only a single glance before shifting his gaze back to Lillian, he asked:
"That’s enough. May I ask you to please leave this maid alone and me to speak? As the event host, I need to hear both parties’ sides to make my judgment."
"Wait, then shouldn’t you have her master present for the deci—!?"
Seeing that Aurelia was too stubborn to leave, Lillian placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder - then smiled.
To say Lillian wasn’t pleased to see Aurelia speak on her behalf would be a complete lie; it was nice. Although she did feel it was a bit too soon for Aurelia to judge her as a person already.
’Isn’t that kind of person...’ Lillian repeated in her mind, her smile widening as a chuckle escaped.
Unbeknownst to Lillian, this was partially the work of her Trait [Maiden of Sinking], which had a positive effect on those she deemed an ally.
"It’s fine." Lillian soothed, "You’re hungry now, right? Just return to the dining hall and get something to eat; they must be bringing out more food around this time."
"Are you sure...?" Aurelia asked, concerned, "But what if those girls come at me again?"
With how innocent the woman sounded, Lillian felt as though Aurelia was much younger than what she should be, which was around 19, older than Lillian.
"Well, if those four girls come bother you again, just stand near a woman with a purple bobcut - she’ll be happy to help you. And uh... you can also stand next to someone with long black hair, as long as you tell her I told you to first." Lillian then paused for a split second, "But! If you do go up next to her, don’t stand too close, okay? Hehe..."
Upon saying that last sentence, Lillian’s smile slowly twisted.
Aurelia, finding Lillian’s hold on her shoulder becoming eerily tight, quietly shrieked as she backed away. "O-okay, then! Well, I’ll go back first, big sister!"
Damien watched as Aurelia swiftly left - running - before turning back to Lillian. His eyebrow, which was just raised, soon lowered as a cunning smirk appeared on his face.
"Well, then. How about we get to know one another first before we get to—"
"No need, let’s just get straight to the point."
Turning to Damien, Lillian’s eerie expression immediately shifted to a cold one. If it wasn’t obvious, she didn’t really want to interact with Damien.
Given that Damien already knew the lies he was told were a bunch of shit, he just needed a reason to approach her when she was alone. The same thing would’ve happened to Millis if she had been the one to save Aurelia.
’Or maybe not...’
Maybe it wouldn’t have happened to Millis; Lillian felt that all the attention that Millis would’ve attracted from Damien was completely stolen by her, unfortunately.
Damien’s face twitched, offended by her interruption. Was she not aware of the large gap in status between them? How dare she show such disrespect!
The Hound coughed slightly, willing to look past this small offence, but not ignore it.
"Shouldn’t you at least show a hint of respect like I am to you?" Damien asked with a forced smile, "I’m sure you’ve been trained on how to treat nobles, right? You should give me the same level of respect that you would show to your mistress, you know~..."
Lillian blinked, then snorted.
Rolling her eyes, Lillian began to crane her head side-to-side, and muttering in a monotonous and insincere tone:
"Yeah, sureee. Oh, so mighty Damien Von Darkhound, please do spare this servant’s show of disrespect, for she didn’t mean to."
Her words went on to infuriate Damien even more.
BAM!