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Chapter 19 - The Villainess Clears Their Memories

After walking in silence for awhile and reaching a much more secluded area, Estella turned and stood perfectly upright, with her arms crossed, with a nasty glare. "Who wants to speak first and tell me what is going on." She asked.

Making direct eye contact, Aesterix answered. "Did you not know you were being spied on as their target?" He asked, wanting answers as well.

Sighing, she shook her head as a no, before continuing. "I didn't, but you seem to have known. Why didn't you inform me of something so important?" She demanded to know.

Stepping forward, Ivonne intervened. "I'm sorry for not telling you during dinner, but truth was we were attacked during our trip, but Aesterix quickly got rid of them." She confessed, making Estella's eyes widen slightly.

Not only was she at risk, but others were too just because she was around them now? "I was unaware of this… but that still doesn't explain why I was not informed, or rather, why you thought I was informed." She responded as Aesterix clutched his fists.

"I didn't want to worry you, I already killed off the majority of the spies these past few days, just realising it. If I killed them all ahead of time, you wouldn't have to waste your time worrying about insignificant things." He responded, now looking towards the ground.

Sighing, she rubbed her temples. "Is me possibly dying insignificant to you? Or are you saying I couldn't defend myself against insignificant people if I were told of their existence?" She questioned, although she knew the answer.

He was her older brother and cared for her, he didn't want her to feel even a little unsafe with him, she knew that. But she also knew she had to eventually drill it into his head he couldn't hide this stuff from her, or make her turn a blind eye in the name of protecting her.

If it ever were to happen in the future again and she were oblivious, something else could of happened. How would she know of it if he just kept his mouth shut and hid it from her?

Swallowing a little, Fenrir apologised, making her turn towards him. "I'm sorry, my lady. I knew as well, from the first night here. I didn't want to alarm you because I was proud and believed I could protect you all on my own." He said sincerely, making her eyes widen once more.

Did Fenrir really just apologise sincerely? She understood him a bit better, in honesty. He was a demon, not a human. He had the pride of a demon that he could protect her against a few humans, but at the same time, she was still angry.

Did he even think of the consequence of exposing himself as a beast in public? Aesterix nearly tried to kill him as well. Though with her anger, she finally understood everything as it clicked.

His wolf form that night, why he insisted of staying close and guarding her so tightly, looking side to side occasionally for suspicious people. She also realised that while she was gone, Aesterix must have also been worried about her and wanted to confirm immediately if she was okay.

It annoyed her to no end. On one hand, she was thankful they care about her, but on the other, she sincerely wished they would of just told her something, anything, instead of treating her as a frail child who'd get a panic attack under such news.

"Both of you, be quiet." She finally said, breaking the silence amongst everyone. To keep order, she finally turned to Fenrir first. She had finally thought of what to do, in order to not reveal Fenrir as a demon.

Walking up to him, she whispered in his ear. "You mentioned memory deception being a basic thing all demons can perform, right?" She asked with a step back, the anger on her face already gone.

In a way, it scared him more than if she were showing visible anger. Nodding, he turned to the group. "I can alter all of their memories with ease, what do you want me to do?" He asked.

As Aesterix was about to shout, remembering just what happened with Fenrir, Estella gave her order. "We got lost, ending up in the forest we are trying to find our carriage."

With that said and done, Fenrir began to alter their memories. With his hand forward, it seemed like all of them froze.

"Our stuff is in the carriage and not on hand at the moment, is there a way you could fetch it real quick and also alter the minds of the townsfolk who may still be gathered there?" She asked, knowing it was a lot to handle.

She had basically asked him to clear the memories of a section of the capital, while they made their way to the carriage. "Yes, I can." He responded.

In all honesty that size was no problem at all, but he was afraid of what Estella would say, or do afterwards when they were alone. Would memory deception really solve everything? He wondered.

Sensing the sadness in his voice, she sighed. "I'm not angry, this is the sensible option. No one would believe you're just a beastman, I'm doing this for you. I'll approach Aesterix on this with you later, and drill it into his head he has to tell me next time somehow."

Although it made sense, he could help but ask. "Aren't you too calm? Even after what you said to him…" he muttered the last part, referring to when she commented about insignificance.

Shaking her head, she straightened herself. "I was angry, but if I'm wiping their memories why let my anger take over now? I can be angry later. You both did it to protect me, but I just wish someone said something. I'll make sure to drill that into your heads later."

As the group fell forward in a sleepy daze, Estella watched what would happen, it seems like Fenrir didn't even need to speak to do something like that. Perhaps memory deception was pretty basic.

"Later?" He asked, hoping he misheard her. He took it back, he much preferred when she wore a poker face.

"I'll visit Aesterix room and you two will willingly confess everything, apologise, and get lectured." She confirmed what he was thinking about as he quickly transformed into a beast to jump away to the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, they all started to wake up and rub their heads a little, tilting their heads at Estella. "What's happening?" Asked Felix who got up first.

"We got lost trying to find our carriage. Someone tripped us all up." She sighed, looking at Aesterix. He could at least take the blame for now, she thought.

Getting up, he apologised while helping the others up. Great, seems like he really didn't remember anything as he wasn't running his mouth, she thought.

"Let's retrace our steps, we came from there." Hyre commented, seeming to remember the route they came from.

Trying to buy time for Fenrir to use his magic on the large crowd, she shook her head. "You all hit your heads pretty hard, give yourselves a few minutes. My guard will fetch us anyways." She casually commented as she leaned onto a tree with her arms crossed.

Tilting her head, Ivonne pointed next to Estella. "Where's your guard anyways? Isn't he always standing by you?" She asked.

"He managed to move me out of the way of your falling party. I asked him to go to find the carriage first to put our stuff away, considering the condition you all are in. He's on his second trip, he'll be back soon." She lied as she closed her eyes, no one suspecting her.

Perhaps she was getting a bit too good at lying naturally, she thought. It felt like if she told them that Fenrir never existed, they'd probably believe her.

After about fifteen minutes, Fenrir finally returned in his normally humanoid form, without his robe on. "I'm back, my lady." He said.

As if on cue, Estella broke their small talk and walked off in front of them towards their carriage without saying anything, leaving them all to follow behind.

When she returned, she vowed to rest up first, perhaps tomorrow she would tackle Aesterix and Fenrir, but for now, she desperately wanted to read the book she received.