Another person wants the mayor dead. She sure is notorious.
Regardless, Arcturus believed this was a great opportunity. They all had a common goal, so he knew it'd be best to cooperate. He noticed a glint in Asteria's eyes. Her desire to kill her sister could have stemmed from past issues and conflict between the two. He saw a hardened and aggressive woman underneath her soft mask. It led him to understand that she wasn't willing to cooperate and even had ulterior motives behind that soft mask of hers. He glanced over at Sophia and Murphy who looked rather conflicted. He then glanced over at Constance who seemed rather curious about meeting another person with the same goal as her.
"So, you desire to kill the mayor too?" Constance inquired. "Can I ask your reasons?"
"I have to kill her because it's the only way this city will become liberated."
Arcturus snapped at her answer, "Don't lie. Liberation is not your goal. It's only a factor that will result in it. Your true motives are different."
Asteria furrowed her brows. He knew she looked very annoyed with him. "And who do you think you are, hm?"
"I'm Arcturus Mercury, somewhat of a scholar. Nice to meet you."
She gave him an extremely disgusted expression. "Yeah, nice to meet you…" Her eyes looked up and down. "So, what's your relationship with Nova?"
"I'm his protector."
He saw her eyes widened with surprise before contorting into a condescending cackle. "You? Protector? A sissy like you? That's the funniest thing I've heard this year!"
Hilbert snapped back. "Asteria, don't be rude."
"But Hilbert," She was trying to relax, but the laughter kept going, as if it was automated. "He said he's Nova's protector!"
Annoyed, Arcturus barked, "What's so funny?" He had felt disrespected for she did not know what both he and Nova went through to get here.
Asteria held onto Hilbert as she tried to regain her composure. After taking a deep breath, she replied, "Well, the thought of a man being Nova's protector was funny to me. What can you do to protect him?"
"Why are you so against me being his protector? What's your problem?"
"Well, my problem is that Nova doesn't need you to protect him. In fact, twenty years ago, we made a promise that I'd protect him if we ever meet again and that he'll also grant my wish. He did promise I'd be the first person he'd grant a wish for."
I get it now… The fact that Asteria was a rather deluded woman made him want to laugh at her, but he was better than that. He didn't need to laugh at her because he already had the advantage of being someone who already got his wish granted. Asteria was a woman much older than him yet she was clinging onto an empty promise like a child promising marriage to their crush only for them to marry another as adults.
In order to be the mature one in this confrontation, all he did was smirk. "Ma'am, I'm sorry to inform you, but that promise of yours cannot be granted."
Her icy glare tried to pierce him, but he was impregnable. "Why is that?"
"Because the first person Nova granted a wish for is me."
"Lies." Her tone was as cold as her eyes.
"Want proof?" He then handed Nova over to Murphy as he placed a hand to his chest. "I have a mark that proves Nova and I are in a contract." He lifted his shirt up to reveal the apple tattoo on his heart. In a flash, he pulled it back down.
"That's just a tattoo." Asteria responded unamusingly.
"It's proof that he and I are in a contract and that he granted my wish."
"Stop lying. You're just showing off a tattoo." She then glanced at Constance and pointed at her. "You, Shiftie. You can detect lies, right? Detect his lies for me."
Hilbert placed a hand on her shoulder. "Asteria, enough." It got slapped off.
Sophia snapped at her, "Lady Asteria, Constance is not someone you can just order around."
Asteria shrugged. "But she's a Shiftie. What use does she have other than being a human tool?"
Before Sophia could retort, Constance stopped her. She approached Asteria and informed her, "Arcturus Mercury is 100% telling the truth. No lies detected."
Asteria blinked at her before responding, "The fact that you're here means you're defective. I was wrong to ask you to detect his lies."
"You've changed, Lady Asteria…" Murphy remarked. Arcturus noticed how disappointed he was.
"Changed? How so? I've always been that girl who strove to be first at everything as my late mother wanted me to be. I was the older sister, so she whipped me up to be as perfect as possible. Even if Bellatrix was taller, I was still stronger and smarter than her. Even if Bellatrix was clingier towards Mother, I was always the one she praised. Even when Mother died, I didn't cry while Bellatrix sobbed so hard she pissed her pants. I stood my ground and confronted Nova after the funeral and that was when he promised to grant my wish and that spot would be reserved only for me. That promise was what led me to rescue him from his imprisonment and got him to escape."
Murphy shook his head. "You were strong-willed back then and persevered even in the harshest situations from the previous mayor. The you right now lost sight of that strong will and have become clouded in delusion."
Asteria's eye twitched before she yelled,"Shut up! Stop acting so high and mighty. There's a reason why Virgo abandoned you!"
In a flash, a loud slap echoed. Arcturus's eyes widened when he saw Sophia slapping Asteria. Asteria was shocked about what had transpired. She glared and raised a hand. Worried about the high possibility of her retaliating, he quickly summoned a dagger and got into a fighting position. He didn't care if his opponent was a woman; he would not abide seeing harm done to the people who took care of him.
Asteria placed the raised hand to her cheek. Her expression contorted. The glare was erased and replaced with an upset expression. Her eyes sunk down and her lips lopped into a frown. She started rubbing her cheek.
"That hurts! Why did you have to hit so hard? Now, my face is going to bruise…" He also noticed tears starting to form from the corners of her eyes.
"It hurts so much…" She whined. When Hilbert approached her, she grabbed his coat sleeve. "Hilbert, Sophia hit me!"
Flabbergasted, Arcturus dropped his dagger. The sight in front of him rendered him speechless. The condescending and haughty woman in front of him downgraded into a petulant, emotional teenage girl. He glanced over and became shocked to see Sophia and Murphy with their jaws dropped, eyes widened and as bewildered as he was. Constance was just staring at Asteria with a furrowed brow.
Sara entered the room and saw the sight in front of her. She sighed as she turned around towards the hall, "Everyone, our leader is throwing a fit again."
All the hooded figures came into Hilbert's office, surrounded her and consoled. Sara hugged her while a person in a yellow hood was patting her head. A person in a green hood was massaging her shoulders. The person in the black hood–Arcturus remembered his name being Marlo–was speaking words of encouragement to her.
"Boss, did someone hurt your feelings again?" He spoke to her as if he was consoling a toddler, complete with a high tone.
She pointed at Arcturus. "That ugly red-haired boy took away my reservation! I was supposed to be the first to get my wish granted."
"Now, now," Sara retorted, "Life isn't all that fair. Unexpected things happen all the time."
"And the old hag slapped me…!" She started bawling seconds after. It was a high-pitched squeal that caused Arcturus to wince.
When she pointed to Sophia, the person in the green hood glanced over at Sophia and Murphy before resuming the shoulder massage.
The person in the yellow hood responded, "Well, you probably did something out of line that caused her to slap you. Your personality is garbage after all."
Arcturus's jaw gaped. How are those words of encouragement?
A person in a brown hood was cooing at her while the person in an ivory hood was humming a song to her. Asteria continued bawling. Arcturus glanced over at Hilbert, hoping he'd explain what was going on. Hilbert didn't say anything as he just smiled as the scene in front of him kept playing out.
Arcturus, Constance, Sophia and Murphy were just standing in the exact same spot exasperated and speechless.