"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOST AND DEAD AT THAT TIME! WHY DID YOU COME BACK SAFELY?!"
Emotionally shaken by Elara's words, Becca unintentionally shouted something she should have kept to herself until her last breath, especially in front of Elara.
"... Huh?"
???!!!
Elara blinked repeatedly, as if ensuring her sense of hearing wasn't malfunctioning, while her brain worked hard to digest the sentence Becca had just shouted.
"..." Becca fell instantly silent, realizing what she had just blurted out, and turned pale as death.
'No, no way!'
Even Lia and Silvi, who followed Becca to belittle Elara as usual, were shocked by Becca's words.
"Becca, Becca, what are you talking about?" Silvi, unable to handle the situation, expressed her confusion.
Instead of answering, Becca stared at Silvi sharply, gesturing for her to keep quiet about the current issue.
Elara, on the other hand, looked at Becca with her eyes wide in disbelief. "... That time?"
"N-No...!" Becca, who had been glaring at Lia and Silvi, quickly turned to Elara, who was now scrutinizing her as if trying to peer into her thoughts and feelings.
Becca felt as though her body was being stripped bare by the pair of brown eyes that always exuded confidence and calmness. Those eyes that she had always despised, yet on some level, feared to meet because of something she couldn't explain in words.
'Stop! Don't look at me with those eyes! I don't want to! Just leave!' Becca's mind screamed these words from the beginning, yet her lips remained sealed as if someone had glued them shut to prevent her from uttering anything negative to the girl before her.
Becca truly felt powerless now. The arrogant aura that usually surrounded her had vanished completely, and she now resembled a child who had committed a grave mistake in the presence of those brown eyes.
'No... No...! No one must find out, absolutely not!'
To hide her deathly pale face and her eyes, which were shaking violently, Becca hastily turned her gaze to the ground.
"I never said anything... I never did anything...! I don't know anything about 4 years ago...!"
Becca kept muttering that sentence over and over again in a panicked voice. Her whole body, especially her legs, was shaking violently as if it could collapse at any moment due to anxiety.
"Uh?" Elara was very surprised by the unexpected reaction from Becca, who was always full of arrogance, now completely resembling a sinner afraid of punishment.
Elara briefly glanced at Becca's two followers, who were also so shocked that they couldn't speak. They didn't expect to see Becca's figure, usually filled with an aura of confidence, suddenly become anxious and scared.
'I never mentioned 4 years ago, but now Becca keeps muttering about it in such an anxious tone. That means there's a big possibility that...'
Elara scrutinized Becca intently, finding her presence diminished and more fragile than the usual impression.
'Becca most likely knows about what happened four years ago. This is my chance to find out what really happened and why I lost my memory at that time!' Elara finally concluded, feeling both surprised and happy that her anxiety had been resolved.
Elara maintained a calm expression, feeling relieved to have found a clue. She knew she needed to exude an aura of confidence to intimidate Becca, who appeared anxious and afraid. Despite Becca's panicked reaction, she seemed determined not to reveal anything about what happened four years ago, especially regarding herself, the girl Becca envied.
As Elara waited for confirmation, she began to suspect a connection. Her thoughts circled back to Becca's words and behavior. 'Could it be related?' she wondered.
'But it's impossible, right? Despite her malicious words, she couldn't have been bold enough to commit crimes at that age... could she?'
However, Elara pushed aside those thoughts and decided to confront Becca directly.
Elara wanted Becca to explain what happened at that time, in full and honestly because she couldn't remember anything to find clues.
"Becca, please tell me what happened then."
"I-I don't know anything! I never... I never said anything!" Said Becca, continuing to shake her head, causing her once beautifully styled hair to now appear messy.
"You must have heard wrong! That's right, Lia, Silvi!!!" Becca shouted, seeking validation from the two girls who hadn't uttered a single word since earlier.
"..."
"Becca...." Elara let go of the basket she was holding and reached out to Becca's shoulder, intending to comfort her in her panicked state.
"Don't touch me!" Becca pushed away Elara's hand that was about to touch her shoulder. Then she quickly opened her mouth again. "I told you I don't know anything!"
"Becca, please... Tell me. Whatever it is, I want to know what really happened four years ago," Elara asked in a low voice, her calm demeanor gradually breaking down as she believed Becca was connected to her issue from four years ago.
However, witnessing Becca's continued peculiar reactions, Elara realized she had exhausted her means of persuading the girl, who appeared unyielding.
'What should I do...?' Elara felt like screaming out of frustration.
Elara contemplated, her face creasing with rare frustration. 'Should I give up and search for it later secretly? But, I can find out now if I can persuade this girl to tell me! Argh... What should I do...?!'
Becca silently raised her head, looking at Elara who now seemed utterly frustrated.
"..."
Seeing the expression she had always wanted to see but never thought she would witness on the usually calm and confident girl's face made something strange stir inside Becca.
Becca quickly realized it. If she ordered this lowly girl to do something right now, the girl would obey as long as she could hear what Becca had said earlier.
Although Becca was very interested and wanted to make the girl kneel before her as she had imagined every day, unfortunately, this time, Becca had no intention of revealing anything she had accidentally blurted out.
The sentence she had accidentally let slip should remain a secret until she died.
It was a secret that even her father should not know. Even Lia and Silvi, the two people who were always by her side like servants, had no idea what she meant by now.
If anyone else found out about her secret, her life would be truly over. Her dream of living as a noblewoman and becoming the first wife would never be realized if the people in the village, even her father, a village head, found out about this issue.
So Becca had to continue pretending not to know anything. She had done it perfectly for the past four years.
'But...'
But, for some reason, other thoughts began to surface in Becca's mind as she looked at Elara, who was now visibly frustrated because of her.
'What if I don't seize this opportunity now? I might not get another chance to humiliate her like this! Besides, it's just the four of us here!' Becca thought after firming her resolve.
"Fine. I... will tell you," Becca began, her voice trembling, but she continued with considerable courage. "But you have to kneel in front of me and apologize."
"Huh?" Elara was shocked. "I must have misheard, right?"
Elara never expected to hear such a sentence coming from a nine-year-old girl.
"I said kneel before me and apologize," Becca repeated, her voice no longer trembling, but filled with the same annoying arrogance as before.
"..." Elara could only stare at Becca, whose facial expression had returned to its usual self, a child full of unbearable arrogance, thinking that she was now in control and ready to embarrass her to her heart's content.
'Ha! How could she still think like that in a situation like this....?????' Elara was completely lost for words because she was so stunned by what Becca had just said to her.
Elara knew exactly what was going on in the mind of the girl in front of her right now.
It was clear that she thought, 'I'm the one in control now, so let's humiliate her as much as possible.'
'I thought she was just a pampered naughty child... but it turns out I was wrong,' thought Elara, feeling like her head had been hit by a big hammer – not causing pain but making her realize a fact.
From the beginning, despite Elara feeling irritated by their insults towards her mother and briefly responding, she still tried to speak as politely as possible. Elara perceived them merely as a group of mischievous, pampered children who possessed good personalities. She didn't view them, being much younger than her actual age, as equal conversational counterparts that she had to handle seriously.
Elara even intended to apologize because as an adult, her words were quite outrageous to be directed at a 9-year-old child.
She also planned to improve relations with the three of them, and perhaps help make them the girls that the nobles of the capital are looking for if she could persuade Becca to share her secret.
'But... it's too late....! Haha... Hahaha!' Elara held back the evil laugh in her mind from escaping her lips.
'Because we're the same age now... So, it's okay if I act like them, right?' Elara sensed her sanity was finally beginning to fray.