Estoria felt guilty thinking about it now. She had already decided not to dwell on these matters since she couldn't do anything about it anyway.
But was it really okay for her to take the place of another person? Wasn't this the original Estoria's fortune? She spent her whole childhood here with her parents and twin brother. Although her family accepted her without any doubts, she was still deceiving them to the max.
According to Ilona, she created this place based on a webcomic and Lillia's body was no longer present in her world. Basically, she had no choice but to stay here as Estoria. Ilona was Lillia's guardian angel, and she didn't want her to die without having done anything she desired in her entire life.
But did she actually believe those words?
No.
There wasn't any proof that she was telling the truth, and Lillia had no reason to believe her every word. Ilona did confirm that she was indeed in a story written by someone, but other than that, all her words sounded like something she had made up for Lillia to feel at ease in this world without worrying about her own original body.
Lillia understood that her intentions weren't seemingly bad for her and went with it. It wasn't like she could do anything to pull out the truth from her, and she didn't even want to return to her own body at that point.
Lillia's life was absolutely not worth living for her. All she did every day was work to earn to feed herself so she could stay alive and breathing. What was the point of such a meaningless life?
She had intended to live as Estoria. She had always wanted to experience living in a loving family, and she didn't need to worry about money or such things here. Who would want to give up such a life and return to that?
She felt more like she was Estoria rather than Lillia as she became more and more like her true self. Her emotions that she had tried so hard to keep in check were naturally coming out of the cave too.
All her emotions poured out in a chaotic mess after being restrained for so long. It was hard to keep them in order, and she started to feel the guilt of stealing someone else's life with it too.
Estoria became more and more depressed with such thoughts and ultimately couldn't keep focus on controlling her powers. Ria didn't want Estoria to force herself either, so she decided to force a break from the lessons so Estoria could stop being so stubborn about commanding her powers to come out at will.
Estoria's powers seemed to be nonexistent these days. She hadn't been able to use them once since she had started practicing, unlike Eston who had pretty much already gotten used to using his powers. He would even use them subconsciously.
Estoria had been bothered by her own self these past few days, tormented between doing as she pleased or if she even had another choice.
In conclusion, she gave up. She was just a little human herself. What could she even do, somehow find Ilona or Estoria's original soul? Like hell she can do it!
Maybe living as Estoria made her think too highly of herself when she was actually helpless. She couldn't do anything, nor could she go up to her family and tell them that she's from another world possessing this body. She might even just be declared to have brain damage at that point!
About Aluxio... he dug his own grave falling for her first. If he wasn't prepared for this, then she would just burn him with herself!
After coming to this conclusion, Estoria once again became free from her worries. She felt like it was a bit ridiculous but she was always a bit nonchalant and this was a totally true conclusion based on real facts.
She had also received an invitation from Isabella, like she had promised. Estoria and her whole family were invited to the northern bouquet that was held by The Théodreds every year on the same day.
Eston had told her that they had always received the invitation every year, but this time, a personal invitation for Estoria had been sent too, specifically by Isabella to accompany her. But since she didn't like attending events brimming with people, just thinking about it gave her chills all over her body. She could still refuse, but she gave it another thought after hearing that the royal family was also invited. In the end, she also didn't want to hurt the protagonist's feelings when she had taken the care to personally write to her and invite her.
There was a month left until the banquet, which wasn't a lot since it takes a week to get there from the Stallions mansion. They had to arrive a few days in advance for it, since no one knew when the weather would decide to block the roads with heavy snow. Almost all the influential families were invited to arrive a few days before the banquet even begins.
The problem was Estoria had to learn the etiquettes and everything in just a week or so before departing for the north with Eston and Asher.
Ria and Isaac weren't going this year; they were going to take a vacation to go on a trip together instead. They let Estoria and Eston take their place, and Asher just wanted to go with Estoria too.
Estoria was eager to meet Aluxio again after realizing her true feelings for him. She almost wanted to avoid him at first, but she also wanted to be by his side all the more.
The days passed by in a flash as she busied herself with learning and learning almost about everything until the day of departure for the north arrived.
Ria and Isaac had left even before them for their trip together, and no one was there to say goodbye to them except the four butlers and servants of the mansion.
"Are you going to ride with me?" Estoria asked Asher, who was standing beside her zoning out for some reason.
Asher zoned back in at the question.
"Obviously, I have to be near you to protect you," Asher replied, getting in the carriage before her.
Estoria didn't mind Asher in the least. She was thinking of asking Asher to ride with her anyways because it would be too boring alone in the carriage. But she didn't expect Eston to go inside the same carriage.
"Why aren't you getting in? Did you forget something?" Eston said from the carriage's window.
Well, the more the merrier.
Estoria got in the carriage; the inside was quite spacious. There was enough space for everyone to sit comfortably; they could even sleep in here if they wanted to. Actually, the seats were quite soft.
Estoria sat opposite Asher and Eston, who were sitting in front of her. Seeing them both together, she realized the interactions between them were almost nonexistent, so she had no idea how this trip would go. She just hoped they would all get along.