When Ivona Beltrez came to the Archduchy, Michelle was wearing a long dress with long loose sleeves which perfectly covered up all her wounds, so Ivona didn't notice a thing.
Michelle led Ivona into the drawing room where tea and snacks were already prepared, all the while, having a slight smile on her lips, but it was different from the smile she showed during the banquet. The smile was only small, but it was wild and untamable. It was like a lazy beast satisfied after a meal, but still prepared to fight if something happened. A beast that never let down its guard.
In the drawing room, the two girls talked for a long time about many things, and after finishing the talk about their future plans, they felt like chatting and thus, Ivona stayed at the Archducy until late evening.
As they chatted, Michelle could see more and more similarities between them, and it caused her to smile. By mental age, Ivona was much younger than Michelle as Michelle died at the age of 28 on Earth, and Ivona was only 18, but her thoughts were very similar to how Michelle's were when she was that age, and that was after she had already been an assassin for over five years. It was clear that Ivona was through her fair share of troubles that turned her into a person similar to Michelle.
But there was one big difference between Michelle and Ivona. While Michelle was like a lazy beast, that could turn pretentious out of boredom, Ivona was an active hunter that never stopped moving, who, too, was pretentious.
There was also one thing that Ivona didn't have. Blood thirsts from being an assassin for over fifteen years. That caused Michelle to be sometimes quite maniacal, and she wouldn't even mind putting herself in harm's way if she could achieve her goal.
In her past life, her body was covered in many nasty scars, and most were from when she had to take a hit to succeed.
For instance, there was a time when she let someone stab her in her stomach, so she could kill them. When they stabbed her, she grabbed their hand and locked them in place. Then, she lifted her dagger and slit their throats.
After Ivona left in the evening, Michelle went to talk with the Archduke and told him what Snow reported to her through the day using the contract. A few dozen men in black entered the forest through which she will be returning from the Imperial Palace, and when one looked carefully, all the men had the Imperial Family's crest somewhere on their body. They were the Imperial Family's assassins.
When the Archduke heard about the assassins, he was enraged. "So the Emperor really chose to burn the bridges..." he gritted his teeth in anger.
But to his surprise, Michelle shook her head. "Not yet. As of now, the Emperor is hoping that I'm hopelessly in love with the Crown Prince and won't break off the engagement, but he is still worried that I'll do so, so he most probably decided to get rid of me on my way back from the Imperial Palace if I break off the engagement, so he could come up with an excuse so that you won't return to being a neutral noble and will still support him financially." Michelle spoke calmly.
"Anyway, father, I'll go alone tomorrow and take care of it. I've expected the Emperor to send out the assassins from the start. Just not that he would be so impatient and send them out so early."
Hearing Michelle's words, the Archduke didn't want to agree, but from her demeanor and from how she acted so far, he knew that he wouldn't be able to convince her, so he just sighed and nodded. "Do be careful..."
Michelle only nodded a bit and stood up. "Of course, father. I'll go rest now. Goodnight." She waved her hand a bit as she left the Archduke's office and went to her room.
In her room, Michelle took a quick bath and then contacted Snow and Mare for the last time before taking action to go over the plans with them. Then, she just went to sleep lazily, but her sleep was restless.
She constantly felt a gaze on her and it bothered her. It belonged either to Alexander Terce or to the person whose gaze Michelle noticed at the banquet. Knowing that with her strength, she's currently helpless against them, Michelle ignored the gaze and fell asleep.