"Explain yourself! What is the meaning of this?"

Lucy was furious!

Make no mistake. 

Her temper, which seldom unleashed, could kindle a forest fire if it wanted to.

She had a hidden stubbornness about her when she was pushed hard. 

And what Lucy hated the most were lies or getting played.

Her impression of these women was already low. But now, forget it!

It was at negative infinity.

Dammit! 

She looked at the bloodied janitors tied up at the side and silently prayed for patience and a calm heart.

Their faces were all purplish and so swollen that it looked like a thousand bees had danced over their faces.

Tears and snot had long mixed and tried up with their blood, leaning very horrid and vivid paintings on their bodies.

She listened to their heavy breathing and truly wanted to throttle these women to death.

How dare they touch her people?

Good! Good! Good!

After listening to what they had to say, if she didn't beat them to a pulp herself, then she wasn't Princess Lucy of Baymard!

.

Kora's face, on the other hand, was even paler than before.

Yes. She had gone out and seen countless scenarios with Landon.

But this was the first time she had seen such cruelty.

The floor was bloodied with blood trails, as if the victims had been slammed to the ground and pushed forward, leaving trails of blood as a mop would.

The walls had bloody fingerprints on them, and even the furniture within the place had turned upside down.

Of course, even though Kora was frightened, she was more furious than angry.

She had long accepted her role as a Baymardian Princess too. And remembering Landon's words, as well as thinking of all her experiences from visiting the orphanages, seeing how the people lived, and seeing their happiness, Kora felt hurt seeing ordinary law-abiding citizens get trampled like this.

She clenched her puny fists, wishing she was bigger. That way, she would teach these brutes the lessons of their lives.

In short, both ladies were above to go crazy from fury.

From her training, Lucy's observatory skills were somewhat above average too. 

She wasn't as good as a regular soldier in this aspect but not as excellent as that constantly trained day-in-day-out.

Nonetheless, she had already noticed several other points.

These 'fans' said they were here to help. But looking at how they handled the hostages already gave an insight into their characters.

If they were genuinely peaceful as they said and meant no harm, they should've just knocked the janitors and tied them up without getting so extreme or over brutalizing them like this.

You say you're kind. But what kind of person can act like this?

Sorry. She doesn't buy it.

Again, another thing that made her a little confused was that the women were the only ones who were tried up neatly, while the men were so severely brutalized here instead.

So could it be that they were beaten up this way because they tried to resist earlier on?

No... The sort of brutalization given to the men was too much for that alone.

It looked more like they were fighting these men on the battlefield.

Honestly, it looked like a miracle that the men were still alive.

.

"Pr-pr-princess..."

The tied-up women all greeted in fear, while the badly beaten up people who couldn't see a thing also joined in greeting after listening to the women's salute.

Lucy looked at them dutifully: "Don't worry. Stay calm. Everything will be alright."

The people had tears in their eyes: "Thank you, princess." They replied, thinking that the princess had come to save them

At the same time, they also worried that the process alone might not be enough for the job.

Plus, what about the princess's safety and that of Kora?

Wait! They wouldn't be kidnapped as well, right?

Everyone's mood was low.

Lucy swiftly turned her head towards Number 5 murderously: "Talk!"

Number 5 took a deep breath. And in a flash, her eyes became red and teary.

"Chosen one... We finally found you."

"_"

"Sigh... I know you won't believe it. But it's a long story. We knew your mother. She was one of us. She was a witch! The most talented one of us all. And now, it's time for you to take up her mantle. Your mother... She was so brave, but fell because of a man! How tragic is that?" Number 5 said while shaking her head pitifully: "Sigh... Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah~."

....

Number 5 narrated another version of what truly went down, talking about how Lucy was their beloved sister and how much they missed her.

They also acted as if her mother had been kidnapped and shipped to Pyno instead.

In short, the only truth in their story was how Lucy's mother grew up.

And from the way the girls spoke, Lucy was also made aware of how much they hated men.

They also believed in eating male flesh to get powers? 

They said she had to go for some ritual and take her rightful place as their chosen one.

They promised vast riches and freedom as if she didn't already have these.

Well, for some reason, they seemed to think that she and all other women were suffering here, which baffled Lucy, Kora and even the hostage women too.

Erm... Hello?

Where did you see them suffer?

Who the hell was giving these women this info?

Seeing Lucy quiet, Number 5, and the rest thought she believed them instead.

"Yes, sister. We know how much you've suffered here. Just think about it? While that bastard fiance of yours is roaming about, he dared to even dump his blood with you rather than taking care of it. So don't you find that insulting? In our place, the captured men are the ones to do such worthless tasks, under our supervision, of course."

Excuse me, a worthless task?

[Kora]: "_"

"Hmhm. You might not know this, but from our experience, we can tell you that this girl's father doesn't even love her. Even her own brother doesn't love her, hence decided to dump her to you. So imagine that if they don't like their own blood. How good can they possibly be?"

Kora listened to all this nonsense and almost broke out of character, wanting to smack the living daylight out of these women.

How date they twist the truth so much and say that her family didn't like her?

Even a blind man could see that they loved her. So what was all this about?

'Sister Lucy, don't listen to your rubbish! My brother is not that kind of person.' Kora said, silently in her heart.

Even though she trusted Lucy, she just hoped that these bad ladies wouldn't sway her.

As for tge witches, their mouths shot out like machine guns at every turn.

"That's right. We also know that you're extremely smart. But because of the men, you have not been able to shine as bright as you should. But in your new home, you will be the brightest star ever!"

"Sister Lucy. Just look at these pitiful women? Do you want to be like them who have long been oppressed by these men but still choose to stay like this?"

[Captured women]:.."_"... Sorry, we didn't know we were suffering. If getting higher pays and enjoying more rights and Baymardian benefits are suffering, then yes. Yes. They were suffering.

Number 5 extended her hand warmly."Come with us, Lucy. Come and take your place as our chosen one! Which sister, come and reclaim your title."

Everyone looked at the scene, and their hearts grew tighter.

Kora, the hostages and the witches all had different thoughts.

But in the end, what would Lucy choose?

Lucy couldn't lie. She wanted to know more about her mother.

She saw the portrait they brought of her mother in training attire.

And when she was very little, she had also heard her mother speak the language these people spoke when they communicated amongst themselves.

So how could she not be curious?

She wanted to know.

She... She... Who was her mother?