Antcana’s method was time-saving and effortless, but Cynthia simply refused to do it.
To her, if she did not have to consider her family, she would have loved to rush over immediately and blast Mita to ashes. Maintaining a polite exterior on the surface already exhausted all of Cynthia’s self-control.
If she were asked to act intimately with Mita, Cynthia was afraid she would get distracted and hang Mita up in the training grounds to practice magic.
After a brief moment of thought, Cynthia came up with a plan and had someone slip a note to Fiona.
True to her expectations, Fiona appeared at the academy before classes ended in the afternoon.
Using the pretext of visiting Mita, Cynthia brought Antcana along to Mita’s dormitory. However, before they even stepped inside, they heard Fiona’s affected, overly sweet, and syrupy voice.
Outside the door, Antcana made an exaggerated gagging gesture without any attempt to hide it: “Good grief, my evaluation of Mita is dropping another level. Was he hanging out with those girls just to enjoy hearing this kind of voice?”
Cynthia recalled Betty’s behavior in her past life, the girl who eventually became formally engaged to Mita, and found it difficult to refute: “He probably just likes this kind of obedient type who panders to him.”
“I am serious,” Antcana suddenly said with a serious expression. “If you ever turn into something like this, I will cut ties with you.”
“Rest assured, I am not that cheap yet.” Cynthia handed her staff to Antcana: “Help me hold this.”
Antcana looked at her with a face full of confusion and did not take it immediately: “What are you doing?”
“I am afraid I will not be able to hold back from beating them up later,” Cynthia said honestly. “It would be bad if the staff got damaged.”
Antcana got her answer, but she became even more confused. She took the spellcasters’ most loyal companion and couldn’t help saying: “You even know how to beat people up? I thought you were a walking aristocracy etiquette guide.”
“Nobles also exercise force for the sake of dignity,” Cynthia casually replied, and then knocked on the door.
The person who opened the door was Mita’s servant. The moment he saw Cynthia, a troubled expression appeared on his face: “Lady Cotton, I believe you are not coming at a good time. His Highness, well, he is currently resting.”
“Step aside,” Cynthia said without even raising her eyelids. “I am merely here to visit His Highness.”
The servant grew even more troubled. Naturally, he knew that Fiona and Cynthia did not have a good relationship, and he knew even better that Fiona was currently inside His Highness Mita’s bedroom. Damn it, inside the bedroom!
“I will say it again, step aside,” Cynthia had no desire to waste words with him. “Or perhaps you are capable of making decisions on behalf of His Highness Mita?”
With such a heavy accusation pressed upon him, the servant had no choice but to step aside. The person next to him immediately sprinted off to report to Mita.
Seeing this, Antcana let out a whistle.
Cynthia gave Mita half a minute to panic and rage, then she pushed the door open and greeted Mita, who was lying on the bed: “Good day, Your Highness. It seems your injuries have healed quite a bit, so I suppose His Majesty can rest easy as well.”
Antcana, who had followed closely behind her, automatically and consciously found a chair and a plate of pastries the moment she entered the room, settling down to watch the show.
Even with bruises still lingering on his face after treatment, Mita asked: “From where on earth can you tell that I have healed quite a bit?”
Cynthia ignored him. After sweeping her gaze around the room, she first looked at Fiona, who was still covered in jewelry: “Good day, Fiona.”
Fiona raised her chin haughtily: “Good day, Cynthia. I am glad you finally saw the reality of the situation and admitted that I am the one most suited to stand beside His Highness.”
Mita frowned: “Hold on, what are you talking about?”
Cynthia kindly explained: “It is like this, Your Highness. In light of your previous proposal, it resulted in your fiancée and the Saintess having to engage in a contest. To show respect for the Saintess, I had no choice but to focus on my preparations. Yet you happened to get injured at this very time because you provoked another girl. To demonstrate your fairness and integrity, I naturally cannot abandon my preparation for the evaluation just to take care of you.”
“Cynthia, what nonsense are you spouting?” Mita asked, glaring. “Is this why you are only showing up on my injury’s account until now?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Cynthia faked a smile. “If I were to take care of you as your fiancée, people might suspect that you are intentionally interfering with the Head Student evaluation to help the Saintess achieve victory. You must know that the impact on the Saintess would be quite significant.”
“Am I out of my mind?” Mita sneered. “I would hire someone to beat myself up just to help her?”
“Because I do not know who was behind these actions, there is no way for me to deny the possibility of it,” Cynthia said. “After all, you just proposed that the Saintess become the Head of the Magic Department. With such an event preceding this, it is inevitable that some people would feel you resorted to abnormal methods to save face.”
“Cynthia Norton!”
“You do not need to shout so loudly. The one who beat you up wasn’t me, although I certainly wanted to,” Cynthia continued with a fake smile. “After all, by doing such a scoundrelly thing, you can completely be said to have betrayed your fiancée.”
Mita had originally thought Cynthia was here to ingratiate herself with him, but he hadn’t expected her to actually be here to berate him. He was so angry he almost jumped off the sickbed: “What nonsense are you talking about? I did all this for the Saintess’s reputation!”
“So, you do not deny that you sacrificed me for it,” Cynthia nodded with understanding, saying sincerely. “Then you are truly righteous and noble, willing to sacrifice even your fiancée’s reputation. With a Crown Prince like you, the people of Gorgles will surely be filled with immense gratitude as they offer up their lives and property to you.”
Mita clearly felt that the people sacrificing themselves for him was a matter of course, but it was just that Cynthia’s words did not sound very pleasant. Before he could think of a way to retort, Fiona, who had been listening on the side, could no longer stomach Cynthia calling herself Mita’s fiancée at every turn.
“Cynthia, I hope you can find your proper place,” Fiona said arrogantly. “Since you have already admitted that I am more suited to accompany His Highness than you are, you should consciously leave His Highness rather than lingering here and acting as his fiancée.”
Fiona always kept such words on the tip of her tongue. Mita was so used to hearing them that he didn’t react, and instead felt secretly pleased that someone was dampening Cynthia’s arrogance for him.
“Fiona, the one who needs to recognize reality is you,” Cynthia lifted her eyelids. “What did I admit?”
Fiona triumphantly pulled a slip of paper out of her handbag: “Take a look, you wrote this yourself. You think I am more suited to take care of His Highness.”
“I have not lost my memory, Fiona.” Cynthia crossed her arms and raised her chin at her. “You can read it out loud and listen to it yourself.”
“Darling… oh, calling someone that is so disgusting.” Fiona complained before reading again. “Darling, His Highness is injured and I cannot take care of him with all my heart; perhaps he needs you more at this time… Cynthia, you wrote this yourself!”
“So…” Cynthia drew out her voice and looked at Mita. “Does His Highness also believe that Fiona is better than me?”
Even if Mita were truly foolish, he could never say that Fiona was better than the fiancée he had chosen himself, yet he couldn’t directly say he didn’t want Fiona either, as that would make the girl sad for him. Therefore, he could only say: “Cynthia, you yourself said that you are busy right now.”
“It seems His Highness has also determined that I am not doing enough, which is why he accepted Fiona,” Cynthia said with a sentimental air. “However, this note was actually supposed to be delivered to Carlo. It was just that I was chatting with Antcana at the time and happened to mention Fiona, so Ayla must have sent it to the wrong place.”
Hearing this, Antcana finally couldn’t help laughing out loud: “Hahaha, yes, yes, I can vouch for that. Earlier she said she was going to entrust His Highness to Carlo, and I just happened to casually mention, ‘His Highness is injured, why hasn’t Fiona shown up?’ I never expected there would be a misunderstanding.”
Mita’s face turned green instantly. He had originally thought Fiona was summoned because Cynthia was trying to coax him, which was why he had calmly let Fiona stay here to entertain him. How could he have possibly imagined that Cynthia was actually scheming against him all along?!
“Even so, even if it is a misunderstanding, I don’t think Fiona should be alone with His Highness like this… in the bedroom,” Cynthia said with a troubled expression. “Especially since the servants outside repeatedly blocked me from coming in to visit His Highness. I thought His Highness was so heavily injured that I forced my way in…”
“You… shameless!” Fiona never expected that she would actually say such words. With her mind completely focused on making Cynthia shut up, she charged toward her like a cannonball, looking as though she wanted to use her nails to scratch up Cynthia’s face, completely forgetting the time she got punched in the face previously.
Antcana had not expected this kind of development. She dropped her pastry, stood up, and rushed over in an attempt to do something.
Meanwhile, Mita was still stunned on the bed, his face full of bewilderment.
The last time Cynthia had only thrown a single punch, naturally, it wasn’t because she was too embarrassed to hit harder, but because the situation at the time made it inconvenient to go too far. But things were different now. She had come here specifically to catch them in the act. Not only did the servants outside know this, but the two people involved had just realized it too, and there was even an eyewitness like Antcana right here.
Thus, Cynthia decisively grabbed a nearby candlestick and brought it down hard across Fiona’s left hand, which was already extended right in front of her.
Fiona let out a cry of pain and collapsed limply to the ground.
Cynthia’s gaze was cold. The hatred and anger she had suppressed for so long erupted in an instant. Raising the candlestick, she struck Fiona viciously two more times across the shoulder and back, and only stopped from delivering a fourth blow because Antcana rushed forward to block her.
Antcana spoke to her in a low, urgent voice: “Let go, Cynthia! If you keep holding that, you are going to beat her to death! Cynthia! Did you hear me, let go!”
Fiona was already in so much pain that she could only moan softly.
Cynthia breathed heavily a couple of times, her fingers spasming slightly from using too much force.
Antcana expended some effort to pry the candlestick out of her hands, then roared at the dazed Mita: “Useless man! What are you still standing there staring for? Call for someone! Do you expect to watch Fiona die right here?!”
Having been disarmed of the candlestick, Cynthia managed to recover a shred of her sanity. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and said:
“You all saw it. She was the one who attacked me first.”