Chapter 69 - No

"Can you walk now?" Halma said worriedly to Gem who was still full of energy even after all that training.

"Yup! I've got a lot of energy in me." Gem said meaningfully, pertaining to the energy slimes inside her Salamandite crystal gem.

[Petunia: Finally, dinnertime.] Petunia started chatting with Fily again even after being ignored earlier thanks to her questions that weren't very helpful for Fily.

And now, they were marching with the maids across the hallway to the dining room, which was, again, a very weird sight for them since maids don't usually march behind the Princess, but since the Queen is different in so many ways, it was easy to deduce the reason behind all of it this time.

[Fily: The Queen is really too much.] Fily typed and sent to Petunia once again, rolling her eyes from the annoying sound of a marching band behind them.

"That's cool, where did they come from? And why are they here? Is it because of my ceremony?" Gem said enthusiastically on the other hand to Halma.

Yay. Such an optimistic child. 

[Petunia: Why, in the world, would Halma make the maids play instruments while marching behind us to the dining room when Venedette's family is literally grieving over Von's panic attack because of Demi?]

[Fily: I don't know. She may be a masochist or something.] Fily rolled her eyes again, and when she stared at the chat, she almost screamed from reading the words "I don't know" from her profile.

'No, no, no, no… I don't like this. It can't be! I should not get used to not knowing anything!' Fily complained to herself while keeping her tears at bay.

"Are you okay?" Gem suddenly appeared before her.

Fily was not paying attention to Gem and Halma's conversation which was why when she was dragged into it, she didn't even notice her name being mentioned by them.

[Petunia: They're talking about the Salamandite manual and where it actually came from.]

[Fily: W-What should I say?]

[Petunia: Tell them you don't know.]

[Fily: NO!]

[Petunia: Whoa, easy there. I'm just trying to help, you know?]

[Fily: No.]

"I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention, what was the question again?" Fily smiled forcefully at Gem and Halma who also smiled kindly back to her.

"Halma said she might know who hid the book inside that mountain where Von found it by chance."

"Oh really?" 

"Yes really! And did you know it was your mom who found out about it through an ancient book found in the very basement of Halma's castle!?"

"N-No," Fily said reluctantly. She had been saying 'no' more than a dozen times already today and it was not sitting well with her pride at all.

"That's such a shame, you should talk to your mom more, Fily. She might be missing you a lot already given that she always used to talk about you nonstop before I got here," said Halma with a sinister smile.

"How about now? Did she tell you anything about me? Like, very recently?" 

Fily stole a glance at Halma's arms where Petunia also seemed as nervous as her because of the question.

"Well, not really. She hadn't talked to me yet. But if she does tell me anything, I'll let you know." Halma said with that creepy smile of hers again which made Petunia and Fily more nervous.

[Petunia: She doesn't know about it yet!]

[Fily: I know.] 

Fily shook her head and focused on her next step after stepping inside of the dining room with them.

'Should I thank my mom or not?' she pondered closely before stopping her mind from thinking about anything else when the food was finally served in front of them.

Von and Lei were the only ones who were not present during dinner which only meant that Von was still feeling unwell.

And although there were a lot of things each of them wanted to say to each other, everybody kept their mouths shut throughout the entire dinner. 

With despaired faces except for Halma's snicker and Gem's bright face, it was not hard to notice the leap that Gem's emotions took before and after the dinner where she could be seen struggling from something towards the end.

Her face became pale and she was sweating bullets which Fily noticed too late when she just suddenly fell down on the empty chair beside her where Lei was supposed to sit.

"Gem!!" Fily shouted after seeing her fall.

"What happened?!" Venedette asked and stood from her seat, alarmed.

"She just suddenly passed out!" Fily said, starting to panic now and even looked at Petunia under Halma's robe to confirm if it was her doing, but the Dandeloin soul was still in Halma's bracelet so she was not the culprit this time according to Petunia.

"Bring her to the hospital wing, now!"

And along with Venedette; Halma, Petunia, and even Sir Grand immediately moved to bring her to the hospital wing where Von and Lei were staying all this time, doing fine.

"Von! You're… okay?" Venedette paused for a second at the clinic's open-door after seeing Von giggling while playing a board game with Lei on his hospital bed.

This shocked Von to the core when his mom just suddenly barged into his room, carrying a passed-out Gem in her arms as if something really bad just happened to her.

"Mom? Aren't you supposed to be at dinner? And what happened to her?" Von asked with pouty lips and furrowed eyebrows.

"We're going to have our talk later, son, but right now, I need you to tell me where the nurse is!"

"She's eating dinner with the doctor," Von said quickly and hid behind Lei for being caught guilty of his disappointing crime.

"Okay then, I'll leave her here and look for the doctor immediately. Watch over her for me, will you?" Venedette said, giving them a task under pressure and so many more different emotions mixed up that before they could even complain and disagree, she was already gone. 

Leaving Gem's pale and sweaty body on one of the beds inside their room, particularly the white one that was situated closest to the door, two beds away from the boys' beds.