Chapter 111 - Disappointed Halma

"Gem! Gem!! You won't believe what just happ-" Fily's words stopped halfway through after opening the door enthusiastically only to see Halma taking care of a sleeping Gem.

"Shh," Halma said and motioned for her to go away. But instead of going away, Fily closed the door to Gem's clinic room and walked closer to them instead.

"She fell asleep?" Fily asked while looking for the potion she gave Gem earlier that day.

"Yes, shh. She's tired." Halma said while wiping the sweat from Gem's forehead which alarmed Fily.

"What did you do to her?" Fily said with suspicion as she moved closer to Gem and removed Halma's hold from the handkerchief slowly that she used to remove the sweat off of Gem's forehead.

Certainly, Fily was sure she put a stronger sleeping potion on Halma's bath wine and she should still be asleep until tomorrow morning but what was she doing in Gem's room, wide and awake?

'Unless she didn't drink her daily wine…' Fily pondered while observing Gem's condition closely.. 

"Don't worry, I didn't give her the sleeping potion in my wine. She was already asleep when I arrived here." Halma said and flexed the tidy room which she put an effort to clean with the help of the maids just before Fily arrived.

When Fily heard this, her eyes immediately squinted with more suspicion towards Halma, "How did you know about that?" she said and immediately regretted opening her mouth for recalling the answer to her own question by herself.

"Let's talk outside?" Halma asked with a more formal and serious tone than her cunning wicked tactic which filled Fily's thoughts with more confusion.

'Wait, Fily, Let's get this straight. Riveth told Halma about the sleeping potion? But why didn't I see her roaming around the castle when I came back here earlier? Did I actually miss that? And what about her unusual expression? Is she really asking me to talk with her outside in that serious tone or is she planning to punish me for targeting her?' Fily thought to herself, brainstorming all the questions and possible answers to her question just based on what she was seeing right now.

"Gem wouldn't wake up that easily after taking my sleeping potion." Fily lied with a confident voice.

'This way I could test if Gem really took that personalized sleeping potion we created for her by herself or if Halma was just lying.' Fily's thoughts said while she was observing Gem's reaction to her loud voice closely.

"Oh, is that so?" Halma asked while not trying to hold back the volume from her voice and failing spectacularly for having doubts about Fily's words.

"It's okay. We can just talk here comfortably." Fily tried to persuade her again.

"Are you sure? I don't want this poor child to wake up because of us."

'Wish she will or I won't forgive you both, Halma and mom.' Fily thought to herself before smiling fakely at Halma. "It's really okay."

"Okay, ehem," Halma said in a normal resonating voice and cleared her throat immediately to beat the awkwardness in the air between them.

"What is it you want to tell me?" Fily said and took a few deep breaths to relax secretly.

"I know what you did and what you were planning to do to me with that wine," Halma said straightforwardly which almost made Fily choke.

"I'm sorry, say what?"

"I said, I know what you guys did, your plans, everything. And I must say, I'm really disappointed about the outcome of this battle especially to you and Venedette," said Halma while looking down at her.

"And why is that? W-Why are you disappointed in me and Venedette only?" Fily stood and tried to level with Halma's vision but because Halma was way taller than her, she could only reach Halma's chin and immediately looked away from the embarrassment.

"Your plan was too weak. It took the most time and resources and that kind of plan making for a sage wouldn't work in the tournament, believe me, I know what I am saying." Halma said and started to go into detail about what was wrong with Fily's plan like how she was unable to utilize her teammate's skills to the fullest in each situation, how inefficient her teamwork with Petunia was, and how immature was teaming up against Von and Lei was.

"And Venedette," Halma added while shaking her head as if she was already very disappointed without even saying anything about it yet.

"She's still soft. Too soft to kill a small little butterfly who even managed to get away from her at the end." Halma said and wondered what was wrong with the way she raised her eldest daughter.

"How did you know all of this? Aside from my mom, of course, I'm even surprised how Mom was able to get hold of this new information which I, myself, did not even know about."

"That isn't important right now! All you need to know is that I'm watching, okay? I know what you all are doing. I am your Queen, after all."

"Yes but you're not God, so stop playing like one." Fily almost said which she immediately prevented by closing her lips.

Good thing her mom couldn't really hack her head and hear all these ugly thoughts running inside as long as she doesn't speak it out loud.

"I am your Queen and yet the defenses of this castle were even worse than a mall's defense system back at Mascarene." Halma said while shaking her head. "And for that exact same reason, I don't think I should stay here any longer, and neither shall you, kids. I am taking you back to your mother whether you like it or not so prepare your things now before it's too late-"

"Wait, what!?" Fily exclaimed as her eyebrows almost met each other because of the confusion.

"I said I am-" Halma attempted repeating her words again but Fily stopped her.

"I know but why?! Why am I going back there? After what my brother has done… I don't want to go back!" Fily said stubbornly.

"Oh? You want to stay with that wimpy of a daughter of mine?"

"No! I want to stay here with my friends, and we're already a team so there's also that."

"Fine, let's see if your mom would allow you to-"

"I don't need her permission, I am old enough to make my own decisions and besides, we're already an official team for the tournament which means I can't back out now. I want to fight those evil monsters with my friends…"