Chapter 342 A Small Animal's Instinct

Chapter 342 A Small Animal's Instinct　　━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 

There was once a time when Michelle didn't fear death, because she believed that there was no point in continuing to live a life like that.

After all, she had no goals, no hopes, and no dreams. Even if she continued to hang on by a thread, all that would ever await her was pain and misery as she endured humiliation after humiliation from those who hated her.

Even if she tried to resist, she would only be repeatedly trampled under their heel, and the greatest 'rebellion' she could imagine would be to escape from their clutches the only way she could imagine - death.

But now that she had been saved by Emilia and already had her own dreams, how could Michelle still not fear death? If she still died, wouldn't all the effort her princess spent in saving her be in vain?

No! She would live as long as she could, and spend every waking moment serving her princess to the best of her ability! This was not only out of gratitude, but also because it had already become Michelle's goal in life.

She had long since regarded her princess, Emilia, as someone who was inherently kind and caring, and thus couldn't perceive her as a 'threat' no matter how much stronger she could be when compared to regular humans.

Crystal, on the other hand, was supposedly a regular human, but had been labeled as 'dangerous' from the very moment Michelle became aware of her position in Emilia's heart. 

At first, her fear stemmed from the worry of ruining the pursuit of her princess if she wasn't careful, but over time, she realized that there was something about her that just rang all the alarm bells in her heart. It was as if the girl could see right through her and find out the deepest, darkest secrets from the depths of her soul.

If it was ever discovered that her obsession with her princess wasn't limited to just gratitude, Michelle didn't dare imagine the consequences. If she really ended up ruining things for her princess, her sins would be unforgivable!

Moreover, Crystal may appear kind on the surface, but Michelle didn't believe that she was truly so harmless.

If the world was a forest, and she was a small rodent, then Crystal was like the smiling tiger that could chew her up without even spitting out the bones. Of course, her princess was the majestic mythical creature that lived at the heart of the forest, untainted by the rest of the world.

The instincts of a small animal were always very sharp. While Dixie was like a huge elephant that could easily crush both her and the tiger, she was inherently averse to attacking others for no reason, and would not bring them harm unless provoked.

"What's wrong, Michelle?"

"Are you okay?"

Michelle knew that she was bound to cause a misunderstanding, and maybe even make Emilia sad, if she didn't explain herself. "I-I'm okay… j-just too overwhelmed by the favor shown by the princess! O-Of course, I-I don't mean anything strange!"

She didn't dare to raise her head to take a look at anyone's expression, and simply closed her eyes in the embrace of her princess. 

As she repeated her words in her mind to see if they could cause any misunderstandings, Michelle could only reel in despair even as she basked in the soft and fragrant embrace of her princess. No matter how she thought about it, what she had done was just equivalent to shoving her foot in her mouth. 'I-It's over! W-Won't they think I'm just trying to seek sympathy while showing off?!'

Seeing how the short-haired girl continued to sob in her embrace while turning her face from side to side, Emilia couldn't help but rub the top of her head in distress. "Michelle…"

But like a floodgate that had been broken, the girl seemed to be overwhelmed as she continued to cry incoherently, and Emilia could only turn her helpless eyes to her companions.

Sam and Dixie seemed to be just as dumbfounded as herself, but Crystal smiled. "I think she's been holding everything in her heart for too long. Just let her vent for a while, don't worry."

Emilia didn't doubt the blonde girl's words and just held the older girl in her arms as she sobbed and sniffled, trying to bury herself deeper into her embrace as if she wished she could just disappear from in front of their eyes.

By the time her hiccups had faded away, Michelle had already slid down from the chair and onto the ground with her head on Emilia's lap, who now occupied her former position, and her eyes were woozy from both relief and exhaustion.

Emilia could only run her fingers through the girl's short hair with a rueful smile. "Done?"

Michelle seemed to jolt in shock as her eyes turned wide. "I-I'm sorry—!"

The crimson-haired girl tapped the girl's forehead playfully, making her freeze as she stopped trying to get up. "Silly, just stay there if you like. Anyway, you look like you're about to fall asleep, but there are things I need to discuss before you do, so listen carefully, okay?"

Michelle nodded seriously as she tried to fight off her drowsiness, and Emilia turned her sight to Crystal as she sighed. "To be honest, I wouldn't have thought about discussing things like this if not for Crystal, but this is a good opportunity to clear any misunderstandings… too bad Noelle isn't here, though."

Seeing her little sister's disappointment, Sam couldn't help but frown. "I tried to convince her to come, but—"

Emilia shook her head in denial. "No, it's not big sister's fault, and neither is it Noelle's. I should have handled her matters better. Clearly, there was some misunderstanding between us, and I rushed things out of excitement."

Pursing her lips in thought, she nodded. "But don't worry, I'll take care of it soon."

The cheerful atmosphere at the table had already turned a little down after Michelle's emotional outburst, and seeing how it seemed to be doused even further, Emilia grinned. "Forget that for now. Crystal, why don't you tell them everything we talked about earlier?"

The blonde-haired girl blinked in surprise as she pointed at herself, and seeing Emilia's encouraging smile, she could only clear her throat awkwardly. "H-Hello, everyone, I-I'm Crystal…"

Dixie and Sam stared at her with giant question marks on their faces, and the heroine's face almost exploded from embarrassment. 'O-Oh… what the hell am I doing?!'

Clearly, Emilia hadn't told her in advance she would be doing this, as she didn't think there was any need to go through a rehearsal or whatever. Everyone here could already be considered as 'family' in her heart, after all.

The blonde girl could only cough awkwardly. "S-Sorry… I-I'll start over."

Thankfully, Sam and Dixie were too confused to even laugh, so if not for Emilia's mischievous smirk, Crystal could almost delude herself into thinking she hadn't just re-introduced herself in front of her closest friends for no reason.

Clearing her throat, the heroine straightened up her spine before nodding. "S-So, for the past few days, I've been closely observing myself, and noticed something strange…"

The more she talked about it, the smoother her words became, and Crystal soon forgot all about her previous embarrassment as she started pointing out the details of her abilities.

Of course, Emilia trusted them in her heart, and so did Crystal. She didn't hide anything when retelling her story, even though she knew that being able to 'observe' people like this could be considered both unsettling and creepy.

For some people, it would make her a freak. For others, she would be a monster, or a devil. In Crystal's usually cynical heart, the best result she could expect from others when facing this kind of situation would be wondering how to make use of her, but that wasn't necessarily any better. 

Of course, things were no longer the same after being with Emilia for so long, and Crystal also had a much deeper understanding of Dixie and Sam. But even though she knew that they wouldn't be like that, somewhere deep inside, the blonde girl couldn't help but be nervous as she finished. "A-Anyway, that is all I've managed to observe so far."

In Michelle's drowsy state, it was already good enough that she was listening, but thinking about it too much was impossible, so she just nodded, even though no one noticed. Of course, Emilia already knew about it all, so there was no reaction from her either.

That only left the other two, and Crystal could only grit her teeth and wait for their reactions, not even daring to use her ability to peer into their thoughts. She felt like one of those students who was too nervous to enter their roll number on the exam website to check their results, even though they knew it wouldn't change anything.

Sam and Dixie remained silent for a while before the younger girl breathed a sigh of relief, finally figuring out why Crystal seemed intent to burn a hole through her head these days, while the older one started bombarding the heroine with questions.

The blonde girl couldn't help but be relieved in her heart as she answered all her curiosities one by one. 'I-I knew I was worried for nothing. How could they be like that?'

Given that they could accept an existence like Emilia, Crystal's ability really was nothing too strange to look at. At most, she was like a psychic, and Sam's questions probed more at the extent of her abilities than anything else.

Of course, Crystal's fear hadn't been completely unfounded. While some people did face what they considered 'abnormal' with fascination and curiosity, for the majority, their first reaction would always be either fear or hostility.

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