The Duke's Daughter Is A Villainess (18)

When Lucas went down, clutching at his ankle, Dahlia shot up and gasped as if she were surprised. Then she rushed over to his side, concern written all over her features.

"Lucas? Are you alright? What happened?" She asked, her voice a little frantic.

Lucas was frowning, though not because of Dahlia. "I think I twisted my ankle."

At this point, Dahlia had already taken her 'Love/Hate' sticker and placed it on Lucas' shoulder. Currently she was looking at the +13% blinking at her from above his head. She had no idea that he already liked her this much.

The other knights that were gathered around them stopped speaking then, causing Dahlia to look up, confused. What she saw was that their attentions had been stolen by something else, and when she squinted to look past them, what she saw was the approaching figure of none other than Alice.

"Look! It's her!" One of the knights said as he nudged the knight beside him.

"She's the one they're all talking about?"

"Yeah. Have you heard about the gardeners wife?"

"I did... I can't believe she caused all that... and she seemed so nice too..."

As they discussed Alice and the rumours surrounding her, Dahlia took this chance to look at Lucas. Like she expected, the moment they began talking about Alice, his expression hardened. It didn't seem as if he believed them. He grew up with Alice after all, he knew better than to trust the rumours. But at the same time he didn't speak out against the knights gossiping about her either, so Dahlia thought there might be just one small part of him that worried about the rumours and didn't want to say anything incase it actually did turn out to be true.

Lucas knew that it was impossible for the rumour to start from nothing, so he figured there must be some truth hidden in all the exaggerations and embellishments, he just didn't know which part was true.

"Should I go get some help?" Dahlia asked.

Lucas shook his head. "I'll be fine. I'll just give it some time."

"...If you're sure."

Dahlia pretended to fuss over Lucas and his ankle, but could see out of her peripheral that Alice was heading towards their direction. The knights around them dispersed as she neared, so that Dahlia and Lucas could now be seen by her.

Alice stopped at a distance, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at Dahlia tending to Lucas. She seemed to be thinking about something for a while, before making a pained expression and then turning around to leave.

Lucas had been waiting the whole time for Alice to come over, and when he saw that she just turned around and left, he took it as an admission of guilt. He assumed that she was too embarrassed to talk to him because she knew he would've heard the rumours, and in his eyes that meant that she was at least partially guilty.

[Did you know that this would happen?]

~What? No. I had no idea Alice was going to come here today.

[Then you must be super lucky, Host! It looks like Lucas might be rethinking what he knows about Alice, and his own feelings for her!]

~Aren't men annoying? They're so fickle... it's a little disgusting.

[...]

~I mean, seriously. He's known this girl his whole life! He could trust her a little, right?

[....Host... whose side are you on?]

~My own, obviously, but it's just frustrating... I can't believe Alice fell in love with a man like this. Honestly.

Outwardly, Dahlia acted concerned and worried for Lucas, but on the inside she was just talking shit about him to her system. If he knew what Dahlia actually thought about him, Buddy was sure his percentage for her would drop all the way down to -100%.