The Duke's Daughter Is A Villainess (21)

Dahlia found Alice in no time. She was dusting off one of the paintings in one of the wider hallways. Grinning, Dahlia took out the two 'Follow Me' tags that she'd written Noah and Lucas' names on earlier from her pocket and then stuck them onto her back before she approached Alice.

"Alice!" Dahlia greeted, beaming. "We meet again."

Alice's shoulders went stiff, but when she turned around all Dahlia could see her smiling face. "Miss Baudelaire, hello."

They exchanged some more words, Alice looking a bit uncomfortable the entire time, and then Dahlia pretended to notice some dust on Alice's arm and went to brush it away. Alice swore she could feel a strange sting when Dahlia touched her, but then she figured she must've just imagined it.

~How close are Noah and Lucas?

[Lucas is just turning the corner! He'll reach the other end of the hallway soon! Noah will probably be arriving two minutes!]

~Great! Since Lucas is already so close, I might as well start the show.

"Alice, are you alright? Your complexion doesn't look too good..." Dahlia asked with concern.

Alice was about to make up an excuse, but instead she couldn't help but blurt out the truth. "I've actually felt miserable lately."

Dahlia blinked in surprise. "Really? What's wrong?"

"It's you, Miss." Alice answered.

Dahlia gasped, and then Alice slapped her hand over her mouth, as if she couldn't believe she actually just said that.

~Is Lucas...?

[He's hiding around the corner!!! He definitely just heard what Alice said just now!]

~And Noah?

[He's close!]

"Me...? Have I done something?"

Alice shook her head, but her honest thoughts came pouring out her mouth anyway. "I saw you with Lucas the other day, and I've heard about how the both of you..."

Even though she covered her mouth with her hands, it could not stop the 'Truth Teller' from forcing her to give out her answers anyway. Alice looked panicked while Dahlia was cheering on the inside.

"What... me and Lucas? What are you talking about? We're just fri-"

"Don't lie to me! I saw the two of you! And do you think I don't know that you're engaged to Prince Noah? How could you do this to the both of them? You have a fiancé, you shouldn't be close to other men like that!"

Being accused of something like that so blatantly, Dahlia couldn't help but stumble back in shock.

"You've misunderstood! I-"

"Don't bother trying to make up an excuse! I've seen you!"

Dahlia was about to protest again, even though it seemed Alice had completely made up in her mind what kind of woman Dahlia was, but before she could say anything else, Noah suddenly walked up to the both of them.

"Alice." Noah said, his voice sounding grave and serious.

"Noah! I-"

"Alice.... stop. Dahlia did nothing wrong."

Alice gaped, clearly not having expected him to defend Dahlia. "What are you talking about? She-"

"It's not a real engagement. It was just something my father had planned... so don't say things like this about Dahlia anymore, okay? It really was just a misunderstanding."

Alice flushed in embarrassment at the disappointed look that Noah was giving her. She mumbled a half hearted apology in Dahlia's direction and then turned tail and ran.

"Dahlia, I'm sorry about that... Alice means well..." Noah apologised to Dahlia, looking ashamed on Alice's behalf.

Dahlia laughed, but it was obviously forced. "No, it's fine. I understand what I must've looked like in her eyes..."

Noah apologised a few more times, and Dahlia kept saying it was okay. After a couple more minutes, Noah left, and the percentage above his head was now at +20%. It seemed that lowering his opinion of Alice was the easiest way to raise his opinion of Dahlia.

[Wow! That was great, Host!]

~Thank you, thank you. I gave a great performance, didn't I?

[Yes!! Now Alice doesn't seem like a perfect angel in Noah's eyes anymore!!!]

~It really was the perfect plan, wasn't it?

[Yes!! All hail the Host!!!!!!]