Walking through the crowded streets of the city, Evangeline glanced back at Adrian. He was looking around, as if searching for something.

’I think I had the wrong impression of him.’ 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

His unexpressive face and quiet demeanor gave the impression that he was the type of person who didn’t like interacting with people. She had expected him to be reserved and unenthusiastic while interacting with her.

’My heart almost jumped out of my chest when he asked if I was trying to mock him.’

She felt that she had ruined things during their first interaction. But surprisingly, he let it go too easily when she explained herself. People would still have lingering doubts even after you explain that you didn’t do something intentionally.

But he didn’t seem to have any doubts. Either he could read her well enough to know that she was telling the truth, or he simply didn’t care.

’And it’s not very uncomfortable when he starts speaking.’

It felt unnerving when he stared expressionlessly without saying anything, but that feeling went away when he began speaking. He no longer seemed unnerving. In fact, he was a nice kid if she considered how he shared the method of getting stronger easily with her.

Soon, they reached an extremely crowded place in the city where shops were lined up one after another, selling different things. Many vendors were even trying to promote the goods they were selling by shouting loudly.

It was a place filled with noise and crowds, but that was also what made it look more lively in her eyes.

They moved from one shop to another, as she observed both the goods and the customers. Watching the crowds of people trying to buy things from a shop while the shopkeeper struggled to keep up, it was rather fun.

But as she glanced at Adrian, he didn’t seem all that interested. Instead, he seemed lost in thought over some other matter.

Briefly, she felt the urge to pull him out of his thoughts and make him do what she was doing, but she suppressed that urge. He didn’t need to have the same interests as her; they were different people.

After a few hours, she began feeling tired, so she left the crowded place and sat on a wooden bench near the stall of a street vendor selling fruits. Adrian stood beside her, not looking even the slightest bit tired.

As she looked around, her gaze settled on the fruits being sold by the street vendor. Looking at those fruits reminded her of the time she had bought one and tried it during her previous adventure.

She turned to Adrian.

"Hey Adi, have you studied about fruits too?"

"To a certain degree, yes."

"Then," she pointed at the fruit stall. "Go and buy a tasty fruit from there. Oh, you do have money, right?"

He nodded and walked toward the stall.

Waiting for his return, she watched the people walking through the streets, and an idea suddenly came to her mind.

’Should I test that ability here?’

Ever since she found a tangible goal to work toward, her determination to get stronger had increased several-fold. After all, she would need to be strong to help Adrian overthrow the imperial family in the future.

Her mother had started teaching her some spells corresponding to her elemental affinities, and although understanding and learning them was hard, she was doing her best and making progress, even if that progress was slow.

But there was something she had been unable to learn how to use properly: her ability Vox Imperium.

She still felt that nobody should find out about the nature of her ability, so she could not openly test it. If she tried it in the mansion, then someone might get suspicious.

’But that doesn’t mean I never tested it, I’ve used it on ants.’

Desperate to learn more about Vox Imperium, she had tried it on ants in the new mansion’s garden. And she was able to control them with her voice, just as she had expected. That experience had also allowed her to learn some limitations and rules related to Vox Imperium.

There were two ways to use this power: by choosing a target of command and without choosing a target. If a target is selected, only the target will be affected by the ability, but if no target is chosen, the ability will affect all living beings within the range of effect.

The amount of mana consumed as the cost for using this power depends on the number of beings under the effect of her command. And she had a feeling there were other factors, she just didn’t know about them yet.

And there was something she had been wanting to test for a few days but hadn’t been able to.

’If I don’t select a target of command, how large will the area of effect be?’

This was the perfect place to test that. And since there were so many people present here, nobody would suspect a little girl like her to be the cause.

She took a deep breath.

’Although with so many people here, I don’t think it’ll last more than a second or two before I run out of mana. Still, that much should be enough.’

Hiding her mouth with the sleeve of her dress, she quietly whispered.

⪡"...stop."⪢

That barely audible whisper caused an invisible ripple to spread through the area, as everyone within her line of sight stopped in their tracks as if frozen. The noisy place became completely quiet.

Her mana began draining at an absurd speed; she was only two seconds away from running out—

"Here you go."

A hand carrying a blue fruit suddenly appeared from behind her.

"Aaaaah!!!"

Evangeline’s heart almost jumped out of her chest the moment she heard the voice from behind, as well as saw the hand. Just then, her mana completely ran out, causing a wave of weakness to wash over her. The sudden wave of weakness, coupled with her panic, caused her to fall backwards.

At the same time, the effect of her command was broken, and everyone became able to move once again. They all looked around in confusion as chaos slowly unfolded.

Lying on the ground, she saw Adrian standing behind her with a fruit in his hand as he looked down at her expressionlessly. She stared blankly at him.

There was confusion and panic all around them, caused by the use of her ability. But her mind ignored it all as it was focused on only one thing.

’How did he not stop like everyone else?’

She was certain that he had offered her the fruit while her ability was still in effect, and everyone around her was frozen. Did her command not take effect on him? But why?

It should work on all living things, at least that was what she believed. Now that she thought about it, the fact that he had absolutely no presence, as well as her power not working on him, both pointed to...

No, she had more important things to worry about right now.

’Did he notice?’

If her command didn’t take effect on him, then he must have noticed that everyone else had suddenly stopped, but she herself hadn’t. Did he become suspicious that she was the cause?

"What are you doing, lying on the ground like that? Get up. Also, I think we have spent more than enough time outside today, so we should return now."

His words brought her out of her jumbled maze of thoughts. Her body unconsciously complied with his words, and she got up. They then began heading back in the direction of the mansions, navigating through the people who were still looking around in confusion.

Soon, they got back to the mansion.

He parted ways with her without saying anything the moment they entered through the large, golden gate. But she was too out of it to react in any way. She returned to the guest room and changed back into the original clothes she wore when she came here.

With that, she got into her personal carriage and ordered the driver to return home.

Only now did her blank mind become clear enough for her to think properly as she let out a deep sigh filled with relief.

’Looks like he didn’t suspect me.’

No, from his reaction—or lack of reaction, it was as though he didn’t even properly understand what had actually happened. Well, it made sense considering that it had only lasted for three seconds at most.

It looked like she hadn’t been found out.

But... she wasn’t able to understand the range of the effect of her ability because of the unintentional jump scare he had given her.

She let out a sigh once again, this one out of frustration.

’Well, I can always try again.’

This adventure had been a success since the two of them had gotten close, if only slightly. More than that...

’He said spell creation, huh? I’ll test it as soon as I return.’

She gazed out of the window, watching the buildings pass by as the carriage rumbled through the streets. It didn’t take her too long to reach the new mansion. It actually wasn’t all that far.

But as the driver opened the carriage door, and she stepped out, she was greeted by her mother standing by the mansion’s door. Her gaze felt unusually intense.

Evangeline smiled innocently at her mother, but she didn’t return the smile. Her mother still continued staring at her.

She tilted her head in confusion.

"Mama, why are you staring at me like that? Did something happen?"

Her mother smiled, but it wasn’t the smile she usually had. It felt sarcastic and pretentious.

"Something happened? Yeah, baby, something actually did happen. I have this daughter who lied to me about having her breakfast before she left. She fooled her mother."

’Oh no...’

Her mother leaned in, whispering in her ear.

"Don’t you think she should get punished?"

’Ah... I messed up...’