A Villainess Should Be Strong

Estelle pursed her lips, humming as she observed the room's interiors. It was her first time entering this particular room.

"Then? What does the papers have to do with it? Are they any preparations going to this matter?"  she stared at the scattered papers on the table.

"The papers are mostly about joint actions we are trying to form, or about the people who has been sent a request for forming a cooperation with. This concerns the nation's resources and benefits, so Shirley has to overlook them too," Aleksei explained. "As for the preparations... We are trying our hardest, but keeping it undercover is honestly a tough work to do,"

Estelle slowly nodded, taking in the information Aleksei gave her.

"Well, who am I to proudly proclaim it as 'we'? I am not exactly included in this dilemma," Aleksei chuckled.

"Aren't you going to be helping in one way or another in the end? Might as well count it right now. Where's the Neil, by the way?" They have been talking continuously, but the man had not showed up yet even though his loyalty was off the charts.

If the Queen had sent for him in such a brazen way, shouldn't he be here in a flash?

However, they had to take into account that Neil could be busy with other matters and did not hear the Queen's shouts.

In a few seconds, that thought was destroyed. An intruder arrived.

"I'm here," Neil suddenly entered through the windows, jumping inside and looking around the room with monkey-like movements.

He spotted the passed out Shirley and sighed.

"As I expected.. the Queen is drunk again," Neil rubbed his temples, approaching Shirley's working table and tidying up the things on the surface.

Immediately, they were able to notice that Neil was alone. Which was strange, considering how he is usually always stuck with his twin sister.

"Ao, where is your sister?" Estelle took the opportunity to ask.

Neil sent a cold look towards her way, before turning his attention back onto Shirley. "Just wait," he said in a low volume.

"Wait for me, you little brat! How could you do such an improper act like jumping into the Queen's windows?!" A panicked voice that came from the lower floors entered their ears.

Right after that, another figure entered, but this time it was through the door.

Lo and behold, it was the very twin sister Estelle was asking about just a few moments ago.

An angry Niki could be seen huffing and puffing. Her cheeks were red, as her chest moved up and down heavily after a deadly sprint she made to catch up with Neil.

"Sister, I told you that the Queen was sleeping. Please be quiet," Neil frowned, acting as if he did not do anything wrong and Niki was just being unreasonable.

"You- brat!" Niki pointed at Neil. She then remembered that Shirley was unconscious and immediately lowered her volume as to not disturb the esteemed figure.

"Here we go again, you are being so noisy in the Queen's presence. Either way, didn't Her Highness herself tell us that we are allowed to do this?" Neil argued.

"But still!!" Niki stomped her steps all the way to Neil's side.

She decided to drop the case as it wasn't as impactful as the other cases.

"So? Since the Queen called for me.. there must be a reason for that. Can I assume that the reason relates to the two of you.. particularly the silver-haired girl?" Neil turned his head to look at the pair, scrutinizing them with a piercing gaze.

Neil had a complicated view towards Aleksei. On one side, he was the Prince, his master's younger brother, and someone he had to respect in terms of literal status.

However, even he could tell that the Queen also did not completely trust him. The crafty man with never ending plots lying inside his mind.

Now that he seemed to have decided to help Estelle, Neil began to suspect a strange plot brewing. A scheme for unknown targets.

He did not think that Estelle broke any of the rules. In fact, Aleksei was such an outrageous and unpredictable man that one would never be sure of categorizing a probability of actions to him.

"Oh right... I forgot, this is the last day of our challenge. What are you here for.. Let me guess, you couldn't do it and want to change the challenge? By no means am I-"

"I finished the challenge properly, thank you very much. Now, if you could kindly step outside with me for a few moments so I can show you my results, that would be greatly appreciated," Estelle cut the man's words off, crossing her arms and smiling widely.

"..going to do that," Neil finished off his sentence, but it took him a couple seconds to fully digest what Estelle had told him.

"You finished the challenge? Are you sure? Using the Moonlight Bow in three days. That was the challenge, alright? Did you get it mixed up with another thing?" Neil launched his barrage of questions as not a single part of him trusted Estelle's words.

Three days. How outrageous was that?

Even the most masterful person to ever come out of the Elven heritage wouldn't be able to do it in one month after coming in contact with the Bow, let alone three days.

"I didn't mix it up.. thanks to my talented teachers and of course.. my own hard work, I finished it. I am thankful that you are aware of how outrageous your challenge was, to the point where you yourself can't believe that I finished it. It was meant to be an impossible challenge from the start... Well, for someone that wasn't me, that is," Estelle boasted, taking pride at how fast Neil's facial expressions were changing with her every word.

The man was in disbelief.

"Or, do you perhaps want to suspect that I cheated now that my work was beyond your expectations? Feel free to do so, because I will be having a fun time proving you wrong one more time," Estelle chuckled.

Neil's face was exactly what she had been visualizing when she was engaged in her continuous training that seemed bottomless to the point where she wanted to throw everything away.

Consecutive failures with no progress hurts your mentality, and Estelle faced the brunt of this effect in full force when she was training.

The hard work paid off, since she was now able to get back at Neil.

"..There isn't a way to fake wielding the Moonlight Bow. Unless I see it with my own eyes," Neil glared at Estelle. "I still won't believe it, but I'll play along with you to see just how you are going to get behind this challenge,"

"Alright! It's my pleasure to show you as the rightful winner," Estelle grinned.

The group of four then descended downstairs after calling another servant to keep an eye on Shirley and take care of her in case anything happened while they were away.

They arrived at the open garden, where Estelle immediately took out her Moonlight Bow and went into a shooting posture.

With Estelle's confidence practically emanating from every single inch of her body, Neil began to frown. If the girl did not have a proven result to back her up, she would not be this confident.

What assured her?

Surely, there was no way she actually completed the challenge, right?

Of course, Neil was about to be proven wrong in just a minute.

"First of all, you never specified that the magic I had to wield was the Elven Winds, so I am going to take advantage of that and add in my own little spice," Estelle took a deep breath as she channeled her combination magic.

"Second of all, although there is a different method in wielding the bow apart from what I'm going to use, I found out that this way is the most.. accommodating of all. You also didn't specify about the methods, so once again.. I am going to take full advantage of this," Estelle drew the bow, feeling the magic surge around her.

She controlled everything well. Made herself relax, and her circuits loosen up to allow the flow of magic into the bow.

It was only after a few seconds that the translucent string appeared, with a similar looking arrow latched onto the weapon.

She drew the bow with confidence. With all the compartments in place, she just had to shoot it, and it would seal the deal about her challenge with Neil.

The end of her troubles, and possibly the start of a new one as Neil still had the authority to issue more challenges onto her.

She wasn't afraid, however, she was actually expectant. Because she believed that through surpassing this 'seemingly impossible' challenge, it proved that she just had to work her way around the matters and find the right path to follow.

That there would always be an answer.

She released the string with full force, letting the arrow unleash a strong gust of wind as it traveled at a high speed and momentum before finally stabbing itself on a tree trunk.

Estelle's victory had been declared.