Page 84 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
“You know”—I cocked my head to the side—“I only foretelldisasters… Are yousureyou want me to look into your love life?”
The lady stiffened. It was more than I’d afforded anyone else who’d come up to me tonight, but the implications were enough to make the lady pause.
Then she drew herself up and stated, “I am sure.”
“Okay.” I turned to Gail and used her formal address. “If you apologize to Lady Mercer for the interruption, and Gail is alright with it.”
“I am!” Gail nodded vigorously. I stifled a laugh and said, “You’re supposed to agreeafterthe apology. It’s only polite.”
Lady Cassandra chewed her lip in frustration but nodded at Gail. She ground out, “I’m sorry for interrupting, Lady Mercer.”
That scratched my itch for revenge on the villainess who’d come between me and Julian—I meant, Henrietta and Julian. Lady Cassandra was theworstkind ofvillainess. She’d created situations where the main characters had to live through excruciatingly embarrassing moments of awkwardness.
It’d made me rage playing through each of her scenarios.
But that was then, and this was now.
“Foretell Fate,” I said, making up some ability name I didn’t have. Closing my eyes, I counted to ten before opening them and then glanced at my character sheet. I read over my stats like I was reading some prophecy that had popped up showing me Lady Cassandra’s fate.
Oh, my experience points had gone up to 9662/15750. It was nice to see all of my hard work here was paying off.
When I gauged that enough time had passed, I focused again on Lady Cassandra. She was red in the face and unsteady, but ready for whatever terrible future awaited her.
“Ifyou get engaged this year …” I whispered softly, and she hurriedly bent forward to hear whatever it was I had to say, along with everyone else in the room. “Then it will fail, and your house will fall to ruin. Your friends will abandon you, and your true love will sacrifice himself to save you, but it will be too late.”
She recoiled, her face twisted in horror. I held firm. That was her fate in Henrietta’s route in North Sumbria, and it would be her fate again if she didn’t figure things out and make a change.
Now, I spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “But!If you get engaged to the one who already loves you when the first flower blooms in spring, you have hope for your own Happily Ever After.”
Lady Cassandra closed her mouth and stared at me, her face going through a variety of emotions: frustration, hopelessness … fear. She curtsied perfectly and managed a curt, “Thank you, Madame Potts.” She then turned on her heels and stormed out of the luncheon.
The entire place erupted with discussion on my prophecy. People even started inching closer again, intent blazing in their eyes.
I stood for a well-timed and hasty retreat.
“Lady Gail, Lady Tabitha, it was a pleasure.” I smiled at the girls. They’d remained at the edge of their chairs during my performance. Now, they leapt to their feet to curtsy farewell properly. I gave them a reassuring smile. “I look forward to seeing you both at the tea party tomorrow, and maybe hearing the end of Gail’s story.”
Between the tea party and the Masquerade Ball, it felt like this festival was never going to end.
I slipped from the dining hall and headed toward my room. If I started now, I might have enough time to properly do my hair …
“Miss Gerda!” Sir Tully jogged toward me at breakneck speed. He stopped just shy of an arm’s length away, smiling. “Miss Gerda, the duke would like me to escort you to the dungeon.”
I raised an eyebrow at the human, wondering if he knew how easily misunderstood something like that could be.
“Alright, lead on.”
CHAPTER 48
You Have Been Warned
Julian
A Few Minutes Ago
“Your god speaks in riddles just as well as my goddess!” Alice scoffed. She leaned back in her chair, unimpressed. “But since you’ve so kindly shared yours, I’ll read you mine.”
Alice focused on a pop-up window no one else could see. Her eyes flickered, searching through her notification tab ability log until she found Fate’s prophecy.
