"What!?" Gilbert exclaimed, confused by her words.
"What do you mean you're dead?"
Angelica shrugged and sat on the table.
"It's exactly as I said"
"I am a living dead... booo... boooo" she said, as she tried to imitate a zombie.
An unamused Gilbert stared at her with an expressionless face. He was already stressed out before she came and now, her nonsense talk was making his headache worse.
"Get to the point!"
Angelica jerked up from his sudden outburst. It was bound to happen since she was playing around in the middle of an important discussion, even though she was fully aware of his ill temper.
"Ahem... sorry about that" She said in a small voice and cleared her throat.
"So... As you know I 'married' a certain high-ranking noble" Angelica's face turned serious as she started narrating the events of the past few days from the day she arrived in Volos.
"Since I was brought in to anchor his position. I naturally became the enemy of the state to his relatives coveting the position"
"I was attacked by their spies from time to time. I was so close to being poisonous too..." Angelica shook her head to clear her mind.
"Of course, it was to no avail" Angelica ran her fingers through her hair.
"Hell... they even sent assassins after me"
"Hold up... Assassins?" Gilbert interjected.
"What about the security personnel in the mansion? Were they sleeping instead of guarding the place?" He asked with his usual displeased voice.
"You know what that was exactly my point" Angelica snapped her fingers as if she just realized something.
"Just what are they even doing? During the first few attempts, they were so careless that it seemed like they wanted me to be assassinated tsk tsk...." Angelica clicked her tongue.
"Anyway one thing led to another, then this excuse of a priest wanted me to personally collect some 'blessed items' or whatever, not that I cared, for my so-called husband's needs"
"And then guess what?" Angelica asked with an amused expression, going off track again.
"What" Gilbert repeated flatly.
'I mustn't lash out now. If I do, we'll never get to the bottom of this' He thought gritting his teeth.
"My carriage was attacked and I was thrown off the cliff of mount Zion"
"And that's how folks the pitiful duchess Frost aka me died...dun dun dun" said Angelica, tapping the table like drum beats.
"Pitiful? You?" Gilbert raised his eyebrows in doubt.
From what he can see, Angelica was anything but pitiful.
"Yes. Me" Angelica replied with the same flat tone as him.
"There was this crazy guy who I'm sure is the leader of the group, he....he had green sparkles coming out of his fingertips. You have no idea how spooked I was" She shrieked from recalling the events.
The way Jace smiled was enough to send a creep down her spine. He was unlike anything she had ever seen.
"On top of that, he kept saying weird stuff"
"Heh...I can hardly imagine that" Gilbert smirked. His patience was running on fumes.
"Oh! then there was that snake mask" continued Angelica, ignoring his remarks.
"It was a white mask with a red snake running across it. Wait a second...." Angelica's eyes widened from putting together the pieces.
"Just like the snake behind poor Eddie's back! How did I not deduce that? Damn it!" Angelica exclaimed, hitting herself on the head
"Haaah" Gilbert signed.
This was not the first incident he had heard regarding the masked individuals. Having popped out of thin air, they have been involved in several underhanded transactions for the past two years.
They were also the primary suspects in the curse placed on Edward Frost, heir to the Frost Duchy.
Edward has been in a coma for months after he was inflicted with the Havu curse.
Gilbert was in fact working incognito to find ways to break the curse before it was too late.
'He was such a good boy'
He thought of a young Edward taking alchemy classes under him. He was diligent and respectful in his studies, unlike the brat in front of him.
On the other hand, Angelica was pondering on her newest deduction.
"They must be part of the gang that cast the Havu curse. That is one nasty snake" She blurted out while nodding to herself, having completely forgotten that she was in the presence of the sharp-sensed Gilbert.
"What did you just say?" Gilbert shot back immediately.
All information regarding the Havu curse was kept confidential by imperial rule. So how did she know about it?
'Oh sh*t. I forgot. I'm not supposed to know that' Angelica facepalmed and tried to play dumb.
"What did I just say?" She asked back innocently.
"Something about Havu curse?"
"Havu? What's that?" Angelica avoided looking into his eyes.
"I said 'Have you closed up for the sake festival that's about to start in the south?' Hahaha"
"Did you finally lose your ability to hear? You should check with a doctor"
Gilbert knew that no matter how much he interrogated Angelica he would not get a proper answer from her unless she intended to come clean herself. But it was not a bad thing that she had knowledge about the curse since she was in fact married to Edward Frost.
And on top of that Gilbert was not in the mood to hear another made-up story about the festivals around the world.
"Haaah" He massaged his throbbing head and decided to move on instead of probing her further.
"Whatever happened to the assassins?"
"Oh them" Angelica beamed like she wanted to be praised for her actions.
"I beat them up"
"...." Gilbert was speechless. He buried his face in his trembling hands.
"By the time I climbed back up the hill, the snakey boys had vanished"
"Snakey boys, really?" He asked without lifting his face.
"That's what I've named them" Angelica pouted.
She might be bad at naming, but it was the best she could come up with on her own.
"They didn't exactly leave behind a name card ya' know"
"So I cleared out the rest of the small fries left behind"
"Also the Frost knights saw me getting pushed off the cliff. So they all think that 'I'm dead'."
"Annnnd... I'd like to keep it that way" Angelica glanced at Gilbert, waiting for his reaction.
"Why?" Gilbert looked up.
"Why do you want to keep it that way?" He was confused by her way of thinking.
"Well...... If I go back there now I'll have to answer a LOT of questions" Angelica smiled awkwardly, scratching her cheek.
"I'm sure they'll just lock me up to keep me 'safe' or whatever" Her face turned gloomy from thinking about the attack.
"The assassination attempts won't stop until I'm dead anyway."
"And now that they think I'm no longer alive, I can move around freely without any restrictions"
"So I guess there was something positive that came out of the ordeal" Angelica smiled with a complicated face and bit her lips looking down.
"Are you alright?" asked Gilbert, his face full of concern for the child in front of him.
He got up from his seat and hugged her. She was too young to have gone through so many hardships.
"I guess, I'm not" Angelica leaned on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"But. It's fine"