"Flay?"
As the person in question, Flay merely showed a look of astonishment, her face purely displaying the bewilderment of being suddenly brought into the spotlight.
Kira, who had transformed into her protector, immediately asked sharply, "Brother Wang Hu, why are you asking about Flay?"
"She doesn't know that Miss Lacus, and they have no connection at all. You must be mistaken."
"Flay, do you remember what I said when we first met?"
Wang Hu smiled at Kira who was defending Flay, then turned to stare at the girl who had been silently trying to make herself less noticeable.
"I don't understand what you mean, Brother Wang Hu."
Visibly hesitating for a moment, Flay ultimately shook her head.
"Then let me remind you."
Facing the confused expressions from everyone, Wang Hu raised three fingers.
"Flay's father is the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Atlantic Federation, while Lacus's father is the Chairman of the PLANT Council."
"Flay is the well-known campus goddess at Heliopolis Engineering College, while Lacus is the popular top-tier diva welcomed by everyone on PLANT."
"In terms of appearance, they could barely be said to be evenly matched. Based on all this, don't you think they have quite a few similarities?"
"This..." Initially, no one had thought about it from this perspective, but after Wang Hu's analysis,
immediately everyone's gaze toward Flay changed. At this point, no one could refute Wang Hu's argument.
Because they were too similar, really too similar!
Flay was practically a inferior version of Lacus!
Could this also be the reason why Kira later transferred his affections?
Forcing a smile, Kira continued to weakly defend Flay, "Brother Wang Hu, these are just coincidences, right? And even so, what does this have to do with Flay?"
"They don't even know each other!"
"Flay." Wang Hu still ignored Kira and continued questioning the girl who had lowered her head.
"Do you remember what I told you?"
"Flay."
Seeing that Wang Hu kept ignoring him, Kira suddenly stepped in front of the girl, attempting to protect the object of his youthful affection in this way.
"No need for that, Kira." However, under Wang Hu's persistent questioning, the girl being protected by Kira,
Flay, chose this moment to raise her head and gently pushed Kira aside.
The girl walked right up to Wang Hu under the young man's disbelieving gaze.
"Captain Wang Hu, I remember when we first met."
"At that time, you told me that this wasn't my true nature at all. I don't know how you saw through it, but..."
Tossing her vibrant crimson hair, the innate young lady demeanor that Flay had developed under her father's doting emerged.
Of course, this isn't referring to the difficult habits she displayed after her father died, like deliberately making Kira buy skincare products in the barren desert region.
But rather a more confident and flamboyant aura.
"Hey, this is how you should be." Wang Hu clapped his hands in admiration.
Staring at Wang Hu's beaming, approving expression, Flay's thoughts drifted back to her memories on Heliopolis.
It was shortly before all the disasters were about to be born.
At that time, this man was accompanied by a short, hat-wearing boy whose face was unclear.
Back then on campus, she had finally shaken off a group of followers and was alone, wanting to find a quiet place to return to her true self.
This man blocked the artificially created sunlight.
Suddenly appearing before her, with eyes so sharp they seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, he immediately revealed her true nature!
"Flay?" Kira stared at the girl whose aura was completely different, feeling somewhat confused and at a loss.
Mainly because the girl before him now was far, far too different from the gentle girl in his memories.
But!
Strangely, Kira felt no aversion toward this version of Flay. Instead, he felt inexplicably excited!
So this was the real Flay, the Flay that even Sai didn't know!
Kira was extremely exhilarated at having discovered another side of Flay, a secret unknown to Sai.
The thrill of peeking into someone else's privacy was washing over his heart in waves.
Wang Hu glanced at the inexplicably excited Kira, somewhat puzzled about what was going on with the boy again.
But now was clearly not the time to worry about him. Wang Hu turned to the Flay who had revealed her true self and asked.
"Can you answer my question now? You've met that Lacus too, right? What kind of person do you think she is?"
"A fake." Flay revealed that disdainful smile one gets when seeing their own kind.
"Just like me, burying her true self beneath a false mask, merely playing the role of the good daughter in her father's eyes, the perfect woman in others' minds."
"Of course, compared to me, she acts more convincingly. But that scent - I could smell it immediately."
They say a woman's greatest enemy is another woman, and that only a goddess can truly understand another goddess.
Regardless of their status, whether national or local, the routines are always the same.
"N-no way?"
Kira stammered, unwilling to believe that the girl who appeared so pure could actually be a scheming woman.
And if Lacus was as Flay described, then what about Flay herself?
Was she like that too?
"Why is it impossible?"
Flay's eyes were filled with condescending arrogance as she stared at Kira, whose submissive nature was clearly showing.
"Does a creature like the perfect goddess truly exist in this world?"
"Hardworking, kind, thrifty, passionate, helpful, meticulous, serious, responsible, noble and uncorrupted, praised by all, open and honorable."
"Is it really possible for all these qualities to converge in one person's essence? If you search your heart and think about it, is it possible to achieve such perfection?"
"Even the saints in history were beautified by later generations. As for the original forms of these saints, who among their contemporaries actually witnessed them?"
"Captain Wang Hu once said that this world isn't just black and white - there's gray too. Can you be sure that what you see as real is actually real?"
"Me?" Kira had long lost his initial excitement by this point. Staring at Flay, who now seemed so unfamiliar it was frightening, he instinctively took a step back.
The filter had shattered, and he couldn't yet bear the reality after the beauty filter was removed.
"Kira." Flay sighed softly before continuing slowly.
"People always believe what they want to believe. When that Miss Lacus first appeared, didn't you notice anything discordant?"
"Discordant?" Kira racked his brains, searching frame by frame through his memories for what Flay was referring to.
"What about you?" Flay skipped over Wang Hu and turned her gaze to Li Chengzhi and the others, staring at these people who were shocked by her truth.
She asked mockingly, "Can't you see it?"
"Miss Flay, what are you referring to?"
Mu stepped up as the representative for the others.
He could no longer treat Flay as a delicate young woman, but rather as someone he could communicate with as an equal.
"My father is the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Atlantic Federation. I know all too well what a politician's family is like."
"No matter how much a father tries to protect his daughter, accidents always happen in daily life."
"Some are man-made, some are genuine accidents, but all these various incidents only serve to hasten a young woman's maturation."
"Whether you want it or not."
Pointing at her own nose, Flay spoke coldly, as if describing something that had happened to someone else.
But everyone present knew she was talking about either herself or that Lacus.
And even ordinary people unfamiliar with politics have watched television and movies, right?
The scheming among politicians, the darkness and cruelty in politics depicted there...
Reality!
Is only more cruel and unbearable than what's portrayed in literature and film!
"Lacus appears too naive about the ways of the world. In your eyes, that might seem normal."
"But please engage your impoverished brains - what should be the reaction of a normally thinking person when they come to a completely unfamiliar and unknown place?"
"Would she fail to notice the guns pointed at her, or the soldiers kneeling on the ground?"
Flay crossed her arms, instantly unleashing her queenly aura. She was the monarch here!
Slowly analyzing the problem for her foolish subjects.
"But it's possible she genuinely didn't see them?"
Murrue forced herself to explain. Being a kind person herself, she couldn't bear to speculate about others with such pure malice.
There are always more good people in this world, right?
"Foolish!" Flay glanced sideways at Murrue who had spoken. "Apart from fools, fear is an instinct in all living creatures."
"Humans without specific training cannot suppress the sensory feedback from this instinct."
"Did she show even the slightest hint of fear at the scene? Do you still think someone who can ignore fear is a pure, innocent flower?"
"And from beginning to end, did you ever seize the initiative in the conversation? Think carefully, use those decorative heads of yours to think properly."
"Weren't you caught in her rhythm from the very start? Did you hear any extra, useful information about her personally from the conversation?"
"She said she's a member of the memorial team."
Mu retorted that he could accept Wang Hu and the others looking down on him, but what did it mean when even a schoolgirl showed him such contempt?
I have my pride too!
"And then?" Flay let out a light laugh, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she looked at Mu as if he were a complete fool.
"You felt guilty, you let your guard down around her. What else? Don't forget we're supposed to be enemies!"
"This?" Murrue, who had never met Lacus in person, remained relatively calm.
But Mu, along with Natarle Badgiruel and Li Chengzhi, felt a chill run down their spines.
(End of Chapter)