"Your... personal treasury. Is there a problem?" Idyia repeated, looking at Lora in confusion. She could not quite understand why Lora was reacting so strongly.
Lora staggered back a few steps, her eyes full of disbelief.
"It's easy to guard against thieves outside the house, but not the thief inside it!"
Only after a long while did Lora sigh and say, "I let Neuvillette look after my treasury because I was sure he was upright, meticulous, and would take good care of my little savings... But he actually... Nooo!"
"Lady Egeria, please don't cry!" Seeing Lora so emotional, Idyia quickly tried to comfort her. "Monsieur Neuvillette said he knew you would definitely be angry, so he didn't need you to buy his gift. He bought one for himself!"
"With your money."
At first, it did not sound too bad, but when Idyia added that last sentence, Lora felt as if a bullet had struck her heart.
"Neu..."
"Neuvi..."
"Neuvillette!"
Idyia hurried over to help Lora catch her breath. "Lady Egeria, please calm down. It won't be good if you get too upset!"
Lora glanced at Idyia and sighed. "It must have been Focalors and Furina who gave him the idea! Otherwise, with that rigid personality of his, how could he possibly touch my personal treasury? Sigh... My sweet girls have stopped keeping me warm!"
Idyia scratched her head, but still kept trying to soothe Lora.
"Come on. Follow me inside."
In the end, Lora accepted her fate and brought Idyia, along with that huge bundle of gifts prepared for Nahida, back into the Akademiya.
When Sophia saw the huge bundle of gifts Lora brought in, even her expression showed some shock. She said in surprise, "This many? Did you move Fontaine's treasury here?"
"No, it is Lady Egeria's personal treasury," Idyia said, shaking her head as she explained to Sophia.
Hearing this, Sophia was a little surprised. "Personal treasury? You actually had a personal treasury?"
"Not anymore." Lora sighed, her eyes full of resentment as she muttered to herself, "If I'd known, I never should have let them find out about my personal treasury!"
As she spoke, Nahida took Lora's hand and comforted her. "Aunt Lora, don't be sad!"
Looking at Nahida's sincere gaze, Lora suddenly felt healed.
Ah!
So good.
"All right, I'm fine now." Lora shook her head, then had Idyia open the pack.
A full pile of precious gifts appeared before everyone. Amon stared at so many gifts in shock and said, "Whoa! Is Fontaine this rich now?"
"Fontaine has always been pretty rich, hasn't it?" Lora looked at Amon and said with a frown.
"Uh... Sorry. I should say, you are actually this rich now!" Amon corrected himself.
"Is it some unbelievable fantasy that I have money?" Lora looked at Amon, her gaze turning even stranger.
Amon scratched his head. "Not really... Oh, don't worry about it so much. In any case, you don't have money now."
The corner of Lora's eye twitched slightly. She looked at Amon and said, "Thank you for telling me that."
"You're welcome," Amon said, shaking his head.
Lora went on, "I wasn't thanking you! You..."
Sophia cleared her throat and stepped in to smooth things over. "All right, all right! Stop messing around. Today is my daughter's birthday, so no more making a scene! Whoever keeps it up, I'll throw them off the roof of the Akademiya."
Everyone knew Sophia was joking. No one would be harmed by a fall from the mere height of the Akademiya.
But whether it was Amon or Lora, both of them closed their mouths and looked extremely well-behaved.
No longer arguing with Amon, Lora glanced around and suddenly asked, "Hey? Where's Apep? I don't think I've seen her since yesterday. Where did she go?"
Sophia shook her head. "Who knows? She left the Akademiya all mysteriously yesterday. I suppose she went to prepare a gift."
"Then I want to see whether the gift she prepared is as luxurious as mine!" Hearing Sophia say that, Lora instantly perked up, clearly intending to compare with Apep.
When Apep returned to the Akademiya with the gift she had prepared, the first thing she saw was Lora sitting in the middle of a huge pile of luxurious gifts, staring at her with an air of superiority.
"Uh... what is this?" Apep looked at Lora before her, frowning slightly, not knowing what strange thing she was up to.
"Oh my, Apep! Let me see what kind of gift you prepared for Nahida!" Lora crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled at Apep.
Idyia spoke at just the right moment. "These are all gifts Lady Egeria prepared for Lesser Lord Kusanali!"
Apep looked at the priceless gifts surrounding Idyia and Lora and asked the same question as Sophia. "Did you move Fontaine's treasury here?"
"Don't worry about whether I moved Fontaine's treasury or not. Just tell me whether your gift can compare to mine!" Lora had no intention of bringing up her personal treasury anymore.
Let what was gone stay gone. No matter how she wailed, her personal treasury would not come back.
For now, she would just use Northland Bank's money.
Apep looked at Lora's smug expression and shook her head. "I don't have much Mora, so of course the gift I prepared is not as valuable as yours. But... did I ever say I wanted to compete with you?"
After hearing Apep's words, Lora's smile stiffened.
"It seems... you didn't..."
Only after a long while did Lora murmur that.
Apep walked straight past Lora. As she brushed by her, Lora clearly heard Apep leave behind one word.
"Crazy."
Apep went inside, leaving Lora alone in the wind, utterly disheveled.
"Um... Lady Egeria, what should we do now?" After a while, Idyia finally asked.
"Ah... What should we do now..." Lora came back to herself. She looked at Idyia, then at herself, and murmured, "I suddenly feel like a clown. Forget it. Let's go inside."
Idyia quickly gathered up the gifts that had been spread out, then followed Lora into the Akademiya.
This Sabzeruz Festival was officially hosted by the Akademiya, so compared to the private celebration Nilou and the others at the Grand Bazaar had held before, it was much more formal and grand.
The Akademiya had also taken the past into consideration, so this time, they spared almost no effort in preparing for the Sabzeruz Festival.
Everyone who had once helped Nahida resist the Akademiya also received an invitation.
...
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