"I understand... Thank you, Mom."

Sophia's mood improved considerably.

She wasn't planning to give up easily yet.

"Speaking of which, isn't my birthday coming up soon?" Marianne said with a smile. "It's usually been kept rather simple in previous years, so this time let's make it grand and hold a spectacular ball that will be the center of attention?"

"Eh?" Sophia asked in confusion. "Doesn't Mom dislike extravagance?"

Marianne was accustomed to keeping a low profile. In previous years, her birthday banquets were usually only held within the small circle of upper-class nobility.

"The past is the past."

Marianne blinked and drew out her tone. "My daughter Sophia is about to come of age. As her mother, wouldn't it be perfectly natural for me to look for suitable partners for her at my own birthday banquet?"

"Ah?"

Sophia's eyes widened enormously.

The next moment, she understood Marianne's meaning.

Releasing news about finding a spouse for herself would definitely attract many nobles.

If Celitia really had any thoughts, she wouldn't be able to suppress them anymore at that time, right?

"But what if..." Sophia still felt very uneasy.

"Sometimes, stimulating the other person a little can force out their true feelings."

Marianne smiled and flicked her forehead, winking at Sophia with a mischievous expression.

"Besides, being too close isn't necessarily a good thing. Sometimes keeping a little distance can have unexpected effects! That's why there's a saying: 'A brief separation is better than a new marriage'—"

Listening to Marianne's words, Sophia was thoughtful.

Based on her understanding of Celitia, indeed, she was the type who would stubbornly stay in place if not pushed forward.

"Alright!"

Sophia nodded vigorously, sniffed, wiped her face clean with a towel, and showed Marianne a big smile.

"Then I'll continue working hard!"

Putting her enthusiasm to full use, Sophia excitedly continued with her preparations.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was already evening.

"Oh right, I can't stay at the palace today—I must return to the academy."

Looking at the sky, Sophia felt a bit anxious.

She remembered very clearly that today was the day Celitia's curse would activate again.

No matter what Celitia thought, no matter how she pushed her away, Sophia always remembered that she had promised her she would definitely stay by her side during her most painful moments.

The more urgent matters were basically finished, and the rest could probably be left for the next day.

Thinking this way, Sophia told Marianne and hurried outside.

Just as she left the main gate, she was stopped by someone.

The man before her was about thirty years old—the cabinet minister in charge of finance and Charlotte's father, Fels Williams.

Fels was holding a stack of documents and respectfully said to Sophia:

"Your Highness, the materials you requested today have all been compiled. Would you like to review them now?"

Sophia couldn't help but look up at the sky again, feeling anxious.

Why did he have to bring these things at this exact moment?

Noticing Sophia's movement, Fels was stunned and silently stepped back half a pace.

"Does Your Highness have urgent matters? These documents can wait until tomorrow."

Sophia looked at the gate outside, then at Fels, feeling extremely conflicted.

Finally, she gritted her teeth and reached out to take the documents from Fels.

"Come with me."

Sophia had always been very diligent and didn't want to leave the ministers with an impression of laziness, especially since this one was her supporter.

As long as she was quick and efficient, she could definitely make it in time.

Joy appeared in Fels's eyes as he followed behind Sophia, taking this opportunity to speak:

"Princess Sophia, please allow me to speak out of turn—I heard that Charlotte angered Your Highness some time ago."

After the award ceremony, Margaret had fallen ill with anger, submitted a leave of absence application, and hadn't appeared for quite some time.

Having fallen out with Sophia and with her backer nowhere to be seen, Charlotte had been in a completely isolated state during this period.

No one dared to speak with Charlotte, making her situation much worse than Celitia's had been initially.

Celitia's popularity was growing day by day, making Charlotte appear even more alone.

Charlotte had always wanted to find Sophia to apologize and try to repair their relationship.

Unfortunately, Sophia was always stuck together with Celitia, and Charlotte could never bring herself to approach them.

Fels had scolded his daughter repeatedly over this matter, but aside from making her cry and hide in her room, it had no effect.

She was his daughter after all, and Fels was anxious watching her situation.

This time, Fels had finally found an opportunity to test Sophia's attitude.

"Charlotte already knows she was wrong and has cried countless times over her conflict with Your Highness. If Your Highness is still willing to give her a chance, I'll bring Charlotte to see Your Highness tomorrow to apologize."

Sophia was slightly stunned.

If she said she was completely unaware of Charlotte's situation, that would definitely be false.

But Sophia had done nothing.

She was waiting for Charlotte to figure things out herself and come to her.

Now that Fels was actively bringing it up, had Charlotte finally understood?

Looking at Fels with his flattering smile, recalling past events, Sophia couldn't help but sigh deeply.

She slowly nodded: "Alright."

Meanwhile, at Cassia Cathedral.

"What, she's missing?"

Ariel asked almost incredulously.

"Yes, Lady Saintess." Pierre said timidly. "We've searched everywhere but still haven't found Miss Kassy."

That day, Kassy had returned to the church early, appearing constantly restless and particularly strange.

Under Ariel's interrogation, Kassy finally stammered out the truth, telling her that the curse would activate that day and would be much more violent than usual.

Ariel was immediately furious.

Not telling the truth when seeking help, not telling the truth these past few days, and only willing to speak when things were urgent and she could no longer hide or endure it?

Angry as she was, Ariel immediately dispatched several clergy members to urgently prepare a purification ritual.

When preparations were complete, the person in charge of the ritual came in a panic to report that Kassy had disappeared.

After all that elaborate preparation, the most important central figure had vanished. Ariel was so angry she got a headache.

If Ariel caught Kassy, she would definitely beat her until she didn't recognize the words "escape."

Looking at Ariel's terrifyingly changing expression, Pierre felt truly unlucky—why did he have to report all the bad news?

"Lady Saintess," Pierre's voice became even more cautious, "should we... immediately set out to search for Miss Kassy?"

"Send people to search separately!" Ariel gritted her teeth. "I want to see exactly where that girl has run off to!"

While deploying her subordinates to search for Kassy everywhere, Ariel didn't idle either, heading straight to Samuel Academy.