The longer time dragged on, the more Rhiannon fidgeted. She eventually could not stand sitting, so she paced up and down the aisle. She chewed on her bottom lip so much that it started to feel a little raw. What was taking Aster so long? Was Lucifer giving her too much trouble?

She approached the exit several times, but Aster's disappointed expression stopped her from leaving the aquarium.

'ARGH! Where was my self-control when I needed it most?' She scratched her head and messed up her hair.

Unable to take it any longer, she called Darius for help. When it really mattered, he was still the most reliable one and the big brother whom Aster listened to. If he told her to go to Aster, Aster would not scold her for it.

"Find Aster. Now. I'll be right there." He said as soon as he received the updates.

"Got it!"

The two of them wanted to trust in Aster's capabilities but it was also a fact that she was the most vulnerable of the two of them. So, they could not just leave her alone like that.

Rhiannon's heart dropped when she could not find Aster or Lucifer anywhere outside the aquarium. Then, she recalled how Lucifer had asked her to go to the hall.

"No, please, no." She immediately relayed the information to Darius, before taking off towards the hall. "No, no, no, no!" Rhiannon mumbled to herself with tears already flowing down her face.

In them center of the hall, Aster stood on a makeshift podium, while Lucifer denounced her. Her supposed misdeeds and the relevant evidence was put on the screen for all to peruse.

Before long, she was no longer looking down at her hands but at herself, standing with her head bowed low in the middle of a huge crowd. Lucifer's voice and the crowd's jeers were unclear and distant. It was as if she was listening to them with waterlogged ears.

The sudden impact of the first rotten tomato hitting her back brought her consciousness back into her body. Before she could react, another hit, then another. Aster kept her eyes closed and occasionally shielded her face while the spoiled fruits and vegetables rained down on her. The stink of rotting produce filled her nose and mouth. Her throat tightened as she fought the urge to vomit.

'How smart. He won't get into trouble with this level of bullying.' The tools he provided the crowd with was not dangerous enough to warrant any serious punishment. If he seriously carried out a stoning session, then that would be a different matter. 'Now, I just have to wait this out.'

Aster was once again drifting off into a dream-like state when a loud bang drew her attention to the hall's entrance. The double doors had been flung open and two individuals stood there, panting.

"Big sis!" Rhiannon's screech made many drop whatever they were holding to cover their ears.

"What's going on!" Darius' bellow intimidated anyone close enough to him.

The entire crowd stared at the two newcomers in silence. Then, a few of those nearer to her siblings filled them in as if they were simply ignorant, the gears in Aster's head churned. She could not let her siblings draw the ire back onto them and her siblings would definitely not think clearly after seeing the sorry state she must be in now.

Darius was already grabbing onto a boy's collar, poised to punch the daylights out of him.

Rhiannon had stepped forth too. "All of you are so fucking stu-"

"Rhia. Big brother." The voice was almost a whisper but it was enough to draw her siblings' attention, which prompted the crowd to turn their attention back onto her.

Aster smiled and shook her head. "It's okay. I'm just paying for what I did."

Her gentle demeanour rubbed the crowd the wrong way.

"Isn't that the same face Guinevere usually makes?"

"Yeah, now that you say it, I can't unsee it."

"True."

"That's true."

"Ew, is she trying to be like Gwen?"

"Please, even if she tries, she can never be like Guinevere."

More scathing and derogatory comments came out of the crowd's mouths.

Rhiannon glared at the crowd. Her insides bubbled with anger and she clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug deep into her skin. Just as she moved forward again, Darius held onto her arm. Rhiannon wanted to argue with her brother but she found that his eyes were still locked with Aster's.

"She doesn't want us to disrupt her plan."

"But-!"

"We should respect her effort."

"But..." Rhiannon looked at the crowd. Most of them had resumed throwing rotten produce. Her helplessness in this situation brought tears to her eyes again.

"There IS one thing we can still do."

Aster gave a sigh of relief. It looked like her siblings understood her intention. She looked back down and zoned out again. Just like in stories, the common crowd was so easily manipulated. Now that things were back on track, she just needed to wait it out.

Suddenly, shadows loomed over her and warmth embraced her.

"What-!"

"Don't say anything." Darius lightly scolded.

"We can do at least this, right? We're not doing anything bad." Rhiannon tightened her hold on Aster.

"You both..." Aster's lips quivered as tears welled up in her eyes. Her frame was small enough to be completely covered by the two of them. Now, they were taking all the hits instead. "This isn't what I planned..."

"But it doesn't change the result of your plan, does it?" Darius checked with her.

"I'm sorry for being so ignorant and reckless..." Rhiannon buried her head down lower.

Aster's tears escaped and rolled down her chubby cheeks. Her heart twisted in pain. 'After everything, I'm the one protected in the end. This sucks...' She clenched her jaw and she held back a cry that threatened to escape her mouth. At the same time, she could not hold back the smile that appeared on her face amidst her tears. Her hands could not let go of her siblings' arms either. 'How precious...! My precious family...!'

For the entire time, Lucifer had kept to a different end of the hall, with his back to the wall. The fury in his heart was not quelled, not even a little bit. If anything, everything that had happened in front of him fueled it instead. Although things mostly went the way he had planned for it to go, it felt like a loss.

When the crowd accused her of making the same expression as Guinevere, he had scoffed. She could not look any more different. He also saw no reason why someone like her would want to be the same as Guinevere.

Each time she zoned out, his glare could burrow a hole into her skull. Was she that bored? How could she be that unfazed in such a situation? Guinevere's plight when she had to deal with the nasty rumours surfaced in his mind. How could they be compared? It would be too sorry a case!

Not to mention the brain-dead crowd, there were her siblings, who came in ready to kill like two raging bulls, but instantly calmed with two simple words and a single look from her. What was with the control she had over others?

And now they were all bundled up lovingly on the podium! It was a huge buzz killer which kickstarted the dispersal of the crowd.

'...I must keep an eye on her.'

It was not long later when the siblings let go of each other, upon realising that there was no more incoming fire. They looked around the empty dirty hall. Cleaners with unpleasant expressions entered the hall.

"Let's go." Darius held out his hands to help his sisters down the podium safely.

When the cleaners noticed the trio, their sour expressions turned to shock then pity. A few even helped to clean them up a bit, grumbling at the same time about the viciousness of this school.

"Since we're already dirty, how about helping them clean up a little?" Aster joked.

The other two exchanged glances with each other. They were not enthusiastic about it but, why not?

However, they could not get much done before they were chased off by the cleaners who felt worse upon realising how nice the siblings were. They could not understand what they could have done to warrant such a nasty punishment.

After a simple wash up and change of clothes, they zoomed home in their family's car, then headed straight for the bathrooms. The stink was getting too much to bear. Fortunately, they had just enough bathrooms for each of them to use at the same time.

They washed themselves thoroughly but the stink clung to the insides of their nose and mouths. All of them started a bath, hoping that the heat and bath scents will wash it away. Besides, soaking in a bath was also soothing for the body and the soul.

Aster was the first to give up and come out. She still had things to do. She was rubbing her nose vigorously and about to climb the stairs when she caught her parents trying to sneak into the kitchen.

"Dad, Mum, you're home early today."

"Oh, yup! We are!"

"Mmhm!"

"...What're the two of you up to?"

Her father coughed lightly before speaking, "We were just about to get something for tea time. Don't mind us."

"I could fix something for you." Aster walked towards the kitchen.

"Oh! No! No!" Her father held onto her shoulders, spun her around, and gently pushed her back up the stairs. "Darling, just go rest in your room."

Her mother nodded in agreement. "Go. Go."

"...Okay..."