She was dealing with the one and only Opehlia—
—The Queen of Overthinking, Protector of Soups, and Champion of Unnecessary Guilt!
Isabella sighed. Loudly. The type of sigh that scread "why is this girl like this?" and "I’m too beautiful to deal with emotional breakdowns before lunch."
"Opehlia," she said, voice half amused, half tired, "I didn’t say your cooking was bad."
Opehlia froze. Like a deer caught in the glare of a divine judgnt.
"You... you didn’t?" she whispered, voice cracking like thin ice.
"No. I said throw everything away because..." Isabella leaned in dramatically, eyes gleaming with mischief. "Soone tried to poison ."
—CRASH!
Opehlia dropped the wooden spoon she had been gripping like a weapon of pride. It rolled away like her remaining sanity.
Opehlia blinked twice, her mind racing to catch up with Isabella’s words. Poison? In their soup? No, that couldn’t be true!
She blinked again, still holding the clay bowl like it was so precious treasure she’d spent hours perfecting. Her arms began to tremble. ’No, no! That couldn’t be true!’
Isabella smiled softly, though her eyes glinted with the cool edge of soone who had already seen too much of this world.
"Opehlia," she said, her voice as calm as a still river. "I didn’t say your cooking was bad. I said the soup is poisoned."
Isabella repeated, so just Incase Opehlia thought her mind was playing tricks on her.
She felt it was nessacary to Open Opehlia’s eyes now, before she fell victim to one of Zara’s gas one day.
Opehlia’s face turned bright red, as if the very air around her had heated up. Her eyes were wide, like she couldn’t quite grasp what she was hearing.
"Poisoned?!" Opehlia’s voice cracked, soft and innocent, as if she couldn’t even imagine soone would try to harm Isabella.
"How? How could this happen? Who would do this?! I washed everything! I even chanted a little good-luck song before cooking—Shelia almost threw a pan at !"
Isabella smiled coldly. "Isn’t it obvious? Zara. Who else would be dumb enough to use a poison that slls like poison?"
Hearing that Opehlia imdiately rembered her encounter with Zara. She could not believe herself.
She almost believed Zara had decided to change for real and was even happy about that.
Opehlia felt like slapping herself right now. She almost caused harm to Isabella, because of how foolish she was.
"But... but... earlier today, she ca by to check up on you! She was so kind to —said she wanted to apologize for the things she’d said, but didn’t know how."
Isabella sighed, her gaze serious now. She had to open Opehlia’s eyes. If she didn’t, Zara’s manipulation would go on without anyone noticing.
"Zara ca by, did she?" Isabella asked, her lips pressing into a thin line. "And she said she wanted to apologize, didn’t know how..."
Opehlia nodded eagerly, looking back at the bowl, still holding it like it was so fragile thing she could never let go of.
"Yes! She even—she even said that, though she might have acted a bit harsh, she truly ant well. She even wanted to apologize to you, but was too nervous! I... I thought it was so sweet of her, I really did. She must’ve felt guilty for what happened at the village..."
Isabella’s brows furrowed as she tried to stay composed. "Ophilia, you have to understand, Zara is a snake in the grass. She only pretends to be kind."
She caught herself mid-sentence and grimaced, then muttered under her breath, "Actually, scratch that—she doesn’t even pretend to be nice. She’s not nice, period."
Isabella shot Ophilia a look, one that clearly said ’like gurl how did you even fall for that?’ before returning her attention to the soup.
"And this—" She jabbed a finger toward the bowl in Isabella’s hand. "—this isn’t kindness. It’s a trick. She’s trying to poison , kill , so she can take my place. And not with any honor either. No, she’s using this—"
Opehlia gasped, her lips parting in shock. "No, no... That can’t be right. She... She looked so sincere. Her eyes were soft, and she even told she wanted to make things right with you..."
Isabella placed a hand gently on Opehlia’s shoulder, her touch soft but firm. "I know it’s hard to see, but Zara is dangerous. She knows exactly what she’s doing. Poisoned fruit is her way of trying to manipulate people. She thinks if she hurts , she can win Kian over. But trust , Opehlia, she’s not sincere. She’s just playing a part."
Opehlia’s large, innocent eyes widened, as if the world was suddenly tilted on its axis. "But... why? Why would she want to hurt you, Isabella? You’ve always been so nice to her..."
Isabella gave a small, bitter chuckle. "Because she can’t stand to see standing where she wants to be. Zara is driven by jealousy, by a need to prove herself, even if it ans using poison to do it."
Opehlia’s fingers clenched around the bowl in her hands, her cheeks flushed with uncertainty. "I didn’t know... I didn’t know she could be like that..." She looked down at the soup, a deep sadness filling her gaze. "I thought I was helping... I didn’t know she was lying..."
"You were trying to help," Isabella said softly, squeezing her shoulder. "You always do. But sotis the people we trust can hurt us the most. And we have to be strong enough to see it."
Opehlia swallowed, nodding slowly, though her face still looked unsure. "But... what do we do now?"
"Now," Isabella said, her tone sharpening like a blade, "we turn the tables. We don’t let her think she can manipulate us anymore."
Opehlia blinked in confusion. "What do you an?"
Isabella smirked, the glint of mischief returning to her eyes. "I’m going to show Zara just how wrong she is about . You just wait, Opehlia. She’ll regret ever trying to poison ."
Opehlia looked up at her, her eyes still wide. "You really think we can stop her? We’ll... we’ll make sure she doesn’t try anything like this again?"
"Exactly," Isabella said, her voice firm. "You Shelia and , Opehlia. We’ll handle this, together. Zara won’t know what hit her."
Opehlia smiled, her innocence still shining through, but there was sothing in her eyes now—a spark of determination that hadn’t been there before.
"Okay," she whispered. "Let’s do it. For you, for , for all of us."
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