Though Amelia's expression was still soft, her words weren't
"Kidding," Amelia said with a playful smile, and Joseph chuckled awkwardly.
"I just figured, why should I act like Cinderella and wait for a prince to come and save me? I found my way out," Amelia said, walking ahead towards the tent to get some water.
Joseph followed her.
"Alpha Killian wanted to send a team for help, but the weather conditions weren't exactly alright," Joseph tried to explain.
Amelia waved her hand dismissively.
"If it had been someone from your pack, would you have given up on that person too?" Amelia asked before she popped a bun in her mouth.
Joseph stuttered.
Of course, they would never leave a pack member behind. Pack members were like family, and their people would have risked their lives to save a girl from their pack.
"I know you guys knew I would make it out of there. I am strong, aren't I?" Amelia blinked innocently, dismissing her earlier words, and Joseph smiled forcefully before nodding.
He wanted to send help, and their soldiers who accompanied them to the trek to ensure their alpha's safety were ready too, but Alpha Killian said they would do it in the morning, and he couldn't go against his alpha's words.
Amelia turned and saw Marcos looking around urgently, and her heart warmed immediately.
She clearly remembered that Marcos had gone to attend his daughter's tenth birthday and didn't know what had happened to her. However, he rushed to the site as soon as he learned.
He was the one who started the search mission.
"Marcos!" Amelia waved his hand.
Marcos rushed to her side and looked at her with deep affection and care, as a parent would look at their daughter before taking a deep breath.
"Are you okay, Miss?" Marcos asked.
Amelia smiled.
This man was her driver, who also acted like her bodyguard. She remembered how the man had tried to make her see reality, but she was so blinded by her sister's tricks that she never saw them.
And in the end, this man got killed because of her.
Amelia took a deep breath before she pulled her bag before her.
She unzipped the bag and took out the opal stone she had found in a coral a month ago.
"For your daughter," Amelia said.
Marcos widened his eyes at its shine.
Even Joseph raised his brows. He clearly remembered that Hannah and Alpha Killian had asked Amelia for the opal stone, but she had said she would place it in the healer's center for everyone to study.
"Miss… this…." Marcos's eyes brimmed with tears.
He knew this opal had a significant meaning for healers.
"Please take it," Amelia insisted.
In her past life, her stupidity destroyed the lives of many good people, but this time, she was ready to make up for it.
Amelia took a deep breath once the man took the stone and placed it in his wallet as if he would cherish it.
"Take me to the healer's meeting. I don't want to be late," Amelia said.
Marcos nodded before helping her to the car.
After driving for two hours, they finally arrived at the healer's meeting.
It was supposed to be one of the most important meetings, and healers from the North were also arriving.
Amelia looked at her attire with a helpless look before turning to her left, where a mall was.
"Marcos, I need to get changed before attending. I can't ruin my father's reputation," Amelia said, and Marcos nodded in understanding.
She went to the bathroom to wash up quickly.
Since it was early, there were hardly any people in the mall.
Marcos quickly got her a nice pair of clothes and handed them to her through the door. She was standing outside it like a bodyguard, ready to attack whoever would disrupt her work.
Amelia walked out, looking fresh with only a few scratches on her hands.
"I should've bought something that covered your hands," Marcos pressed his lips dejectedly.
Amelia looked at her hands and smiled.
"No. These are my battle scars," She said.
Marcos looked at the back of the girl with furrowed brows. Battle scars?
Did she mean everything she had to fight to get out of that forest? He wondered, following her silently.
The meeting had already started, and Hannah stood from her seat, ready to present the herbs with which Amelia had prepared decoctions.
Since Amelia wasn't there, her father insisted she take over.
Hannah knew almost all the herbs except one, the main ingredient in healing the wounds at lightning speed without supernatural powers.
"Miss Hannah, is it? What are this herb's special qualities? What quantity is used here? I heard it's poison," One of the older healers said.
Hannah stood there, unsure, and looked at her father helplessly, and Thames Cooper gritted his teeth.
"It's indeed a poison," a soft yet curt voice resounded in the hall, and everyone looked at the entrance.
"Sister," Hannah looked at her as if she saw her savior, and Amelia's gaze darkened.
This was the elder sister she gave up her life for, her happiness for, and who stabbed her painfully in the back.
"And who are you?" The elder healer asked.
"The founder of this decoction. I am answerable for all the questions and bear the critiques. My sister and family have nothing to do with it," Amelia said.
She knew that taking the entire credit for something you found and searched for in the West family's laboratory would be frowned upon. It was supposed to be called a collateral effort.
However, she made it look like she was taking the blame, and no one said anything, just as she had expected.
"You are the founder, yet you dare to come late. Are you looking down upon us?" Patricia, Elder Noah's daughter, said.
Amelia looked at the girl and smiled.
"For a practitioner, saving someone's life is more important than attending a meeting. That's what I have been taught. Last night, I happened to encounter a man in the forest who was stabbed with a dagger, and I had to help with the little herbs I had. This also made me come across a new base for the healing paste," Amelia said and walked to the board.
Since most formulas needed explanation, there was a whiteboard in the room.
She picked up the marker and wrote the herbs she used to help the man.
She explained the changes she noticed and how they were more beneficial than the traditional herbs they had been using.
People asked her for a sample; luckily, she had a few leaves left.
She placed the leaves in the middle of the table.
Elder Gloria took the herbs in her hand.
"Aren't these leaves similar to acacia poison? How did you differentiate?" Gloria asked.
"By trying them on myself," Amelia answered as if it was no big deal.
On the other hand, Hannah looked at her sister, who was getting all the attention, and clenched her fists.
She was pleased when Amelia fell into the ditch. She also succeeded in persuading Killian to search the next day.
Though this meeting had tainted their family's name, it would have made their father hate Amelia, and that was what she aimed for.
How come this girl came back on her own, and that to be looking like this?
After everything was explained, Elder Jade stood from his place and nodded at the Thames.
"We are pleased with this meeting. It made us realize how much elders still need to learn from young minds. Our son Victor had been researching some similar herbs. How about you send Amelia to our center for a month?" Elder Jade said.
Thames looked at Amelia proudly before smiling.
"That would be an honor," Thames said.
Amelia smiled on the surface, but inside, she scoffed.
Something like this had happened in a previous life, and Hannah had rejected it because she wanted to stay with Alpha Killian.
The meeting came to an end, and Hannah rushed to Amelia.
"Amelia, are you alright? You have no idea how worried I was. But then I had to come here to save the family's name. I am so happy that Alpha Killian helped you out," Hannah said.
She was probably trying to see if the man helped Amelia.
"Thank you for caring so much, sister," Amelia said, feigning innocence.
She wanted to know so many things about her sister and family, the most important of which was why they hated her. What did they want to gain?
And for that, she would've had to keep pretending while not falling into any schemes herself.
Amelia played with the bangle in her hand before leaving the conference hall.
"Let's go, Marcos," Amelia said.
"To the same place, Miss?" Marcos asked, and Amelia smiled knowingly.
"To the same place," She smirked.