Cyrielle had to stay for a bit in the hospital to monitor her wound. Truthfully, she was already well enough to go back home, but the question wasn’t about herself. The incident was now public, and with the photo circuting of the knife in her back and blood flying around, there would be a backsh from the public if she was to exit the hospital too soon. Angel-Minet would be accused of exploiting their talents without giving them time to heal, so Cyrielle had no choice but to stay.

  Julie, Coline, Hugo, and Bernadette went to see her as often as they could, but none of them were able to stay in the hospital for too long since they were extremely busy. Julie most of all, she needed to handle the incident and take care of the security. Now, Cyrielle had two bodyguards standing in front of her hospital door. In fact, since she had become a phenomenon, it would have been logical to have them with her sooner, since the release of her album in June, but neither Julie nor Cyrielle had any experience with celebrity life, so they didn’t take the security seriously. Julie was beating herself up about it every single day.

  To sum up, Cyrielle was really bored in her hospital room, making posts on her Instantgram account to reassure her fans, and drawing in her sketchbook, but that was all she could do. Except when one specific person was visiting…

  The door opened to reveal a man with a charming smile.

  “I brought you some books.”

  Cyrielle sat up in her bed, looking at Frédéric’s hands. Today again he had flowers and a bottle of lemonade.

  “Why are you here everyday ? Aren’t you busy ?”

  He shook his head and sat on the chair next to the bed.

  “Manon doesn’t have any schedule for now, she is just waiting for the editing of the music video to be finished. So I am quite free.”

  She didn’t entirely believe him, but Cyrielle was always wary of new people, so it wasn’t surprising. She extended her hand and Frédéric gave her the books.

  “I never saw you read, I didn’t know you liked books. I thought you preferred music.”

  “Well, I had to read every book when I was… Nevermind.”

  She almost told him that she once worked in a bookstore. Shaking her head, she opened the book to start reading. A bookmark with colorful pansies was hidden inside the pages.

  “Yes, of course… You must have had quite the library at home. I don’t know what kind of education you had, but it’s not a surprise that you had to read everything…”

  It was the advantage with Frédéric, to matter how much she slipped up, he would always feed the misunderstanding and prevent her real past from being revealed. She ignored it and continued to read. It had been quite a while since she had opened a book, she never took the time since Path of Destiny had appeared. It felt new and nostalgic, the feeling of your mind creating images from words.

  “But even then, reading Jean Teulet… It’s not exactly a happy book, I don’t know if it is suitable for someone in a hospital.”

  “At least it’s not The Suicide Shop.”

  “But still, Macabre Dance…”

  Cyrielle put the bookmark between the pages and closed the book, gring at the manager.

  “Frédéric, what is your real reason for coming to see me ?”

  The man straightened up, startled.

  “Do you… Really not know ?”

  “If it was really to foster a good retionship with Angel-Minet, you would be at the agency right now to help deal with the incident. So no, I have no idea.”

  At first, Cyrielle had thought that he was a dedicated manager with good work ethics, but now she wasn’t so sure. Were all of his visits in the Agency aimed at her, not Julie ? Why did she seem to always cross paths with him ? And how did he know her favorite flowers or drink ? That information was avaible in her fan group, but it wasn’t public knowledge, you had to search a bit to find it. It was strange and a bit unsettling. What did this man want ? She had too many enemies and people after her to worry about another person.

  Frédéric rubbed his forehead, he seemed somewhat dejected.

  “No, it’s my fault. Of course you would be suspicious of me, considering what you lived through… It’s just that I don’t know how to…”

  He took a deep breath.

  “I just want to be close to you. No other reason, no scheme, nothing. You already know Manon, she would have never hired me if I had a hidden agenda.”

  Cyrielle squinted her eyes.

  “I know. That’s why it’s confusing.”

  Frédéric seemed sad now, it somehow tinged at her heart. But she couldn’t be easygoing. She had thought that only her paternal family was after her, but now there was also Margot Robert, and who knew how many others ! She could very well be attacked again.

  The manager scratched his head, sighed, and leaned back in the chair.

  “I understand. Maybe I was too hasty. But I assure you, I only want to be close to you, there is nothing else. If you want me to prove it, I will do anything you want. I can even keep my distance until you trust me fully, if it is what you wish.”

  Cyrielle looked him up and down.

  “You sound like a character in a romance novel.”

  “I guess I do…”

  After realizing what he just said, his ears slightly reddened.

  “No, that’s not what I meant !”

  Cyrielle smiled softly and put the book on her side.

  “Tell me about the situation outside.”

  It was the first time she asked him for something so openly, and Frédéric felt his heart flutter. He cleared his throat and took out his phone.

  “The investigation was disclosed, so Margot Robert had to issue a statement since the man was her fan. It isn’t much, she just said that her real fans wouldn’t do something like this, that harming someone was bad, that you weren’t to bme for the award situation… Just a standard PR move. But her agency was really angry, because your fans dug up and found out that your aggressor was the administrator of her fanclub, whom she was in contact with, so they think she incited him to do it. They made quite a ruckus, the horseboys are terrifying.”

  “I know. They say you have the community you deserve.”

  Férédéric ughed.

  “It’s true that you can be quite scary yourself ! Remember the incident between Coline and the liver ? That guy went completely into hiding, rumors said that he was pnning something against you but after seeing how you destroyed someone even with a knife in your back, he immediately gave up.”

  “Destroying is a strong word.”

  “Well, he went flying didn’t he ? Speaking about it, people seem to be impressed with the photo, they say you would fit in an action movie.”

  “I was only lucky.”

  “That’s not what people are saying.”

  He continued to scroll on his phone.

  “What else… Ah, you said on Instantgram that you were fine and you would soon resume your activities, right ? There were a lot of MyTube videos analyzing the photo, taking into account the length of the knife and the thickness of your clothes, and said that if it went so far between your ribs, it should have pierced a lung. So they say it’s impossible, unless you had the sixth sense to move away just enough for the knife to avoid any vital organ, which is possible only if you are used to fighting and received extensive martial art training…”

  He stopped and looked at her. Cyrielle could see the glint in his eyes, this doubt, it was surely another misunderstanding that was arising. The knife indeed pierced her lung, but ‘Fortitude’ was healing her at a great pace. However, nobody would believe her, so she had no choice but to run with the misconception.

  She turned her gaze away, towards the window, appearing reflective.

  “I see…”

  She didn’t add anything else, but the man had a hurt face, as if he was sorry for her.

  ‘Argh, why are people twisting everything I do ? Who analyzes a photo like that anyway ? People must have better things to do !’

  Now she had somehow become a martial art master, and she could do nothing about it.

  [It’s a good thing for you.]

  ‘Ah, you are finally here ? Where were you all this time ?’

  Despite her desperate pleas, Path of Destiny never appeared since the incident. She had a lot of questions for the system, but before she could ask any, she saw Frédéric stand up, his face still quite somber.

  “I want to stay, but I must leave now.”

  “So soon ?”

  “Yes, there are other people here to see you. You know what day it is, right ?”

  Cyrielle counted in her head. Five days since the incident, so the 24th of December. She opened her eyes wide, but before she could say anything, the door opened to reveal a slender woman with rge hips, rge shoulders, but a thin waist, with flowy brown hair that was dyed blonde. She was much smaller than Cyrielle, but there was a likeliness that was unmistakable.

  Frédéric smiled after seeing Cyrielle’s surprised face, and left the room. The woman took a step forward.

  “Hello princess !”

  “Mom ?”