“Spidey?” thought Octavia in confusion. She glanced at the boy, who was now seething with fury.

“You. Did you just call me ‘my lord’?” breathed the boy intensely. “Ha! Did you hear that Souza? She is clearly new around here.”

The boy by the name of Souza gave a quick, agreeing nod. The spider-like boy returned Souza a satisfied grin and went back to addressing Octavia.

“I will forgive you this one time, newcomer. However, I will not forgive you for eyeing Lady Lila as you did earlier.”

Octavia, pleasantly surprised that someone besides herself was a fan of the statue, unconsciously ignored the underlying threat behind the boy’s statement.

“Oh, isn’t it lovely? I am sure you gentlemen came to see it as well! The beautiful marble statue of our founder herself, Lady-”

But her enthusiastic response was cut short by the sound of cruel laughter.

“Psshh, HAHAHA!”

“Ha, ha!”

Her smile faltered and her expression changed into a slight frown as she watched the group wipe their tears of laughter. “What’s so funny?” she thought bitterly.

“Why- why are you all laughing? Are you mocking her excellency?!” she asked angrily.

The leader grinned and brushed back his charged hair. He was happy about Octavia’s outburst.

“Ha, she still doesn’t get it,” he said to his underlings.

“Shouldn’t you tell her?” said the third boy with a wink.

“Hehe, I suppose it wouldn’t be gentlemanly of me to conceal the truth from her,” he answered as he turned back to Octavia.

“Hey, little missy. Are you sure you are seeing the same statue we are?”

Octavia immediately turned around and looked intently at Lady Lila. The marble statue looked no different from before.

“Yes, I believe so. Do you see something different?” she asked with uncertainty.

The boy chuckled once more.

“Sure do, missy. See, you just said that the statue is made of marble, right? Well, I hate to break it to you, but it is covered from head to toe in solid gold!”

“What? How?!” thought Octavia as she went back to analyzing the statue. With her fists raised in front of her, she tried repeatedly to understand what the boy had meant. But the statue was marble. There was not a single gold pellet in sight.

“I- I don’t see it!” cried Octavia, now feeling intense anxiety.

“Well, of course, you don’t. You are visually impaired right?” said the boy in glee. Octavia’s expression revealed her despair the moment he uttered that sentence.

“W- well yes…” she stammered, “B- but my mother said I should be able to see just fine with my glasses on! See…!”

She hurriedly fumbled inside her dress, and emerging from her large blue pockets was a dainty little spectacle case. Before the boy could argue, she had already put on her spectacles and began analyzing the statue again. Her anxious eyes changed to express relief, and Octavia confidently faced the spider-like boy once more.

“See! It’s marble! You were wrong, Spidey!”

Spidey, trying his best to remain calm, brushed his hair back and swallowed. With a nervous grin, he made a second attempt to solidify his claim.

“Hm? W- well from the looks of it, she lied, didn’t she?”

“Huh?”

There was a hint of a quiver in her voice, and the boy immediately caught on to it. He lowered his head and faced Octavia directly.

“That’s right. Your mommy lied to you. You cannot see as normal people can!”

Tears began to fall. Octavia sniffed, trying her best to think of a way to prove the boy wrong.

“N- no. That is not true! I- I can read! Yes! If my eyes were truly in the wrong, as you say, then I would not be able to interpret those words!”

Everyone’s eyes flicked to where Octavia was pointing. The leader’s face changed to a horrified expression. Octavia was pointing to the writing under the statue.

“’ The glorious founder of the Lilan Empire, Lady Lila of Genova.’ See? I can see perfectly fine!” exclaimed Octavia triumphantly.

“Tsk…”

The boy looked away, realizing his mistake. She had won. And simply the idea of losing to a girl like her lit a fire in his heart. The boy’s eyes glinted with rage, and before anyone could stop him, he grabbed Octavia by the collar.

“Ah!”

“Shut up and listen you freak,” he muttered as he stared into her terrified eyes. “I was being nice and telling you to get your miserable mug away from the sight of innocent eyes, but you just do not seem to get it. You. Look. Disgusting. You cannot even contribute to society with such stupid ideas! With the way you see the world, you would just get in the way of NORMAL people! SO, GET LOST ALREADY!!!”

He gave her a violent shove to the ground.

“Ah… hic-”

Her knees were scraped, and her dress was now completely tattered. Octavia whimpered. Both because of the cruel truths the boy had slapped across her face, as well as the physical pain of being pushed for the second time that evening. With silent tears dripping down her cheeks, Octavia stood up and bolted past the boys and towards one of the plaza’s exits. She had a slight limp, but her fear and sadness were enough to overcome the physical pain. And with that, the three shadows were soon lost behind her.