Chapter 30: Chapter Thirty

Nora's POV

I didn't expect to wake up as late as I did, but when I opened my eyes, I rushed quickly, remembering the message I had received some time ago about the meeting I was supposed to attend. Park meetings were normal; they were routine, even when I was in my previous timeline with the others and serving as Luna then. It seemed like things hadn't changed.

I would think that with their modern technology, they would be holding these meetings online or something, but they still held on to the ancient traditions and kept on meeting in person. In other words, I couldn't relate at all, and there would be no excuse. It was understandable that I would wake up late after all the disturbances of the night and how I had not slept long after I came back. But I knew that I couldn't give this excuse to anyone at all. No one would buy it, and even if anyone bought it, nobody would care. I needed to simply salvage my coming as much as possible and make sure that they didn't think it was intentional.

The damage was already done. I noticed once I was seated in the meeting that I was among the latest to arrive. Demon, the one that he introduced as his better, finally arrived also, and we all looked at everyone around us who were glaring at the latecomers. I frowned, seeing that they were glaring at Alexander also. Could it be that he was also late? I didn't know because I hadn't come before him, and I only kept seeing him here, but maybe perhaps he was also late as we were.

I frowned. Could there be some kind of similarity? Why would he also be late, or did he also spend the night doing something else other than sleeping, just like I had? That was a good explanation, but I knew that I couldn't just draw conclusions because there were too many variables. It was going to be hard for me to assume that it wasn't some simple carelessness on his part or maybe just laziness. It happened to some people like that; everyone had their moment of being lazy and tired and unwilling to do what they simply had to do.

So I couldn't really decide what to think as I looked at him. I frowned at Demon. With him also arriving late, this couldn't possibly be a coincidence now, could it? I contemplated the possibility of the two of them somehow stalking me through the night—a long stretch, but it made a little sense now that I thought about it. For it to be so common for just the three of us in the palace to be late, either maybe they had followed me, or maybe they had stayed up all night also as I had. Most likely they stayed up all night, I thought to myself, deciding not to think too hard into it.

But once I glanced at one elder, the one who stood up the next couple of seconds, I couldn't help but feel as if he was looking at me with some particular kind of hatred in his eyes. I didn't understand why he seemed to be prejudiced towards me. And the other elders seemed to also be looking at me with something of distaste in their expressions. Edwin didn't seem to be pleased at all by my presence here, as if I was some kind of figure that they would like to have persecuted and investigated for some unknown crime because I was totally unaware of anything I could have done to incur their disfavor.

"Maybe it's not just me, it's supposed to be all of us now, isn't it?" I asked myself internally as I turned to look at Alexander, who was frowning as that elder stood up and said some words that I found to be particularly biting. He was referring to me and even pointed a finger at me. Clearly speaking, I knew that he was obviously angry for some reason at me, and it seemed to transcend me just coming late.

I stood up immediately after the elder had spoken. "Carl will begin the meeting now. He has apologized for my sake, and I would like to reiterate it. I'm also sorry for coming late. This is not going to happen again," I told them because I thought that it would be better for them to hear my voice. I felt all the elders staring, everything seeming as if this was some kind of conspiracy.

I even thought that each one of us should apologize on our own behalf to the elders for not holding their tradition properly. I looked from one group to another, wanting them all to give it up so that we could start this meeting. In truth, I simply wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. I wouldn't want to stay here longer than necessary because I would gain absolutely nothing by doing that, and right now I was still getting my bearings in this new environment.

I didn't want to be a little conflicted on what to say, and I knew that that was exactly what was going to happen if I stayed here and actually got into some really deep conversation with them. I had limited knowledge of the present times; if anything, my information that I could work with dated back to the past hundred or maybe even a thousand years. Therefore, I couldn't really say much. In truth, I was already planning to keep silent for most of the time, but the quicker we got out of here, the better, so that I would be able to use my precious time to catch up on the latest news and developments and also figure out what I had missed over the past millennium.

I looked at them anxiously as they finally started speaking. They seemed to have let go of the grudge; however, I wondered what they wanted from me now. Did they expect some kind of atonement for my sins of coming late? Because I really thought it was a minor sin that I had committed, and they shouldn't retaliate and react in such a manner unless I had done something and this was just compounded on it.

I frowned, thinking to myself what other sin I had committed. Some of the words from the elders hinted at some kind of distrust of me, and I started thinking if maybe I had at least been suspicious in my behavior and I hadn't been quiet enough for them not to notice the change in my attitude right now compared to the former Nora. I should really keep quiet a lot more than before. Maybe I shouldn't even have gotten up to apologize just now, I thought to myself as one of them spoke.

"We would really need to start putting up military defenses against the other parks because they may seem peaceful on the surface, but I'm pretty sure that they are planning to take over our park," he said. I rolled my eyes at him but stopped myself from saying anything right in time. Why was he being so paranoid? There was no obvious threat, yet he was already fighting for us to do something drastic and be on our guard. He was already planning for war, and there was nothing on the horizon at all.

I knew that it was good, but we should rather put our resources into development. I wanted to keep silent, but somehow I just couldn't keep myself from talking because the words were bubbling within me, bursting out. Finally, when I couldn't hold them in, I said, "Let's focus on making our people comfortable and giving them better lives." My suggestion was valid in my own mind, and my voice was clear as crystal, carrying across the entire hall. "We should develop better tools for the farmers and also create a lot of job opportunities for others so that the quality of life in our state would be improved. Once the quality of life is improved, the military will also be improved."

I finished my speech looking for approval. The alpha seemed to be interested in what I said, but a couple of the elders were frowning now, and the rest weren't frowning. Well, they weren't smiling either. What was the matter with them? Why were they acting so stiff? I thought to myself, frowning as I looked at them. I didn't think so before, but now I was certain something was definitely wrong—they seemed to have some Kinda people of personal beef with me.