Facing the overwhelming roars and countless hate-filled gazes that were almost solid enough to become blades, Lila's body nearly went limp in an instant.
But in only a fleeting moment, her expression underwent a startling transformation.
She did not panic, much less confess or repent. Instead, she stepped fiercely forward into the crowd's fury, her body trembling slightly, fists clenched, eyes rimmed red as she squeezed out a suppressed roar that seemed to come from the depths of her chest:
"Aunt! Why?! Even you have sided with Grindelwald?"
The sound echoed through the atrium:
Grindelwald—wald—wald—
As though that word possessed some kind of magic, it instantly nailed everyone in place.
Before those who trusted Seraphina and found the accusation utterly absurd could react and speak in rebuttal, Lila let out a choked sound that was half sob, half laugh.
"Why didn't the recording continue? Were you afraid everyone would see that, just as Hawthorne was about to be arrested, Grindelwald personally came to take him away?"
"Niccolo Hawthorne had long since defected to the Acolytes! That is an indisputable fact! Otherwise, why would Grindelwald have appeared?"
She lifted her bloodshot eyes. Tears spilled from them as her trembling, impassioned cry sounded like she was weeping blood:
"I always trusted you so much, Aunt! Even when I hated you most, I still believed you were a steadfast fighter!"
"And yet today, you've also taken these things of unknown origin and become one of those throwing the Magical Congress into chaos?"
An unexpected bucket of filth had been dumped over her head. Seraphina froze completely. Her ears buzzed, blood rushing to her head as a wave of dizziness struck.
Her first feeling was not even anger, but a bone-deep sense of icy absurdity. Seraphina opened her mouth, but no sound came out.