"Are you sure she's here?"
A woman wearing a hat that covered her eyes and a scarf that covered her mouth whispered to a nearby wall.
"Yes, Madam…she entered the Magic Tower under an hour ago," replied the shadow cast over the wall.
After hearing such good praises from Fudge, Lylia decided to take a closer look at this girl for herself. For all she knew, the girl could have simply used some tricks to deceive the ninja slime. Although useful, Lylia knew Fudge could be quite of a ditz sometimes.
If someone was going to be her son's partner, then they better be someone who deserved him. In her eyes, Michael was the perfect little boy who had absolutely no flaws and no weaknesses. His partner should have at least one or two of those traits.
So, Lylia and Fudge devised a little scenario to determine if Yuna had good intentions with her son.
Despite this being their very first mission as the Michael Club, they had prepared everything they needed for this plan to work accordingly.
They had normal club members planted amongst the crowd, acting like a normal bystander. They all had the skill to act like a shadow, so they were perfectly adept at staying out of sight.
After a few more minutes, their target finally came into view. Yuna came out of the Magic Tower with a smile on her face, as if she had accomplished everything she set out to achieve.
"That's her, Madam!" Fudge announced as he caught sight of Yuna.
Lylia didn't waste a second any longer and briskly walked in her direction. With her face completely covered, she was sure that she wouldn't be recognized by anyone in the street.
She quickly took a bottle of a strange liquid from one of their club members and held it in her hands.
This liquid was a staining solution that would completely ruin any silk or linen clothes. It would be unwashable through any means, making the stain permanent.
Lylia recognized Yuna's dress to be made out of very expensive material, which made her think that the girl was someone materialistic.
That would be a complete deal breaker for her. She didn't want her son to end up with someone that valued him only for his money.
She wanted Michael's partner to be like her. She didn't marry Bart because of his money. She married Bart because she loved him for his good qualities. She didn't even know he was a Vanderbilt before they were engaged.
Lylia planned to 'accidentally' bump into Yuna and pour liquid onto her dress.
If Yuna freaked out because her expensive dress was ruined, then she was not the right girl for Michael.
…
Yuna walked down the street with a pep in her step, unaware that the person coming towards her was Lylia.
And just as they were about to cross each other, Lylia crossed her legs and purposefully tripped herself to spill the staining liquid onto Yuna's red dress.
The plan successfully worked, with the stain completely visible on the hemline of her dress.
Yuna frowned a little bit. Her favorite dress had been dirtied!
"Oh my! I'm sorry, girl—"
But just as Lylia was going to say her practiced line, she suddenly felt something fall from her dress.
A wooden statuette of Michael's complete likeness fell out of her pockets and landed on the gutters by the side of the street. The previous pristine condition of the sculpture was now dirtied with mud and grime from the ground.
This was not part of the plan. It seemed that as she tripped herself, her beloved 'Michael Too' had fallen out of her pockets as well.
"NO!" Lylia screamed as she fell on the ground and scrambled to get Michael Too.
She had been so careful with Michael Too all this time ever since Michael gave it to her. She had never let it out of her sight and always brought it with her wherever she went. It made her feel like Michael was always there with her.
But now, her little mistake had dirtied Michael Too.
Just then, she heard something rip.
Lylia lifted her head and saw Yuna offer her a ripped piece of her dress. The little girl willingly destroyed her favorite red dress so that Lylia had something to clean Michael Too with.
"It still looks good, it just needs a little wipe," Yuna said with a smile.
It was at this point that Lylia realized that she had completely misjudged the little girl. She didn't hesitate for a single second as she ripped the hems of her dress to save an unknown person from distress.
"You would do this for someone you don't even know?" Lylia asked her.
Yuna tilted her head. "Well, it looked like you really treasured that wooden statue. My dress is nothing compared to your priceless memorabilia. Is that your son?" she asked her.
"Yes," Lylia said as she took the fabric and wiped the dirt away from Michael Too's face. "When he's with me, I feel like my son is also with me."
"Aww…that's cute," Yuna said, giggling.
"You don't think it's weird that a mother is this obsessed with her son? Most people think I'm crazy because I treat this wooden statue as if it were a real person," Lylia said, looking straight into Yuna's eyes.
"No, I don't think so," the girl answered. "It's only natural that a mother cares and loves her son this way. In the future, I hope I can be as loving as you to my children."
Lylia looked at Yuna with her jaws dropped, completely stunned at hearing the perfect answer come out of the girl's mouth.
"Oh, my friends are here. I gotta go. It was nice to meet you, Madame!"
Yuna waved goodbye to Lylia before she jumped onto the bus with Agnes and the rest of her escorts.
Now that she was all alone, Fudge ascended from Lylia's shadow and skipped in front of her.
"What do you think, Madame? Isn't she the perfect match for Master?" Fudge asked enthusiastically.
"Fudge…," Lylia muttered. "She's more than perfect. This is fate!"