━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ever since Emilia had started to stay over at her place, Crystal had all but forgotten about her gloominess from before.
In fact, she felt like her days couldn't get much better, and she would be perfectly fine if this was how things stayed forever.
Today, too, started with Emilia serving her breakfast in the bed. A hot cup of perfectly brewed tea that she was sure had needed her mother's help, and a delicious piece of lemon cake that she knew Emilia had baked herself. It still had a little room for improvement, but the fact that this spoiled little rich daughter who had everyone dancing at her whims made it on her own initiative was enough to boost its flavor by at least ten times.
Even when she had to greet one of her fiercest rivals, the ever-loyal 'best friend'/'knight' of her crush, Crystal didn't feel a dip in her mood at all. It was fine if Emilia spoiled the girl a little. What was important was whose bed she slept in at the end of the day.
Crystal's face turned red as she realized how 'lewd' that thought was. Of course, it only made her mood better. Her crush was sleeping in her bed every night. And last night, they even kissed!
Well, it was mostly a few pecks from on her cheek, but that still counts, right?
The blonde heroine kept smiling all the way till she reached her class, hand in hand with her crush.
Nothing could ruin her mood today.
Or so she thought until they were blocked by a certain silver-haired ex-fiancé right before they could reach their seat.
The hero gave the blonde girl a dashing smile, completely ignoring the sharp gaze from his 'ex'. "Hello, Crystal. How have you been? It's been a while since we talked."
Crystal clutched Emilia's hand tightly. Just what did this scourge want?! Why couldn't he just give up on Emilia and leave her alone?! Screw being polite, there's no way she was letting him cause a misunderstanding between herself and Emilia.
The blonde girl gritted her teeth as she gave the boy a death glare. "W-We have nothing to talk about. Please move away."
Amos chuckled. The love of his life really was as shy as ever. And petulant like a child. Thinking about how soon she would be out of the clutches of the villainess and in his arms, he couldn't help but feel giddy.
Unfortunately, that villainess refused to leave the poor girl alone for even a moment, and he could only wait till his father's arrangements were completed.
"She told you to move, Amos. Are you deaf?"
The hero pointedly ignored Emilia's words, though unfortunately, it failed to infuriate her or make her lose her composure as he had hoped, and the irritating villainess only flicked her hair.
Crystal hurriedly rushed to her seat as soon as the hero moved away with a bow, but Emilia's normally soft grip was suddenly so tight and painful that she couldn't help but stop.
Turning her head, Crystal had a bad premonition as she realized that the silver haired boy had his face only an inch from Emilia's ear, whispering something that caused the girl to furrow her brows and give him a glare.
The 'hero' left immediately after, ignoring the strange and curious looks from the other students at the trio's interactions.
"Hey, do you think it's true?"
"I-I heard that Amos was gay, though, right?"
"Then why does he keep looking their way?"
"B-But, if it's like that, which one is he going for? Emilia? Or Crystal?"
Meanwhile, the tension between the two girls on the first bench was almost palpable. "So you two have talked before? How come I didn't hear of this?"
Crystal felt her heart skip a beat. If the bastard's intention had been to cause a misunderstanding, he might really succeed! She didn't know how to explain herself at all. "A-Ah? H-He… I-I…"
The longer she couldn't give her an excuse, the more dread Crystal felt well up in her belly.
The only good news was that Emilia still hadn't pulled away from her hand in disgust, but knowing how kind the girl was, it wasn't much of a surprise.
Thinking about how that boy could still cause Emilia to make such an expression, Crystal could only grit her teeth in hate. "I-I promise you, Emilia, there's nothing going on between the two of us!"
Emilia raised an eyebrow. "Between me and you?"
The blonde girl hurriedly shook her head. "N-No! I mean between me and that boy!"
Emilia hummed as she gave her a sideways glance, her lips curving up as if she was a little amused.
It was only a little later that Crystal seemed to realize something. Didn't she just indirectly say something was going on between Emilia and herself? But denying it at this point was already too late.
Well, it was fine if Emilia thought it was funny.
As for what the boy had whispered in her ear, Crystal didn't dare to ask at all.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
One of the things Emilia hated most was being kept in the dark. Especially by those who were supposed to be on her side. It gave her the feeling of loss of control, and made her feel anxious in a decidedly unpleasant way.
When Amos had smugly declared that it wouldn't be long till Crystal was back in his arms, Emilia knew that there must be something wrong.
Although the hero was a bastard and a moron, he would never be this overconfident for no reason at all. If he felt like he could get his hands on Crystal when she was right by the girl's side, at the very least there must be a plan already in play.
Cynthia couldn't help but scratch her head in confusion. "Hey Emilia, I think the hero must have gotten a lot smarter, because he's gonna make you waste your time by digging around for clues for nothing."
After all, Cynthia didn't believe even Amos could get so dumb that he would reveal such a plan to Emilia just like that, right?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
~ To be continued ~
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
DustyDream:
Thank you for all your support! :>