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As her older sister was converting her innocent, crazed little fans into an actual organization using the infinite power of money, Emilia finally spotted Justine, who was looking bored as she waited while leaning against an armored SUV near the woods.
Of course, since the ex-policewoman hadn't spotted her, Emilia couldn't just approach her openly.
And a few minutes later, Justine let out an undignified squeak as she almost had a heart attack, because not only had someone pinched her butt, they had also managed to disarm her at the same time so she could not even retaliate.
"Well well well, miss officer thought she could arrest me? Now that I've got my grubby little hands on you, I'll have to make sure you pay the 'price' for your folly, ehehehe…"
Justine rolled her eyes as she pushed away the gun that had been pointing at her back and turned around to glare at Emilia. "Not funny."
Emilia stuck out her tongue. "Not even a little?"
Justine had to admit that the perverted and 'threatening' laugh had made her chuckle a little when it was made with Emilia's obviously silky voice. Instead of making the situation feel threatening, Justine almost felt like she was shooting an erotic movie. "Well, just a little bit, maybe."
Emilia giggled. "Alright. So, how are things with those three going? Last I heard from you, they were still giving you a headache?"
Justine groaned. "Don't remind me, Emilia. I thought I could finally use the excuse of meeting you to take some time off from thinking about them. Those three are like, totally hopeless!"
Emilia frowned. "Hm, they seemed to have decent potential when it came to combat, from what I observed the last time I was in the dojo, you know?"
The blue-eyed girl couldn't help but sigh. "It's not their combat ability I'm worried about, Emilia, it's just… what you want me to make of them and what they can actually be just don't match. I don't think they have that kind of potential, and I feel like I'm just wasting my time... and your money."
Emilia nodded. Although she'd always been good at picking out talents, she wasn't flawless.
As a princess, she had sponsored hundreds of commoners she had personally seen potential in, and out of those, almost half had managed to truly shine and prove their potential, while the rest could be considered good enough, but not exceptional.
Sometimes she wondered what happened to those children. How did they react after her death in that world? If they really tried to go against Maeve… perhaps their ending wasn't going to be much different from her own.
After all, no matter how talented they were, most of them were still children. A few had gone up the ranks to become knights, but they were also easily disposable by the truly mighty in the kingdom.
And the fact that Maeve could do what she did, already meant that she had the support of the kingdom's finest.
Cynthia sighed. "Well, don't worry too much. If you're diligent with your missions, I will one day be able to take you back. Maybe we can even enter the timeline at a point where you hadn't yet been killed, who knows?"
Emilia nodded, though she had never taken this part of Cynthia's promise to her heart.
After all, she wasn't sure how much of it she could truly believe.
The reason she followed Cynthia and did as she was told wasn't because she was just looking for revenge, but because that was what she believed she owed to the one who had saved her twice from 'death'.
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Justine stared blankly at the photographs Emilia had handed her and tried her best to wrap her head around the absurdity of the task she had been given. "Y-You want me to have those three idiots don masks that look like this, and go scare those morons?"
Emilia nodded. "All those are just regular people, and they don't have any extra security around them at all. This doesn't require too much skill. I believe in you, Justine!"
Justine couldn't help but hesitate a little as she thought about it again.
Sneaking into regular people's homes wearing a weird costume… well, it really wasn't that difficult. The hardest part was ensuring that the girls didn't fail in their execution of the scare.
This was especially so since the 'scare mask' they were supposed to wear wouldn't look that scary to her at all. It was just a regular girl's face made to look a little more 'dead'.
Unless…
"Hey, is this girl really dead already? Ah, don't tell me…"
Emilia rolled her eyes. "Don't overthink it. Just do what I tell you, and you'll find out the truth when the time is right."
The ponytailed girl sighed as she tapped the steering wheel of her beloved 'baby'. "Fine. I'll take care of it. Just gotta make sure that the girls are impactful and quick with their execution and exit, right? No big deal."
Emilia breathed a sigh of relief. Although it wouldn't matter much if Justine failed, it would surely make things go a lot faster if she could get this right.
"Ah, to think that I, who used to be an enforcer of the law, would now be doing such unlawful things…" Justine groaned wistfully.
Emilia giggled. "Well, I'll make sure you're compensated fairly, don't worry. The money I gave you earlier hasn't run out, right?"
Justine quickly shook her head, actually feeling a little scared. She already felt like she had changed too much, having got her hands on so much cash, she didn't know what kind of debauched existence she would become if she had any more. "N-Not at all! I even bought this sweet ride I'd always dreamed of owning, you know, and I've barely made a dent in the balance on that card! I don't need more at all!"
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~ To be continued ~
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DustyDream:
Bonus chapter for 750 powerstones! :>
Thank you for all your support!