━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
There were many advantages to Emilia's new body when she compared it to the one she had in her previous life. Aside from the obvious fact that she could greatly strengthen it later by cultivating using the energy obtained from missions, she was also able to restore stamina extremely fast, and fully recover from wounds and scars in a short period of time.
Not all these 'advantages' were always strictly in her favor, however, since things like being unable to ever feel her belly being full of food again, and never being able to sweat could be considered as 'disadvantages' depending on the situation.
One of the things Emilia enjoyed the most, however, was the fact that she could still enjoy the air and temperature, both hot and cold, without it ever bothering her due to physical discomfort. If she couldn't she would definitely travel all the way to the White Family mansion in just her nightie, to fully enjoy the cold temperature of the night.
Unfortunately, her home was quite secure, and it was too much trouble to avoid it all when she had no need to do so. Thus, Emilia could only change into a short dress before visiting Samantha.
She had tried to consult her partner multiple times about what she thought the hero could be planning, but Cynthia seemed quite mad about being dismissed in favor of Dixie when Emilia responded to Crystal's 'most liked girl' question.
As they reached her mansion, however, Emilia decided that she had allowed Cynthia enough time to sulk. It was time to coax this little kitty out, since they would be discussing matters concerning the hero next, and Emilia didn't wish for these silly things to decrease her efficiency in any way.
As for how to go about doing that? Compared to Cynthia, who had nearly zero experience talking to and understanding others, Emilia had spent most of the latter half of her second life learning how to spot what made people tick, and how to use it to her advantage.
Such skills were the basic requirement when conversing in higher society in her previous life, and provided almost no real advantage to anyone at all, since everyone was doing the same thing. However, against someone like Cynthia, they would be extremely effective.
To say that Emilia had one thousand and one ways to convince her partner wouldn't be an exaggeration at all, and all she had to do was pick one she thought was the most suitable.
"Cynthia~? Are you still mad at me? Why? I don't understand at all!"
The raven-haired girl scoffed. "Hmph. Are you pretending to be stupid now? I don't believe it."
Emilia blinked 'innocently'. "Is it about that question that Crystal asked?"
Cynthia sneered. "Oh, your memory comes back quite quick?"
Emilia made a surprised look, as if she had never considered such a thing would be the reason behind Cynthia's anger. "Ahaha… So that's what it was? I just never thought you would take it like this. Mhm… I think you misunderstood me."
The emerald-eyed girl couldn't help but blink in confusion, starting to doubt herself. "Oh?"
Emilia nodded. "Right. Do you remember what Crystal asked me? Her question was 'which girl do you like the most', and I just told her the truth. After all, you have done so much for me. My feelings for you are more akin to worship than 'like', you know?"
Cynthia blushed. "R-Really? W-Why do I feel like I'm being scammed…"
Emilia stuck out her tongue, her tone mirthful yet serious at the same time. "Really! Cynthia, you saved me twice, remember? If there is anyone I worship, it would be you!"
Her partner couldn't help but laugh smugly. "Hoho… well, when you put it like that, it makes sense. Hm… Okay, since you have never lied to me before, I will believe you!"
Emilia smiled. "Good girl."
"That's awfully condescending for someone you're supposed to worship?!"
Emilia couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Why do you keep misunderstanding me, Cynthia? I just think you're so good, un, really kind and understanding, you know? How is that condescending?"
Cynthia thought about it again, and although she still felt that something was definitely wrong somewhere, they had already reached Emilia's room, and a grinning brunette opened the door before Emilia could even knock.
"Finally you're here! Come on in, I had the chef make lots of snacks! All your favorites, of course."
Emilia couldn't help but smile as gave her older sister an appreciative kiss on the cheek, making the older girl blush in delight as she led her into the room by hand. The room itself hadn't changed much in her absence, though Samantha seemed to have added a few things in to make her now permanent residency more comfortable.
The table and chair, which had previously been just sufficient for herself, were now replaced with a much more luxurious, modern set of furniture that could meet Samantha's needs at the same time.
Emilia thought it was quite funny how Samantha felt the need to get a pink version of such a professional-looking furniture set, which made it look like it came straight out of a cartoon.
Unfortunately, the topic of discussion today was anything but cozy, and even the plentiful deserts couldn't keep the atmosphere sweet when discussing traitors in their company.
Samantha couldn't help but sigh after telling Emilia everything she knew. "I don't understand… even if mom wanted to take Noelle away, it makes no sense to insist on replacing her with a newbie, right? Much less someone who is clearly so suspicious, even if she knows nothing about the fiasco with Michelle."
Emilia nodded as she thought about it. "There's probably more to it. The fact that she's so stubborn about it and refuses to tell you the reason is also quite strange…"
Samantha bit her lower lip tightly. "T-Then, what do you think I should do? I can ask Dad to—"
Emilia shook her head. "No, wait, let me think."
'What do you think, Cynthia?'
Cynthia chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? The mother of the villainess can't be too good of a person herself, right? She's probably involved in some kind of shady deal with that politician, and is now cornered to make this sort of decision."
Emilia considered Cynthia's perspective, but she didn't think that was the case. 'Although what you said isn't impossible, I think it's far more likely that this is a trap.'
"A trap? For who?"
Emilia smiled. 'For that guy, obviously. Look, he's got zero experience, and once he's shot up to such a prominent position, any kind of action he takes will be under a great amount of scrutiny. There's no way he can hide messing up then, and once he does mess up, it will open up the window to frame him for a lot more.'
Cynthia scratched her head, slightly confused. "Eh? Sounds far-fetched, honestly. Don't forget that this is Danielle's mother we're talking about. She may be a little more rational than this sis-con and her dad, but she's definitely not a genius who can make great master plans and execute them flawlessly."
Emilia chuckled. 'True, and although this plan looks decent on the surface, there are too many things that can go wrong. What if the 'mess up' that guy creates is too big for us to take? What if it directly hurts our core? And not to mention, putting him in such a position might just end up fulfilling whatever goals the enemy had anyway, rendering any further repercussions moot.'
"Hoh? You mean to say…"
'Right. I mean exactly that. Mrs. White is aiming to frame and disable a pawn, which is the wrong move from the start. Even if she comes up with an amazing plan, she would just be playing into the opponent's hands. After all, the pawns are already meant to be sacrificed. All they need to do… was get to the right position first!'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
~ To be continued ~
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Bonus chapter for 75 golden tickets! :>
My writing speed has been quite good recently, thanks to all your comments and encouragement.
I think it should be possible to clear the bonus queue soon, and maybe even release extra privilege chapters!
I hope that once that happens, the site will finally start giving our poor Emilia a little more limelight.
Thank you, for all your support!
