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Crystal's mother groaned. "I know you're having a lot of fun teasing me, but can you not just let me know what I should do? I really need your help here!"
Mrs. Brown tilted her head in confusion. "Didn't you already tell me everything? What's the issue now?"
The blonde lady gave her an exasperated look. "The issue isn't us knowing or not, it's what we're going to do about it!"
Mrs. Brown coughed. "This might be a bit ironic coming from me, since I often try to strong-arm my daughter into things I like, but we don't have to meddle in their matters, you know? The seem to be doing fine on their own."
Crystal's mother sighed. "But this can't possibly go on forever, right? Even if they seem to get along just fine now, I'm sure it won't take much for the delicate balance between them to shift, tearing their relationship apart. We have to prepare them before it's too late! I know what it's like to lose a lover, and I don't want my daughter and her friends to go through such suffering in the future."
Mrs. Brown frowned. She wanted to refute that this topic wasn't related to a dead spouse at all, but poking the sensitive woman in such a sore spot would probably do more harm than good. "Why do you talk like this can never work out?"
The blonde lady looked at her in confusion. "I-Isn't that true?"
Mrs. Brown chuckled. "No no, I think you're misunderstanding something. All relationships are equally fragile. They all depend on the partners efforts and trust in each other. I don't think you would be panicking so much if this was a more 'normal' relationship though, right?"
When she thought about it, Crystal's mother realized that what her friend said did make some sense. But even if the concept remained the same, finding the roots of a quadratic and a cubic equation were still two different things. "I-I mean… if you think about it… would your daughter be fine sharing like this all her life?"
'Would my little gigachad be fine banging two hot chicks? I don't know, she'll probably grab more down the line, but saying that now might kill the poor woman from a heart attack.' Mrs. Brown tried her best to appear serious while trying to hide the smugness in her heart. "My Dixie is very open minded, you know. And I'm sure the other two are the same, or they won't enter this kind of relationship in the first place."
Maybe she had also just been looking for someone to reassure her that everything was alright, because the more they talked, the more Mrs. Miller realized that she wasn't so opposed to the idea, though she still had some doubts. "S-So… you think it can last? No, what about Emilia? Even if the two of us agree, would her family be fine if they knew about something like this?"
Mrs. Brown paused. "T-That… I'm also not sure. Hopefully?"
"…"
The dark-haired woman coughed. "Anyway, what would you even have us do? Tear them apart 'for their own good'? I'm gonna have to pass if that's your idea."
Mrs. Miller shook her head vehemently. "N-No… I guess I just panicked."
Mrs. Brown chuckled. "Truth be told, I have to thank you."
Perhaps the confusion on the other woman's face was too obvious, making Dixie's mother chuckle again. "For giving birth to such a gorgeous daughter, of course. Now I can brag about my child having two super hot wives!"
Mrs. Miller blinked in surprise before shaking her head with a smile. She could always trust Mrs. Brown to have such a 'unique' perspective. "That's… one way to think about it?"
Mrs. Brown giggled. "Isn't that the best way?"
Thinking about it some more, the blonde lady realized that her friend was actually right. If her daughter was currently happy, it was better to just watch over her instead of interfering, especially when she couldn't be sure what the future would hold. "I guess… that's true."
Mrs. Brown chuckled. "Heh. Honestly, I was really stressed out before I came here. I should really have visited more often, but things have been so hectic lately, really…!"
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Unbeknownst to herself, her impromptu meeting with the heroine's mother had instead given Mr. Black more confidence in the fact that she was still planning to keep her end of the bargain, or he might have already started taking some 'countermeasures' for her betrayal.
Mr. Black tapped the table with his index finger in thought as he appraised the militaristic, gray-haired old man in the screen in front of him. "You personally witnessed this? Show me—"
The gray-haired man shook his head in denial. "N-No, boss, the security in that area is too tight, we could have alerted them if we were careless. The woman we sent inside confirmed that she saw them talking, and they left to continue talking shortly after."
Mr. Black thought about it for a while before nodding. "I see… continue keeping an eye on the woman."
The man on the screen seemed to hesitate for a while, knowing that the conversation was over, but in the end he couldn't help but grit his teeth and speak up again. "But boss… are we really going to let her keep going? It won't be long until all the people we planted in those subsidiaries become useless!"
As someone who dared to refute his instructions, the man was of course one of his most competent subordinates. Even Mr. Black would sometimes give him an explanation for what he was doing, just so he had the chance to give better advice.
But in the end, the perspective of a subordinate and a boss would always be a little different. "Those little things were supposed to be our side of the compensation to begin with. It's fine if she eats it all up… as long as she upholds her end of the bargain."
The gray-haired man sighed. "I-If that's what you wish, boss. I'll continue monitoring the situation."
Mr. Black nodded. "Good."
The connection went offline, and Mr. Black was finally left with his own thoughts.
In reality, he did have some suspicions when the woman had started dismantling all his countermeasures one by one while showing no signs of working to get that promised 'meeting' with Crystal's mother arranged. But as it was now, it didn't look like she had the guts to really go against him, she'd just been too greedy to swallow all those benefits earlier.
Mr. Black could care less about those things. He never planned to mobilize those counter-measures unless the woman dared to go back on her word, after all.
And even if she managed to get rid of all those moles… did she really think that was all he could do? If she was as clever as she seemed… she should know better.
The buff man couldn't help but shake his head. "All this headache for such a little thing… But given how stubborn that little tyke is, the girl is probably going to be my daughter-in-law anyway. If I think about it this way… it's barely worth it."
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