Noelle had never been one to mince her words, regardless of the identity of the other party. When there was something that needed to be said, she said it, and when there was something that needed to be done, she did it.
Although there had been no need to do so till now, she always had the determination that if what she did made her 'boss' mad anyway, then she would simply change the 'boss'.
This was the confidence Noelle had based on her own capability.
The only exception to this was when she actually messed up and knew that the fault was her own.
But simply being diligent and attentive was enough to prevent such a thing from happening most of the time. And the handful of times it did happen, such as with the Bucherer's incident, Noelle made sure she learned from her folly so it never happened again.
That being said, there was a level of 'tolerance' that Noelle had as an employee for her boss, meaning that even if it wasn't for the best and actually lowered her efficiency, she would be willing to somewhat adjust to the requirements of the upper management.
For example, if she knew some task needed ten people, but the boss insisted on eight, Noelle preferred trying to figure out how to make it work with eight people than being hardheaded and arguing needlessly.
Unfortunately, she realized too late that Emilia had grasped the limits of this 'tolerance' of hers very well, and seemed to know exactly how far she could go and when to stop.
Just as Noelle was about to blow her top, Emilia immediately stopped being 'naughty' and smiled 'apologetically'.
Noelle could only frown and ignore it as she responded to her question. Regardless of the occasion, this was still her little boss. "The 'chocolate mission' can be considered already complete, though I guess you should already know that. The only thing we need to pay attention to now is if their attacks will resume once they've dealt with whatever urgent matters they're held up by."
Of course, both of them knew who they were talking about and what the urgent matters were, but there was no need to say it out loud here.
Emilia nodded with a smile. "That's good. Anyway, even if they want to look for faults again, it would be too late by then. This kind of abrupt retreat gave us enough openings to completely cripple their initiative, right?"
At this point, the waiter had already arrived with their starter dishes - smoked salmon and avocado toast.
Noelle's mood visibly improved after her first bite, and once she saw how the younger girl didn't seem to plan on disturbing her, she couldn't help but drop some of her guard.
While Noelle enjoyed her meal, Emilia actually thought the quality of smoked salmon here was a little inferior to what she was used to at 'home', and only finished what was on her plate out of courtesy. 'I guess later on I can let Crystal's mom come take a look at the kitchen here? Or will the mansion's chef be enough?'
Of course, Crystal's mom had nothing to do with 'The Fawn', but since Emilia already treated her as a close relative, she took it for granted that her request would be honored.
The two of them didn't talk much after that until their steak arrived, and it was only halfway through their main course that Emilia finally brought up the topic she actually had in mind for their date.
"What are your aspirations for the future?"
Noelle blinked at the unexpected question, and suddenly her expression turned a little weird. "Are you worried that I won't stay with your company later?"
Emilia smiled. "Obviously. Not only do I value you as a subordinate, but I also find you quite pleasing to be around. I'd hate it if someone tried to snatch you for me."
Of course, that was not why she asked such a question, but there was no need for her to put that on the table.
Noelle didn't notice at this time that the keyword here was 'tried to', as in, Emilia never considered that anyone could succeed, and just hummed thoughtfully. "I don't really have any plans to leave at the moment. White Deer treats me very well, and my compensation is more than adequate."
Suddenly, she had the thought of deflating the girl's ego a little, and smiled deviously in her mind. "That being said, if I were to receive a better offer, I will of course consider it."
Emilia could tell that the gray-haired lady meant to 'warn' her that while she was content with her company for now, that was only if she didn't try to annoy her further, but she pretended not to notice the subtlety in her words. "How can that be? Even if you get an offer like that, I recommend you don't try going there."
Noelle frowned. "Oh? And why not? If it is an objectively better offer, I'd have to be dumb not to take it."
Emilia's smile remained warm, as if she wasn't bothered at all. "I say this for your own good. After all, if someone were to truly dare poach my most capable subordinate, I would never let them be. Would they be able to maintain your work environment while going bankrupt?"
Noelle couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Companies don't go bankrupt just because you want them to, you know? If I were to move away, wouldn't it be to an equally large corporation that can withstand your tantrums? I thought you were smarter than that big sister of yours."
Emilia just smiled. "I believe in my strength. And my big sister is adorable as she is, so please don't scold her in front of me. Next time you do, believe it or not, I'll punish you on the spot."
Noelle paused, stunned. Why did she have the bad feeling that this girl would actually do it?
'No way, right?'
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