Cynthia continued to sulk in her ‘nest’ of pillows after watching Emilia’s ‘demonstration’, and no matter how the crimson-haired girl tried to coax her, it didn’t seem to have much of an effect at all.
The raven-haired girl still found it a little hard to believe that Emilia had managed to not only ‘store’ one of her abilities as she had, effectively bypassing the so-called ‘cool down’, but had also managed to do modify it to such an extent that they could hardly be categorized the same way again.
Although Emilia was only able to create and keep only two of the beads she had previously made at a time, each of them could hold a particular ‘form’ that could be ‘applied’ to herself at any time.
Whenever Emilia’s eight-hour cooldown was up, she could now either change the form stored inside one of these beads, or shapeshift her physical form.
Once she was done, she could then either wait for the ‘cool down’ to be up before shapeshifting again, as she had before, or simply use one of the forms stored in the beads.
Although technically she could still only ‘get a new form’ once every eight hours, with some preparation, she would always have two additional forms she could shift into at any time!
Whether it was in terms of flexibility, function, or convenience, it was clearly on a completely new level when compared to the skill that Cynthia had come up with.
Of course, Cynthia’s shapeshift skill only channeled energy and didn’t consume any, while Emilia’s ‘beads’ took almost half a percent of chaos energy to form.
But considering that this was a one-time cost that she would only have to bear whenever she needed to store a new form in the beads, even Cynthia thought that it was well worth the price.
Naturally, she was happy to see her villainess get stronger. Their fates were already tied together, after all. Even if she felt a little complicated at the thought that she managed to do something better than her while being so much younger, it wasn’t something Cynthia would be too bothered about.
The reason she was sulking was actually the fact that her partner could now come and go in her private space as she pleased!
Knowing Emilia’s nature, she knew that her sweet days of slamming the proverbial door in the girl’s face were over. Even if she could still run into isolation, this little villainess could easily chase after her if she wanted to.
Even though she wasn’t certain about the reason the emerald-eyed girl was sulking, Emilia still continued to hold her close and pat her head. “Are you still upset?”
The raven-haired girl couldn’t help but pout. “Don’t treat me like a child! And how long are you going to stay here, anyway?”
Emilia smirked as she snuggled closer to the sulking little girl. “Hmm? Chasing me away like this… don’t tell me you’re shy?”
Feeling the crimson-haired girl’s teasing breath hit the side of her face while being held like this, Cynthia couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment. ‘T-This hooligan!’
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While Cynthia was desperately fending off against Emilia in her previously safe inner world, Dixie and Crystal were laying down the foundation of what would come to be known as ‘Oath of the Crimson Rose’.
Emilia’s whimsical and carefree nature wasn’t something that hampered her ability to think or remain cautious when it actually mattered, but both Crystal and Dixie were aware of a certain ‘exception’ to this rule.
When it came to those she favored, the crimson-haired beauty was indulgent to the point where it would be extremely easy for one to take advantage, and while such a thing hadn’t happened so far, the possibility in the future couldn’t be ruled out.
Crystal had long since wanted to take some precautionary steps to protect the goddess in her heart, and Noelle’s matter had been the final ‘wake-up call’ that she needed to get started.
After confirming that Crystal wasn’t really upset with her in particular and only worried about Emilia’s safety, Dixie finally breathed a sigh of relief. “I really thought I must have done something wrong without knowing it, you know?”
Naturally, when the blonde girl proposed to ‘have a talk’ with her after dinner, Dixie’s first reaction had been fear.
After all, she had just managed to convince herself that the girl must have been glaring at her so intently during the day because she was curious about her ‘enhancement’, but in that case, there wouldn’t be any need to take her aside for a discussion, right?
The blonde girl rubbed her nose in embarrassment. “Sorry if I made you feel awkward… I was mostly just trying to observe your changes and testing my ability at the same time.”
Dixie could only sigh in defeat. “Instead of making me feel awkward, it would be more accurate to say that you scared the wits out of me for nearly the whole day.”
Although she had already known about it thanks to her ability, Crystal still blinked innocently. “Scared… you? I thought Dixie was a strong and fearless knight who would always protect her princess?”
The dark-haired girl coughed awkwardly. “O-Of course! B-But being a good knight isn’t about being fearless, i-it’s about overcoming that fear!”
Crystal felt her lips twitch in amusement, but she nodded in ‘understanding’. “I see… makes sense.”
Dixie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her excuse had ‘worked’. “Anyway… I understand your concerns about Emily getting hurt by one of us… everyone can make mistakes, after all, but… do we really have a solution?”
Not to mention anyone else, Dixie knew that even she couldn’t guarantee that she would never hurt her princess. None of them were ‘perfect’, and if they were going to be together for the rest of their lives, it was impossible to be cautious with every word and action to that effect.
As someone who often cooperated with Noelle to ensure Emilia’s safety, Dixie knew very well that the girl was far from being ‘uncaring’ of her feelings, and would never intentionally bring the princess any harm.
What happened today was likely caused by either a series of misunderstandings, or a lack of communication.
Crystal didn’t argue with her on this point either, but instead decided to directly propose her solution. “Since we agree that lack of communication can lead to such situations, isn’t what must be done already clear enough?”
”I-Is it?”
”Mhm… I’ve already thought about it. What we need to do boils down to just two things. First, make a few base facts very clear to everyone who is close enough to Emilia. And second… check your phone.”
Dixie blinked in surprise when she turned around to fetch her phone from the table, and opened the notifications panel under the heroine’s imploring gaze.
The notification of ‘You have been invited to join ‘Crimson Rose Sisters’ chat group!’ instantly attracted her attention, and the dark-haired girl couldn’t help but pause. “A-A chat group?”
Crystal nodded. “Yes.”
”How is this going to help? It’s always better to communicate in person, and we can already call or send each other messages if needed, can’t we?”
The blonde girl smiled. “Yes, but… isn’t it awkward to talk about such things?”
Dixie blinked in surprise, but then realized that Crystal was actually right.
Not to mention others, if not for Noelle’s matter today, even the two of them were unlikely to have this conversation.
After all, Dixie felt that talking to Crystal about ‘how to treat Emilia right’ would be extremely condescending, and might have the same effect as sowing discord.
Dixie already felt that she had gone a bit too overboard a few times whenever they discussed matters related to Emilia, so ever since then, she had subconsciously avoided discussing matters that could be easily misunderstood.
But thinking about it again, wasn’t this likely to lead to misunderstandings in the future?
And this was Crystal, the most understanding and gentle girl amongst them.
Crystal smiled. “See what I mean?”
Dixie could only rub her nose in embarrassment. “I-I see…”
Just when the heroine was smiling with a sense of achievement, she caught Dixie’s hesitant expression. “What is it?”
Dixie sighed. “W-Well, ‘Crimson Rose Sisters’ is… uhm… is this name really okay?”
Crystal frowned. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”
The dark-haired girl coughed as she looked away. “N-Nothing wrong. I understand everything else, but… why ‘Rose’?”
Crystal blushed as she looked away in embarrassment. “O-Oh… t-that… i-isn’t that Emilia’s… um…”
It took Dixie a few moments to realize what the shy heroine was trying to imply, and her expression immediately turned dissatisfied. “What? How can you compare a normal flower to the enchanting and noble fragrance of the princess?!”
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