As Emilia waved goodbye to Crystal and Dixie, Cynthia couldn’t help but voice some of her doubts. “What is this ‘important matter’ that you have to take care of, anyway? I thought you already had everything set for the next few days, did you not?”
The crimson-haired girl waved away the worried guards and ‘knights’ with a smile and continued to wait for Noelle to come pick her up. ‘There are a lot of unstable factors in such things, and I can’t just sit back and relax, you know?’
Cynthia hummed thoughtfully. “Are you talking about that Alexander and Amos thing?”
Seeing her partner nod in affirmation, the raven-haired girl couldn’t help but snort. “Hey, don’t try to fool me! Aren’t you just eager to enjoy the show?!”
Emilia rubbed her cheek shyly. ‘Don’t I deserve it after working so hard for so long?’
Cynthia could only roll her eyes and console herself that it was only natural for a villainess to be selfish. Anyway, even if she was somewhat naughty, her partner had still managed to complete one of her missions already, so there was no reason to doubt her efficiency.
Meanwhile, the ‘fan girls’ who had won that day’s roulette and managed to follow Penny for a chance to see the princess up close couldn’t help but sneak a few shots of the gorgeous girl’s blush.
”T-Too cute!”
Fortunately, they had already trained their mentality quite a bit using Penny’s collection, so not only did they manage to keep their squealing to a minimum, but they also recovered quite quickly.
”Is the princess feeling shy and awkward for waiting alone for the first time?”
”Such a wonderful and exclusive shot! With this, we can even negotiate with the commander and get one of those coveted relics in exchange!”
”Who dared to make her wait, anyway?!”
”We can always deal with them later, but isn’t it more important to solve her crisis first?”
”True!”
”I-I have a bike, b-but she already waved us away, right? I don’t want her to think I’m creepy!”
”Let’s wait for another fifty-four seconds first, then see if she needs help?”
”Oh, that is based on my new theory about psychology, you see—”
The poor fangirls remained unaware that their little princess could easily hear their ridiculous argument with her enhanced hearing, leaving the crimson-haired girl giggling to herself in amusement. ‘These kids… they’re so adorable!’
Cynthia couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “By adorable, do you mean creepy?”
Emilia huffed in dissatisfaction. ‘How can you say that? Look how cute they are! And it’s not like they’ve done anything to harm me, right?’
The raven-haired girl could only click her tongue in annoyance. “I really didn’t care at first, but isn’t it an eyesore to see them hanging around almost all the time? Annoying.”
Before Emilia could retort, the arrival of a white Cadillac made her pause. ‘Well, Noelle is here. Let’s talk about this later.’
Although the gray-haired girl came to her side and opened the door for her, Emilia could tell that she didn’t seem to be in a particularly good mood.
Once Noelle had returned to the steering wheel and fastened her seatbelt, Emilia couldn’t help but give her a nudge. “Is everything okay?”
Noelle pursed her lips as she moved the car back on the road. “Nothing’s wrong, but…”
Since they were heading towards Sam’s office instead of the path she expected, Emilia could already tell that things must not have worked out according to her requirements, and she couldn’t help but be a little nervous.
The gray-haired girl sighed as she parked the car by the side of the road before looking into the younger girl’s eyes apologetically. “… I’m sorry, but… it’s impossible to follow Amos now without exposing ourselves. I really wanted to fulfill your wish, but it was too risky, and I didn’t want to ruin your more important plans just for fun.”
Emilia couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. ‘Fortunately, it was just that. Noelle really scared me right there!’
Of course, although things were better than she expected, to say that Emilia wasn’t disappointed would also be wrong.
She couldn’t help but lean forward, placing her palms on the older girl’s knees, staring up at her with a pitiful look in her eyes. “Don’t be sorry, but… is there really no way to do it?”
Although Noelle didn’t have the strength to say no when faced with the little beauty’s watery blue eyes and adorably pouting lips, her silence spoke for itself.
Emilia bit her lip in thought and started fiddling with her phone.
Although Noelle sometimes found the girl’s mischief a little exasperating, she couldn’t help but feel unhappy when she thought of her being disheartened instead.
She could only sigh helplessly. “Amos is no longer moving about with just a few people, so even if I somehow manage to avoid their entire group… it’s impossible to keep ourselves from being discovered. But if you have any idea, I’ll see what can be done.”
Emilia couldn’t help but turn to look at the older girl with her eyes wide in wonder. “Are you actively asking me to make trouble?”
Noelle frowned. “… I would be happy if you didn’t phrase it that way—!”
She couldn’t help but be stunned when the crimson-haired beauty lunged and pressed a firm, affectionate kiss against her cheek.
Looking at the girl’s delighted grin, Noelle felt like the soft, jelly-like feeling against her face was scraping directly against her heart.
”Although I was thinking we could watch the show in person, or maybe a live telecast, but there’s no need to be too worried about it if it doesn’t work. Anyway, we can still make do with this!”
Noelle could only be further dumbfounded when Emilia turned on the speaker on her phone. ‘I was an idiot to think she was disheartened! This naughty little minx had a Plan B all along?!’
There was no name on the phone’s screen, only a string of numbers, and the microphone from Emilia’s side was muted, making it a one-way call.
Of course, even if she were to fail to recognize the voices from the other side, the contents of the conversation made everything more than clear.
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With Mr. Black’s network, although he wasn’t as efficient as Noelle, it was still possible to find Alexander’s existence in the Green Leaf city.
Naturally, neither the hero nor his father believed it to be a coincidence. But with Emilia and Noelle’s meddling, the facts that they could discover were heavily distorted.
Not only did they manage to keep the Black Tiger’s people from discovering the true purpose of him staying in the Oriana country, but they even made the hero’s side believe that Alexander could be here for the express purpose of being a ‘negotiator’ on his father’s behalf.
Of course, although both of these lies could be discovered, it would require the Black Tiger to dig into the matter much, much deeper. But with their resources being scattered and divided as they were now, it was unlikely for them to try doing such a thing without solid suspicion.
Unless Alexander exposed something by himself, it was extremely unlikely for the web that Emilia and Noelle had woven to be exposed. But since it wasn’t impossible, the crimson-haired girl naturally wouldn’t leave it to chance.
Convincing Jake to let her listen to Alexander’s conversation with the Black Tiger’s heir wasn’t difficult with the previous groundwork she had already laid. All she had to do was express her worry for his ‘well-being’ and being unable to eat and sleep, and he quickly caved in.
In Jake’s heart, with the Black Tiger’s fearsome reputation, it was already admirable that this girl was willing to stand by their side and worry so much. It was just a pity that this flower had to be planted on this undeserving ‘friend’ of his. Of course, no matter how he gritted his teeth in hate, there was nothing he could do to change the situation at all.
The best he could hope for was that listening to his ‘big bro’ speaking in his natural tone when he wasn’t around Emilia would ‘awaken’ her to seeing his real self somehow, but he knew it was unlikely to work. After all, a girl in love was usually blind to trivial things like reason and common sense.
The only ‘fortunate’ thing today was that Alexander was even more moody than usual, no thanks to the unusual way in which Amos had decided for them to ‘meet’.
Not only did he refuse to come out of his car, but the silver-haired boy didn’t even take off his sunglasses out of basic courtesy while talking to them! Although Jake felt that it was only natural for someone of his status to despise ‘small fry’ like them, he knew that it was impossible for his egoistic friend to think the same way.
Of course, neither of them knew that it was already impressive that Amos could pretend to be normal while seated, with his current physical condition being how it was. How could he shame himself by moving around in a wheelchair?
Until he could walk flawlessly again, it was natural for the hero to move around only in his car when extremely necessary.
This also had the additional benefit of making it extremely easy for his people to protect him, and was also one of the reasons that Noelle had been unable to find a way to snoop in on their conversation without the risk of being exposed.
Unfortunately for the hero, however, his unintentional behavior directly set him off on the wrong foot in this ‘negotiation’.
After all, not to mention that Alexander had never been one to take being ‘insulted’ lightly, he was especially sensitive after being humiliated himself.
Given his status as the Gray Wolfe’s heir and their previous transgressions, it wouldn’t be strange for this boy to come to him kneeling and begging with a humble attitude, so what was he trying to do now? Did this boy think he was so easy to be bullied just because there didn’t appear to be any security around him?
With his father’s promise, Alexander knew that even if they couldn’t be seen, not only was he completely safe, but there were sure to be hundreds of experts just waiting for his signal to tear this piece of trash into pieces!
Alexander couldn’t help but sneer. “I knew that people in Oriana country were uncultured, but I didn’t know that they were wild like animals. When you request someone to come talk, you should at least have the decency to greet them properly!”
Amos was only stunned for a moment before his expression turned dark. “An illegitimate son also deserves to be treated courteously by me? Don’t make me laugh!”
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