━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Although she had already been quite certain of her conjectures, Emilia only dared to breathe a sigh of relief after getting confirmation from Noelle's side. While Alexander had been kicked out of the hero's car, there were no other unexpected twists and turns that might affect her plans.
Of course, although the failure of negotiations affected them both negatively, it was not to the same degree.
In Alexander's mind, it was the Black Tiger who was suffering and being suppressed by his father all over the world, and they were the ones who failed to please him after doing something they should never have. What was happening now was simply them getting their just desserts.
In contrast, not only did Amos fail to achieve what he had set out to do, but he also got scolded by his father when he returned.
"What do you mean by 'it failed, I don't wanna talk about it'? Just because I'm willing to hand over some responsibility to you does not mean you have the right to fuck it up! Explain clearly!"
Amos could only grit his teeth hatefully. "That little bastard clearly only wanted to humiliate us, and from start to finish, there were no signs of compromise at all. Was I supposed to kneel down and beg him, even though there would still be no results? What about our Black Tiger's face?!"
Mr. Black wasn't one to give up his own army to please the enemy in a futile attempt to avoid war, as he knew it would be the height of stupidity, but he still couldn't help but frown. 'If Sanders never intended to negotiate with us, why would he leave all those hints behind pointing to this son of his that just happens to be here? It's too much of a coincidence!'
Of course, the fact that the leader of the Gray Wolfe was refusing to communicate with them was already strange in itself, but since the man had always been somewhat eccentric and unreasonable, Mr. Black was barely able to look past it.
But the more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was missing something very important.
Looking at his son and recalling his past performance, the buff man couldn't help but have a bad feeling in his heart. "You didn't let your ego get the best of you again, did you?"
Amos goggled at him in disbelief. "Am I so incompetent in your eyes?!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
With his previous track record, most of the suspicion Mr. Black had for 'everything seemingly going wrong at the same time' naturally fell on his 'unreasonable and moody' son. And the more indignant the silver-haired boy's response was, the more certain Mr. Black became of his guess.
All the progress that Amos felt he had made over the past few months seemed to have been nothing but an illusion, vanishing like smoke shortly after his dispute with his father.
Even if the hero was a thousand times more patient, he still couldn't help but hate Alexander for giving his father the chance to pick his faults, his father for treating him as someone unworthy, and even this world for never letting anything go his way.
He couldn't help but laugh at his own stupidity. 'How could I have ever believed that this bastard of a father would ever give me a fair chance?'
It was like someone was constantly manipulating things in the dark to make his life more and more miserable.
The moment this thought came to him, it was like a ferocious weed that took root, tyrannically growing from a tiny seed to a towering tree in an instant.
'It must be that bitch!'
Although he had no evidence, it made too much sense not to be true. And even with his father cutting off most of his connections, it didn't take long for him to confirm his guess.
Amos couldn't help but laugh angrily. "How the hell did I not notice this before? It's that bitch again! It's always her! Always!"
Whether it was the love of his life, his reputation in the upper circle, or even the favor of his 'father'… she was always the one in front, watching it all turn to ash with that hideously beautiful smile.
It was like she came to this world just to take everything from him, and Amos couldn't help but hate her to the bone. "If I don't make you pay for it with everything you have, my name is not Amos Black!"
Had he realized this just a few days ago…
The silver-haired boy shook his head in denial. "No, even if I can't do anything about it myself, I can still use that bastard of a father as a puppet! As long as he knows she's the one scheming against us, even someone as stupid and incompetent as him can't sit still, right?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"What do you mean you don't have the time to listen to my delusions?!"
Looking at his son's disbelieving expression, the buff man sighed. "You heard me right. According to you, everything that goes wrong in the world is because of that little girl… is she a deity? A goddess? Heh… if she's really someone so omnipotent, we might as well just surrender."
Amos couldn't help but slam his fist on his wheelchair's handrest in a fury. "Even if you never believe what I say, can you not see that while we're suffering, the one who benefits the most is that bitch and her father?! If you just check—"
Mr. Black frowned impatiently. "You see what you want to see, you fool. What you're saying about the White Deer is also true for the Golden Eagle. I'm neither blind, nor delusional. Unless you have evidence, or can justify why you believe the nonsense you're spouting… stop wasting my time and get the fuck out!"
The silver-haired boy knew that no matter what he said, this man wouldn't believe him anyway. But even as he wheeled himself back to his room while trying his best to remain sane, he couldn't help but hate his father more and more.
If someone told him it was a coincidence that the Black Tiger was no longer losing as badly as soon as his father retook complete control, Amos would definitely never believe it.
"I should have realized there was some trick the moment he handed over so much authority to me!"
Banging on his wheelchair with his fist, the silver-haired hero fell on his face, grimacing in both pain and rage. "So all this time… you just wanted to show everyone on the board that you're just a much better leader?"
Thinking about his previous 'optimistic' self, the hero couldn't help but smile coldly. "But even if you can fool everyone else, you can't fool me. I didn't reject your advice while I was in control, there's nothing that you couldn't have done that you can only do now… I'll definitely repay you for this 'grace'!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Emilia didn't know what happened between Amos and his father, but with how closely she was observing the situation, the change in Black Tiger's momentum was obvious.
While it was impossible to avoid certain losses under the Gray Wolfe's offensive, the previously thrilling fight to the death between the tiger and the wolf was already showing signs of turning into a more 'civilized' duel. Even if the two would still be injured in the end, neither would have any fatal wounds.
"Do you think they realized it was you? After all, you're the one benefiting the most."
Emilia bit her lip in thought, but after thinking about their reactions, she didn't believe that her partner's guess was right. 'If they knew, they would definitely reunite against their 'common enemy' right away. There's no reason to continue like this. Even if they're only flesh wounds, they can accumulate and hurt a lot.'
The raven-haired girl nodded. "True, but shouldn't you slow down your growth a little to avoid suspicion?"
Emilia shook her head with a smile. 'Not all rulers who die from sickness are poisoned by their children. But in either case, only a fool would reject the throne to 'avoid suspicion'. That's just asking to be overtaken and killed by someone else!'
Cynthia coughed. "Okay, okay. I get it, princess. You didn't kill your father, I know."
The crimson-haired girl couldn't help but roll her eyes. 'That's not what I was trying to say! Anyway, think of it like this… if every time someone with an insurance policy died, it was always considered to be the beneficiary's fault, wouldn't it be ridiculous?'
"So what you're saying is…"
Emilia smiled. 'Right now, if we try to 'avoid suspicion' by staying back and not benefiting as much as we can from the dispute between these two, it will only be more suspicious!'
Cynthia thought about it for a while before nodding in understanding. "I get it! Even if it's suspicious when the enemy shows you their back and runs away while at an advantage, you still have to take that stab! If you hesitate to think about how it could be a trap, it's not worth losing the chance!"
Emilia couldn't help but be stunned. 'N-No, I… how did you get that from what I said?'
The raven-haired girl blinked. "E-Eh? Am I wrong?"
Emilia sighed. 'Forget it… you're not really wrong anyway.'
Fortunately, neither the Gray Wolfe nor the Black Tiger seemed to have turned their focus on her White Deer, and their own growth remained unabated as the two continued to fight, albeit with a slightly lower intensity.
The most crucial factor in revealing her manipulations was Alexander, and he hadn't shown any signs of unusual activity at all. With Jake and Noelle keeping an eye on him from both inside and outside, Emilia knew she could continue confidently with her plans.
Cynthia chuckled. "If that guy knew you were using him as a glorified meter to measure the attitudes of the Gray Wolfe and Black Tiger, he'd probably have a stroke, right?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━