Halfway through their ‘inspection’, Emilia received a call from Noelle letting her know that the president of Red Dusk wished to ‘get in touch’ with her to discuss certain ‘sensitive matters’.
Emilia hummed. “We can let him wait for a while, why don’t you—”
Crystal interrupted her with a cough. “W-Why don’t you go take the call, a-and we can handle the matter here?”
The crimson-haired girl blinked at her in surprise, but after thinking about it for a moment, she agreed. “Well, let’s go with Crystal’s idea, then. I’ll go ‘negotiate’ a few things with him. You three meet me in the lobby when you’re done, alright?”
Dixie and Michelle looked at each other in confusion before nodding along with Crystal.
As soon as Emilia turned a corner, however, Crystal found herself pinned with two very suspicious gazes.
Coughing awkwardly, she briefly explained the thoughts of the ‘prisoners’ to the two girls, carefully observing which ones had the most ‘appropriate’ reaction in turn.
”They wanted to do what to Emily—?!”
”I—I….”
Needless to say, after learning of their ‘intentions’, both Dixie and Michelle wanted to tear the imprisoned soldiers apart in the most painful way possible.
Of course, given Dixie’s upbringing and lack of ‘training’ in the area, the ways she imagined doing so were decidedly less ‘elaborate’ than those of Emilia’s ‘maid’.
Having already reached a decision, Crystal smiled coldly. “I don’t think Emilia needs to know of this matter, but we also can’t ruin her plans. So… Michelle, we’ll leave the ‘handling’ of these bastards to you. All you need to make sure of is that the ones who ‘confessed’ earlier don’t end up clinically dead, alright?”
Although she also wanted to personally take part in punishing those who dared to insult her princess like that, even if it was only in their own mind, Dixie also understood Crystal’s intentions, and begrudgingly agreed. “Okay. As long as they get the punishment they deserve… I’m fine with just looking.”
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Meanwhile, Emilia found herself involuntarily smiling at the extremely annoyed expression of Red Dusk’s president.
Clearly, he was furious at both the fact that she had survived and foiled his plans, as well as how she handled the aftermath, but he still had to pretend to be ‘polite’ so as not to expose himself as the ‘mastermind’ behind it all.
To Emilia, it was incredibly amusing to say the least.
”… I’m relieved to see that the empress is alive and well. Rest assured—”
She couldn’t help but interrupt him with a giggle. “Are you, really?”
”I—”
Emilia pretended to sigh sadly. “To tell you the truth, I never expected that the ones behind everything would turn out to be the neighbors I was hoping to become good friends with, ahh…”
The president paused as he visibly tried to control his expression before managing to pull out a somewhat reluctant smile. “I’m sure we can clear this misunderstanding as long as—”
Emilia flicked her hair back with a condescending smile on her face. “Misunderstanding? Come on now, Mr. President, there’s no need to play this kind of game with me, okay? I’m not as stupid as you seem to believe I am, and unless you’re an idiot yourself, you’ll only be wasting time for the both of us.”
This time, the commonwealth’s president almost couldn’t help but slam his fist on the table in rage. ‘Shit! Why does this bitch keep interrupting me?!’
Without giving him the chance to respond, however, the crimson-haired beauty continued with a grin. “Even if all you do is just scheme and waste resources, I’m actually losing productivity while talking to you, you know? I expect proper compensation, at the very least.”
The president had no idea if the girl’s purpose was to piss him off or not, but if it was, he had to admit that the girl was quite a ‘genius’ in that regard.
Unfortunately, he was already in quite a passive situation, and there was nothing he could do even if he wanted nothing more than to pound the little brat into the ground. “I-I suggest that the empress look at things calmly, and not let her decision be swayed by the surface ‘facts’. As our representatives have made clear—”
Emilia sighed. “Oh my, oh my. What am I to do with this brainless repeater in front of me? Mr. President, can you take away this puppet and come face me in person, at least?”
The man on the screen grit his teeth with a forced smile. “I’m trying my best to deescalate the situation to prevent horrifying impacts to both our territories, but the empress clearly doesn’t—”
”Your ex-chief won’t die in two days, you know?”
Seeing his expression freeze, she smiled. “Don’t look at me like that. Didn’t you realize that the people on your side aren’t exactly reliable, even now?”
Although the president’s expression remained stiff, she could see that his pupils shook slightly in uncertainty.
”Ah, how nice it must be to be so oblivious. Look, I don’t like playing games with boring people, so I’ll just come right out and say it. I already knew what you were planning from the start, which is why I was so well prepared. Unless you’re a complete idiot, you should have already figured that out.”
Emilia tapped her lips playfully. “Oh, and I also knew about that ‘incurable’ drug you gave to all the ‘terrorists’ to tie up loose ends. After all… I received the ‘antidote’ for it even before you got the drug.”
The president’s expression twisted almost hideously, no longer able to mask his emotions. ‘How can that be?!’
The crimson-haired beauty leaned back in her chair leisurely. “You don’t have to believe me. I’ll let little Tommy experience the pain and terror of death first, and then ‘save’ him when the time is right. Ahh… I wonder how much he knows about all the little ‘details’ you’ve been so desperately trying to hide?”
”Y-You—!”
Emilia smiled. “If you’re ready to stop beating around the bush and wasting me time, can we finally start discussing how you plan to ‘compensate’ me for my losses, Mr. President?”
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