Normally, even if her ability allowed her to do so, Crystal wouldn’t bring other people’s private matters to light unless absolutely necessary. But being already familiar with some of Emilia’s more possessive thoughts, the blonde heroine was naturally a little panicked.
She was hoping that Dixie would help her figure out a way they could break the news to Emilia in a way that would lead to the least amount of ‘damage’, but with the dark-haired girl not even getting what was happening, Crystal realized that she was all on her own.
Even if she was sure that Emilia wouldn’t do anything extreme to the three of them out of consideration of their relationship with Dixie, she couldn’t be certain how much the incident would end up hurting her. ‘Instead of trying to convince Dixie, I might as well hurry back and make sure nothing goes wrong first!’
As Crystal rushed back without a word, the dark-haired girl could only follow after her in confusion. ‘Is that all she wanted to say? That my three friends like each other? I never knew she was so dense… how strange.’
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Much to Crystal’s surprise, not only did things not head in a bad direction, but the atmosphere in the hall was even more harmonious now than it had been when she left.
Without Dixie’s glare keeping her in check, Justine had daringly put her head in Emilia’s lap, where she inadvertently fell asleep with a huge grin on her face.
The crimson-haired girl, meanwhile, was busy chatting and giggling at the various gossip about both Justine and the people of Phoenix that Lara and Jenna seemed all too happy to share.
Emma, being the least outspoken of the bunch, only nodded along with a smile.
Seeing Crystal return looking a little uncomfortable, however, Emilia’s smile quickly subsided. “Is everything okay?”
The blonde girl cleared her throat before looking at Dixie, who thankfully got the hint this time.
”Uh, Emily, is it okay if I take the three of them away to chat for a while?”
Emilia tilted her head in confusion. “Sure? Let me know if you need anything. And wake Noelle and Sam up by seven, too, okay?”
After it was just the two of them left in the hall, along with the sleeping Justine, Crystal carefully weighed her words before she hugged Emilia from the side. “S-So, w-what do you think of Dixie’s friends?”
Emilia hummed. “The three of them? Well, Lara is quite outgoing and frank, Jenna is brave, though a little brash, and Emma is surprisingly smart, but a little too shy.”
The blonde girl coughed. “I-I don’t mean that, uh, I-I meant more like, what do you feel for them?”
Giving Crystal a strange look, the crimson-haired beauty finally seemed to realize something. “Wait a minute… don’t tell me you’re thinking I have feelings for them, and will be hurt by their ‘relationship’, right?”
The blonde girl gasped in shock. “H-How did you know?!”
Crystal almost slapped herself the moment the words left her mouth, but it was already too late. ‘I-I can’t believe I just confirmed it to her!’
Fortunately, Emilia’s reaction wasn’t as bad as she expected. If anything, she seemed to be barely suppressing her giggles. “Really, my angel is just too cute sometimes.”
Although a little embarrassed, the blonde girl couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. “I-I can’t believe you already knew. Anyway, the three of them sure have a strange relationship, huh? I-I mean, it’s not like they all love each other.”
Emilia blinked at her in surprise. “Oh?”
Realizing that her girlfriend probably didn’t understand everything as well as she thought, Crystal rubbed her nose in embarrassment. “W-Well, from what I understand, Lara only loves Jenna, not Emma. Jenna only loves Emma, not Lara. And—”
The crimson-haired girl smiled. “Emma only loves Lara, not Jenna?”
”Yeah!” Crystal jumped. “W-Wait, you knew this part too?!”
Emilia grinned. “It was quite obvious. I mean, Lara used to hit on so many boys and hook up all the time, but never really got into anything, not even a single date. Jenna dressed like a boy and behaved so protective of Emma, and that girl… well, she practically had both fire and love practically burning in her eyes when she looked at Lara.” She tapped the forehead of the blue-haired girl sleeping on her lap playfully. “Even Justine realized all of this within a few days of knowing them.”
Looking at her being so proud of her analysis, Crystal couldn’t help but shake her head in amusement. “I really got worried over nothing, then. You don’t seem to care if they got together at all?”
Emilia tilted her head in confusion. “Get together? I’m guessing you only used your ability on them briefly and didn’t get the full picture, huh?”
Crystal blinked. “Huh?”
The crimson-haired girl smiled. “Well, Justine told me this one. Apparently, the three of them had a heart-to-heart while she was ‘definitely not snooping around’, and she discovered that they all confessed and reached an… agreement, of sorts.”
Crystal barely resisted the urge to ask her what the agreement was, thinking it was technically none of her business, but fortunately Emilia didn’t leave her girlfriend hanging.
Emilia rubbed her cheek, looking a little frustrated, as if wondering ‘how can people be so stupid?’. “It sounds a little stupid to me, but if they feel like maintaining the ‘status quo’ is what will be the best for the three of them, well… we can’t really do much about it, can we? As long as they don’t let it influence their judgment, it’s a matter between the three of them, after all.”
Crystal couldn’t help but reach out to place her palm on top of her girlfriend’s. “You’re really not bothered, right?”
Emilia gave her a strange look. “Aside from thinking they’re being stupid, not really?”
The blonde girl was too embarrassed to question her further, and even more ashamed when Emilia ruffled her hair affectionately. “Since you’re so worried, why not go counsel them instead? Maybe they’ll listen to you?”
”O-Okay!”
As Crystal ran away blushing furiously, Cynthia couldn’t help but cough. “Are you really not angry? You can always tell me, you know?”
Emilia sighed. “Seriously… why should I be angry?”
The raven-haired girl shrugged. “Well… I just thought you would be a little more upset, considering how possessive you are. It’s like how the emperor can ignore thousands of concubines, but they’re not allowed to indulge in ‘perverse acts’ themselves, you know?”
Emilia couldn’t help but burst into giggles at the thought. “What a thing to say… but I get it, I guess. The thing is… although I care about Dixie’s friends, they never really showed any romantic interest in me, and I didn’t develop any in them either, right? At most, I found their interactions a little interesting.”
Of course, there were certainly people she couldn’t accept the thought of getting romantically involved with others. Some of them, such as Penny and Justine, weren’t even her lovers. At least, not yet.
If they were to involve themselves with others, she would certainly be quite a bit more mad. It wasn’t just because she found them ‘cute’ either. The most important thing was that they showed signs of affection for her, and she actively indulged them. Their ‘change in attitude’ would be a betrayal, as far as Emilia was concerned. And she would never forgive that.
For people she never indulged in any way, however… Emilia certainly didn’t ‘like’ them enough to let it bother her. At most, she would push their names out of her mind, and cut off their relationship, that was it.
Thinking about it carefully, she nodded. “I think I understand what you mean, now. But rest assured, I don’t treat everyone completely the same. There are some people I can accept ‘losing’, mostly because I never considered them ‘mine’ to begin with. Others… not so much.”
Cynthia couldn’t help but wonder how many were included in the list of people Emilia ‘really cared about’, but in the end she decided not to ask the question.
After all, the answer might only end up making her more upset.
Fortunately, Justine woke up just in time to cut off their conversation, and Emilia’s attention shifted back to the groggy girl on her lap. “Were you tired?”
”N-No, uh, I-I just felt too comfortable, and… dozed off.”
Looking at her blushing face, Emilia couldn’t resist teasing the blue-haired ex-policewoman some more.
After a while, however, their conversation shifted back to more serious topics.
”Emilia, uh, about my mission… are you sure we should still go ahead with it?”
The crimson-haired girl nodded. “Of course, although the attitude of Phoenix is different from what we expected at first, that doesn’t change anything.”
”B-But won’t it end up souring our relationship in the future? T-They’re quite influential and powerful… have you thought about it carefully?”
Emilia knew she was only thinking well of her, so she only patted the blue-haired girl’s head with a smile. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. The blame for the incident won’t fall on the head of the Phoenix country, so it won’t end up souring our relationship at all. If anything… maybe it will even work out in their favor, who knows?”
”Ehh… Eh? Can it? How?!”
The crimson-haired girl flicked Justine’s forehead playfully. “That depends on the attitude of the prime minister when I meet her. Anyway, you just go ahead according to our previous plan, and leave everything else to me, alright?”
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