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What upset Emilia the most wasn’t the fact that Amos got together with a girl similar to Crystal — as that wasn’t too shocking considering his obsession with her before — but the fact that he dared to do something like that at such a heavily publicized event.
Given how many highly influential people were attending the Golden Crown, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every single photo and video captured by the press cameras here would be shared hundreds of thousands of times later.
Every single frame and clip would then be deciphered by ‘experts’ who would theorize over what the president of so and so country implied by only talking to the prime minister of this and that country for only three seconds.
Needless to say, the fact that the ‘companions’ of both Emilia and Amos looked so similar would surely attract a considerable amount of attention, especially given that the two used to be ‘classmates’. Was it a challenge, a coincidence, a provocation… or perhaps a love-hate relationship?
Cynthia also couldn’t help but be a little worried. “E-Emilia, so far, you’ve been very successful with suppressing the hero to the point that most people don’t even look his way, but if he can really associate closely with you—”
The crimson-haired girl hummed. ‘It’s not so easy to borrow my fame, don’t worry.’
Her partner hesitated for a moment before nodding. “If you’re confident, then good. Just remember that although the world will can only exert very little strength in its current state, we still shouldn’t take any chances. If the hero becomes popular, the fanatics that will flock to him will definitely make your fangirls look tame and docile in comparison.”
Emilia gave the raven-haired girl an affirmative response before she focused her attention on her blonde lover. “Don’t let it get to you, angel.”
Crystal couldn’t help but grin shyly when she felt her girlfriend’s care. “Y-You don’t need to pay attention to such insignificant things, okay?”
The crimson-haired beauty just shook her head with a smile, and Crystal knew that her conviction to sort this matter out wouldn’t waver so easily. Thinking about it carefully, though, the blonde girl realized that this was probably for the best.
‘I would call that girl unfortunate… but she brought this upon herself.’
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The entrance of the silver-haired boy didn’t attract much attention from the higher-level individuals at the event at first, but when they noticed the absence of his father, a few couldn’t help but raise their brows in surprise.
“Mr. Black really is ‘skipping’ this event, I guess.”
“First time in the last twenty-eight years, right?”
Although they didn’t say it out loud, from the glint in each other’s eyes, many confirmed that the ‘rumors’ they had been hearing about Oriana and the Black Tiger’s strange behavior over the past few months were likely to be true.
The fact that Oriana’s president hadn’t arrived so far either only cemented their conjectures further.
“No wonder the ‘smarter ones’ left the place early.”
“It shows their vision.”
“Well, it’s easier to get out of a burning building if you’re the one who set it on fire, eh?”
Their amused chuckles grated on the silver-haired boy’s ears like nails on a board, and he couldn’t help but grit his teeth in annoyance. ‘What the fuck are they whispering about? Cowards! Do they only dare laugh at me behind my back?!’
Of course, while it was possible that the few of them were chuckling about something completely irrelevant, Amos refused to believe that his entrance wasn’t the reason behind their discussions.
The blonde girl in his arms naturally sensed her boyfriend’s bad mood, and she couldn’t help but try to comfort him with a smile. “D-Don’t be nervous, darling, w-with how dashing and charming you are, everyone will obviously—”
“Keep your trap shut, Kristie.”
The girl immediately bowed her head meekly, though there was a dark storm bre
wing in her eyes.
She knew his behavior would change when they got here, long before they even set off from Oriana.
After all, that whore was going to be here as well.
Sweeping the crowd silently as they moved forward, it didn’t take her long to find the girl she hated to the core, talking and laughing with a gorgeously dressed crimson-haired beauty.
Crystal Miller. Average looks, dumb face, and no personality. Her only talent was probably the ability to memorize things, but if that was really a talent, every computer and robot would be a ‘genius’.
‘Look at the dress she’s wearing, the fucking whore… ingratiating yourself to a rich girl to wear expensive clothes won’t change that dumb face!’
Ironically, Kristie failed to realize that her own face resembled Crystal’s quite a bit, especially after all the makeup. All her thoughts were focused on the fact the girl’s clothing was more expensive than both hers and her boyfriend’s combined.
Of course, Emilia’s cobalt-blue dress studded with thousands of diamonds arranged intricately into flowers was undoubtedly many times more expensive, but Kristie subconsciously ignored her.
After all, the existence of the crimson-haired girl terrified her to the depths of her soul.
Someone who could reject the boy she had tried so hard to ‘get’… what kind of concept was that? Not to mention, whenever her boyfriend ended up in a confrontation with Emilia… the end result was almost always decidedly unpleasant.
In her mind, this girl was an existence who lived in a completely different world, and had nothing to do with the likes of them. Someone who could take over a country on her own at this age would surely never pay attention to even her amazing boyfriend.
That was precisely why Kristie would never have ‘unrealistic’ fantasies about hooking up with someone like Emilia, and thought that Crystal’s decision to discard Amos was foolish.
How long could someone so dazzling look at a normal human being without getting bored?
Surely, it won’t be long before she got tired of Crystal and threw her away.
Unfortunately, Kristie knew she was in no position to gloat over the girl’s misfortune when that happened.
‘T-That cunning whore will definitely come crawling back to Amos when at that time… what happens to me then?!’
No matter how deeply she loved Amos, Kristie knew very well what the fate of a ‘stand-in’ like her would be if the ‘original’ returned.
But no matter how she wracked her brains for a way to ‘survive’, the blonde girl could only see endless darkness in her future.
If Amos had been paying even the slightest bit of attention to his supposed ‘girlfriend’, he would have surely noticed that something wasn’t quite right with her.
As far as he was concerned, however, Kristie only existed to warm his bed in Crystal’s place, no better than an advanced blow-up doll that could talk. Which, by the way, was a feature he found extremely annoying.
The only reason he had brought her along was the get a reaction out of Crystal, but the girl seemed completely focused on that bitch Emilia, and didn’t even bother to look his way!
He couldn’t help but grit his teeth in rage. ‘What kind of brainwashing medicine did that bitch give her to make her so obsessed?!’
What pissed Amos off even more was the fact that Crystal wasn’t the only one paying more attention to Emilia than to him. Most of the people in the hall seemed to be sneaking glances at the girl ‘covertly’ from time to time, their gaze full of either admiration or envy.
Amos snorted. ‘Of course, the whore pretends not to notice all the gazes focused on her slutty body. Just look how she’s dressed like a cheap prostitute… who is she trying to fool with that attitude?’
Unfortunately, everyone else seemed blind to the ‘truth’.
Regardless of whether there was admiration, envy, or indifference in someone’s eyes, it seemed like they were all looking for an opportunity to strike up a conversation with
the crimson-haired bitch.
In stark contrast, even the few who paid attention to his arrival didn’t seem interested in stepping forward to talk, and even pretended to be busy with another conversation when he passed them by.
With the main purpose of this event being to ‘network’ with other high-level individuals, this was not only a great setback, but also outright humiliation!
Amos couldn’t help but clench his fist tightly. ‘Just you wait, you whore. It won’t be long before Black Tiger is completely in my grasp, and at that time… I will be the one to personally strangle both you and your backers to death!’
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