As Noelle had expected, the moment she heard that Emilia wanted to take her back ‘home’, Justine almost instantly jumped through the roof in excitement.
Fortunately, the ex-policelady still had enough restraint to only jump up and down on the spot, a delighted grin on her face. “YES! Finally…! I knew my efforts would pay off one day!”
Despite her exasperation, Noelle only faced the blue-haired girl with a polite smile. “I know you’re happy, but I’d still like to remind you to restrain yourself in front of Emilia, alright? If you lunge at her and get your hands and feet broken by Dixie, you will only have yourself to blame, alright?”
Justine briefly shuddered at the mention of the dark-haired girl who had prevented her from being together with Emilia way back then, but then, a feeling of righteous indignation filled her heart.
Why could Dixie touch Emilia, but she couldn’t?
“I-It’s not like I would do anything Emilia doesn’t want, okay?! Dixie is not my boss, and neither are you!”
Watching the ex-policelady huff immaturely, Noelle could only sigh in defeat. “You know, Justine, you’re really quite lucky that you’re not my direct subordinate. Capable as you are at times, you’re way too immature for your age.”
In fact, if she had to roughly quantify it, Noelle would even consider the blue-haired girl’s immaturity to be many times greater than that of her three much, much younger ‘trainees’… combined.
Although she was unaware of the full scale of Noelle’s derision, Justine pointed a finger at the gray-haired girl in horror. “A-Are you calling me old?! I’m still in my twenties!”
She felt like an idiot for thinking of the other girl as a friend after working together for so long. This was clearly a big bully!
The blue-haired girl even wanted to call Noelle out for being much closer to the age of Emilia’s auntie than herself, but looking at the older girl’s shockingly youthful skin and bright eyes, Justine realized that it would just be like slapping her own face.
Luckily for her, Noelle didn’t really intend to bully her. “Alright, if you’re too busy jumping around, I guess I’ll just arrange for the others to go meet Emilia first, and you can stay back—”
“W-Wait! I’m going, I’m going!”
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Despite the situation in Phoenix being quite favorable to them, Noelle still remained cautious with her moves after discovering that Amos had gone missing.
Both Rhea and Kristie were moved separately to the prime minister’s palace, well-protected and closely monitored by dozens of hidden, armed guardians.
Whether they had served their purpose or not, since Emilia wasn’t the type to arbitrarily dispose of people once she was done ‘using’ them, Noelle knew that she had to do her best to protect them.
Of course, with Samantha right by her side, the gray-haired girl didn’t skimp out on making sure that their own car was just as well protected, if not more.
With Justine and two of her ‘apprentices’ escorting Rhea and Kristie, while the last one drove for them, however, Noelle found herself alone with Sam after what felt like an eternity.
Thinking about how they had been nearly inseparable for so many years, yet almost didn’t miss each other much when separated, Noelle couldn’t help but feel a little melancholic.
Although their age difference wasn’t really that big, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Noelle had raised Sam as her own rebellious little sister.
With her fierce determination to be the dependable and strong older sister for Emilia, Sam had never been what any reasonable person would consider a ‘cute’ girl, but Noelle knew that the girl was actually quite good at heart.
Well, unless someone decided to step on her toes, that is. Or worse, provoke her little sister.
But other than a few exceptions, Noelle felt that she actually did a good job raising Sam well.
Although the situation with the girl’s little sister had upset her quite a bit initially, after discovering some of Emilia’s secrets, Noelle realized that it was actually not that strange for Sam to be unable to resist the crimson-haired beauty.
If a kid she had raised grabbed the candy that was constantly being dangled in front of them, how much could she really blame them, in the end?
Unfortunately, the gray-haired girl’s melancholic mood was completely ruined by Samantha leisurely stretching as much as she could in the backseat, completely disregarding Noelle as she pushed her feet past her lap. “Ahhh…! That felt good. By the way, how has my cute little sister been without me these days?”
Knowing that it was useless to get angry at the fool, Noelle only sighed in disappointment. “Don’t you talk to her like three times a day?”
Samantha couldn’t help but cough in embarrassment. “Yeah, but, while I know she’s been missing me, my little baby doesn’t really tell me anything that would make me worried, you know?”
She grinned. “Plus, with how closely you spy on her in the name of protection, aren’t you the best person to ask if I’m worried about her?”
Noelle couldn’t help but roll her eyes in exasperation. “Don’t make me sound like a perverted stalker. Emilia knows very well what I do and do not monitor—”
Sam groaned. “Just because my little angel lets you watch doesn’t mean you’re not a pervert for doing so, okay?”
The gray-haired girl was momentarily silent, as if stunned by her lack of logical thought before she shook her head with a smile. “You know, Sam, it’s really been too long since you took a beating, hasn’t it?”
Samantha’s false bravado immediately collapsed as soon as she spotted the gray-haired girl’s ‘gentle’ smile. “A-Ah! W-Would you look at the time! W-We’re almost there, a-aren’t we?!”
Unfortunately for her, Noelle wasn’t so easily distracted.
She nimbly caught Samantha’s ear regardless of how the girl tried to avoid it in a panic. “Ah, how nostalgic… how many years has it been since the last time I pulled your ear?”
“D-Domestic abuse!”
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