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After Noelle and Emilia’s call ended, Cynthia couldn’t help but question her partner curiously. “Will they really listen to anything you have to say?”
The crimson-haired girl chuckled. “Not unless they have no choice, no.”
Emilia had already spent a lot of time studying the workings of the Nightingale clan, and was naturally aware of the stubborn and hard-headed nature of its elders. As such, going through their front door for a ‘discussion’ was obviously not something she would be stupid enough to do.
Instead, it was better to first take hold of their lifeline first, and then have a ‘discussion’ on whether or not they wanted to continue existing.
Her partner blinked. “Then…?”
Emilia smiled. “Watch.”
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When Ginny and Jasper went home after another long, exhausting day at work, all they wanted to do was collapse on their bed and snore away till the next morning.
Slowly whittling away more and more of their father’s strength might have gotten a lot easier after his faction started cannibalizing, but that didn’t make it any less taxing. If anything, it was much easier to keep track of their activities when they were all together before.
Of course, the results of their arduous labor over the past few weeks were obvious and tangible, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they already controlled over 90% of the corporation, but it came at the cost of almost losing a quarter of their weight.
Exhausting as it was, though, it was definitely worth it. After all, even with their agreement with Emilia in effect, the two of them definitely received far more help from her side than they had to cooperate in return.
In fact, it was so good that sometimes they even worried when the White Deer might realize that it wasn’t such a good deal to cooperate with them. If they only really needed information and resource routed through Carmen, there were many other options available, after all.
This was something Ginny only truly realized after she gave up resistance against the idea of being under Emilia’s heel.
It was a pity that she hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to Emilia directly for quite a while, and could only keep these worries in her heart.
She clenched her fist in determination. “Next time I get the chance, I definitely have to ask her if there’s anything more we can do!”
Of course, the current order of business was still to snooze away till the next morning without a care in the world!
At least, that had been the plan until they opened the door to their living room, and found a certain crimson-haired beauty lounging on the sofa with a mischievous smile.𝒪𝒱𝓁xt.𝒸𝑶𝐌
“Hi~”
“Kyaa—?!”
“Eeek—!”
Emilia blinked in surprise at the rather girly scream from Jasper before breaking into giggles. “Am I that scary?”
Naturally, she was no longer in her ‘child’ form, and the twins could easily recognize her as the Empress of Blue Dawn, and the little princess of the White Deer Corporation.
Under her amused gaze, Ginny and Jasper finally seemed to gather their wits and turn to stare at each other in confusion before they shook their heads in unison.
“I-It’s not that you’re scary, but—” Jasper gulped. “Well…”
He couldn’t really find the words to describe his feelings, and turned silent. ‘It’s true that I wanted to meet her in person soon, but I didn’t think she would show up just like this!’
Ginny coughed. “I-Is it really okay for you to be here…?”
Emilia flicked her hair back with a grin. “As long as the two of you don’t tell anyone about it, yeah.”
Under the disbelieving gaze of the twins, the crimson-haired beauty winked at them mischievously. “You won’t, right?”
Jasper rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “O-Of course not, but…”
Ginny quickly regained her wits, and knowing that her brother’s feelings for the girl in front of her were definitely too ‘complicated’ to risk exposure, she firmly made up her mind to not let him speak as she interrupted him with a cough. “P-Please forgive us for being so rude, then. We were just worried for you, that’s all.”
Even if it wasn’t really her place to think about such things, it didn’t take a genius to realize how much trouble the crimson-haired beauty would be in if she was discovered.
Not to mention how much criticism she would have to face, it was almost inevitable that the government of Carmen would put the blame of everything that had been going wrong in their country recently on her head, and demand compensation.
In fact, it wasn’t even impossible for them to directly take her hostage or ‘deal with her’, if they were desperate enough. Even if they had to suffer dire consequences later, what had been done couldn’t be undone, after all!
She didn’t want to offend Emilia or make it seem like she was unwelcome here, but Ginny still felt it was her duty to warn the younger girl anyway. Seeing Emilia continue to smile nonchalantly, however, the older girl realized that maybe she was thinking too much.
There were so many amazing people ready to lay down their lives for this little beauty that even if she wanted to join, she would have to stand in a long, long line. Whatever she could think of, they must have already considered carefully already.
She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. “A-Anyway, if there is anything we can do for you, just let us know!”
Of course, if Emilia just wanted to chat, they would be more than happy to indulge her. After all, it wasn’t just once that she’d bailed them out of trouble.
The crimson-haired girl nodded. “Actually, there is. But… um, I wonder if it would be too much…”
Looking at the little beauty’s somewhat shy and embarrassed smile, Jasper would have already jumped out to hug her in ‘consolation’ if not for his twin sister ‘subtly’ stomping on his toes. “…”
Naturally, only Ginny knew that her own feelings weren’t very different from her brother’s and she quickly coughed to cover up her true thoughts. “H-How could it be too much? You’ve done so much for us already, so we’d definitely be more than happy to help, no matter what it is!”
Emilia smiled victoriously. “Great! In that case…”
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