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The worst nightmare of Noelle’s father came true way earlier than he expected.
It was only the second day of his so-called daughter’s ‘declaration of war’ against him and his family, but her venom had seemingly already spread to every nook and cranny of the clan.
“Making one of our own clan’s women go through such an unspeakable nightmare… I shudder to imagine I’ve brushed shoulders with such a monster before.”
“She does seem a bit vain, but she can’t be that inhuman, right?”
“Did she really do such a thing?”
“Who knows? All I know is that the time at which Abey went missing, and everything else in the rumors… it all lines up perfectly. If someone is really just slandering her, they were a bit too meticulous in their preparations.”
“What rubbish! Who would wait for so many years just to frame some no-name servant? There is no doubt that she must have done it!”
The more the ‘poison’ spread, the louder the voices asking his beloved wife to be brought to justice got.
Fortunately, he had been cautious enough to not let his wife or son go out of the house again since that evening, so the two of them were still oblivious to the tragedy outside.
But Gildroy knew that the stalemate wouldn’t last long.
The venomous snake-child not only had the backing of her equally poisonous mother, but also most of the clan elders. It won’t be long before she started using their power to push him to the depths of despair as well.
If he really waited any longer, maybe he wouldn’t even be able to struggle to defend his wife’s honor, and his whole family would forever live a life of disgrace and dishonor.
Clenching his teeth in hatred, the man quickly came to a decision. “Since you’ve left me no choice, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
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Whenever she got the chance, Emilia always preferred taking a nap on her girlfriend’s lap. Of course, she made sure to let them know not be bothered about disturbing her while they went on with their work.
It wasn’t just that she didn’t want to disturb them, but their gentle movements in fact only helped to improve the crimson-haired girl’s mood.
In contrast to everyone else, though, Noelle had more than once expressed her ‘annoyance’ at Emilia’s ‘childish’ behavior, though she never really did anything to stop it.
“I’m working here, you know?”
Emilia mumbled something unintelligible in response before rubbing her cute little face into Noelle’s belly.
Despite her best attempts, Noelle felt her lips twitch from being unable to fully resist the ticklish sensation. ‘Luckily, she doesn’t really use any lipstick or makeup, or it would have totally ruined the white fabric.’
Easily lifting the girl up by the back of her dress collar, Noelle settled her down into a more comfortable position with Emilia’s head over her shoulder and the rest of the girl’s body right up against her upper half.
“Now you better not move while I’m working.”
Although Noelle would never admit it out loud, perhaps there was some merit to Sam’s growing obsession with Emilia’s smaller form. At the very least, it was much more portable and easier to handle.
Plus, with her little boss looking so young, Noelle felt that there was little chance of giving into certain urges while handling her as well.
Nodding in satisfaction, the gray-haired girl was just about to continue reading on the updates regarding Carmen’s situation from her subordinates when she heard Emilia giggle.
Before she could brush it off as her little boss being a little weird as usual, though, Emilia pushed away from her snuggling position, and looked at her with a bright grin.
“Did you know where your ‘father’ is headed to right now?”
Noelle naturally understood that there were many nonsensical things that Emilia could do, one of which was apparently being able to more or less sense what was going on within a certain range around herself.
The area they were currently residing in was close to the mansion allotted to the current ‘main branch’ of their clan, and far from where her ‘father’ was supposed to be.
Since Emilia mentioned him now, it could only mean…
Noelle’s eyes widened in surprise. “Already?!”
The crimson-haired girl giggled. “Looks like he couldn’t wait anymore.”
Perhaps it was only to be expected of people short-sighted enough to not see her precious girlfriend’s potential, Emilia thought.
“Do you wanna go watch?”
Noelle stared reluctantly at the work still pending on her tablet, then sighed. “Alright. I guess since we’re here, might as well go see.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━𝒩𝑜𝗏𝐥xt.𝗰𝓞𝕞
In sharp contrast to her husband, the impression that Noelle’s mother had of her daughter had actually improved a lot since their last meeting.
At first, she was afraid that the girl was here only to cause trouble, and actually wanted to try getting rid of her quickly if possible, but now it no longer seemed necessary.
After all, this daughter of hers seemed more intent on causing trouble for her ex-husband than anything else, which was not only a relief, but also something she found highly amusing.
Narcissa didn’t believe herself to be a small-hearted woman. ‘If she can really drag that idiot and the little bitch through the mud, I don’t even mind taking her back.’
Of course, she couldn’t deny that a part of her decision was influenced by her daughter now having the backing of all the elders somehow.
Although she hated being proven wrong, maybe her worthless daughter’s talent somehow really managed to shine as she grew up.
‘What a pity… if I’d known she would turn out fine, I could have just kept her.’ She sighed.
Getting an additional powerful pawn beneath her thumb for just the price of an additional mouth to feed was really a bargain she regretted missing out on.
Of course, Noelle and her might still stand on the same side as mutual enemies of her ex-husband, but as a smart woman, how could Narcissa not understand the difference between an obedient daughter and a circumstantial ally?
Fortunately, aside from being slightly sarcastic and gloomy, the girl wasn’t actually so bad, and was still worth putting to good use.
Even a poisonous fish could be served a delicacy when prepared well enough. So as long as she was careful, what could possibly go wrong?
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