Emilia smiled. "Hello. Nice to meet you, I'm Emilia White."
"S-Stay back! I'm not a bad officer, spare me!"
Emilia couldn't hold back her giggles at the officer's reaction at all. After all, she seemed like a fun person.
And she really thought she was joking, but couldn't help but doubt everything when the officer really ran away.
"…"
Dixie cleared her throat. "D-Don't mind her. She just likes to play around sometimes. You'll know once you meet her a few more times."
Emilia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. 'So we're gonna be here often, then?'
Her knight also seemed to realize her implication, but couldn't lie to her princess otherwise either. If she said this will never happen again and it did, wouldn't it make her look like a liar in Emilia's eyes?
So she could only hurriedly switch the topic by turning to her friends.
Emilia's first impression of Dixie's friends was… strange, to say the least. Why did they all have the same hairstyle as Dixie? Did they all have naturally black hair, or was it colored to match? Were any of them wearing contacts, or were all their eyes naturally black?
And the question that rang the loudest in Emilia's mind was…
'What the hell is up with this walking trio of contradictions?! If you want to look the same, you should at least dress alike! And if you don't… why the hell would you do this?!'
Her shock wasn't unwarranted, because not only did the three girls all have different heights and dissimilar faces, the way they dressed was as far apart as it could possibly be.
Dixie cleared her throat. "These are my friends from middle school… Lara, Jenna, and Emma. And you three already know, this is my princess, Emilia."
She had been intending to show off a little, but her friends were really far too much into making trouble and completely ruined her plans.
Anyone could tell that Dixie wasn't satisfied from just her tone, and her friends appeared slightly embarrassed, knowing they had messed up, and there was sure to be a huge argument once Emilia wasn't there.
Although they hadn't known Dixie since childhood, they had still been friends for years. The girl had never put so much emphasis on anything before, and it really was quite a poor show from their side to embarrass her like this anyway.
They could only put the matter aside first and apologize to her later.
Still, they had been looking forward to laying their eyes on this 'Emilia' girl their friend seemed to focus on so much. They were very curious about just how 'powerful' Emilia had to be, for her to bend that straight steel pipe Dixie into this unrecognizable spring coil.
At the very least, she had to be an angel, or a succubus. The only doubt they had was whether her wings would be made of feathers or leather.
Their disappointment was inevitable when they actually saw the girl in person. After all, they had been expecting an otherworldly creature who could hook their hearts with a single look.
Because Dixie made her sound like a goddess descending from heaven, even if Emilia was one of the prettiest girls they had seen, how could they be satisfied with just that? At the very least, there should be wings coming out her back.
They had even made bets on which ones among them would be staunch enough to not fall for her at first sight. But looks like no one was going to win that particular bet. She was pretty, but not enough to move their hearts with just a look.
Of course, none of them were stupid enough to say that out loud in front of Dixie.
Except for Lara.
"Eh? She looks human? Kinda disappointing then—"
Before Lara could get one more word out of her mouth, Dixie had her up in the air by her shoulder strap, feet dangling helplessly.
"What did you just say?!"
They had never seen Dixie look so fierce, and the other two girls froze in shock.
Of course, Dixie had never even had a loud argument with her friends. At most, she would scold them playfully, and if she was annoyed, she would just roll her eyes and leave.
She may have become a little distant with them after meeting Emilia, but they were still in the same group chat, and still had enough history to have each other's back in times of need.
But if they dared to slander her princess… forget about maintaining any friendship, what else could they be except sworn enemies?
Before the other two girls could panic too much or the girl who was up in the air could even comprehend what was going on, Emilia patted Dixie's shoulder.
"Let her down, okay?"
Dixie could only begrudgingly lower her friend to the ground, letting go of her now stretched out strap. But the resentment in her eyes was still clear. It was one thing to make trouble for her again and again, but to even dare to speak against the person she had repeatedly told them was so precious to her... Clearly, she had been too lenient.
"You better have a good explanation, Lara, or I'm never talking to you again!"
Lara could feel the tears pooling in her eyes.
"D-Dixie, I-I'm an idiot! I'm sorry!"
The other two girls also came forward to mediate.
Emma's face was red as she tugged at Dixie's sleeve with distress. "S-She didn't mean it, Dixie, forgive her."
The tallest of the bunch, Jenna, cleared her throat, knowing that Dixie wasn't looking for an apology, but an explanation. "Don't take it wrong, Dixie, she didn't mean that. Actually, we had a really silly bet between us, so that idiot slipped up and said such an absurd thing! It makes more sense if you know the whole story."
Dixie frowned. "Tell me the 'whole story', then."
Jenna was about to speak, but she suddenly realized something appalling.
Going by Dixie's attitude so far, wouldn't telling her that they made a bet that Emilia would look like an actual angel, and that 'clearly wasn't the case'… make everything worse?!