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Those who had been following Emilia’s entourage around were naturally unable to follow their cars on foot, and could only sigh. But it didn’t take long for an even bigger crowd to form around their group again when they got off at their destination.
While it was true that most people in Blue Dawn liked Emilia, the concentration of ‘die-hard’ admirers in this area was clearly abnormally high.
But the crimson-haired girl’s attention was on something completely different.
‘Temple of Temptation…? Could they not have come up with a more suitable name?!’ She sulked. ‘It’s fine now, but after I leave, won’t those who don’t know me think I must have been just some sort of seductress?’
Although Emilia didn’t deny that she was a flirt and loved teasing cute girls, it wasn’t like she did it all the time. More importantly, she believed that she had many ‘better’ qualities that her knights should have been able to highlight instead!
But of course, even if she was slightly dissatisfied, Emilia wouldn’t voice such thoughts out loud. ‘I-I suppose their heart was in the right place, so it doesn’t really matter, a-anyway.’
It was just unfortunate that the goodwill of her ‘knights’ only earned her teasing glances from her mother.
Recalling how even the prime minister of Phoenix had been smitten by her daughter, it was no wonder that most people considered her a seductress.
“Temple of Temptation, huh…? I suppose our little princess did turn into quite a flirt in these few years.”
Naturally, she could only joke about it so easily because Emilia still had a ‘good’ reputation, with little to no romantic rumors about involvement with men.
Her husband couldn’t help but grumble. “No thanks to a certain someone’s bad influence.”
Of course, Mrs. White didn’t pay his thoughts much attention and only sighed while patting her daughter gently, much to her embarrassment. She could feel cameras clicking from the crowd around them, after all.
Mrs. White knew that she might be considered slightly old fashioned for such thoughts, but she didn’t believe it was very good for a girl to be involved with too many men.
It may not really hurt her directly, but knowing how most people thought, it would very likely make them treasure her less.
Mrs. White believed that instead of being with people who didn’t treasure her as much as they should, she would rather her daughter remain single and have fun with her friends.
Anyway, it’s not like they needed any grandchildren. Raising one pair of kids was enough for her in this lifetime. Repeating it at this age would just break her back and bring tears to her eyes, and not in a good way.
Sam and Crystal looked at each other, feeling a little grateful that Emilia was able to so easily attract everyone’s attention, and they didn’t have to worry about anyone figuring out the ‘source’ of this ‘temple’ too much.
“Have any of you been here before?”
Emilia naturally shook her head in response to Mrs. White’s curious question, but going by how everyone else seemed to be avoiding her gaze, the older woman could obviously guess their answers. ‘I guess they really do like her a lot, huh? But… that’s a given.’
Emilia was quite good to those close to her, after all, and it was too easy to get attached to someone like that. Especially if they looked good.
Not that she thought her daughter’s friends were ‘superficial’, but… Mrs. White knew that’s just how people’s minds worked.
Even this so-called ‘Temple’ was probably someone’s attempt at grabbing her adorable’s daughter attention and flattering her so they could get closer, though their ‘intentions’ weren’t unknown.
It was surprising that she couldn’t dig into who really made this place with her connections and resources, but Mrs. White didn’t believe she couldn’t see any clues after seeing it for herself.
The creator’s intentions were reflected in their creation, after all, and the number of people who could be involved with something like this could easily be narrowed that way.
Meanwhile, Mr. White had the feeling that this must all be Sam’s doing, one way or the other. Only she could be so unhealthily obsessed with Emilia, after all, and she also had the resources to easily pull it off.
Of course, it was only after their group walked into the building that the older couple realized they’d both been mistaken.
‘Wow…’
‘This can’t be the effort of just a few people, huh…?’
The building itself wasn’t particularly high, and only had two floors, but the way it was designed made it so that the entrance opened up into a wide and extremely long gallery that extended all the way to the temple’s back, which seemed to house a ‘shrine’ of sorts.
Of course, at the center of this gallery were the actual items on display, covered with a layer of glass, probably to prevent dust and grime from getting to the ‘treasures’.
𝑜𝑣𝔩𝒩xt.𝒸𝑂𝗆
“It’s like watching a timeline of almost every little thing you’ve done over the past few years, huh?”
Emilia couldn’t help but nod as she moved closer to observe the tiny little figurines in action. ‘It’s… incredibly detailed?’
The diorama placed closest to the entrance of the ‘temple’ wasn’t one of a battlefield, but of a classroom, and it vividly depicted a crimson-haired girl stepping on the face of a rather well-built boy.
The familiar uniform and the scene immediately made Emilia smile as she recalled the two ‘bullies’ she had punished at the time, and how they had naïvely sought revenge against her later.
That was how she got one of the first major victories over the hero, after all. The contribution of this event in giving her the initiative really made it ‘worthy’ of being the first display.
Of course, if she was the one who had to pick a scene herself, Emilia would have picked her first meeting with Crystal without a doubt.
The blonde girl had only just been the ‘heroine’ in her mind until then, and while Emilia felt that the girl was pitiful, that was all.
It was only when they really met that Emilia made up her mind to not only defeat the hero, but also make sure that Crystal had a good life.
Even if she hadn’t decided to get together with her, Emilia would have at least made sure not to let anyone hurt or bother Crystal while she was still in this world.
Mrs. White chuckled. “That bossy little girl is supposed to be you, huh Emilia?”
Despite herself, the crimson-haired girl couldn’t help but blush. “I-I was just a bit peeved by how those two kept scaring, extorting, and hurting my schoolmates. You know I wouldn’t hit someone without reason.”
The older woman booped her nose with a smile. “Of course we know.”
Although it hadn’t been long since they knew that Danielle and Emilia were different people, it wasn’t difficult to grasp her daughter’s ‘personality’ after she’d supposedly grown up.
If others hadn’t taken the initiative to trouble her, she would probably be perfectly content playing around with her friends and big sister all day, every day.
Meanwhile, Mr. White’s attention was still on the diorama of his daughter stepping on a boy’s face as he hummed thoughtfully. “Is it just me, or is Emilia’s figure the one with the least amount of detail?”
Well, the figure itself was beautiful, gorgeous, even. But… its face had no eyes, lips, or other features, which made it look way out of place in such an otherwise ‘perfect’ scene.
Even if ‘Emilia’ was looking down and such detail wasn’t clear at first glance, if one was to kneel down and inspect it from a lower angle, it really was quite obvious.
Emilia also seemed to have noticed it just then, and tilted her head curiously. “Did they… run out of budget?”
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