Emilia didn't think that the matter of Don and Braxy's disappearance was over with just turning the investigation of that day around and using it as a PR stunt.
In fact, that had never been her intention.
The purpose of the news report as well as the whole fiasco with the trafficked children was only to take the best possible advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself.
After all, Black Tiger was a ferocious enemy, and the hero's father wasn't quite as incompetent as his son. In fact, he was just the opposite, and this had been perhaps the greatest 'flaw' he had revealed to them so far. The contribution of his son in making him reveal such a flaw was undeniable.
However, that still left Emilia as the 'primary suspect' in the case of the missing children, Don and Braxy. Even if she could never be punished on legal grounds, due to the lack of evidence, the matter could still blow up and ruin everything they had managed to achieve in the past few days.
This was why Emilia could never allow her enemies to have such an opportunity.
If she was in Mr. Black's position, knowing that he could no longer use the law enforcement to his advantage, and having suffered at their hands by using the media, her first thought would be to use that very same thing to turn the situation around.
Even if he couldn't completely negate the impact caused by the trafficked children's rescue, he could still try to pour enough dirty water to halt their forward momentum. After all, as long as they saw a 'risk', it should be possible to scare off some of those who sought to reap benefits from White Deer's future growth.
Simply targeting her without any evidence or witnesses was impossible, but Don and Braxy weren't without their own sympathizers, and Emilia wasn't without her own haters. It wasn't impossible to gather witnesses to form a convincing enough story to put on the TV.
That only left creating a plausible situation to cause such a 'report' to generate without appearing too targeted, which meant she would get at most a couple of days while the 'setup' was taking place.
But simply defending herself when the enemy attacked was never Emilia's style. Why would she not use the opportunity to use it to her advantage once again? It certainly wasn't impossible to do so.
And the scapegoat would of course be her 'greatest opponent', the hero, Amos.
So far, despite her numerous sabotages, the boy seemed to have gotten off quite lightly. In fact, it could be said that aside from a slight decrease in popularity among the younger generation, he wasn't hurt at all. If not for his own father's overreaction, his situation would have been even less 'severe'.
After all, very few people would take the sexuality of the other person in consideration when dealing with matters of profit and loss. In this world, only money mattered the most.
As for reputation, it depends on your circles and how the whole thing is handled. For example, she allowed Dixie to show a considerable amount of affection, but it didn't damage her reputation at all.
If the hero performed really well in a few exams, made some achievements, and used his 'charisma' to his advantage, it wouldn't take him long to whitewash himself.
If Emilia didn't exist, that is. Since she did, why would she ever allow him to do that?
While he was still down on the ground, Emilia fully intended to pour more dirt over his head to bury him even deeper. The less he could struggle, the better.
As a villainess, it was Emilia's duty to trip the hero to land on his face before he could gather his wits.
Emilia already had a pretty good idea of how to do this, which is why she had made sure to obtain the proof of Amos meeting with Don and Braxy.
As Emilia got out of Dixie's car and walked towards her 'club room' with a happy jump in her step, Cynthia finally couldn't contain her curiosity. "I know you plan to do it, but how exactly do you plan on blaming Amos for those two morons going missing? Just by showing that he met them in the hospital? That's absurd…"
Emilia smiled as she kept her silence until they reached her 'base' and Dixie entered the bathroom to shower.
Only then did she jump onto the bed to giggle. "A villainess must know the art of framing people, shouldn't she?"
Cynthia couldn't help but be a little skeptical. "But how? You know, you still don't have any real proof—"
Emilia nodded. "And neither do they. The point of this attack is to hurt their public image, as severely as possible. Of course, the best way to do so would be to hit an already existing chink in their armor."
Cynthia nodded thoughtfully. "So for you, that would be your 'tyrannical and whimsical' reputation, which could backfire here. And for the hero…"
Emilia smirked. "Can you guess?"
The emerald-eyed girl thought about it for a while before expressing her doubts. "I can guess, but it makes no sense. The rumors of his sexuality aren't very 'solid', they won't stand under any scrutiny. And even if it is proven, not many would really care, would they? Except maybe his own father. As for his overreaction at that party, can't that be swept under the rug as an accident as well?"
Emilia nodded. "True… but do you know why despite the rumor being around for so long, it's not very widely believed?"
Her partner blinked curiously. "Hm?"
Emilia smiled. "It's because even if he's supposed to be gay, just who is his lover? No one knows. At the same time, the reason that Don and Braxy's disappearance is likely to be blamed on me is because I was the only one powerful enough that was in a conflict with them… or so they think!"
The raven-haired girl tilted her head curiously. "Isn't it true?"
Emilia chuckled. "Fufu… who care about the truth? Anyway, what if I told you… Don and Braxy were the hero's lovers?"
"What?!"