Emilia could of course not involve herself directly in the matter, given that she was still the 'primary suspect' in Don and Braxy's disappearance. If she 'tried to divert attention', it would only make her look worse.
So not only did she have to be careful with how the 'proof' was distributed, but also whose hands it was distributed from.
Thankfully, she had some very reliable 'subordinates' now.
Her only direct link to the situation would be Koko, whom she believed the most in the school after Dixie, inclusive even of the taciturn heroine. The girl was devoted, simple, and would obey her instructions to a T.
The title of the video was 'A Shocking Love Triangle Leads to Tragedy?! Amos Black's Secret Lovers Exposed?!'. After seeing such a title, when the video started with Amos looking around suspiciously with a bruised face to make sure no one saw him, it would immediately make most people think of fighting between lovers.
And then after their secret rendezvous, he leaves again in a hurry, as if afraid of being seen. Where even was the 'concerned schoolmate checking on his peers'? Such an excuse would definitely not fly after this video came out, and Amos couldn't very well expose his own conspiracy as a justification.
Emilia instructed Koko to forward the video to Penny, who then had to find someone completely unrelated to Emilia who couldn't resist gossip, and share the video with them 'nonchalantly'.
Although this step wasn't strictly necessary, Emilia still preferred precaution over carelessness.
What she didn't know was that there was a freshly born traitor from class B who had recently pledged her allegiance, and was quite eager to prove herself.
With the source of the video being a student from the same class as Don and Braxy, a class that was known to have open hostility against Emilia, the credibility of the video suddenly shot through the roof, and the impact was almost instantaneous!
==========
When they had first heard of Don and Braxy missing, most students either thought that they must have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, or that it was Emilia's family 'taking care' of things for their princess.
Such sentiments had been mixed when the school started on the first day, but by the time the bell rang, it had somehow already changed to 'Emilia must have done it!', though no one could tell how that happened.
And now, on the second day, that sentiment seemed to rapidly change once more.
The curiosity over Amos Black's lover had always been quite high. After all, he was the most handsome boy in the school without a doubt, with the richest family, and the most beautiful fiancée.
The number of people who envied and coveted him was not small.
Most boys gloated over the fact that such a competition would no longer bother snatching girls from them, and even gave up his own 'prized possession' for the sake of humanity.
And the number of boys who inquired about his preferences in hopes of taking up 'that' position was also not small, though definitely a minority. As long as they were bi-curious or more, Amos was a prime candidate for an exciting high school romance, despite all the bad rumors.
As for the girls, well, there was no need to say much. Aside from those who were fervent believers in the cult of the princess, most still crushed on this dreamy, silver-haired prince. The rumors of him being gay only fueled their fujoshi fantasies, and made him even dreamier.
But all of that was because the position of Amos's lover was 'unknown'.
He would certainly have been hundreds of times more popular if it hadn't been for his mishandling of Emilia's 'attacks'. In fact, had he been allowed to grow freely to that state, he would have easily been able to crush Emilia completely in terms of popularity at school.
As soon as the rumor of his 'love triangle' came out, however, with a 'video proof' no less, it was as if a bomb had gone off in the school rumor mill, completely decimating everything else.
His lover was Don! And if the rumors were to be believed, the boy cheated on him with his best friend, Braxy!
It had to be known that Amos had never met up with Don and Braxy while at school. Even if his popularity was at its lowest possible point, just his looks alone ensured that at least some people would always be staring at him.
Why would he go meet them in secret?!
Combined with the bruising seen on his face from time to time, it further became proof of him having some form of a toxic relationship with the missing boys. After all, who else could dare hit him except his 'lovers'? His status alone was far too daunting for anyone else.
Without the need for a bard or a storyteller, a grand tale of Amos's toxic relationship with the missing students started circulating among the students. With more and more 'details' being added in as it went from one link in the chain to another.
Of course, Amos Black was once again absent, two days in a row now. Which only made the rumors turn worse as it 'confirmed' the truth.
The 'subordinates' that Mr. Black had painstakingly arranged for Amos glanced at each other uneasily as they left the school that day, wondering what reaction their 'boss' would have when he knew.
They didn't dare to refute any rumors in the school. It wasn't that they intentionally wanted to sabotage Amos, after all, they didn't have the balls to actually do so.
But they also dared not deny Amos's love affair and attract his fury. As his subordinates, they knew better than anyone else what the 'truth' was, as the 'boss' had 'confessed' it himself, after all.
If they refuted his 'love' and ended up enraging him, wouldn't that be counterproductive? All they had to do was follow his orders, anyway.
They only hoped that his next 'love target' wasn't themselves, given the fate of his previous 'lovers'.
