"I would rather waste some of my time looking into it than be blindsided even after knowing about it, alright?"
Emilia had already ditched both the heroine and Dixie, leaving the task of sending Crystal safely to her home in her knight's reliable hands, much to the girl's dissatisfaction.
Of course, since Emilia looked so serious, neither of them dared to object much, and only told her to call immediately if needed to.
It didn't take Emilia long to ditch any curious sights following her around, and she arrived at a deserted alley before calling Samantha.
And not long later, Cynthia realized just how impossible it was to underestimate the hero of this world, because this guy really did it, he exceeded all her expectations of being dumb, and reached a whole new level.
Samantha's meek voice continued to confess how she had forgotten about telling Emilia about the matter involving Mr. Black and Mrs. Brown. "I-I really would have come to your friend's place today to explain in person, you know. A-After your classes, I mean."
Emilia sighed. She knew getting angry with Sam would be pointless now, and the first priority was to get everything back on track without derailing her current plans. "Alright, Sam, you wait for me at home tonight, I'll come to you. Oh, and I might be a little late, okay? If you want you can just sleep, and I'll wake you up when I get there."
"Un, I'll be in your room then."
"… Have you been sleeping in my bed while I'm not there?"
"Obviously?"
Emilia's lips twitched. Since Randy wasn't occupying her room anymore after completing their plan to deter Mr. White, and she wasn't even at home, she had assumed that this elder sister of hers would move back to her own bed. That's why Emilia even had the housekeeper replace the girl's bed completely, just so she's not uncomfortable. Wasn't that a waste of effort?
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After getting the basic gist of the matter with the Black Tiger Family from Samantha, Emilia knew that the situation wasn't as urgent right now as she had expected in the worst case.
Of course, how they dealt with it would make the difference between just avoiding trouble and dealing another heavy blow to the hero's camp.
She had already told Crystal that she wouldn't be back till later tonight even before knowing of the matter with Samantha and the Black Tiger Family. After all, there were certain arrangements that needed to be made at their earliest for them to be most effective.
Although scaring the wits out of George using her transformed self was most effective, Emilia wasn't quite free enough to do it all by herself, and she didn't need to, either.
But as this was a crucial part of her plan, she couldn't give such an important task to just anyone either, and it had to be someone she could trust to get things done perfectly.
And who else could it be but a certain grey-haired lady?
Although there were certainly quite a few people that worked for the White Deer who could probably do the same, none of them were as capable as Noelle, who she believed was the best candidate if she didn't want to take any chances.
Noelle almost slammed her head on the wheel as she looked at the innocent looking face of the young girl next to her. "I cannot believe it… you called me all the way out here just to make such an absurd request?"
She couldn't help but furrow her brows as she suddenly realized Emilia wasn't even supposed to be there right now. "… What the hell were you even doing here all alone, by the way?"
Emilia waved her hand with a smile. "Don't worry about that. So, you can do it, right?"
"Why should I? You realize that my actual duty only includes ensuring that the two of you stay safe and don't mess anything up at the company? I don't need to do this at all."
Emilia pouted as she gave Noelle her best doe-eyed look. "You're the only one I can trust to do this perfectly, Noelle. Pretty please? Won't you do it for me?"
Noelle could only roll her eyes in exasperation. "Why are you so silly? Our relationship is that of an employee and employer. You don't have to plead, but you can't ask me to do things that are not part of my job. And this is definitely—"
Emilia bit her lip. If Noelle really refused to do this, it would mean she would have to take care of it all herself, and that would definitely make things a lot harder, especially with everything else she had on her plate.
No way, Noelle definitely had to agree. Definitely!
"What would it take for you to do this for me?"
She had thought Emilia would definitely throw a tantrum next after her pleading failed, but she unexpectedly wanted to 'negotiate'. Noelle gave the girl a curious look, wondering if she was being serious. "Hm, I'll do it if you give up on the idea of that dinner date."
Of course, if Emilia really threw a tantrum, she would have agreed. It wasn't a big deal anyway.
"Fine. I'll delay our dinner date for one more week."
Unexpectedly, she really made some concessions, despite the 'bullheaded' impression Noelle always got from her.
Of course, since she got an inch, she had to try taking a mile. "Not delay, give up! No dinner dates!"
Emilia gritted her teeth, as if she couldn't 'bear it' before giving Noelle a 'you bullied me' look. "O-Okay, I can change it to a lunch date, and delay it by two weeks… that's it."
Noelle had just opened her mouth when Emilia huffed. "If you want to delay it further, I'll do this myself, and our date will be this week. And I'll make it extra special!"
"I'll take two weeks, thank you very much."
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~ To be continued ~
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DustyDream:
Bonus chapter for 250 powerstones! :>