━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"I-I… I did have people keeping an eye on them, but—"
Looking at Noelle biting her lip with a conflicted expression, Emilia's brows relaxed. Having interacted with her so frequently, how could she not tell what the girl's personality was like?
Diligent, dutiful, and proud, Noelle was probably internally dying from embarrassment at the fact that her explanation may seem like an excuse for her 'incompetence'.
But it wasn't that Emilia truly blamed her, she just wished to know all the ins and outs of the situation to make sure it never happened again. After all, she couldn't always count on luck being on her side.
The redhead patted Noelle's shoulder. "Just say it, don't worry what it sounds like. I know you."
The gray-haired lady couldn't help but give the younger girl a complicated look. "A-After taking care of Don and Braxy according to your elder sister's instructions, I negotiated with their parents, and their reactions were mostly within my expectations. Under the combined effects of threats and benefits, they easily caved in."
Seeing how Emilia hadn't interrupted her, Noelle looked away awkwardly as she continued. "I still had some people constantly keeping an eye on them, and we also monitored their communication. But… they didn't do anything unusual."
Noelle bit her lip as she closed her eyes. "I should have been more careful. This guy was really patient and cunning. Even when we caught him, my people were still reporting his location at the other side of the city, in a club's private room."
Emilia's expression turned grim. She really couldn't blame Noelle in this case, since the older girl had already done her due diligence, and went above and beyond what could be expected of her.
The redhead frowned as she observed the captured man's indifferent expression through the one-way mirror. "Hmph. Seems like he's quite cunning. Investigate that club to see if they were supporting him knowingly, and also the people on our side that were monitoring him."
Noelle nodded. "I'm already on it."
Sometimes, it was a little uncanny how many of her thoughts aligned with this little boss of hers, as these had been her exact thoughts on the matter as well.
Meanwhile, although she had already got the gist of it, Emilia still looked through the folder that contained the man's information before handing it back to the gray-haired lady.
Seeing her head for the door, Noelle hesitated a little before sighing in defeat. Whether it was Sam or her younger sister, they both seemed far too stubborn when it came to doing things with their own hands. As a subordinate, she really couldn't prevent them from getting their hands dirty all the time.
This was especially so for Emilia, who wasn't quite as easy to bamboozle as her older sister.
Now that her prestige in front of the younger girl was presumably already quite low after the mess-up, Noelle knew it was wiser to stay back and keep quiet.
Just as Noelle and Michelle were about to follow Emilia in, however, the redhead smiled back at them before shaking her head. "The two of you stay back for a while. I want to talk to this bastard alone."
Saying so, she gave them no time to react at all before nodding to the guard at the door, who closed it as soon as she got in, effectively blocking the other two girls out.
The man coughed awkwardly at Noelle. "Sorry, boss. I don't want to get fired."
He may not have two children to feed at home and a wife to take care of, but he did have a beloved car that needed maintenance, okay?
Noelle could only shake her head with a wry smile. "Did I say anything?"
Michelle, meanwhile, was already glued to the one-way mirror as she stared at her princess. 'D-Don't tell me she forgot about this mirror? If she drained him dry of blood, wouldn't all these other people know about her being a vampire? Ah! S-Should I get ready to silence them? B-But they have guns, a-and I'm so weak!'
The brown-haired girl couldn't help but feel her heart constrict at that thought. Of course, it was possible that these subordinates already knew the true nature of their boss girl, but Michelle still had to err on the side of caution. 'I-I hope everything will be okay. If it really comes down to it, I can only bite them to death!'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The ragged-looking man stared blankly at the young girl who entered the room, and then... burst into uncontrollable laughter. "T-They sent you? Ahahaha… Hilarious!"
He laughed till tears flowed from his eyes, though he couldn't really wipe them with his hands strapped down to the metal chair, which made him look even more unkempt than before.
Emilia's expression remained indifferent as she took a seat on the opposite side of the metallic table in front of the man.
Although he had stopped laughing, a grin still remained on the man's unkempt face. "What, are you going to suck my cock and beg me to tell you who sent me? I have to say, though, the little sluts here are definitely of higher quality than I expected. I might just give in… if you try hard enough."
Of course, he knew very well who this girl was. But so what? His life was already forfeited the moment he got caught. What could he lose by angering this bitch? At least it would cool down some of his rage if she went crazy.
Emilia leaned back and flicked her hair haughtily, appearing completely unperturbed by his taunts. "You little cockroach… do you think just because you jump around, I'm obligated to smash my home to bits in an attempt to kill you? I have better ways of taking care of pests, you know."
The man laughed. "Ahahaha… little bitch… you whore! Kill me if you want, I'm not telling you anything."
The redhead had already known this much from the man's expression alone. No matter what type of torture they used, this man would remain tight-lipped.
But Emilia… had no need to physically torture someone.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━