━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After watching the disgraceful 'fall' of the love of his life, Emilia's words were like the spark that set off an inextinguishable wildfire in the hero's heart.
It was a flame of rage and hatred that would never be quenched until he had bathed in Emilia's blood.
Emilia sneered as she looked at the silver-haired boy's struggling expression and bloodshot eyes that had half rolled back into his head. "How ugly. No wonder Crystal didn't like you. Well, that is if she needed another reason aside from you being a stupid douchebag."
Even as the hero choked in anger, Crystal could only pout. "Who would like him? Even if I never knew Emilia, no, even if there were only the two of us in the world and a dog, I would still rather marry the dog!"
Although she was only mumbling to herself, when both Emilia and Dixie turned to look at her at the same time, the heroine was immediately mortified to realize that what she said might just have been heard by the two.
"Y-You—! Hrrk—!"
No matter how the hero tried to make a sound, what came out was only a gurgled mess, but having no way to even express his hate only made it more intense.
If he had only considered her a vile, desperate creature that was always trying to catch his attention hopelessly before, now she had become a demon that must be killed before he could breathe freely.
But even as the flames of hate erupted from his heart, the dark spots dancing in his vision and the numbness in his arms made it more than clear how hopeless his situation was. 'Where's that incompetent father of mine?! How could he not even send anyone to check the situation when his plan failed?!'
Emilia didn't seem to care for his thoughts, and only gave him a bored look as she pressed her knee down harder. "Since you're not going to entertain me by crying, forget it. Just remember… Don't bother us ever again, or it will be much worse."
The rage and despair never left the hero's face even as the last of his thoughts faded away and he blacked out, and Emilia's final words — 'I hope some pervert finds you lying here' — imprinted themselves in his mind.
Once Emilia dusted herself off and took a step back, the hero's body twitched with a snort, and both Dixie and Crystal tensed at once.
The redhead waved her hand with a carefree smile. "Don't worry, it just means he's not dead yet."
Emilia couldn't help but add in her mind. 'Though I really wish he was.'
Cynthia coughed. "We can't yet, dear villainess of mine! You still need to complete the two missions first, or—"
The redhead sighed. 'Yes yes, I know, the world will be freed from the dead host and just find another, and we won't even know who it is. I know.'
The raven-haired girl chuckled. "Well, don't be sad. You can have fun with your doggy-loving heroine and slowly work on the other two missions. Once they're done, we'll be free, and you can chop that hero up in a million little pieces if you want, and feed it all to Crystal's dogs!"
'Hmph, whatever… And that was obviously just her being sarcastic. She doesn't even have a dog, anyway. Right?'
While Emilia was arguing with her partner, she didn't notice how quickly Dixie had shifted over to partially block her sight from the fainted hero's body, and how even Crystal looked a little unusual compared to before.
The redhead remained unaware due to her positioning, but whether it was due to watching the previous make-out session or something else, the hero's lower half was sporting a very prominent tent. And while he was being choked, the tip of it had even turned wet.
But Crystal and Dixie had the same thought at that moment — Emilia had to be scrubbed clean as soon as possible.
It was definitely not an excuse to shower with her, by the way.
Emilia strutted over to Crystal and gently lifted the embarrassed heroine's chin with her index finger. "You don't have a dog, do you?"
In her mind, Cynthia couldn't help but sigh wistfully. 'I should have known that she would take that, of all things, seriously.'
Crystal's vain hope that her previous mumbling gaffe had already been forgotten was immediately dashed, and she could only shake her head furiously while trying her best to hide her embarrassment.
The heroine's only relief was that Emilia had indeed not noticed the other thing. Though her knee still needed to be washed, at least her eyes remained untainted.
Emilia squinted her eyes meaningfully, wondering what the blonde was thinking. "You know what… You're forbidden from ever having one. Un. Definitely."
Then, as if wondering if she had gone too far, the redhead hesitated before gritting her teeth. "Ahem, I-If you really like them, I can sometimes act a little like, um… well, like 'wuff wuff'… but only on special occasions!"
Silence.
Well, aside from the click of Cynthia going into isolation for the next ten minutes, along with an image of the previous moment with the intent to preserve it eternally. Whether it was for teasing Emilia later or for some other purpose, however, remained unknown.
The redhead had reasoned that if she was going to take something away from her lover, she at least had to make up for it somehow. But when facing the embarrassing silence, she couldn't help but be filled with shame.
Emilia coughed in embarrassment, feeling like she had shamed her partner as a villainess by doing such a thing. "W-What is it that you like about dogs, anyway? I-I'm sure we can work on it, somehow."
Crystal almost fainted from shame, but just as the blonde girl was about to refute that she really didn't think so… she suddenly realized something. 'Isn't Emilia incredibly adorable when she looks up at me like a little puppy? My dignity as a human being… is a small price to pay to witness such a sight!'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
