บท 25: Blinded By Greed

In a dimly lit room not far from Crystal's home, a muscular man in a black leather jacket with a shallow scar over his left eye faced the rear end of a high back executive chair.

"The brat left?"

The man reporting wished that the 'boss' would at least swivel around so he could look at his face and at least tell if he was pleased or not. But even if he found it annoying, what could he do?

"Yes, boss. He came to deliver some 'crucial information' and ran away right after."

A loud snort echoed through the room, full of condescension.

"Hmph. Fucking wimpy son of a bitch. But at least he's got the cash. Was his 'crucial information' anything useful?"

The subordinate thought about it for a while before shaking his head.

"Nothing that we hadn't dug up already. He made an additional request to make sure the restaurant bitch's daughter stays out of it. Fucking weirdo."

The boss sighed. Just what was he expecting from a moron? Useless. But the money was good, too good, in fact. It made everything he had worked so hard for in his life seem like a joke.

Twenty million upfront just to deal with this one girl, and another thirty once the deed was done. Could it get any better?

He wouldn't even believe it if it was not handed to him in cash.

"Small matter. If we get this done, that place is worthless anyway. Is that all? Did you make sure they didn't have a security team?"

The man nodded before realizing the boss couldn't see it because he was busy being pretentious.

"Yes, boss, only one bodyguard was following them."

"Good, good! This makes things easier. And are you sure she'll come back to that place?"

If he had not witnessed the boss personally building their gang from the ground up, he would have started to wonder if they were actually being led by a sentient talking chair that was just fooling everyone.

"The girl did not stay for long, and did not take anything with her while leaving. We also overheard them mention 'weekend', but couldn't make out the rest. Although we can't be sure, there's a high chance they'll visit again at least once in the next two days."

After a short period of silence, the click of a lighter was followed by a large puff of smoke from atop the tall chair's back. The subordinate guessed that the boss had finished his last cigar and lit up another one.

But where did he throw the last one after he was done?

The subordinate shook his head to clear the distracting thoughts, just in time to hear the next instructions from the gang leader.

"Hm… fine. Tell the boys to drop everything else and be ready to move out whenever I say."

The man stood silently for a while, hesitating over whether he should say what was on his mind or just leave. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and go through with it.

"Boss!"

The boss didn't seem to expect his subordinate to still be there, and ended up hacking and choking loudly on the cigar smoke in surprise.

After a few minutes of silence, he decided to pretend that nothing happened.

"What is it?"

The subordinate sighed, thinking how good it would be if his boss wasn't a buff man full of battle scars but a tsundere loli instead. This kind of behaviour would be just perfect for someone like that, right?

"I think this is too risky, boss. It's fine to kill some nobodies here and there, but isn't this girl the daughter of the richest man in the city? And… we're doing pretty good, do we really need to stick out our neck like this?"

The 'boss' finally swivelled his chair around and slammed his fist on the table.

"You think I'm stupid?! Do you even know how much money is at stake here? We deal with that little bitch swiftly, don't play around, and get the hell out of here as soon as we get the rest of the money. It's enough to set us all up for life. So just fucking do as I say!"

The subordinate left swiftly to carry out his orders after having the wits scared out of him, and the boss leaned back on his chair with a sigh.

"I didn't expect that Miller whore's daughter to actually end up befriending someone like that. That's the big school for you, huh, all kinds of rich brats to hook. Must be easy for a boot licking bitch like her. I should have known."

His decades of experience would be wasted if he didn't realize the looming threat that the girl could have posed to him.

Since he had been 'bullying' her new friend and her mother, the spoiled little bitch would definitely complain to her 'daddy' when she learned of it.

As for what would happen once the head of the White Deer corporation heard of a gangster from his precious daughter's lips? There was no need to ask.

Since he wasn't stupid enough to wait around for death, his first thought had indeed been to relocate his gang to another city and completely forget about this entire thing.

"But to think this kind of pie can fall from the sky, haha… Just deal with one little bitch before leaving, and my pockets are fifty million heavier!"

As for the wrath of the girl's family? Heh, by the time they figured things out, he would be long gone.

With that kind of money, a forged identity in a different country was a small matter.

As for the rest of his gang? They were all smart kids, and he would leave them good cash to figure things out on their own.

----------

No matter how masterfully a painting was replicated, it could never fool the creator themselves. A painter knew their own artwork best.

So it was no wonder that even a small glimpse of the face was enough for Emilia to recognize the face she herself had painted with bruises not long ago.

Although she had certainly hoped that the two bullies would learn their lesson after a single beating, she knew the chances were slim to none. After all, the way she had carried out their 'punishment' was humiliating to say the least.

The only way they would stay down was if they didn't have the courage to stand up at all.

And with her current background, she had to admit that the courage of these bullies had to be commended. Their own parents had bent the knee instantly in front of her sister, but here they were, bravely facing an opponent they had no hope of defeating.

"But how do I deal with them? More importantly, for them to be so confident in coming after me so soon, they must definitely have some help."

Cynthia was about to speak up before she realized Emilia was only talking to herself and didn't look like she was expecting a response. So she could only gloomily keep quiet. Just how long was her villainess going to ignore her?!

Emilia waited in the hall for a while before shaking her head and heading to her own room.

"Doesn't look like anyone's coming back early today. I'll have to talk to Sam after dinner, I guess."

Just as she was halfway up the stairs, however, Sam walked into the hall with the housekeeper following behind in a panic.

"L-Lady Samantha, rest assured—"

For as long as she had known her, Samantha looked like she treated almost everyone in the mansion with respect, regardless of their standing. Emilia was surprised by the coldness in her tone as she interrupted the old housekeeper.

"I don't want to hear any excuses, uncle—"

The two of them seemed to sense Emilia's presence at the same time, and abruptly paused their conversation.

Samantha smiled at her younger sister.

"Emilia!"

Emilia smiled back, but her eyes were already shining with curiosity.

"Hi, Sam. Welcome home... Any problems at work?"

Samantha shook her head, her shoulder length brown hair waving gently from side to side.

"Nothing major. Just some corporate bull. Anyway, how was your day?"

"Good, I guess?"

It was not a lie. She had a great day at school, even if it was a little strange. And afterwards she had managed to not only secure herself more time with a heroine, she had also discovered a potential 'annoyance' in advance.

A very fruitful day indeed.

Samantha's expression was slightly strange, but with her naturally cold face it was difficult for Emilia to notice exactly what was wrong.

"Oh, alright… alright. Do you mind if I come to your room in a while?"

Emilia smiled. "Not at all. No need to even ask, just come any time."

"Okay, thank you. Please wait there for me."

Emilia's curiosity was already aroused, wondering what had gotten this 'elder sister' of hers so worked up. However, since Samantha had already said this much, it was better to just wait for her.

Although her system felt slightly meek, she still couldn't contain her thoughts as her partner walked back to her room.

"E-Eh, uhm, you know, Emilia… you shouldn't say that, because, well… you always shape shift back to your real self at night, you know. It would be bad if she saw you like that!"

'Don't worry, Cynthia. After she leaves, you're next. Don't think I've forgotten.'

"Eek!"