บท 37: Derailed Plans

Crystal waved her hand enthusiastically at the two girls as they left her house. Compared to when she came to receive them, her attitude seemed to have undergone a complete hundred and eighty.

Her mother smiled at the girl, ruffling her hair once she saw that her friend's car had left.

"M-Mom!"

"Hehe… I'm just coddling my daughter a little. Is it so wrong?"

The blonde pouted as she patted her messed up short blonde hair. "Hmph."

"You seem happier, compared to the morning?"

Crystal smiled.

"I guess I was worried that I wouldn't be able to teach them well, but it turns out I was worried for nothing, after all."

----------

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Dixie's car wasn't so harmonious as she looked at her princess gloomily.

"You're going to that party?"

Emilia nodded. "Yeah, my sister asked and I agreed, so I thought I should tell you in case you wanted to come along."

Dixie's eyes were dark as she stared at the innocence in the eyes of her princess.

She had planned to completely wipe out Emilia's previous reputation by herself. Given the flimsy foundation that the besmirching had been carried out on, it wouldn't take her more than two or three social events to turn it all around.

But this was the first major event she was going to attend after meeting the girl, and she hadn't had any time to get started at all.

And to make matters worse, if Emilia went along with her side by side, then most of her words would lose credibility. Many would think she just did not dare to speak the truth out of fear.

Emilia could clearly see that Dixie's expression wasn't right, so she couldn't help but hold her cheek in her palm, looking concerned.

"What's wrong, Dixie?"

The dark haired girl sighed. "No, nothing's wrong."

Now that her princess had already decided to go, what else could she do as a knight but to follow and protect to the best of her ability?

Emilia smiled.

Of course, she had some inkling of both her elder sister and her knight's true thoughts. She could feel that they wanted her to stay away from the things they considered 'too dirty' for her.

But how could she accomplish anything if she didn't even dare to get her hands dirty? Emilia hadn't forgotten her mission, after all.

"Don't worry about it too much, Dixie, I can handle myself."

Dixie shook her head. "I don't think you know how vicious and manipulative those people are, Emily. But don't worry, I'll be there for you."

----------

The silver haired and gray eyed hero, who usually looked so dashing and brave in the eyes of his admirers, was currently sitting meekly in front of his father's desk with his legs closed and head down. Both his expression and posture resembled that of a wet, miserable little mouse.

"I'm assuming you know why I've called you here?"

Amos did not actually know the exact reason, but he did know that today was the day those thugs would attack that bitch he hated so much, and ruin her once and for all.

Although he looked so meek on the surface, in his heart he was gloating. So what if he was going to get scolded? Didn't he end up accomplishing his goal just the same?

"I-I'm sorry Dad, I didn't think they would go so far. I just paid them a little to scare her, who knew those thugs—"

The buff man slammed his fist on the table with a loud bang.

"Incompetent fool! You don't even know what happened, yet you dare speak in front of me?"

"W-What?"

Looking at his son's flabbergasted appearance, the man scoffed.

"Hmph. Those thugs you hired are all gone. Probably dead, or getting tortured somewhere until they inevitably die while spilling every single thing they know. And those moron schoolmates you set to the task are gone as well."

Amos's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. "G-Gone?!"

"What did you think would happen? Did you expect a bunch of thugs to be able to do anything to the White Deer's precious little gem? Fucking idiot. If they hadn't already started moving against us before this, I would have you skinned alive."

Although he had already started cannibalizing the White Deer corporation to the best of his abilities, it was impossible for him to not suffer at all when someone as capable and powerful as Mr. White started moving against him.

If it had been his son who was responsible for setting his plans off track, well, there was no need to consider him as his son anymore.

"S-She's really fine? And t-they're moving against us?!"

Amos had never in his wildest dreams imagined that his plans would fail so miserably. According to him, it was highly likely that bitch would suffer a nightmare she couldn't forget till her death, and even if it failed to be as effective as expected and only managed to injure her, at most a bunch of thugs would be arrested.

They didn't know who he was. They didn't even know the identity of the two bullies he was using as middlemen.

And even if Braxy and Don were suspected by some miraculous coincidence, it was impossible for them to dare rat him out. He had made it very clear to them that their life would be over if they dared even mention his name to anyone.

Looking at his son's disbelieving face, the stout black haired man sighed in disappointment.

"Truly, there has to be a limit to your incompetence. I feel like all your 'excellence' so far has just been a lie. As soon as you entered the Imperial Academy, you've done one moronic thing after another."

Amos flinched as he remembered his father's 'adopt another heir' threat. The word 'disappointment' seemed to have become common in all their conversations, and it filled him with both anxiety and outrage.

Was there anyone better than him among the boys in his generation? No! Was there any girl better than his love? No! So where was this so-called disappointment coming from?

Just because some of his plans went a little awry, this bastard father of his dared to look down his nose at him?

His father's eyes got even darker as he saw that, despite his fear, the boy was unrepentant in his heart.

"I even warned you that when I learned about your talks with those dirty little things. Tell me, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Amos took a deep breath. No, he couldn't continue being afraid of this bastard like this, or his position will be handed over to someone else sooner or later.

"Dad, I'll admit that I miscalculated the capability of those thugs this time. But what did we even lose in the end? They have no idea we were behind this, are you going to blame me like this for just a few million dollars of loss?"

Mr. Black laughed, and the hero couldn't tell whether he found something funny or was laughing in anger.

"Well said. Those incompetent morons hired by the White Deer can't possibly dig the truth out of those mighty, invincible schoolmates of yours, right? That would be absurd."

Even if Amos wanted to delude himself, there was no way he could continue doing so.

"T-There's no way they would—"

"Dare say your name? I've really pampered you too much. Let me tell you this, then. When you're getting your skin peeled off, even you would squeal like a pig and call your mother a whore. It won't even take five minutes."

Amos stood up in shock and fury, sending the chair crashing with a loud bang, his eyes red. "Y-You dare disrespect my mother like this?!"

"Bitch, don't overreact. I fucked her every day before she died. All I'm saying is you should use that shit-for-brains you've got to sometimes think things through, or that White family's little bitch will crush your balls under her heels."

"Y-You!"

The black haired man sneered. "You this, you that, don't you know how to say anything else? How long do I have to wipe your ass? I've had enough!"

Amos shut his mouth as he was struck dumb. From the man's tone, he knew his father was going to make a decision he definitely did not want to hear.

"Amos, from now on you will get not a single dollar in any of your accounts. Make do with what you have. Also, you will go attend all the high level parties I tell you of, no excuses. If you fail to do so, you can forget about that limo you're so fond of, as well as your place in this mansion."

Amos could only nod despite his red eyes and clenched fists.

His father ignored the blood dripping down the boy's palms indifferently.

"You'll be glad to know that I went easy on you, because this time your moronic actions actually ended up benefiting us in the end."

The silver haired boy looked at his father in shock. Didn't he say that the thugs failed, were all caught, and even those two idiot bullies went missing?

"Looking at your face, I'm guessing you're too dumb to realize."

Amos forcibly suppressed his expression from twisting in disgust. Now that he was under so much suppression, he knew he had to behave, or he'll end up in an even deeper ditch.

The black haired man nodded in satisfaction.

"Although you were impulsive, the White family was worse. Mr. White trusts his eldest daughter too much. He does not monitor her at all. And that eldest daughter of his loves her younger sister too much, and does not care for the consequences while rushing to protect her."

Amos seemed to realize something as his eyes lit up.

"You mean…"

"Hmph. That girl was too reckless, moving too quickly and recklessly. There's enough fuel for us to start a fire."