Chapter 305 - Noelle's 'Dream'
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Although Emilia felt a little wronged, she still decided to clearly explain herself to avoid any misunderstandings. "It's true that in cases like Michelle's there were 'people' we need to take care of. But that was only because those people were the source of her trauma, and they were the ones responsible for making her sink into depression in the first place."
Noelle pursed her lips in thought. "Although I understand your concern, and I'm always there to follow your orders, you should still know that there are better ways to handle such situations."
Emilia nodded begrudgingly. "I understand. But for those who hurt her, how could I have let them go? Only a clean wound can heal properly, while a dirty one will eventually fester and lead to bigger issues later. Since I planned to give Michelle a fresh start, I naturally had to do it properly!"
What Emilia didn't mention was that even if Michelle didn't have any intentions of taking revenge on those who caused her to almost commit suicide… she never planned on letting them go. After all, how could Emilia let them have a peaceful life after hurting someone she cared about?
As for the fact that it had happened in the past, when neither of them knew each other… Emilia didn't care about that at all. What she was exacting vengeance on was not the besmirching of her ego by association, but the damage caused to someone she cared for.
The only condition in which she could consider giving up such revenge would be if it would have ended up causing further harm to the person she was trying to protect. Thankfully, Emilia hadn't faced such a dilemma so far.
Knowing it was impossible to make the younger girl budge any further on this topic, Noelle could only sigh helplessly. 'I guess this is already quite good.'
Emilia coughed. "Anyway, most of the time the biggest obstacles in the path of one's dream are not others, but themselves, so to 'get rid of it' simply means to help them overcome their difficulties and open their eyes. It's not like I meant anything bad by it!"
Cynthia nodded approvingly in her mind. "Right. A good villainess must never expose herself as someone with criminal thoughts. Her image must remain clean and pure even as she carries out the most heinous of deeds, pushing her enemies to the edge of despair as they suffer injustice without any way to vent! As expected of my villainess, you have the concept down to a T."
Emilia, who had only defended herself subconsciously after feeling wronged, happily took the credit that was delivered to her door. 'As expected, Cynthia is so smart!'
The raven-haired girl smiled, raising her chin smugly. "Hmph, of course!"
Meanwhile, Noelle also felt a little guilty for 'jumping to the wrong conclusions', but she didn't want the girl to get too full of herself. "Well, with your record… you can't blame me for jumping to conclusions, can you?"
Emilia huffed. "Why not? Obviously I can. I can do whatever I want."
Feeling the younger girl squirm on her lap, Noelle's face quickly twisted in panic as she hurriedly tried to distract herself. "T-Then…! W-What do you think my dream is? S-Since you are attracted to me, and you said so, w-why don't you… um, 'enlighten' me?"
Of course, Noelle knew better than anyone else that she didn't have any lofty dreams, so how could this silly little boss of hers possibly figure it out?
As expected, Emilia really stopped squirming as she carefully considered her question for a while. "Hmm… If you asked me this a few weeks ago, I would say 'probably she wants to swim in an ocean of gold coins', but…"
Although the first line made her a little exasperated, Noelle couldn't deny that her curiosity was aroused. "But…?"
Emilia paused as she felt the older girl squeeze her waist, smiling as she wondered whether it was an intentional or subconscious action. "I believe now that you have become enlightened of how lovely I am, you must dream of me night and day. Especially at night!"
Noelle couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Really, you won't tell me what you really think? It can't be because you can't guess, right? Then that means—"
Emilia sighed. "I don't want to ruin the mood, but you can't blame me if you insist!"
The gray-haired girl sneered, feeling like she finally had a little edge over Emilia's cunning little tongue. "Little boss, you're pretty good with excuses?"
Thinking about her 'cunning little tongue', Noelle tried her best to ignore the fact that her mind quickly jumped to wanting to 'fight' and 'defeat' it in its own territory, very thoroughly. Unfortunately, to do so required crossing a barrier that she was trying very hard to stay away from… and failing.
Emilia frowned. "Really, with this attitude, you must be a virgin even now, right?"
Noelle paused, not knowing whether she should feel offended or not. "You talk as if you have a lot of experience?"
The only thing she knew was that everything seemed to be going in the wrong direction, and this girl still kept charging forward.
Emilia squirmed in excitement. "Of course! C'mon, let's go to bed, I'll teach you all sorts of things I've learned—!"
Obviously, Noelle knew that the younger girl must have recently 'learned' a lot from Sam, though there was no way for her to know exactly how much, but if Emilia continued squirming on her lap like that, she might just end up 'learning' far more than she bargained for.
Noelle knew she had almost reached her limits, and she really couldn't let this continue.
Squeezing the younger girl tightly in her embrace, Noelle pursed her lips, for some reason feeling a little dissatisfied in her heart. "Just keep quiet, it's okay if you can't guess. I'll take you back home—"
Emilia sighed. "You want revenge."
Noelle abruptly pushed the girl back from her embrace to stare into her eyes, both furious and dumbfounded. "Y-You…"
Emilia blushed as she looked away. "Hey, don't look at me like you want to eat me… I'll get shy~"
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