Chapter 503 'Capable' Subordinates
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The prime minister and her team took Emilia and Crystal to a luxurious room with all the required equipment and the 'artist' already waiting, and Bellatrix quickly finished the introductions.
The crimson-haired girl could feel the faint shiver of excitement in the hands of the artist as she shook her hand with a bright grin.
"It's great to meet you, Bella—ugh, I mean, the prime minister wasn't wrong in her judgment, I see!"
Feeling the scathing glare immediately cut through her head, the 'artist' immediately went into a coughing fit. "I-I didn't mean anything strange like how pretty or gorgeous you are, i-it could have been just your aura or something?"
Bellatrix resisted the urge to smack her 'friend' upside down in front of the guests as the woman continued digging a deeper hole for herself.
Seeing how the prime minister was barely maintaining her polite smile, Emilia giggled. "Crystal, why don't you come with me to the changing room to help me out of this dress?"
Although it was somewhat intricate, neither the prime minister nor Crystal believed that the crimson-haired girl actually needed any help 'getting out of it', though both of them believed they knew her 'true purpose', and quickly nodded in agreement.
The assistant who had been following after them quickly showed the 'changing room', which was just another empty palace chamber temporarily fitted with full-length mirrors.
"Would you require additional help?"
Emilia shook her head with a mischievous smile. "Thank you, but we'll be fine. Crystal here is very, very proficient in removing my clothes."
Had her naughty smile not made her implications 'clear', the furious blush on the blonde girl's face was enough to 'enlighten' the shocked assistant on its own.
"I-I'll leave first, then, p-please take care!"
Joke! No matter how curious she was, a little assistant like her didn't dare to listen to anything more dangerous, let alone watch something she shouldn't.
Not being an idiot, she naturally understood who this guest was. Had she been careless and what happened here leaked… she didn't dare to imagine the consequences.
Perhaps before the girl's fans had the opportunity to tear her apart, the prime minister would do the honors instead. After all, her attitude was clear enough today, wasn't it?
Crystal's blush had just faded a little after the assistant exited the room hastily when it was reignited by an affectionate peck on her lips.
"D-Don't mess around!"
Emilia giggled as she stepped back to dodge the girl's playful 'pinch' on her cheeks, making Crystal pout even more.
The crimson-haired girl sighed. "Okay, okay, don't pout, baby. I won't delay you stripping off my clothes anymore."
Seeing her girlfriend playfully make a 'come hither' motion with her finger, Crystal couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You know we can't do anything here while the prime minister is waiting, yet you still tease me!"
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Naturally, the reason Emilia took Crystal to another room to 'change' wasn't because she was too shy to take off her clothes in front of the prime minister, nor because she was being 'considerate' and leaving Bellatrix and her friend alone for a while as the woman believed.
As Crystal had expected, the crimson-haired girl simply wanted to use the opportunity to inform Justine's team of the upcoming changes to their plans so they could prepare better.
Of course, the task of figuring out how to get it all done while getting teased by her girlfriend fell on poor Crystal.
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A few minutes later, while the Golden Crown's charity auction was still in progress, Justine couldn't help but scratch her head in confusion when she received a rather weird instruction on her secure receiver. "Changes to our plan at this stage???"
If not for the fact that this device was recently created to work on a closed-off network only accessible using White Deer's proprietary protocols, she would even suspect that this was some sort of sabotage.
Luckily, a few more messages from Crystal arrived shortly after, explaining all the ins and outs of what needed to be changed in more detail. 'I'm guessing Emilia must be quite busy?'
The blue-haired ex-policelady's frown only got deeper as she finished reading all the messages.
She had to admit that the new plan did cover up some of the previous loopholes that could have landed them in trouble had they been unlucky, but unfortunately, there were a few trade-offs.
Justine couldn't help but bite her lip nervously. 'There's no way to be sure that the two of them will react as Emilia expects, right? Plus, making changes at this stage means we are much more likely to make mistakes!'
Looking back at the trio that had been following her for so long eagerly waiting for her instructions, the blue-haired girl finally made up her mind. 'No, I can't have so little faith in my team! The three of them have worked so hard all this time, and we also have more help than we expected now, don't we?'
When Emilia had first set her to the task, she hadn't been sure if Noelle would be available to assist her, and Mindy's existence had been completely out of their calculations.
Unfortunately, Justine knew that it would be impossible to discuss things with Emilia until after the Golden Crown was over. But waiting until then meant abandoning the plan she had been working so hard for all this time.
Moreover, if she ended up failing such a crucial mission because of a little uncertainty, wouldn't Emilia be incredibly disappointed?
Plus, if she still hesitated now, didn't that mean she was so incapable that she would have never stood a chance to succeed on her own in the first place?
"Screw it, Emilia believes I can do it, so I surely can!"
Looking at their 'captain' pumping her fist enthusiastically in a corner, Mindy couldn't help but tilt her head curiously. "Is she okay?"
Trying her best to ignore the faint 'Go, Justine, go!' and 'Just think of the rewards!', Noelle sighed. "The wiring in her brain short-circuits from time to time, but yeah. She should be fine."
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