Chapter 697 In A Pickle

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While it might seem like Emilia was just relaxing and having fun in the Blue Lotus Palace with her girlfriends over the next few days, in reality, she was closely observing the movements and sentiments of her 'knights' through both Penny and Noelle's network, as well as her own senses.

Of course, Crystal also volunteered to do a few rounds around the city, and returned with several reports on those that she felt Emilia shouldn't take along.

Most of the people in the list were there due to their strong feelings of responsibility or dependence towards various people other than Emilia herself, as that would make it very likely for something to go wrong during their transfer. Of course, certain others were also disqualified based on their feelings for Emilia being too extreme.

The crimson-haired beauty may not mind the presence of these people, but Crystal had long since decided not to let anyone she considered too 'irrational' be too close by her side. After all, while Emilia might find their extreme love for her endearing, knowing just what kind of thoughts crawled through the heads of these maniacs made it impossible for Crystal to think along the same lines.

Despite how tough she might seem at times, the blonde girl 'knew' that Emilia was actually extremely sensitive, and placing these kinds of 'risky' people in a place where they could easily hurt her was simply not a risk worth taking, as far as she was concerned.

Luckily, with Noelle, Sam, Dixie, and even Penny convinced by her words, keeping these people out of Emilia's sight was quite easy.

"Around three hundred and forty people who had previously qualified have left the capital now. Sixty-four of them had parents whom they needed to take care of, eighty-three had a sibling whom they wouldn't be able to part with, and a hundred and ninety-three had various mental issues that would have made it difficult for them to meet our requirements." Noelle sighed. "It wasn't easy convincing them to leave, but in the end, we managed to kick them out."

Sam giggled. "Your name works like a magic spell on these people. As soon as we mentioned that it was your intention, even the stubborn ones quickly packed their bags."

Crystal's eyes involuntarily swerved to Dixie, but fortunately, aside from a slight frown, she didn't make any moves.

Obviously, a few people had refused to leave without seeing Emilia with their own eyes first. After all, she'd never summoned them to one place like this before, and it wasn't weird that some were able to guess that she might be planning to 'leave the public eye', or something similar.

For the knights with the most extreme obsession over their princess, how could it be so easy to make them leave when they couldn't be sure if they would ever see her again?

If not for Dixie and Noelle physically packing them up and shipping them off, it really wouldn't be possible to get things done so easily.

The crimson-haired beauty seemed a little disappointed when some people started leaving, but she soon perked up after listening to their words. "I see, I see… so that's why they left, huh…"

Clearly, she wasn't naïve enough to think that once someone came to her side, that they would be able to discard everything they previously had completely. In fact, in most cases, Emilia's didn't really require such exclusivity. After all, just because Dixie loved her grandfather didn't mean that she cared any less about her, right?

It was only when she was 'threatened' by someone, or felt that someone she cared about might not really feel the same way as she believed, that Emilia feel a sense of loss and betrayal.

Of course, she'd noticed Crystal and the others moving around the capital and 'handling' several situations with her ability, but Emilia didn't really mind.

Since they were moving for her sake, the crimson-haired girl trusted them to handle certain situations.

But… that didn't mean that she was okay with them hiding it from her.

"Why are you frowning, Dixie?"

The dark-haired girl immediately stiffened. "I-I… princess—!"

With Crystal's ability, how could she fail to realize how bad things could turn out if they weren't handled well?

It was one thing to not inform Emilia about something that would make her sad, but there was no way they could actually lie to and deceive her in any way. Even if it was for the crimson-haired beauty's own sake, it was not a line any of them felt that they should cross.

Immediately stepping forward, the blonde girl grasped Emilia's right palm in both hands, and gazed right into her eyes as she confessed everything. "There were some people among those that we forced to leave who were too obsessed with you, and had very dangerous thoughts. I… couldn't let them stay."

Looking at Crystal's beautiful blue eyes, Emilia smiled. "Be honest with me, when you say 'dangerous', what exactly do you mean?"

The blonde girl pursed her lips and stayed silent, and for a moment, the others feared that she might just refuse to speak.

Knowing Emilia's temper… not answering her at this point wouldn't make her angry, but sad, which was infinitely worse as far as they were concerned.

Even Noelle, who was the most rational of them all, couldn't help but clench her fists. 'She didn't tell me in detail what they really wanted, either… but it's better to disgust Emilia than hurt her now, right?!'

Fortunately, Crystal also seemed to realize this fact, and took a deep breath to steel herself before nodding. "T-They… they all had different thoughts and plans about you. Some were more innocent, and only wanted to torture and kill everyone else who might be 'stealing' your affection, while others… l-let me just say that to preserve your beauty and to always have you by their side to love… they didn't mind turning you into a pickle."

"…"

Crystal shuddered. "A-And that's not the worst of it."

Emilia coughed. "… W-When you mention a pickle… is it like... being preserved as is, or the type where it gets all chopped up…?"

While Crystal blanked and the others were similarly stunned, Noelle couldn't help but step forward to pinch Emilia's cheek angrily. "Is that really something you should even be wondering?! It's all equally bad!"

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