Puppeteers?
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Naturally, it was impossible for Noelle and Emilia to remain unaware of such commotion for long, but even though they clearly knew about it all, they still pretended to be oblivious.
After all, these 'elites' weren't jumping up and down so enthusiastically without reason. Hurt egos or not, most people within the Nightingale clan simply wouldn't risk offending the elders unless they had something much more substantial to gain.
Such as perhaps the favor of someone they believed would become the next clan leader.
Obviously, even with the elders making their intentions more than clear, there were still many who refused to believe that their choice of jumping ship early had been wrong, and would rather close their eyes and keep running towards the cliff.
Although Noelle understood their reasoning, she didn't really sympathize with them.