Looming Threat

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

The silver haired boy almost jumped up in excitement. This was even better than his expectations!

Even if that bitch had been ruined by his previous plans, she would only ever be a victim from the public perspective. People would pity her from that point, and although her fate wouldn't be good, her reputation would not suffer much.

That kind of solution can offer him immediate gratification, but it will inevitably leave behind a little regret of not being thorough enough.

But if he could ruin her entire family's name using this incident, then he was willing to take ten times the punishment from his father, happily!

"Just tell me what I need to do, dad! I'll definitely not make a mistake this time!"

The black haired man snorted.

"Quiet, boy. Just do your job as I had told you before. As for this matter… hmph."

The silver haired hero's enthusiasm was extinguished in an instant.

'That's right. He said that Mr. White trusts his eldest daughter too much, and that she loves her sister, that fucking bitch, too much. What he's implying to me is that he does not have such 'extreme' attachment to me… this fucking bastard!'

Amos knew that if the situation really required it, his father would really just adopt a child to raise as his heir.

The only reason the man hadn't already done so, was because the mistakes he made so far hadn't managed to cause substantial damage. And… his father was still in his prime. He simply did not feel any urgency.

'I'll make him regret this.'

Mr. Black seemed oblivious to his son's dark thoughts, and continued calling upon his connections to set the situation in his favor.

"Commissioner."

The voice on the other side of the phone was a little fuddled, as if the person had a little too much to drink.

"Yoooo, Mishter Blahck. Itsh been a while shince ya lasht called, ehh? Finally ready to redo that poker match? I'm still nhat convinshed o' my defeat!"

----------

Emilia wasn't surprised to see that neither her parents nor her sister were back home by the time Dixie dropped her off.

She absently waved off the housekeeper before heading straight to her room and locking the door.

Ding!

—Follower Summoning: Cynthia!

—Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 7 hours 13 minutes 14 seconds.

Cynthia had already expected to be summoned, and managed to materialize her black gauze in time. She gave the disappointed Emilia a smug look.

Emilia rolled her eyes before tightly squeezing the younger girl's cheeks.

"You really like provoking fights, huh? Always setting me up like that!"

"Wuwuwuwu… stahp! Stahp!"

Emilia let go only after she was satisfied, and Cynthia held her swollen cheeks wistfully.

Despite her 'punishment', it didn't look like Emilia was mad at all. The raven haired girl couldn't help but be curious.

"Don't you mind?"

Emilia smiled as she sat down on the bed, prompting her partner to do the same. "It's fine to have a little fun from time to time. But there are some things I need to ask you, alright?"

Cynthia blinked curiously. "Oh?"

Emilia nodded, her expression solemn. "Mhm, so remember when you told me that it's impossible to view the timeline once you're part of that world?"

The emerald eyed girl gulped.

'J-Just what kind of chaos does she want to cause?!'

Unfortunately, she would only find out once she had already armed Emilia with the knowledge she sought.

----------

"Hmm… Daughter-in-law set you up for this?"

Dixie clenched her jaw as she tried her best not to retort to her mother. Anyway, she was asking for a favor, so she could only keep her temper in check.

Mrs. Brown smirked. "Hey now, no need to look like someone's strangling you. I didn't say I won't do it, right?"

The young black haired girl could only sigh as she tried to reason with her mother.

"I tried out her cooking, mom, it's really quite good. Not as good as what you make at home, but definitely better than what our staff produces at some of our branches."

The middle-aged lady looked shocked. "Ohohoho… is that praise I hear? How rare. It's true what they say, when they're asking for a favor, even the most tsun-tsun will go dere-dere."

"…"

Mrs. Brown cleared her throat. "Ahem, anyway, it doesn't matter how good that lady's cooking is. The area is good, and the place is decent. With minor renovation and advertisement, we can rake in huge profits. Not a bad business at all."

Dixie breathed a sigh of relief.

The older lady's eyes shone with curiosity. "So… what did my daughter-in-law trade for this favor?"

Her daughter tilted her head. "What?"

"…"

Mrs. Brown was completely speechless. 'Don't tell me this moronic simp of a daughter I have did not even think of trading this in for a huge favor?! No way can she be that stupid, right?'

But Dixie's dumb looking face was telling her that it was indeed true.

Mrs. Brown squeezed the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache setting in. "Hey Dixie, dear daughter of mine, can you do mom a favor in exchange? Even if it's profitable, setting up a new branch is a lot of work and time, you know?"

Dixie looked at her mother nervously. "W-What is it, mom?"

Mrs. Brown rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she smirked.

"I want a photo of daughter-in-law getting f—… ahem, I guess that might be too much for you, huh. Let me make it easier. I want a photo of my daughter-in-law giving you a kiss for doing her a favor, alright? I can't possibly set the bar any lower, so don't even think of bargaining!"

Looking at her daughter's disbelieving, wide eyes, the middle-aged lady almost felt as if she had truly failed as a gigachad mom.

At Dixie's age, she had a boy two feet taller than her and almost twice her weight running away from her in terror. And here was her daughter, being all wishy-washy with a girl she could easily bend over at any time.

'Hmph, how many of these types have I cucked over the years? Too many to count!'

Mrs. Brown sighed as she thought of how to get her daughter to be bolder. If Emilia hadn't had such a huge backing, the best solution would have been to just pack her up and lock her in Dixie's room, permanently.

But thinking about the sheer amount of destruction that might bring, Mrs. Brown could only shake that thought off her mind.

Looks like she could only provide her daughter with some 'encouragement' and hope for the best.

"If you can't even do this much, forget about that franchise thing. Go tell daughter-in-law she can do it herself. Anyway, although the 'White Deer' corporation does not delve into this line, I'm sure Mr. White will happily throw a few million to satisfy his daughter's demands."

But how could Dixie go back empty handed now? She already promised Emilia to get this done! Anyway, she'll just have to figure out how to get that kind of photo without making her friend feel awkward.

"Who says I can't?! I'll get you that photo later, but, uhm, please get this thing done as soon as possible, alright?"

Mrs. Brown raised her eyebrows, pleasantly surprised. "Hoh, is my simp of a daughter finally channeling some of my energy?!"

Dixie rolled her eyes. "The way you talk is disgusting as ever, mom…"

"Don't care. Anyway, you better do as you promised, or else… I'll have your most embarrassing baby photos put up in billboards around your school."

"MOM?!"