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"Big sister!"
The taller girl grinned happily as she welcomed her little sister into her embrace before kissing the top of her head. "Feels like it's been forever since I last got to hold my baby!"
Emilia couldn't help but giggle when she was lifted off her feet, and the older girl started nuzzling and nibbling on her neck and earlobe. "I-It tickles!"
Of course, even if she knew that Noelle was busy dealing with some other matters, Sam didn't dare go too far in open view within the Nightingale clan's compound, and soon put her little sister down with a sigh.
"With that last attack, I think we're already done with our preparations, and there weren't many losses on Ginny and Jasper's side either, but… Emilia… are you sure this is how you want things to go?"
Compared to her usually carefree tone, the crimson-haired girl could tell that Samantha was actually quite nervous.
So instead of brushing it off with a smile as she usually would have, Emilia gave her a serious nod. "Using the framework built by the Gray Wolfe Corporation and the old government to take them over from the inside will not only give us the greatest chance of success, but also allow us to minimize any casualties on our side."
The crimson-haired girl smiled. "In fact, if we're able to pull it off well enough, we may not even need to fight much."
Sam frowned. "But this way, you will still be bound by many of the old laws and regulations, and it will take dozens of times the effort to get the same results that we could easily get just by thinking about it in Blue Dawn, and certain things might even become impossible. Moreover… there is no guarantee that it will all work out well for us in the end, right?"
Naturally, Emilia also understood her older sister's concerns. She'd already discussed such things multiple times with both Noelle and Cynthia, after all.
"Big sis… although we have come a long way from where we once were, we still shouldn't be underestimating the amount of damage that we will take if we decided to attack Carmen head-on." The crimson-haired girl sighed. "Even if no one else takes the opportunity to hit us at the worst possible time, we will lose at least half of our volunteer army, and a huge chunk of our liquid assets as well."
Smart as she was, Sam also understood the strain it would put on both the White Deer Corporation as well as Blue Dawn to get Emilia the 'perfect victory' over Carmen. However, as far as she was concerned, all of these were just minor issues if they managed to help Emilia even a little bit.
But since Emilia herself was against it, Sam could only sigh in defeat. "Alright, since you've already made a choice, I guess I can only help my little angel spread her wings, eh?"
She reached out to pinch the younger girl's waist playfully, making her giggle.
"Since you're already here, wanna come check out Noelle's training session?"
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It had only been a few weeks since Noelle took up the mantle of 'clan leader', and this obviously wasn't enough time to completely transform the combat strength of those under her. However, that wasn't her goal from the start.
Instead of futilely spending an obscene amount of time and effort trying to turn a stick into an intricate cross-bow that could shoot down her foes from a distance, what she intended to do was just sharpen its tip into a spear.
As long as it was good enough to skewer her the skulls of her enemies, what more did she need? She didn't even care if it broke in the process, since she could always just shorten it a little and sharpen it again.
Noelle understood that this kind of 'use and throw' attitude towards the Nightingale clan's people would probably not please Emilia much if she knew about it, but since the crimson-haired girl decided to give her full control this time, she had no intention of going soft.
Unlike her idealistic little boss, she believed that to truly deserve a reward, one had to pay a price.
Since these people were going to indirectly benefit from being under Emilia and the White Deer Corporation's umbrella in the future, Noelle believed it was only right for them to do whatever they could to prove they were worth it now.
"Your form is too rigid! Spread out your legs and loosen your muscles! There, and you! Stop trying to match your opponent's pace! Your goal isn't to prolong the fight and make it fair, but to end it as quickly as possible, understand?!"
Of course, even if they did their best, it would never be enough to satisfy Noelle. But no one dared to grumble or groan about it.
Out of the seven hundred people who showed up to the call of their 'youngest and strongest clan leader in history', over two hundred had already been kicked out despite trying their best, and no one wanted to be next.
Over the past month, it had become increasingly clear that Noelle's words were the new law of the Nightingale clan. And if she really went ahead with her promises… their clan would be split into two.
The 'core' members would be those who were considered good enough by the clan leader, who would get not only everything they used to enjoy in the past, but also a lot more resources and care from the clan.
Meanwhile, the 'rejected' external members, including those in the family of the core members, would only be part of the Nightingale clan in name, and aside from not being kicked out of the compound, they might as well not be a part of the clan.
That is to say, unlike before, they could no longer just depend on the clan to maintain their lifestyles, and would either have to seek help from the core members, or find other ways to sustain their livelihood.
Many thought that their young clan leader was a bit too ruthless, but once they learned of the level of 'benefits' that the 'core' members would enjoy, all that energy was soon redirected to competing for Noelle's recognition.
This was largely thanks to not only the ruthlessly competitive environment that many of them grew up in, but also their fear of the ever-uncertain future.
Of course, they soon realized that while Noelle was harsh, she wasn't completely ruthless.
As long as they continued to improve and promised to do their best in the 'missions' they would be assigned later, they were not only allowed to take breaks, but some of them were also able to enjoy the drinks and desserts personally prepared by their leader's wife!
Since the delicacies were very limited in quantity, and a big portion was always monopolized by the stingy clan leader, only the top performers of the day were able to receive such rare blessings, which only made the competition more intense, and the crowd more enthusiastic.
"Oh! Leader's wife is… here—?!"
It was no surprise that whenever they caught sight of their clan leader's masked wife coming their way, most would get excited for their 'treats', but things were no longer the same this time.
After all, the girl heading their way might have had the same aura and demeanor, but her face… was no longer masked.
And while many had speculated that their leader's wife must be a great beauty to cause her to fall in love so fast… no one expected the girl to be on the same level as the renowned Empress of Blue Dawn, who was known to be almost fatally attractive.
In fact, even from a distance, they could tell that the similarity between their clan leader's wife and the little princess of White Deer was at least eighty, no, ninety percent!
Many people couldn't help but wonder if she could be one of the ultra-rich and ultra-obsessed fans who went through full face and body reconstruction to match their idols. After all, Emilia's facial features were quite distinct, and it was very unlikely for someone completely unknown to suddenly be so similar to her without a lot of extremely dubious coincidences.
Before anyone else could voice out such thoughts, however, one of the ladies pointed a shaky finger Emilia's way as she stepped back in shock. "D-Don't tell me… are you Empress Emilia's long lost twin sister?!"
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The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l