━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Emilia could tell by the terror in the man's eyes that he must have misunderstood how she got in, but instead of correcting him, she just smirked. "You don't look very happy to see me? But rest assured, I'm only here to help."
The president shook his head in disbelief, causing the crimson-haired girl to chuckle.
"Whether you accept it or not doesn't really matter, to be honest. Everyone who really matters else believes in me already, after all. If you do as you are told, things will just be a little easier. Plus… you won't have to suffer as much."
The president's face turned pale. "Y-You… just what are you planning to do? Even if you've somehow convinced those idiots at the border, do you think everyone else in the world is an idiot and will just stand by and let you do as you please?!"
Obviously, his words confirmed that the man had no idea that Carmen's military was still very much in his control, and hadn't secretly defected to Emilia's side.
Emilia smiled. "That's not something for you to worry about now, is it?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Three days later, fireworks and cheers spread throughout the country as people celebrated their 'victory' by getting the current president to resign, though many still remained cynical about how it would improve their situation.
"What are you people celebrating? The ex-president's luxurious retirement to some remote paradise?"
"Ayyy, don't be like that, mate. We haven't heard any good news for months now, and the curfew is finally off. Can't we be happy for a while?"
Beneath the seemingly cheerful smiles, fear and depression lurked as always. But the people of Carmen couldn't be blamed for having such little hope for the future.
After all, the president changed every five years anyway, but the state of their country had always remained the same. The common folk suffered, while the gangsters and those in power did as they pleased.
Of course, the president had also announced some changes that the parliament had made before his resignation, but no one really paid much attention to such things. The chances of it all being anything but a means to placate the restless masses were almost negligible, after all.
If anything, the fact that the non-democratically elected part of the government — which was mostly controlled by the Gray Wolfe Corporation — would now have a lot more power than before was just another warning sign for worse things to come.
And as everyone expected, the news of Ginny becoming the new president arrived.
"She's that man's daughter, isn't she?"
While she wasn't exactly a celebrity, it was impossible for no one to know about the daughter of one of the most powerful men in their country, whether she'd previously been favored or not.
Of course, being associated with her much more well-known father had its own significant downsides.
"Fuck, man… as if we weren't already paying out of our ass for even the most basic necessities… this bitch is just going to make everything more expensive, isn't she?"
"Guess we can say goodbye to all those freebies and relief material from the White Deer, too. Doubt she'll let them linger around now and be a threat now that she already has complete control."
"She might not be as bad as Sanders… oh, who am I kidding?"
While it might be an exaggeration to say that every business and corporation in the world was greedy and would do anything for more money... as far as these people were concerned, it wasn't really that far from the truth.
After all, the likes of the White Deer Corporation were rare exceptions, and even that was only the case because of the strange philanthropist hobby of their little princess. Maybe to her, it was just a small price to pay for some good entertainment, though most people realized it would be unwise to say such a thing in public, especially on the internet.
"Hush! Don't speak nonsense… what if someone heard?"
Ginny's acceptance speech was short and to the point, and only made many more certain of their guesses.
"I may be good at business, but when it comes to running a country, I realize that I might have many shortcomings. As such, I'll be taking help and advice from someone who can do it much better than me, so let's all look forward to a brighter future together."
Coming from her, the 'brighter future' only meant more money in the Gray Wolfe's accounts, as far as most people were concerned.
But no one expected that not even two days later, a familiar yet completely unexpected face would show up on their TVs.
"I know not many of you have a good impression of the Gray Wolfe, and I can't blame you… I didn't either, but that was in the past. I've helped Jasper and Ginny before, and they have also done the same, and believe me when I say that they're not the same as their father."
Emilia smiled. "With her as the president and Jasper leading the Gray Wolfe Corporation, I really think that Carmen's situation will steadily improve. Of course, since I've been given the chance to help, I don't mind putting in the effort to change it all for the better. After all, while the situation here isn't as bad as it used to be in Blue Dawn, if there are things I can change for the better, why wouldn't I?"
The crimson-haired beauty's speech did soothe much of the agitated population, but even with her charm, it failed to completely win everyone over.
While most people already had a good impression of her based on how she had completely transformed Blue Dawn, the fact that she was a foreigner, and there was no proper explanation on how much power she would have still made many uneasy.
Her title of 'special executive' didn't seem very powerful, but would someone like Emilia really come all the way to Carmen if she wasn't even being given enough power to make any changes?
But maybe deep down in their hearts they still had some hope for a brighter future, as aside from some criticism online, there were no signs of protests or unrest anywhere.
Of course, the biggest factor in ensuring such stability was Carmen's military, which remained silent from the beginning to the end, as if silently acquiescing to everything.
Only Noelle and the spies from the Gray Wolfe Corporation knew just how tense things had gotten at one point, with many simply waiting for others to make a move to 'join in' themselves.
If not for them being already well-prepared in advance and intercepting their communications timely, there was no telling what could have happened next.
Maybe the White Deer Corporation might even have suffered a complete loss, with no way to resist in front of Carmen's military might within their borders.
Noelle couldn't help but sigh in relief. "I have to say… your decision of letting Ginny take over first was really wise. If you directly snatched the 'throne' this time, things could have turned really bad."
The crimson-haired girl giggled. "How rare of you to praise me so openly… if only I wasn't so far away right now, I wouldn't have been able to resist giving you a kiss."
Noelle rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Should you really be so carefree right now?"
Had it not been for the fact that they were already hundreds of miles away from each other and the gray-haired girl couldn't reach through the screen, Emilia had no doubt that Noelle would be pinching her cheeks to alleviate her anger by now.
But since she had nothing to fear, the crimson-haired girl just giggled. "Of course, with you and big sister taking care of things there, is it possible for Carmen's situation not to improve?"
"That's not what I—" Noelle paused, and then sighed. "Forget it."
Maybe if Ginny and Jasper heard her, they would really be heartbroken. After all, there they were working their butts off, but here Emilia didn't bother mentioning their names.
"We'll take care of things here, just make sure you don't get hurt."
Emilia grinned. "Don't worry so much. Just take it as a vacation and play around a little if you like. We'll be back together before you know it!"
Slightly uncharacteristically of her usually serious self, Dixie also jumped into the frame with a smile. "You can trust me with protecting the princess until then, Noelle!"
Of course, the muffled sounds from the background let the gray-haired girl know about the reason for her 'strange' behavior.
"See? Amos also agrees… although his opinion doesn't really matter."
The boy tied to the seat at the back of the plane raged helplessly, and Noelle couldn't help but cough to hide her amused smile. "Careful now, don't give him a heart attack."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience