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It took Emilia a few more days to finish talking to everyone who wished to come along, and the rest of her girlfriends also took this time to talk things through with their close friends and family.
Who should and shouldn't be let in on the 'reality' of how and where they would be leaving, the crimson-haired girl left up to them. Of course, this privilege was also extended to those she had picked after her 'talk', though very few chose to exercise it, in the end.
Loving someone and trusting them completely were two different things, after all, and even Dixie didn't dare to let her own mother and grandfather know that her princess was from another world, let alone the fact that she had made the choice to travel through dimensions to follow her.
It was better to just let them know that Emilia would be going completely 'incognito' soon, and as people closest to her, they wouldn't be able to contact anyone they knew in the future.
Quite understandably, not everyone was in favor of their daughters and sons completely cutting them off so abruptly, but that was unavoidable.
At some point, everyone had to make a choice in their life that they knew even their loved ones wouldn't be happy with, for the sake of their own happiness.
Of course, the only exception where someone chose to not only completely confide the truth to those they believed in, but the other party also wished to follow her along, was Crystal.
When Emilia heard about it, even she couldn't help but ask the woman in person. "Mrs. Miller… are you really, really sure about this?"
Crystal's mother smiled. "Of course, Crystal is all I have, after all. I won't bind her to myself, but if possible… please allow me to follow and watch over her as long as I can."
The crimson-haired girl naturally understood how firm a resolve one needed to have to follow someone to a place that they had absolutely no idea about. 'Plus, with how it usually takes the strength of a thousand horses just to pull her out of the house… there's no way she's changing her mind.'
In the end, Emilia could only sigh and agree. "Alright, I'll be happy to take you along."
The only thing that really bothered her was that the people being taken along needed to have very strong feelings for her, according to Cynthia, or their transfer might fail, and they might even get lost in transit. However, Mrs. Miller had never expressed such feelings to her, despite having taught her how to cook for quite a while when she used to stay over at her house.
But Emilia knew that she could only trust that Crystal wasn't being led by her emotions when she claimed that her mother truly adored her, or the consequences would definitely be heartbreaking.
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Noelle had already made the arrangements for the major announcement of Emilia's withdrawal from the public eye, so as soon as everyone who was to be taken along was sorted through and housed near the Blue Lotus Palace by the crimson-haired girl, all these preparations were applied with immediate effect.
It had been a while since Emilia made such a grand speech in public, so everyone in the empire was obviously excited to attend the event. And despite the extremely thorough preparations, the seats Noelle had arranged in the rather vast open field outside the capital were all filled up hours before Emilia's arrival.
Fortunately, aside from those overenthusiastic folk who rushed to the capital despite knowing how unlikely they were to catch a glimpse of their princess in person, the rest of the empire's population was quite understanding. They only waited for the live broadcast in front of their screens, preventing everything from completely grinding to a halt.
Dixie frowned as she observed the boiling crowd in front of the stage. "Princess should have just done a fully online event. This… it doesn't feel very safe, no matter how I look at it."
Noelle also nodded as she observed the packed crowd in the surveillance display. "With almost eight hundred thousand people here… it will be impossible to keep the situation in control once they get agitated."
Obviously, keeping Emilia safe wasn't that hard. But preventing accidents and mishaps within the crowd was a whole other can of worms.
The rest of the world might be okay, but none of them were very optimistic about the empire's people taking Emilia's departure lightly. And if things really went south… who knows what kind of impact it might have on the crimson-haired girl?
It simply didn't seem worth the risk.
Crystal shook her head in denial. "The people of Blue Dawn have been sincere to Emilia, and you know she would always feel guilty if she left without even saying a proper goodbye. It's better to do things cleanly, and… trust the people we have been helping."
Of course, the only reason she could be so confident was because her ability allowed her to get a very thorough grasp of the public's heart in the empire. For the more pragmatic thinkers in their group, even being aware of her ability, it was impossible to be so optimistic.
Noelle couldn't help but roll her eyes. "It's exactly because you, Penny, and Sam keep putting the cart before the horse like this that I have so many migraines. You don't want to hurt Emilia's feelings, but do you not realize how much it would hurt her if things soured because we didn't warn her sternly enough when we should have?"
The blonde heroine avoided her sharp gaze nervously. "I-It's too late to discuss these things now, a-anyway. A-Aren't we already here?"
"You know very well it's not too late until she steps onto that stage!"
The gray-haired girl was always stern, but rarely ever used such a harsh tone on anyone, including Sam, so Crystal was noticeably shaken. But she still held her ground. "I-I still think it's better for us to face this kind of thing head-on. If Emilia doesn't say it in person in front of a big enough crowd and just goes missing, no matter what kind of 'proof' is put out there… the people of Blue Dawn will definitely riot."
And Crystal wouldn't blame them. In their place, even she would be skeptical. Knowing just how many people coveted Emilia, and how much she cared for her 'children', how could she just disappear without a single word?
Videos could be faked, and voices could be synthesized. And even if there was some concrete proof... it was unlikely that many would be rational enough in that situation to believe it.
After all, even if they were wrong and Emilia ended up being upset at their actions and returned to scold and scorn them... it was better than constantly wondering if she was suffering from a miserable fate, while everyone she believed in did nothing to 'save' her.
Unfortunately, not everyone had such a thorough understanding of the empire's people.
Crystal looked towards Dixie for help, but the dark-haired girl obviously was too confused to take a side.
After all, while she may not really care what happened to the people of Blue Dawn once they left, her princess would definitely not want the peaceful empire she worked so hard to build to fall into chaos so easily.
Luckily, before their argument could really start getting heated, a charming yet exasperated voice came to their rescue. "Can you girls not fight? I would rather not have to spank anyone in front of nearly a million people."
Given how Michelle was still busy tying a few of the ribbons on her extremely elaborate purple princess dress, clearly, she had been forced to leave the dressing room early from overhearing their argument.
Even Sam, who had so solemnly vowed to do nothing but take all the pictures that she could of her little sister dressing up 'for the public good', took the chance to scold them. "Why make so much fuss when you know my little baby's mind has already been made up? Just enjoy the ride, I say!"
Of course, her fingers didn't pause pressing on the shutter for even a second.
With Emilia in the frame, every shot was a great shot, and it would be a great shame to miss any of them, as far as she was concerned.
As drool slipped between the otherwise 'cool' girl's rather perverse giggles before she sucked it back in, not to mention Dixie and Crystal, even Noelle couldn't help but sigh. 'She's really hopeless, isn't she?'
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