Few people could tolerate being mocked like that to their face, and fewer still could take it when it happened right in front of their significant other.
Granted, Narcissa was only his ex-wife now, but that did little to quell the sheer humiliation that drowned Noelle's biological father.
"Y-You little brat—!"
Even at the lowest point of his life, when all the elders had been dissatisfied with him for the deception regarding his remarriage, no one had dared to treat him like that!
Emilia blinked back at him innocently. "Yes?"
She didn't look offended at all, as if not even understanding that the person in front of her was scolding her.
"!"
The man pointing his finger at her indignantly almost had a stroke.
The crimson-haired girl smiled placatingly, as if dealing with a particularly bothersome type of kid. "Don't worry, everyone knows that the child cannot be blamed for the sins of their parent. Since you were oblivious to what was going on around you, it's not like you could have done much anyway, right?"
Her 'understanding' was more of a slap to the face than consolation, and the man in front of her could almost feel his bones creak from the effort it took to restrain himself from punching this little girl to death.
Even if she was just an insignificant pawn, one had to look at the owner's face before kicking the dog. And given that the elders remained silent in the face of so much slander against his wife… he had the feeling that maybe getting a rise out of him had been their expectation from the start.
The man could bring himself to neither believe nor deny that thought. And the longer he dwelled on it, the more furious he became.
In the end, he really couldn't take it anymore and stormed off in a hurry before he lost control and made things worse.
Narcissa also took the opportunity to follow him out in a hurry, leaving just the helpless elders together with Emilia and Noelle in the hall.
From the start to the end, neither of the two seemed to have paid attention to the fact that their 'dead' daughter was unexpectedly standing in front of them, and might have been waiting to meet them for her whole life.
But Noelle wasn't disappointed.
In fact, looking at her mother's gloomy eyes and her so-called father's obviously livid and disbelieving expression before he stormed off, she couldn't help but nod in satisfaction. 'As expected, when it comes to playing with people's feelings, one way or the other, no one does it better than her.'
She had no doubt that even if those two believed less than half of what was said, they would still be at each other's throats soon enough.
After all, they hadn't stopped tearing each other's faces off for years, and had only managed to reach a fragile truce after countless efforts from the people around them.
Now that she had Emilia pour jet fuel into the bonfire, there was no doubt going to be a good show waiting for everyone shortly after.
It was quite surprising how even without her absurdly gorgeous face, the 'impact' that Emilia had on people was still so great, but after thinking about it some more, the gray-haired girl realized that it made sense.
The reaction that people had to someone's actions depended greatly on 'who' they were and what they looked like. And with Emilia's real self being as it was… there was no doubt that many would find it an honor even if they were to be crushed beneath her heels.
Without those two things, however, if her usual behavior and words remained the same… Emilia could be considered a great talent in pissing people off.
After all, not everyone in the world loved her, and the fact that Emilia managed to achieve that while looking like she did was a testament to her 'skill' in Noelle's book.
'Being Sam's little sister, I guess it's a given, isn't it? As expected of that idiot, I guess…' Noelle sighed.
She conveniently ignored that fact that the two girls weren't actually related at all, and Emilia hadn't really grown up under Samantha's care.
Meanwhile, the elders could only stare at each other helplessly as the two girls left without even a farewell.
"So she was their daughter, huh?"
The eldest daughter and the one who controlled the new main branch of their clan, Narcissa, and the previous clan leader, Gildroy, were both top-tier fighters and some of the brightest stars of their generation.
It was a pity that they turned out the way they had, but after discovering that the girl they had been so dissatisfied with before was their daughter, the elders couldn't help but change their opinion a little.
"She must have inherited most of their talent, right? It's no surprise that she can give us such a hard time then, since we're no longer in our prime."
"Right, but it's a pity that she seems to have no feelings for our clan. What a waste of a good seed."
The grand elder coughed. "That's not necessarily true. She might hold a grudge for now, but once she's done expressing her dissatisfaction against her parents, won't she still be a Nightingale through and through?"
The ones who had suffered under the girl's punches and kicks were a little skeptical about Noelle's scorn for their clan fading away any time soon, but thinking about the fact that she at least cared enough to come here now, they also couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"If we can properly integrate her into the clan, not only will all the previous benefits we imagined would be ours, but the next generation of clan leaders birthed from her might lead us to heights that we cannot even imagine!"
"We cannot let our past judgment hold the clan back from a brighter future."
"I cannot agree more."
"Right! What's important now is for us to make sure we wipe off that negative impression in her heart."
The few of them discussed how to go about it for a while, and soon came to a conclusion.
"Since this is so, we can only wrong Gildroy and Narcissa for now."
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