Chapter 120 - Nicole, Returning Home

Nicole looked out the window and sighed, the dark clouds in the sky were showed how much her mood had dampened.

She thought about the conversation she had with her parents not long after she returned home from school.

It was regarding the incident with the former Marquis of Pearce.

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When Nicole returned to her family's Villa, her parents ran out to welcome her with open arms.

It somehow even evolved into an argument of who got to hug her more, causing the servants to just sigh and shake their heads.

They were long used to this sort of behaviour from the Count and Countess.

Her Family's main villa was located on a prime world that served as the capital of the Harper territory.

It was in a large elliptical galaxy with a dozen other smaller galaxies orbiting around it.

This small galaxy cluster, shared boundaries with the Eryrth Grand Duchy' super cluster that was located to its east.

Owing to his status as a greater noble, a Count, the villa her father had built was as luxurious as could be.

During dinner on the night she returned, her father finally brought up the issue of Zach and the former Marquis of Pearce.

"Regarding that, his Majesty granted me some of the former Marquis' less illegal enterprises. This means more money and power for us."

He spoke with a proud look on his face, only to suddenly drop his head on the table and continue with an obviously saddened tone.

"Of course, that also means more work for me."

"You'd be able to handle it all, won't you?"

The countess patted his back while speaking, unsurprisingly, the Count sat back up with vigour and renewed motivation.

"Of course I would."

Nicole just chuckled softly seeing her parents acting as usual.

"Ah, you did give your thanks to the prince for his help right?"

"Yes I did."

Nicole replied to the countess' question before taking a sip of her drink.

"Then there's no problem anymore-"

"No, there still is."

The count interrupted his wife who was about to conclude the matter almost immediately.

"What else is left to do?"

To his wife's question, the count dropped his cutlery and began speaking with a serious tone.

"Sure, Nicole did thank the prince for his help, however that was just a matter between friends.

It doesn't change the fact that a royal family member granted help to our Count house, matters like thins can't just end with an informal thanks being given."

"I don't understand."

Nicole paused her meal and nodded at her mother's words. Seeing this the count sighed before continuing.

"The matter between the former Marquis and our Count house was not one that should have warranted the attention of the royal family.

When the Mammon grand duchy was found to be involved, it made things even trickier.

However, the reason that a member of the Mammon grand duchy was known to be involved was because the prince lent his help to us.

In other words, if the prince didn't help us, we might have been in a bigger problem than we could have ever imagined.

This is where the politics come in."

He ordered all the servants in the dining room to be dismissed before continuing.

"Some sons of bi- I mean, other nobles know about us gaining some of the former Marquis' property. They also know it was the prince's suggestion to grant us that property."

"Prince Arthur's?"

"Yes."

The count replied to Nicole's question and carried on with his speech.

"Since we not only received help from the prince but also had our property increase, we have gained the attention of a lot more than just a few greedy nobles who are willing to do anything to stop us from rising in power.

In other words, the act of not sending official thanks to the royal family, and the prince would be the perfect thing for them to pick on."

"Tsk..."

The countess clicked her tongue audibly, her rage was visible on her face.

The count however, was distracted due to something else he noticed.

'The energy around Nicole just increased exponentially for a second and dropped back to normal the next.'

Seeing her father stare at her intently caused Nicole to tilt her head with a confused look on her face.

'I'd think about that later.'

Dropping the matter and deciding to deal with it later, he spoke.

"We should send some sort of token of appreciation to the royal family in general and then a separate token for the prince.

We should also be ready to fulfil any demands that he may have in return for lending us help."

"Demands?! Isn't the token of appreciation enough?!"

The countess spoke up loudly upon hearing the counts words, her tone was laced with anger.  Understanding his wife's anger, the count sighed before saying.

"I know it sounds like a lot but you shouldn't forget that we are nobles now, petty things like this can blow up to be matters on a scale we would not expect.

Some nobles can pick on us for not sending token of appreciations to the royal family and the prince and somehow, they can formulate some other absurd claims and pin it on our heads.

They may act like they are seeking some sort of 'justice' for the royal family when in reality all they want is for us to lose our chance to rise in power.

I can't have that, a rise in power would prevent absurd situations like the one with the former Marquis from happening again and I would not allow some fools to stop us from gaining it."

The countess who still wasn't convinced fully, fidgeted around a bit before speaking hesitantly.

"I may be able to come to terms with the others but you said to be ready to fulfil any demands he may have.

Emphasis on ANY!

What if he wants our Nicole?"

"Pffft!!"

Her question caused Nicole who was taking a drink after finishing her meal to spit out her drink in shock.

"Ah..."

Her mother quickly realized she was the cause and helped Nicole to clean up the mess.

"Lord Arthur won't make a demand like that ...even though I would be okay with it." **RING!!

The Countess rang the bell beside her to summon the servants outside the door. The loud sound prevented her for hearing the latter half of Nicole's statement.

However, the count definitely did.

"Nicole, you..."

"I'm retiring to my room. Goodnight."

She quickly gave her parents her night greetings and left the dining room immediately after.

"Huh? What happened?"

The oblivious Countess' voice could be heard from the still open doors but Nicole paid it no mind and rushed to her room.

She dove onto her bed the moment she arrived and used sleeping magic on herself.

As she slowly drifted to sleep, she hoped she would end up forgetting about the bold statement she just made few minutes prior.

◇　◇　◇

Unfortunately, things never went the way one wished for them to.

That brings us to the current situation of a saddened Nicole who was staring out the window while sighing.

"Why did I say that?"

She placed her hands on her cheeks and crouched down on the ground, the shame she felt was visible on her face.

Her crush on Arthur was only known by Layla, her closest friend that she had known for as long as she could remember.

Her words the night before also made her father realize she held some sort of feelings for Arthur.

Feelings that were definitely not just platonic.

As for Nicole, she was no fool. 

She knew fully well that her feelings for Arthur would not amount to anything.

She had been friends with the boy for more than 3 years so she already knew of his attitude towards that kind of thing.

She also knew that Arthur and Layla used each other as shields to prevent any marriage proposals from other nobles and even other pantheons from universes ruled by the Devildom's allies.

As such, she could not hope for her crush to come to fruition.

[Do not be so down dear, you know the saying; 'First love always hurts'.]

A calming voice overflowing with motherly love rang out in the silent room.

Enormous amounts of water attributed magic energy gathered at a behind Nicole and condensed together.

Then there was a small bursting sound as the water took the shape of a woman.

One with sea blue eyes and skin. She possessed luxurious long curly sea blue hair that flowed down to her waist.

She wore a loose white gown adorned with various pearls of unknown worth.

She hugged Nicole tightly and rested her chin on Nicole's head before continuing.

[Honestly I really do not want you to be with that kid, his  u^!<£%$@! !^{¡€$£ and  d€$|!^? are far too great.

Being near him may cause danger to befall you.

And the most frightening of them all is his causality index, even some deities can't influence causality as much as he can.]