Chapter 86: Opposition

I hesitated. Should I call him, or should I leave a message?

“What’s wrong?” Felicia asked.

“Never mind…” I replied.

In the end, I chose to call him. The phone rang for a full minute before it was finally picked up.

“Jonathan? I heard you were trying to reach me a few days ago. May I help you?”

“Ah! Yuri! Perfect timing! Let’s meet at Café au Paris… no, we shouldn’t meet in public. I’m really sorry, but can I ask you to come to this address instead?”

“Alright.” I nodded.

“Nice work,” Felicia said.

“Was that sarcasm? So, where are we going, Felicia?” I pouted. I didn’t even do anything.

The place we were supposed to meet was a rather fancy restaurant. Of course, it didn’t belong to any conglomerate. In fact, it had the same secretive atmosphere as when Francesca brought me to her hidden meeting spot.

“Thank you for coming, Yuri. I appreciate it. What do you want? Salad?” Jonathan offered.

“So, what do you need?” I asked directly.

“Um… I need some help. I heard that you have a connection to Black Lily, and Francesca told me she asked her for help,” Jonathan said.

“Hm? How did you know?” I tilted my head. Jonathan had been trying to contact me ever since his company got into trouble.

“Well… at first, I just wanted to ask for support to calm the public, but now that we’re out of the woods, I have another request. Francesca told me yesterday that her situation has been resolved. So, I guess… you did something?”

“Maybe?” I didn’t deny it outright.

“Ahem. Let’s cut to the chase. My brother is among those scheduled to be exiled. I don’t know what Francesca did to save her father, but I want in on it.”

“Uhm…” I hesitated. The mission was supposed to be a secret, with only Francesca’s father involved. Technically, I could include him, but the real question was: why?

“I don’t think my father will agree. Francesca is a bit special, you know.”

“Damnit. You know she’s a Guardian, right?” Jonathan cursed. The fact that he could say it so casually proved he hadn’t signed any geas. Francesca sure was loose with her secret identity.

“I can give you stocks and shares. Please, Yuri. You’re my only hope.” Jonathan pleaded, then held my hand in a desperate, begging manner. “Would you rather let my family be devoured by those evil Anathema?”

“Um…”

“Yuri, I promise I’ll do better. I may have ignored you in the past, but that was because I valued your freedom. You must understand.”

“Well… I guess we can put your brother on the ferry…” I finally relented.

“Huh? What ferry?”

“Well, Francesca was planning to transport her father to an offshore oil rig. Maybe I could ask my father to give your brother a lift?”

“Wonderful! Amazing. I owe you one, Yuri.”

“Well… Kageyama said we’re rivals, not nemeses. I hope your company gives us a better deal next time,” I whispered, feeling awkward saying it.

“Thank you, Yuri. You only realize something is precious once you’ve lost it.” Jonathan sighed. “Very well, I won’t waste any more of your time. Once again, thank you, Yuri.” He hugged me and patted my head affectionately.

He was certainly used to dealing with women—there was a strange sense of warmth in his touch.

“I shall leave now. Here, for you.” I handed him a small gift bag—just cookies and snacks I had bought from a nearby store. Then I left the building.

“Yes, don’t worry, I’ll keep in touch. Once again, thank you, Yuri.” Jonathan waved as he gave me his most graceful smile.

I quickly called my Seinjet to leave the premises. From the rooftop of the restaurant, I departed. Of course, Jonathan didn’t escort me. He was keeping a low profile for now.

“Miss Yuri, where to next?” Sebastian, my butler, asked.

“Let us go home.” I sighed.

I felt a little bad about it. Jonathan did seem to have changed for the better—but I had already attached mana eyes to both his clothes and the present I gave him. With this, I should be able to eavesdrop on some of his conversations. I could get information about Enra from Francesca… and now, I could gather intel on NewStar from Jonathan.

“So, how is NewStar?” I asked Felicia.

“Well, your cookies seem to have ended up in a dustbin. He’s insufferable, isn’t he?” Felicia sighed.

“What?” I hurriedly accessed the recordings from my mana eyes—and indeed, Jonathan had thrown away my cookies.

My eyes went red for a moment, a dark wisp of smoke emanating from me.

“Yuri? What’s that? I felt a disturbance in your virtual world,” one of my clones spoke through our telepathic link.

“Never mind. How stupid of me.” I calmed down in an instant. Now, I just felt embarrassed instead. Those girls would never let me live this down.

“Eh… our cold princess wavered? Was her heart not as icy as she looked?” one of the clones whispered.

I didn’t summon them, but I could still hear them talking inside my head.

“He is rather handsome, I agree. The way he caressed you—GAH!”

I heard screams as naginatas and scythes were suddenly drawn. It seemed a full-blown battle had erupted among them.

“Calm her down! Pin her! We have a rogue Yuri on our hands!”

“Fucking bitch! Don’t you dare talk about that asshole again! How dare he!”

“Yuri, you’re so easy. He pats your head and suddenly your heart’s all aflutter?”

“Damn you!”

“Calm down! Stop it with the violence—it was just a lapse in judgment! It’s good we found out how he truly behaves now. We didn’t even talk to him that much.”

“I will not calm down until I smash his head in with one of these naginatas!”

“Are we feeling jealous?” One of the clones kept egging the enraged ones on.

I could only sigh, struggling to calm the storm of emotions in my heart.

“Felicia… please shut them out. Let me know only if they request something or need anything,” I asked my trusted partner.

I then turned my focus toward another of my mana eyes—the one on his shirt. Jonathan was on the phone.

“Yo! My bro! I just found out about how Francesca is going to get her father! That Shirayuki bitch was so easy. hahahah!”

“Nice work. You work fast. Was it really that easy? So, how will Francesca get her father out?"

“No problem! That woman was so naive and stupid. I just had to sweet-talk her a bit and she spilled the beans. Hahaha. So, here is the deal. She said Francesca’s father would be going to an oil rig. Smart move—technically outside the city, but he’s safe.”

“I see. Well, Now that we know how they will do it, we should file a formal complaint to Guardian Command. But we need more information. Which oil rig and where is the pickup. You need to ask that Shirayuki bitch to ask her Guardian.”

“Eh? We’re not going to help them?” Jonathan asked. "Norn was there as well, right? I couldn't care less about that fool. But are we really going to snitch on them?"

“Of course not, you fool. This is the perfect chance to drag Guardian Command’s reputation through the mud. After that, we can reinstate our own executive. Just like before.”

“Wow. As expected, you’re smart.” Jonathan chuckled.

“Well, same to you. I underestimated your social skills. Didn’t think you could actually make her talk.”

“Everyone’s got their strengths. Just leave it to me. If I’m lucky, I might even be able to send Black Lily your way.” He chuckled again.

I blinked, stunned by Jonathan’s incoherent speech. Didn’t he want to save his cousin? Why would he want to sabotage the rescue?

“I just did a search. None of Jonathan’s brothers are on the exile list,” Felicia said. “The one being exiled is a distant relative. His third cousin is named Norn.”

“Huh? Third cousin? That’s practically a stranger!” I exclaimed. A third cousin meant they shared the same great-great-grandparents. Shirayuki did value blood ties more than most, but even we only held gatherings with such distant relatives once a year.

“Well, I didn’t think they were close either.” Felicia shrugged. “The only place they could’ve met was when Jonathan visited NewLake.”

“Alright, I don’t care about his family tree. What’s Jonathan’s goal if he never actually wanted to save that distant relative?” I asked, bewildered.

“From the recording we saw earlier, he planned to expose Francesca’s secret dealings with Guardian Command and Shirayuki. If this goes public, then both Guardian Command and Shirayuki will receive tremendous backlash.”

“And? What did we ever do to them to deserve such a heinous thing?” I shouted inside my Seinjet. We are business rivals, but I thought our relationship was better than that. We and Newstar even had many dealings until now. Thankfully, it had privacy features, so no one outside could hear me. Still, I could see Sebastian glancing at me curiously.

“Well, I have some speculations, but we need more proof.”

“No… I think I know. I just couldn’t believe they would go that far…” I sighed. If Shirayuki and Guardian Command were to fall, they could replace many of Guardian Command’s executives with their own men—effectively controlling the entire sanctuary system.

“Well, it seems you’ve reached the same conclusion I did, Yuri.”

“Is this enough evidence? Should I cancel the rescue mission instead?” I felt bad for Francesca, but I couldn’t sacrifice Shirayuki and all of its employees for her sake. If we saved Francesca’s father, Jonathan and NewStar would win.

“Hm… dunno, nya. The Zenith wanted proof that they either actively supported humanity or acted against it. This behavior raises serious suspicion that they plan to act against humanity’s interests. But it’s still not concrete evidence. They could claim they’re just upholding the law—or trying to reform things for the greater good.”

“You actually believe that?”

“No. I’d bet two of my whiskers they’re lying. So, want to submit the evidence now? We can conclude this investigation. Depending on Zenith’s assessment, I don’t think you’ll receive the full reward, but you’ll get something at least.”

“If I submit now, what will happen?”

“Zenith and UNH will ban us from helping Francesca’s father. He’ll be left to die in the Darklands.”

“And Jonathan?”

“He will likely be free. There isn’t enough evidence against him.”

“This plotting—we can submit this recording, right?”

“It could just be seen as them trying to expose corrupt officials instead.”

“...” I clenched my fist. If I stopped now, Francesca’s father would die and Jonathan would walk away scot-free. But if I continued, my entire family could be at risk. The plan was already underway—the exile of Francesca’s father and the five executives would take place in two days.

“Hm… I wouldn’t worry too much. As long as the details of the operation remain clandestine, Jonathan and NewStar shouldn’t be able to interfere. They know we’re transferring Francesca’s father to an oil rig, but they don’t know which one. And they don’t have proof. All personnel at the oil rigs will be swapped out anyway,” Felicia said.

That eased some of my worries, but I wasn’t satisfied. I couldn’t accept them walking free. They were like rats—I wanted them to face justice.

“Felicia, what evidence do I need? Should I call Jonathan again?”

“Well, I don’t think we’ll have time for that. We just got a call from Francesca and Mr. Armstrong. They want to brief us on how to get her father out. Ah, this call is addressed to Black Lily, by the way. You’ll need to be transformed. The meeting’s in three hours.”

“... I understand. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.” I sighed again.

“Young Miss, am I interrupting something? We arrived at your condo ten minutes ago,” Sebastian said.

“Ah, sorry.” I stepped out of the Seinjet and headed to my room, cheeks slightly red.

That was so embarrassing. How did I not realize we’d been parked here for ten minutes…?