Eyes on her

Chapter 4

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

~Flashback~

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[...] Crimson Lion's Base, Fuegoleon's office.

"Good! Who cares about those tight-ass nobles. The fewer the better!" — a woman stood cross-armed looking at a painting on the wall.

"Mereo, those nobles have been our supporters since before our birth, we can't afford to lose their cooperation" — the Crimson Lion's captain sat on his desk writing on an elegant-looking paper.

"Of course we can! We're the ones giving them money not the other way around. We get nothing out of keeping those backstabbing rats with us. We should focus on the commoners, they are loyal and we get income from them" — Mereoleona argued fiercely.

"We'll keep the relationship with the commoners as we have, but we need the nobles now more than ever" — he continued to write as he spoke.

Mereoleona gave him an incredulous look as she rolled her eyes. "Why?" — she asked, exasperated.

He stopped and set aside the quill. "The power struggle between the royal families is commencing again. You weren't here to experience it before so I won't fault your ignorance of it" — He leaned back and closed his eyes. "Ignorance is bliss, after all, you would know".

She snarled and grinned. "I didn't realize you became such a pansy. Why don't you say what you want to say".

Fuegoleon remained unphased by her verbal attack and relaxed in his chair. "There is no hidden meaning, I think you made the right choice for yourself and I would recommend you do so again".

"Really? — she scoffed. "If it's such a good idea then why don't you leave and let me handle things here this time, and don't give me that bullshit about responsibility and duty"

"You really think you can?" — he leaned forward and stared at her intently.

"Heh, you actually don't think I can do it" — her amusement was clear.

'Of course you can't...' - he thought. "You lack the experience and knowledge of past and current politics, you are also not well-favored within high society which will..." — he stopped when he noticed a wide smirk on her face, directed at him, a reaction he didn't expect.

"Keep going" — she commanded.

There was no hostility in her tone nor any threatening mana pressure, the same smirk never left her expression. 'Let's see then...' - he was puzzled.

He straightened himself slowly. "You have no tact, you're overbearing, you use intimidation and fear to get your way, you don't have the patience to work through a problem without resorting to force, and you're volatile" — he paused to wait for any rebuttal from his older sister as he noticed her smirk was being wiped away slowly.

'If she's serious then this will be a good test' - he knew well that this might lead to more than an exchange of words and prepared himself for it. 'Better to put a stop to this here'.

"Leading the Crimson Lion's suits you well, but being the head of our royal duties, you would either run us into the ground with incompetence or run away when you get fed up or bored" — his arm flared slightly as he subtly gathered mana in preparation of any potential physical conflict.

"Seems like you're ready for a fight, you really do think that little of me" — she didn't show emotion.

"In this particular aspect yes, I do think little of you. You're one of the reasons our reputation has diminished with the nobles" — he said bluntly.