Throughout most of this chapter, Wriothesley is too busy with his inner gay panic to speak. Please give him some slack.
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Neuvillette's POV
"So let me get this straight. You want me to tell my boss that the reason I took a day off was to seduce Neuvillette into revealing your location?" Wriothesley asked baffled.
"Yeah."
"Are you insane?"
"I don't see a problem with it." Arlecchino shrugged her shoulders.
Hmm...
I knew that she was planning on revealing her location so she could go out and about with the kids in peace, but to do it like this...
"I was not out and about trying to seduce Neuvillette into bringing me here. Actually, I would have preferred not seeing you at all." Wriothesley shot back.
"The feeling is mutual about that last bit, but it's not as if what I'm saying is a lie. Neuvillette has been seduced by you and here you are, knowing my location after that lovestruck fool brought you over." Arlecchino rolled her eyes.
While she isn't exactly wrong, I would not consider myself a lovestruck fool by any means.
I brought him here after some careful consideration, okay?
"There is no need to force it, Arlecchino." I cut in.
"There is a need for your little boyfriend over here to find a reason for being on a date with you though. If not, his coworkers are sure to chew him out when he gets back to work for mingling with the enemy."
Oh...
That...
Arlecchino just said date, right? If even she noticed that that was the goal of this outing then my intentions should have been clear enough even without saying it like that, right?
"It's clear that Wriothesley did a very quick 180 about his feelings towards you, but I'm pretty sure his whole team still considers you public enemy number 1. So if you don't want for him to have a very awkward experience at work when someone inevitably realizes that he was being all lovey-dovey with you all day, I suggest you come up with a good excuse." Arlecchino continued.
Well...
While I don't want to admit it, she does have a point.
On the one hand, I don't want to lie about what I was doing with Wriothesley, but at the same time, I wouldn't want him to have a bad time at work because of me either.
"You two figure things out. I'm gonna go scold the kids for messing with the security cameras again. I'm more and more thankful to Sedene for making sure I get a notification when they are messing with them. She even made sure that the sound turns off in such cases." Arlecchino sighed.
Sedene is a smart and wonderful child after all. It's much like her to be so considerate.
"This wouldn't be a problem in the first place if it wasn't for her though."
"Hmm?"
I couldn't help but look at Arlecchino confused.
How would the children messing with the cameras be Sedene's fault?
"Arlecchino, please don't throw blame around like that. Sedene is a very thoughtful child. It is more likely that one of your colleagues would teach the kids something bad."
She gave me a weird look as she walked out the door.
"If that's what you want to believe then suit yourself."
And with that, she was gone.
What is that supposed to mean?
I'll ask her about it later. For now, I think I should answer some questions Wriothesley very obviously has.
"If you want to ask, just do so." I chuckled.
He looked kind of adorable stuck between asking or not.
"Uhm... So... Who is this Sedene?" He asked.
I wasn't expecting him to start with that one, but it's not as if it's a secret.
"Sedene is a girl I met ten years ago. I was... Maybe still am, something of a guardian of hers. I paid for her education and made sure she was safe and well-fed during it. Now that she's all grown up and has built a good and stable life for herself we don't see each other as often, but we still make sure to meet at least once a month for lunch."
She grew up so well. Never did I expect that the timid little girl I met all those years ago would grow up to be such a wonderful leader.
Though I didn't exactly anticipate that she would choose spying on criminals as her hobby.
Well, as long as she's happy.
I'll make sure that she stays safe no matter what she chooses to do in her free time.
"And how exactly did she get so close and friendly with Arlecchino of all people?" Wriothesley followed up.
That is a good question indeed. Arlecchino isn't exactly the most friendly and approachable person around.
"I believe it was their mutual dislike of Dottore that allowed them to get along. Sedene was also the one who set up the new security system in the orphanage."
I didn't mean to introduce her to a harbinger either. I would have preferred if she stayed out of this side of things.
"So about Arlecchino's offer..."
Ah... Right... That.
"Feel free to ignore her if you wish to. If not, since she offered, there is nothing stopping you from taking the opportunity."
If anything, he would be doing her a favor.
Arlecchino has been planning to reveal her location for some time now, but she had yet to find a way in which she wouldn't be suspected of scheming something.
That would only put more attention on her and the kids and would defeat the purpose of the reveal.
"I'm not worried about her. Since she offered she probably has at least six different schemes this would benefit. I just don't want to use you to guarantee my comfort." He explained.
"Use me?"
How would he be using me??
"If I do it according to Arlecchino's idea I will just be using your name to disguise a lie and you will be painted as someone stupid and easy to manipulate. It will also reveal that you have a closer connection to the Fatui than what they knew of before." Wriothesley clarified.
Oh.
"Is that all you are worrying about?"
What useless worry.
"There is also the fact that I would feel like a total jerk for painting a perfectly fine and fun day as nothing but a part of a scheme." He mumbled.
Oh, dear!
He was blushing!
That is so adorable!
He tried to hide it by avoiding my gaze and turning to the side but it did him no good.
"Is it not enough that we know we had fun?"
"Well... yes..."
"Then I don't see any problem going through with this." I smiled.
Besides, about half the city will know about our date by tomorrow anyway.
The underworld chain of gossip is a powerful thing.
My sister and Pierro wouldn't tattle about it to anyone, but since Childe and Arlecchino know, the other harbingers mostly likely are in on it too.
That means the Fatui, the organization as a whole, will be aware of it within the next 2 hours or so and they in turn will spread it outside.
In other words, while yes, Wriothesley's colleagues will be fooled because there are still rules standing concerning information, gossip or not, anyone who is even remotely involved with any shady business will know the truth by tomorrow.
Fortunately, that also means that anyone and everyone on that side of business will be aware that should they lay a finger on Wriothesley they would have to deal with me and I reckon everyone knows that that's not something you want to get into.
As for Wriothesley's colleagues...
They can think what they want to think of me. If they underestimate me because of it that's their problem in the end.
And my connection to the Fatui is known to just about everyone involved except for them. The most they will get is being laughed at by the heads of a few dozen criminal organizations for not figuring it out sooner.
So no, I don't see any downside to this on my part.