In the candlelight, the red wine gently swirled in the stemmed glass.
Carol's earlobes flushed slightly. In an effort to recover her lost dignity, she immediately began digging in her heels.
"I mean, if it were me, there's absolutely no way I'd become your puppet!"
You really shouldn't speak in such absolutes, Director Carol. Don't you know people who keep saying "absolutely" always end up muttering things like "How is this possible?" and "Wasn't the plan foolproof?"
Jonas laughed inwardly and gently shook his head. "Wrong, Miss Carol. Yucas is neither my Executor nor my puppet, much less the servant between my legs you make her out to be. She's my partner and my friend."
"Heh."
Carol merely snorted twice. She didn't believe a single word out of Jonas's mouth.
Anyone with eyes could see that the Peacekeeping Forces already belonged to Jonas. Once the puppet he backed took office, wouldn't it be child's play for him to send a message from behind the scenes and take direct control?
"Besides, even if she really were the Executor you described, so what? Yucas was an employee of the Alt Conglomerate to begin with. An employee voluntarily devoting herself to her company isn't that difficult to understand, is it?"
Jonas set down his wineglass and began leisurely cutting the food in front of him.
This restaurant served quite good food. It suited his tastes perfectly.
As for whether eating the food on his plate during negotiations showed a little too much disrespect toward Director Carol opposite him?
He wasn't the one in a hurry. Naturally, he could sit here at his leisure, enjoy the food, savor the wine, and watch how Carol responded to his words.
He had deliberately yielded a little control over these negotiations to Carol so she could take