"That princess from Dark Moon Island doesn't seem to have come along."
Ventura smiled and struck up a conversation as he ate the cream cake in his hand. His grandmother had made it herself. After his promotion and allowance increase, she had begun adding extra cream that could only be bought with point vouchers when she baked. However, that cream was for his colleagues and minister; Ventura himself still only ate the most ordinary cream.
"Tell me, is that something you should concern yourself with?" Muli looked down at the young boy. "No superior likes his subordinates paying attention to his private affairs."
"I'm only talking to you about it. What, are you going to report me to Mr. Alfred, or stand up and criticize me at the next Reading Exchange?"
Ventura and Muli were the closest. After all, they had entered the Opera House for further training in the same batch, and even jokingly called themselves the First Cohort among their own people;
Philomina was the Opera House's Second Cohort, while Leon and Vic were its Third Cohort.
Muli smiled. "You could take the initiative at the next Reading Exchange and offer criticism of the minister's private romantic life."
"You're awful."
Ventura finished the last of his cake, licked the cream off his fingers, then picked up two fallen leaves from the ground to wipe his hands.
Muli said, "Ophelia belongs to Divine Son Mavario's department, not our organization. And to put it more bluntly, if we want to take full control of this Dark Moon Warrior Squad, our first priority is to eliminate Dark Moon Island's influence over them. So it isn't just this time. Going forward, we need to minimize opportunities for that princess to have substantive contact with these Dark Moon Warriors.
"Mr. Alfred has already