Yes, Lady Funina!

The surrender was so swift that before Funina could even utter a word of warning to Clarinde, the other party had already made her stance clear, and quite firmly so.

Clarinde's actions caught Frynn off guard, but her years of playing the water goddess gave her impressive on-the-spot reactions.

"Just because you say it's on my side doesn't mean it's on my side."

You were just giving Lynette advice before!

If it's on her side, why didn't she come to find her first? Funina thought angrily.

That's because you haven't discovered it yet, Clarin thought.

Neither of them spoke, yet it seemed as if they both understood each other's meaning.

In a way, it can be considered a unique tacit understanding between a secretary and her boss.

"When did this happen?" Funina stopped worrying about which side Klorinde was on; she knew her secretary all too well.

If we really have to say whose side the other party is on, then it's definitely Richard's. They were already biased before, but now it's even better; their bias is gone, and they're directly under Richard's control.

“...the weekend you complimented my skin on how much better it looked,” Claurind said.

After hearing this, Funina felt like she was about to grind her teeth to dust. She had thought that Clarinde was using some special skincare product, and it turned out that she was. However, the skincare product was called 'Love', and the main ingredient was provided by Richard.

That should have belonged to her! It was hers!

Of course, Funina knew she couldn't have Richard all to herself, but she never expected that before she even picked up her chopsticks, Richard had already started packing up the food.

And that person was her secretary!

Clarinde must give a reasonable explanation for this, otherwise... otherwise she will stay angry!

Seeing Funina's puffed-out cheeks like a pufferfish, Clarinde had a flash of inspiration and tentatively said, "How about I think of a solution for you, Lady Funina?"

Fu Ningna stared with her beautiful eyes, wanting to retort defiantly: Does Fu Ningna need your help?

But for some reason, the words that came out of my mouth were, "Tell me about it."

Hmm, for a moment, Funina felt a bit pathetic, but there was nothing she could do; Funina really needed Clarind to provide some ideas.

After all, even though Lynette's attempt failed, it was because of her unexpected presence. If Lynette hadn't been there, Lynette would have had a much higher chance of succeeding.

It was precisely because of this that Frynn wanted to hear Clarinde's suggestion.

But before that, Funina still had one question that she needed to confirm with Clarinde.

"Clorind, besides me, who else have you advised?"

Chapter 198 I, Clarinde, am an absolute loyal subject!

Is this advice and suggestions only for me, or are they shared by other girls as well?

—Furina

Clarind didn't really want to answer this question, because it was impossible to answer. It would be fine if she just gave Lynette advice, but the key point was that she had just become Narukami's tutor.

This has a hint of collusion with the enemy.

Although Funina and the others did not explicitly show any rejection of Yae no Miko and Kage, there was bound to be some open and covert struggle between them.

To truly be 'selfless,' one must first be 'full' on one's own side before thinking about sharing with others.

Just like Clarinde, who was so full that she realized she couldn't possibly eat Richard, she thought of finding someone to share the workload.

When Furness saw that Clorind was silent, her beautiful eyes widened and she exclaimed, "There really is?!"

"Who is it? Fucarus?"

"..." Clorind pursed her lips. She had indeed offered good advice to others, but unfortunately, that person was not Fukaros.

“Not Fukaros, and eliminating Lynette as well…” Seeing that Clorind was still silent, Furina began to slowly take stock of the people as well.

“Navia?” Furina remembered that Clorind and Navia were very close friends, practically growing up together. However, a rift developed between them because of Navia’s father, but now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, they have reconciled.

Moreover, because of Navia's father's situation, Claurind always felt guilty towards Navia, so it's not surprising that she offered Navia advice.

“Navia…she doesn’t like Richard, at least not to the extent we do,” Claurind said, knowing her best friend well.

Although the other party currently has a very good impression of Richard, it is mostly out of gratitude. As for romantic feelings... well, there might be some, but not much.

"Who else?" Funina racked her brains but couldn't think of any other women in Fontaine who had contact with Richard. "Chiori?"

When Funina mentioned Chiori, she herself didn't believe it. With Chiori's unconventional personality, it would be a miracle if she liked Richard, that womanizer!

"Why did you think of Miss Chiori?" Claude also felt that Frynn was being a bit far-fetched. It couldn't possibly be Chiori, could it?

The other party and Richard had a purely seller-buyer relationship, which, well, in this case, refers to the clothes.

Aside from their clothes, the two of them barely communicated, and the clothes Richard was wearing weren't all from Chioriya; some were from other brands.

"If it's neither, then who else could it be?" Funina thought that Clorinde hadn't gone abroad recently, and Ningguang and Shenhe hadn't come to Fontaine either. Could it be that they were exchanging letters?

"Shen He? Ning Guang?"

Claudia continued to shake her head; she was very close to the truth, after all, they were all foreigners…

Foreigner… Furina’s eyes widened. She suddenly remembered that Clarinde had sparred with Shadow yesterday. Could it be…?

"You wouldn't be going to give Shadow..." Funina's voice trembled slightly, purely out of anger.

Under Frynn's gaze, Clarind couldn't help but look away.

"Traitor!" Furlina was so angry she laughed. "I thought you were going to spar, but it turns out you're going to exchange tea-picking techniques!"

"Clorind, you're quite selfless!" Furina was furious. How much did Shadow give you to help her like this?

Why don't you think of helping me?

Clarinde wanted to say that although Shadow did give a lot, and for a martial artist, receiving guidance from the God of Thunder without reservation was extremely valuable, she was willing to help Shadow not because of that.

It's simply that Richard gave too much; the quantity was too large.

As for Shadow... given her physical attributes, she could definitely handle far more firepower than Funina.

After all, given Furina's small stature, Clarinde is probably only about 0.5 times her size.

But since things had come to this point, there was nothing Clarinde could say. After all, what she had done was indeed dishonest. In fact, Clarinde's original plan was to wait until Lynette succeeded before guiding Funina.

But I didn't expect Funina to notice so quickly... What exactly went wrong?

Just when Clarinde was completely baffled, Furina helped her solve the problem.

"If Lynette hadn't told me about this, I would have been kept in the dark forever!" The more Funina thought about it, the angrier she became, and the angrier she became, the more she wanted to know.

I'm so angry, but I don't know how to express it!

Seeing that Funina seemed about to infuriate her, Clarin quickly said, "No, Lady Funina, I originally wanted to have Lynette try it out first to see if it would work, to gain some experience and ensure that everything goes smoothly before I could better serve you."

You must see this clearly, I, Clarinde, am a very loyal subject!

Look how anxious Clarinde is; she's even started to say nice things.

However, Funina didn't believe it at all. What kind of loyal minister would show off his skills to outsiders? He was clearly a treacherous minister who wanted to have his cake and eat it too, a petty person who used the enemy to enhance his own power!

You're not even a little bit loyal, Clarind!

After hearing Clorind's sophistry, Furina asked with a sneer, "Then did Lynette succeed?"

Clarinde looked bewildered. "I don't know. I gave you that advice just the day before yesterday."

Fu Ningna was speechless. The suggestion from the day before yesterday was implemented yesterday. In some ways, Linette's execution ability was indeed quite strong, but she just lacked a little bit of fertility.

So, if we calculate it this way, Clarinde gave Lynette advice the day before yesterday, helped Shadow find a solution yesterday, and now she's saying she wants to give herself advice.

Clarinde, aren't you a little too busy?

It's getting cold, so you should buy yourself a few more green hats, right?

Meicha, she's so incredibly Meicha!

When other people get on the bus, they think about welding the doors shut, but your thought process seems to be different from others. You don't want to weld the doors shut, and you even want to open the doors for people. When they come in, are you going to say "Welcome"?

"Do you still need me to give you some advice?"

"want!"

Although she was angry, Funina knew that now was not the time to act out of spite. If she rejected Clorind now, she would only be the one who suffered.

After all, everyone has one. If she, Funina, doesn't have one, wouldn't that mean she's already lost at the starting line?

Seeing that Funina was sharp-tongued but her answer was quite honest, Clarinde breathed a slight sigh of relief. It was good that she wanted it; her only fear was that Funina would refuse her suggestion, which would cause a lot of trouble.

That would have meant that Funina was really angry, the kind that couldn't be appeased, but thankfully that didn't happen.

Clarinde knew Frynn all too well; she was all bark and no bite, and even her sharp tongue was a soft one, completely harmless.

If she really had to choose a harem leader, Clarinde felt that besides herself, her most preferred candidate would be Frynn, followed by Lynette, and then Fukaros.

Shadow's suggestion wasn't out of the question either. Although they had only spent some time together, Clarinde felt that given his magnanimity, he probably wouldn't make things difficult for them.

But thinking about it carefully, given Richard's accommodating nature, it's unlikely that he could possibly have a harem leader, Claude thought.

……

"What are you doing?" Richard walked into the office and saw Clarin and Furness huddled on the sofa, talking furtively.

Funina occasionally let out gasps of surprise, and she deliberately lowered her voice, as if worried that others might hear her.

Upon hearing Richard's question, Funina launched herself into the air, her ahoge (cowlick) standing on end, resembling a white cat with its fur standing on end.

"Li... Richard?!"

“It’s me, Lady Funina. What are you talking about?” Richard narrowed his eyes. “I think I just heard you talking about me?”

"No, no, how could that be! You must have misheard. Why would we talk about you behind your back? You agree, Clarind?"

Furina blinked frantically at Clorind, signaling for her to say something.

Clarin looked at Richard, then at Frynn. Oh no, it was time to choose sides again.

Claude knew perfectly well that with Richard's hearing and Funina's startled reaction, he must have guessed what they were talking about.

Given this, the choice to make is self-evident!

She's rooting for Frynn this time!

LOL, she's just a bit simple-minded, not really stupid. She helped Richard "enlighten" Funina, did she do something wrong?

Richard could never blame himself for this; on the contrary, he should thank himself!

Since there's no harm in not siding with Richard, why doesn't Clarinde help Frynn?

In this way, he could both make up for his previous 'mistake', rebuild trust with Funina, and also gain Richard's gratitude.

This is a win-win situation!

This time, Clorinde really figured it out.

“Yes, we’re just talking about some private matters. It’s Richard who should be listening to us, isn’t it?” Claude was unusually assertive.

However, because he was so assertive, even Fulina, who was standing to the side, hadn't reacted yet.

To be honest, Frynn was prepared to be betrayed by Clorind, but she didn't expect that not only would the other party not betray her, but would even fight back.

Good heavens, could Clarinde really be a loyal subject?

Just as Funina stared wide-eyed at Claurind in disbelief, Richard also revealed a playful smile.

He knew perfectly well why Clorind dared to be so assertive, and indeed, just as Clorind thought, Richard could never blame the other party for such a thing.

He'd be too busy rewarding a 'good girl' like Clorind to possibly punish her.

Hopefully, when the other party is rewarded, they will be just as assertive as they are now.

"It was indeed my fault, I'm sorry. Clarinde and Lady Frinina, would you like me to excuse myself? I can come in after you've finished talking," Richard readily admitted.

"Ahem, no need, business is more important." Funina coughed. Seeing the documents in Richard's hand, she knew that he had come to see her on official business.

No matter what, it's still work hours, and what she and Claude were doing just now was considered slacking off, which is obviously not encouraged.

Moreover, after Richard's interruption, Funina dared not discuss these matters in the office anymore. It was only because Richard had come in that she dared to. If other city hall officials were to come in and overhear their Water God discussing with his secretary how to seduce the Executive Secretary, wouldn't things fall apart?

I reckon the next day, the news of the Water God leading the way in an office romance will dominate the headlines in Fontaine. At that point, how will she, Funina, ever face anyone again?

In fact, Richard's visit this time was indeed on official business. Although cultural exchange activities between the two countries have now gotten on track, it's just like that time in Liyue.

The reason Yae no Miko and her group came here this time was not just to exchange cultures and enjoy tea; they also wanted to promote more cooperation between the two countries.