Tokyo Area, 1st Ward, Holy Residence.

“Here.”

Noah passed her a cup of tea he just brewed.

“That should calm you down a bit.”

Seitenshi remembered what she did when she was attacked, she’s still feeling a bit bashful about what she did. However, she still gratefully received the cup of tea from Noah.

“Thank you. I have regained my composure, don’t worry.”

Seitenshi looked like her usual self, her face was without a ripple of emotion. This lightened some of the concerns Noah had for her.

He sat down on a couch opposite to her and he crossed his arms. He abruptly asked her.

“First time dealing with an assassination attempt?”

Seitenshi nodded. Thinking about it, she shook her head.

“It hasn’t been long since I took office, this isn’t the first time something happened so suddenly. But, it is my first time getting sniped at.”

“I see.”

Noah felt at ease.

Even if she’s the ruler of the Tokyo Area, she’s still a sixteen-year-old girl in the end.

It’s not surprising for her to be shaken by an assassination attempt.

Noah admired her ability to recover so soon.

Someone has to say it, it would do well if she heard it from him.

“I know I shouldn’t say this in front of you but you have bigger issues to worry than what happened just now.”

Noah tapped his biceps with disappointment as he sighed.

“I will be blunt with you. Your bodyguards are all trash.”

Seitenshi was speechless, she held her cup of tea in place while being stunned by his words.

“It’s highly suspicious that our route back to the Holy Residence got leaked. That’s still not even the worse part, I am simply baffled by their poor performance during the sniping attack.”

Noah criticized.

“They failed to make you a protection priority at the onset of an attack. They failed to mount a successful retreat, they also failed to come up with any useful plan at all. What they didn’t fail to do, nobody asked them to, like freaking out like schoolgirls, losing their nerves, and totally incompetent. Seitenshi-sama, with all due respect, I don’t know how you made it to this day alive and well with such a motley group of bodyguards serving you.”

Seitenshi listened with a lowered head. After Noah finished, she bitterly laughed.

“In the past, before the Gastrea war, the police usually handled escort missions. My bodyguard has less than 10 years of experience, Naturally, they aren’t proficient with such situations.”

Seitenshi told him that Yasuwaki and the other bodyguards are too inexperienced.

This is primarily due to the fact that her bodyguards are basically only experienced in dealing with paparazzi and the media. They aren’t used to counter-assassinations or similar situations.

That inexperience led to a rather unsightly happening today.

That wasn’t a good enough excuse.

“I can see why they are inexperienced. After that attack, I saw a lot more finger-pointing than an honest reflection on their weaknesses, how do you explain that?”

Noah is annoyed just thinking about this.

“Seitenshi-sama, I know you’re smarter than this. You should know their personalities by now, don’t keep defending them to serve the kindness in your heart, alright?”

Seitenshi stopped when Noah hit the nail on its head.

It’s understandable that Noah isn’t pleased with how this turned out.

After the sniping incident, they returned to the Holy Residence when Seitenshi calmed down. They started a brief meeting on this incident.

They discussed possible reasons for why Seitenshi’s return route got leaked. The sniper knew Seitenshi would go through that area, somebody must have told her that.

Noah was in charge of Seitenshi’s security detail, this included return routes.

The only ones who could have blabbed on them were: Noah, Seitenshi, and the other bodyguards.

The fact that their return routes got leaked meant that a rat is among them.

There’s a snitch in Seitenshi’s bodyguard corps.

Seitenshi wouldn’t reveal her return route unless she wanted to get sniped so she’s eliminated from the suspect list.

It has to be one of the bodyguards serving under her.

Yasuwaki and his cohorts tried to pin this on Noah. They claimed that he was the one who knew the plan like the back of his hand therefore he must be the one who leaked the intel. He didn’t even want to begin on how illogical or irrational that is, supposing he wanted to get rid of Seitenshi in the first place.

Noah shut them all up with his logic.

“Without me, Seitenshi would have died during the first gunshot. Are you saying that I wanted to harm Seitenshi so I leaked out the return routes, and then, someone or the other thwarted by comrade’s assassination attempt to protect her and then make my self the largest suspect in the room?”

Noah is genuinely surprised that every bodyguard except for Yasuwaki believed him.

The briefing changed in nature.

It became a blaming fest where Yasuwaki continued extending emotional pleas for others to believe him. He kept spouting lines like “You’ve got to believe me!” or “This guy is definitely dodgy!”, he wanted Noah to get persecuted.

In the end, Seitenshi ignored Yasuwaki who is wasting everyone’s time and she led Noah back to her room.

Of course, Noah found out from his last encounter with Yasuwaki that the room where he played piano in was actually Seitenshi’s boudoir.

Noah rubbed his temples after seeing that Seitenshi had nothing to say and she hung her head in sadness.

“When’s the next summit?”

Seitenshi shook her head.

“Not set yet.”

“Is that so?”

Noah nodded.

“I will reset the security detail and form a new one for the next summit. However, this time, only you and I will be privy to the details.”

“You mean…”

Seitenshi continued in an uncertain tone.

“Do you mean we will be going to the next meeting with just the two of us?”

Since they are going to keep this confidential, it would be better if they cut out loose mouthes.

If they told the other bodyguards, the same thing will just happen all over again.

“What?”

Noah looked at Seitenshi.

“You’ve got a problem with that?”

Seitenshi mused for a moment and she nodded.

“Okay, I understand. Only Guild master Noah and I will be heading to the next talk!”

Noah loosened his expression and the mood lightened up.

“Guild master Noah.”

Seitenshi beamed at him, she wanted to break away from business talks.

“Can I get you to play a song for me?”

“You want me to play a tune for you?”

Noah flinched in surprise.

“I thought you knew how to play the piano?”

“No, I am not that good with the piano.”

Seitenshi stood up from the sofa and she approached the piano before sitting down on the bench, she caressed the keys on the piano with her lithe fingers.

“Although it’s a bit embarrassing, my mastery over the piano was met with many difficulties. I can’t play smoothly.”

“I bet. I know why you can’t play well.”

Noah glanced at her fingers which were on the keys and he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.

“You’re using too much power on the keys, you’re forcing yourself into a rigid state where you can’t transition smoothly between keys.”

Noah approached her from behind and then he lowered his body as he wrapped his arms around her. Placing his hands on top of hers, he whispered into her ears.

“You should regulate your strength, press the keys with about this much force.”

Seitenshi didn’t hear Noah’s words.

Seitenshi froze up like a statue when Noah wrapped his arms around her. She also had a burning red hot blush on her cheeks.

“Hmm?”

He’s completely used to being in skin-to-skin contact with girls so he was puzzled why she’s behaving like this.

“Is something the matter?”

“N-no… It’s nothing…”

“Then do as I say.”

“O-okay…”