A Prophet Doesn’t Know How to Party

Lillia’s office design was at the pinnacle of the Xinyao neo-Brutalist style, one of the flashier schools of modern architecture. Disconnected from nearby buildings, the office building was shaped like a cylinder built upon numerous stacked rings of varying radius. To flagrantly reject the more space-efficient design (and thus incur higher taxation) was simply a reflection of how much money the Bellons had to burn. I glanced at the sign above the door reading “Bellon Corporation”. While it was certainly a deeply uncreative name choice, it was also undeniably a widely known name within Strait.

Lillia grinned at me examining the building and tapped me on the shoulder, giving me a chillingly sweet smile.

“What do you think, Ellie?”

That took me aback. I had never received a nickname before, so on some level I thought that it might be an amusing experience to gain one. However, to be frank, “Ellie” sounded tacky.

“My name is Elysia.”

“Oh, you don’t like ‘Ellie’? How about I call you Lizzie?!”

Staring her in her almost glittering eyes, I realised that fighting over this was a waste of my time. I would have to give up a little on my pride to get what I needed from this woman.

“… Calling me Ellie is fine.”

“Alright, Ellie! But, you still haven’t answered my original question.”

While I watched her smile widen, I could only burn inwardly with distaste towards Lillia’s blatantly insincere attitude.

“I think it is an interesting design.”

Honestly, it wasn’t to my taste. Meaningless excess of this sort purely for the demonstration of one’s power rubbed me the wrong way. Naturally, the Lord is an exception…. In any case, I wasn’t going to say any of that out loud for fear of losing out on this opportunity.

“Really? I think it’s tacky. Father had our centre here in Strait rebuilt after he took over the business from grandmother.”

“….”

… Well, I can’t agree with her now. I’d just look like a yes-woman. Lillia gave me that very on-brand soft laugh once again.

“Don’t worry, Ellie. I know you don’t like it.”

What? How did she…?

“It’s written all over your face, silly.”

Huh?

As she left me baffled, Lillia’s smile widened even further, before she finally entered the building. She led me through a hallway decorated to the brim with modern art. With a slight tension appearing in my forehead, I quickly looked away from a collection of swords hung on the wall. I hoped to never have to see those again. Nonetheless, elsewhere I couldn’t help but eye a particularly odd piece. It depicted a man with the wrong number of fingers. Following my gaze, Lillia frowned and sighed a little.

“That one was AI generated.”

I knew that it was possible to have artificial intelligence generate images, but AI art being on display was certainly unusual. Apparently sensing my confusion, Lillia elaborated.

“Father took it from a rival company we bankrupted. He keeps it up as a trophy. Personally, I want to get rid of a lot of the stranger stuff in this hall when I take over….”

Lillia gave a pensive gaze to a frozen mandarin stuck to a wall with adhesive, presumably maintained by some kind of cooling device inserted within the mandarin. But he stole AI art? Why did that rival have it framed in the first place? These rich people are all far too eccentric….

Finally reaching the elevator, we entered it and left thirty floors higher, apparently at Lillia’s office. To describe it bluntly… it was spacious. With no dividing walls, the presumably one-way glass windows surrounding the entire space gave a view of the city. It felt as if it was designed in the image of an observatory for a noble in a castle to look down upon their subjects.

Ignoring my perusal, Lillia sat me down at what seemed to be a quite small rectangular conference table. She leaned her elbows on the table in front of her, and then her head in her hands, and then she began to stare at me with her eyes glowing with intensity far beyond her years.

“So, Ellie, what do you think I brought you here for?”

That seemed like an intentionally obtuse question. She was presumably trying to shake me up.

“Because you wanted to employ me for something.”

Lillia continued to stare at me, seemingly wanting more. This is a pointless farce. Is she trying to provoke a reaction from me? I sighed, before continuing.

“You seemingly didn’t want to speak about it in front of Sarah, meaning that it is likely something undisclosed to the public. Additionally, given that you personally brought me here, you probably have already decided that you want me for this role. Finally, given the rumours in the media that your father is seeking to retire soon, and that you are his heir, this role is likely to pertain to helping you with some form of test from him.”

I had been researching the Bellon family’s details quite extensively since my encounter with Mark, so I was now aware of most public-facing details regarding them. Unfortunately, given their rather tight media control, those public-facing details didn’t amount to much. In any case, hearing my response, Lillia lightly nodded.

“That’s right. I need you in particular for this role.”

She had no reason to admit that…. Why is she revealing her hand here? However, raising her hand to stop me from interrupting, Lillia elaborated.

“I need you in part because you are a Mod.”

Of course, if there was any point in refuting her on the Mod point, I would have. Nonetheless, Lillia grinned.

“Judging from your expression, you don’t seem to think you are one, but that’s fine.”

Am I really making a readable expression? Lillia’s smile once more grew at my confusion.

“It’s subtle, but you do have a few tells, you know? You’re overtly expressionless, Ellie, but to anyone who looks closely enough you’re basically an open book.”

Standing and leaning over the table, and once more approaching my personal space, her face approached mine… and then it continued to approach. Her face was close… way too close. Wait, is she…? Just before she did something that might have changed the genre, she stopped and tapped her finger to my nose.

“Boop! And, just like that, when you’re uncomfortable, your mouth slightly twitches downwards. There are other ones, but that’s beside the point.”

Truthfully, I had never thought to notice anything like that before, and I had quite mixed feelings on hearing about it. While some part of me was suspicious on whether Lillia was bluffing and simply making educated guesses on my mentality, I did get the sense she was being truthful. Indeed, micro-expressions were theoretically possible to read. Lillia chuckled a little as she returned to her seat.

“As I said, it’s subtle, but it’s something you can pick up on with experience. My brother wouldn’t have noticed it because he’s never had to handle someone like you before.”

So, she has handled someone like me? Also, do I sense some resentment there? No, perhaps…. In any case, I decided that I would need her to cut to the chase.

“I would appreciate it if you could get to the main point, Lillia.”

Lillia put on a distastefully fake pout.

“It’s Lily!”

Sighing, I corrected myself.

“Lily, I would appreciate it if you could get to the main point.”

“Well, to put it simply, I need you to be my partner at an upcoming party.”

I paused, a little confused as to what she wanted.

“Why would you need me to come? I’m sure you have plenty of other options. Someone actually known in your circles would surely be more useful.”

Lillia put on a ditzy expression as if I had hurt her with my response.

“Ugh! And here I’d worked up the courage to ask you out with my pure heart!”

Ignoring her tomfoolery, I stared at her, waiting for her to properly explain. Once more, she pouted.

“You’re no fun, Ellie.”

“You would have known what I was like when you came out to meet me.”

Lillia’s expression at last grew serious.

“I want you to come and stand-in as a cousin of mine.”

I sighed in relief as she finally put to bed my worries that she was asking me to pretend to act as her girlfriend or something of that sort. Lillia continued.

“Your resemblance to my grandmother means that you could pass as a relative if we dye your hair and use a little makeup.”

While the makeup and dye sounded unpleasant in themselves, I had one particular question here.

“Why do you need me to act as a cousin?”

“To put it simply, I need a right hand at the party. This is an incredibly important event for forming connections, and I have rivals who will be seeking to disturb me. I need someone who I can be confident is intelligent enough to effectively cooperate with me and understand my intentions. Also, given that I don’t want to commit to any relationship rumours, who could also pass as a relative.”

That did make some sense, though it was mildly concerning she was willing to put this much trust in me from the start…. Unless…? Scratching my chin, I considered the proposal for a while. After almost half a minute had passed, I came to a decision.

“I’m willing to help you, assuming the pay is reasonable.”

“Mark was right, you do scratch your chin as if you have a beard.”

I really don’t…! Regardless, Lillia softly grinned, handing me a tablet containing the details of payment. Glancing at the tablet, I saw a genuinely unbelievable sum. This would most certainly work.

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

Setting the date for three months from now, at last, it was time for this world’s financial system to render unto Elysia.