The very first thought that flashed through Beta's mind when she saw Alexia here was: What are you doing here!?
"What are you doing here!?"
In a moment of emotional slip, Beta actually shouted her thoughts out loud at Alexia.
"Huh? What, does it offend you that a princess personally came to the port to pick you up?"
Alexia's expression immediately darkened at Beta's outburst, and she shot back without hesitation.
You're the one acting wronged? Because of you, Shadow-sama did not come meet me. Shouldn't I be the one feeling wronged?
That was what Beta was thinking inside, but on the outside she forced a stiff, fake smile onto her face. Her fists clenched tightly behind her back as she suppressed her anger and explained,
"No, what I meant was, didn't we agree to meet this afternoon, Your Highness? So why did you suddenly come to the port to pick me up?"
Even though she kept telling herself to endure it, Beta still could not help stressing the last part, and a faint trace of killing intent slipped into her voice.
"Eek!"
As if someone had shoved ice under her clothes, Alexia suddenly shuddered and stared at Beta.
"Natsume... what did you just do to me?"
Alexia had no idea what had caused that reaction just now, but her first instinct was still to pin the blame on Beta.
"Your Highness, I have no idea what you mean."
Beta answered with a smile.
"Tch, forget it. The main reason I came to find you this early is that something has changed. My sister is coming to Itogami Island. You know how she's been lately..."
Beta did not care in the slightest what Alexia was saying anymore. At that moment, she had gone completely blank, staring at Cid's back as he turned to leave. The killing intent surging in her heart toward Alexia had never been stronger.
"Hey, hey, Natsume, are you even listening? What exactly are you looking at?"
Noticing that Beta was completely distracted, Alexia waved a hand in front of her face, but Beta gave no response at all. So Alexia followed her gaze and saw Cid already turning to leave.
The instant she saw him, Alexia reflexively called out the name she usually used for him.
"Pochi?"
But even after hearing her voice, Cid did not turn around. If anything, he sped up even more. Alexia frowned and quickly ran up to grab him.
How dare she. How dare she. How dare she call Shadow-sama that?
Watching Alexia run toward Cid, a blade formed from black slime slowly emerged from Beta's tightly clenched hand.
If Beta's killing intent toward Alexia just now had been the kind people casually blurt out when a teammate screws them over in a game, the sort of thing said in the heat of the moment without any real intent behind it...
Then now, Beta was seriously thinking about how to kill Alexia right here in public without Shadow-sama finding out she was the one who did it.
Cid, stopped by Alexia's hand on his shoulder, turned his head. Clear confusion showed on his face at first, but the moment he saw Alexia, his expression changed into one of pleasantly surprised delight. Wearing an innocent smile, he spoke in a sweet, pure voice.
"Alexia! What a coincidence, you're here too."
"Eek..."
As if disgusted, Alexia let go of his shoulder.
"Don't talk to me in that disgusting tone with that look on your face. Aren't you embarrassed?"
Good. You finding it disgusting means it worked. I specifically learned this just to deal with a white-haired schemer like you.
Keeping that same expression on his face, Cid continued speaking in that sickly sweet voice.
"What are you talking about, Alexia? I don't understand at all. I've got things to do, so I won't keep you…"
Cid trailed off.
Looking at Alexia's hand stretched out in front of him, clutching a visibly heavy money pouch, he fell silent. The smile on his face faded, and his voice returned to its usual tone.
"So we're not doing the usual 'throw coins and pick them up' anymore? What, you grew up and developed a sense of shame?"
"Of course I have to leave you some dignity in public. Besides, I don't want rumors spreading among the commoners that the Second Princess of Midgar has a habit of keeping lower-ranking nobles as pets. That would disgrace my elder sister."
"Hah. These days everyone uses paper currency issued by Mitsugoshi Bank. Who still pays with coins like you?"
"Say that all you want, but if you've got the guts, then don't take it."
"That would be rude. You're offering it, so refusing would just be disrespectful."
He applied a bit of force and pulled the money pouch from Alexia's hand. Weighing it slightly, he estimated that with one gold coin equal to one hundred thousand zeni, there should be about 3.4 million zeni inside.
This was way too easy.
Just as Cid was feeling pleased with himself, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
How much force had he used just now?
While Cid was thinking about that, Alexia was also staring blankly at the hand that had just held the pouch.
How much strength had she used?
She did not know. She genuinely did not know. At the time, she had only been thinking that she could not let that money be handed over to Pochi so easily, so her grip had tightened instinctively. Whether she had used her full strength or not, she had not paid attention at all.
And that was the problem.
If she had used her full strength, then just how strong was Pochi to have taken the pouch from her so easily?
Of course, there was probably some carelessness on her part, but even so, anyone who could take it that effortlessly had to be at least as strong as she was.
But asking about it directly was risky. Not only could it alert him, if it turned out she had not even used her full strength and everything about Cid hiding his power was just her overthinking, then she would look like an idiot.
Under normal circumstances, there would be no need to worry about this. Who would go out of their way to hide their strength? What benefit would that even bring?
It was common sense that only by displaying strength could one gain better resources, and with those resources, become even stronger than others. That was universal truth in any world.
Unfortunately, she knew of one… no, two… fine, two organizations that clearly defied this logic, along with a certain silver-haired, blue-eyed, tear-marked, big-slime Elf who was ninety-nine percent likely hiding her strength, yet constantly acted weak and pitiful in front of others, putting on a fake front while secretly doing who knows how many things that deserved the gallows.
Although she did not yet have proof that a certain silver-haired Elf was hiding her strength, she was certain she would find evidence sooner or later.
Ahem. Back on topic.
Based on what she knew so far, those two organizations were called Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos.
Shadow Garden could be ruled out. Aside from their leader Shadow, all known members were female. Pochi was not a woman, so that possibility could be eliminated. It was not like Pochi could be Shadow.
So… after eliminating all impossibilities and applying her brilliant reasoning, Alexia narrowed her eyes at Cid, a sharp glint flashing within them.
"Pochi… you haven't joined the Cult of Diablos, have you?!"