Mr. Pantalone has no crazy plans today.

It looks as if it was prepared for someone else.

Did "Puppet" invite anyone else besides him?

Pantalone, gazing at the spot, pondered these thoughts, his eyes fixed on the petite girl quietly enjoying her afternoon tea. He then surveyed his surroundings.

"It seems I've arrived at the wrong time."

“You certainly came at the worst possible time, disturbing my peaceful afternoon tea. How are you going to compensate me for this emotional distress, Pantalone?”

After taking a small sip of tea, the lady put down her cup, brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and looked at Pantalone, who had come to keep the appointment at her behest, and said softly.

Pantalone pondered for a moment after hearing this greeting before slowly asking.

"Tell me, how much money do you want me to pay you?"

Upon hearing Pantalone's reply, Sandone, who had initially only made a casual, polite remark, was shocked.

Everyone was taken aback when they saw that Pantalone had given such a frank answer.

Then Sandonne's face was replaced by an undisguised smile, and he let out a giggle.

"Pantarone, you really do love telling jokes as always."

No, he genuinely intended to solve the problem with money.

Pantalone thought silently as he watched Sandoni's reaction.

After all, he always felt that guessing what girls were thinking was too troublesome, so problems that could be solved with money were never a problem in his eyes.

For Pantalone, a problem that can't be solved with money is a truly serious problem.

The puppet girl picked up her teacup, blew on it gently, and then gestured to Pantalone.

"Please sit down, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

This surprised Pantalone a little; he hadn't expected that the spot the "puppet" had specially reserved was actually meant for him.

After Pantalone sat down in the spot prepared for him by the "puppet," Pantalone, whose attention was focused on Sandone, suddenly noticed something he hadn't noticed before.

Looking at the elegant lady in front of her, sipping her tea with graceful poise, Pantalone suddenly realized, "The 'puppet' is actually... this short?"

Looking at Sandone's petite figure, a girl who was clearly a head shorter than herself.

Pantalone fell into such strange deep thought, and at that moment, Sandoni, who had put down his teacup, also noticed Pantalone's slightly unusual behavior.

Upon noticing that Pantalone was looking at him with a puzzled expression, Sandone looked at himself and frowned.

Is there something on me?

"Oh? There's nothing there!"

Pantalone, snapping out of her daze after Sandone's words, realized that he had been noticed and quickly picked up the cup of black tea on his table to cover up his embarrassment.

When Sandone saw Pantalone's somewhat strange behavior, he glanced at her suspiciously, and after a while, he stopped pursuing Pantalone's slightly odd reaction.

Pantalone breathed a sigh of relief after Sandone gave up on investigating further.

After all, if the other person knew that he was secretly thinking about her being short, he would probably be in a bad situation.

While trying to hide his embarrassment, Pantalone sipped the black tea that Sandone had prepared for him, and the moment it entered his mouth, he was amazed by its smooth texture.

As the warm tea entered his mouth, a delicate and sweet aroma filled his nostrils and warmed his body as it flowed down his throat.

With Pantaloni's discerning palate, one can naturally appreciate the amazing quality of this cup of black tea.

This surprised him somewhat; he hadn't expected Sandoni to be such a good tea brewer.

While the quality of the tea also plays a role, even the best tea requires certain skills; otherwise, there would be no such thing as the tea ceremony.

This is precisely a technique to fully showcase the unique flavor of tea; otherwise, the quality of the tea cannot be fully revealed, which is why Pantalone was surprised.

"I didn't expect you to be such a good tea brewer; it's quite a surprise."

Is this really that surprising?

Sandoni glanced at Pantalone but didn't react much.

This reaction made Pantalone ponder for a while, and then she realized that it really seemed... not a big deal.

To be precise, it should be because it feels unusual. After all, as fellow executives of the Fools, everyone has their own plans and ideas, so naturally they wouldn't be idly giving gifts to other executives.

The main reason he reacted so strongly was probably because...

Rare?

Pantalone didn't know how to describe the feeling and thought, but it was something like a very rare feeling.

Putting aside the strange thoughts in his mind for the time being, Pantalone suddenly remembered that his real purpose in coming here was not to drink tea, so he went straight to the point and asked "Puppet" directly.

"So, what exactly do you want to see me about? I don't believe you sent someone to see me just to invite me for afternoon tea."

"I've called you here for a reason."

Sandonne gently put down his teacup and said softly.

"I hope you can help me restart the 'Intelligent Self-Discipline Sequence Mechanism' project."

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