Kotori was looking at the vast amount of gifts that had been given to her.
Various pieces of jewelry, several old wilted flowers, and a new dress were all stuffed into Kotori's room.
When she finished meeting with Bellmont she had assumed her charm had not worked as well as she thought, but Fawks insisted she keep trying. Apparently, Bellmont had a tendency to hide his emotions.
Bellmont had become less reserved at the lunch dates and was actively giving Kotori information that she was relaying to Fawks.
In truth she felt bad, Bellmont wasn't a bad person he was just a useful person to trick. She was losing Karma tricking Bellmont in the first place.
[I gotta get it back at some point]
Soon enough after about a month of eating lunch with Bellmont, the gifts start rolling in.
Kotori learned that Bellmont's way of doing romance was akin to a teenage boy who had never been in love with a girl before.
She was initially thinking of rejecting the gifts but Fawks apparently told her to take them.
"I mean they are for you right? It would be rude to not take them" Fawks said.
Kotori who had no use for all the fineries had Fawks arrange for a room for her to put all the gifts.
Bellmont was not a particularly charming man, but Kotori was at least able to tolerate his presence. He was polite enough that he wasn't particularly offending, but he was simply not Kotori's type. She didn't have any plans of dating or marrying anyone at the moment.
Thankfully, since [Charm] was active every time she saw him, she didn't have to do anything to make him like her. She simply ate vast amount of food on Fawk's tab which he had already complained about on several occasions
"How does a girl eat that much food!" was a phrase had had said many times while looking at his balance sheets
It was a phrase which Kotori always responded with,
"Think of it as a business expense"
Kotori had already tried everything in the restaurant and was getting bored of the menu but thankfully, Fawk's scheme was nearly done. Bellmont was already dancing in the palm of Kotori's hand.
After showing some crocodile tears about Mr. Gerard bulling her, Bellmont had agreed to help them take out Gerard. He was so angry that Gerard tried to put a slave collar on Kotori that Kotori had to physically stop him from running out of the restaurant to confront him.
They would be denouncing him in front of the Sea Lord council.
It was a monthly meeting where the Sea lords would bicker over things like Tariffs and city management. Apparently, it was quite boring.
After Gerard was taken out. The Atlean Merchants would lose their main base of power. It would be a relatively simple task to destabilize Bellmont and the other Atlean merchants in the city.
Kotori who felt bad for Bellmont, had Fawks adjust their plans slightly. They would take out Gerard and the other Atlean Sea lord but keep Bellmont on the council. Bellmont was already dancing in the palm of Kotori's hand. It would also help to ensure the other Atlean Merchants in the city were not completely disgruntled.
[What is this called again? A "simp" right?]
Bellmont was persistent but wholly inexperienced in love. With Bellmont, Kotori felt more like an idol than an actual human that Bellmont was trying to court
He had even started a Kotori fan club, of which he was the president. Kotori was not able to direct her charm so the other patrons of the restaurant she would eat at with Bellmont were also infatuated with her.
They were doing things like hosting Kotori discussion clubs and other things. She was steadily becoming a niche interest among the merchants.
Kotori didn't really mind it all. She wasn't expected to attend their "meetings" and it seemed like Bellmont was quite smug in knowing that he was the only one allowed to eat with Kotori.
Apparently, according to him among the merchants in the fan club, there were several people who had come up to him with exorbitant amounts of money to eat with her but Bellmont turned them all down.