Katie does make mention of Els cock-blocking her if she fails to seduce the MC, but it's interesting to note that there is no conversation in-game (that I can find at least, please correct me if I'm wrong here) between Els and the MC about keeping away from Katie.
Of course she wouldn't flat out say it. That would require her to be upfront, honest, and sincere. That's just not her style. Elspeth would much rather use excuses, half-truths, or flat out lies.
The fact that Katie will say "Elspeth might be furious about this" when you choose to kiss her means that Elspeth has done something to let Katie know that she doesn't approve of them getting together. What excatly that was isn't all that important. It's her motivations that matter.
Sure, you can try to give her every benefit of the doubt possible and pretend that Elspeth just had the best interests of the organization at heart. But if that were the case, she wouldn't risk putting herself in the tabloids either. And yet, she's getting into drunken brawls on a public beach. That wouldn't be a good look for them either would it? And she knows it too, because she's the one that calls your lawyer to do damage control.
She's also ditching her volunteer work to go swimming around in a translucent bikini in yet another shameless attempt to catch his eye. The idea that she knows how to keep a secret is laughable when damn near every girl keeps asking you if you are just friends with her. Everyone knows she's got the hots for him. She's embarassingly transparent when it comes to her and him. There's no way she'd ever be able to keep that realtionship a secret.
Recall what Els says to Kana: "Can I just tell you how lovely it is to have a woman come in here, who isn't furious that he hasn't called her back after a night of passion."
Hold up a minute.... don't you think that could also be used as an example of Elspeth trying to keep a potential rival from going after the main character? She's literally trash talking him to her about how much of a heartbreaking womanizer he is.
Listen, I've got no problem admitting that I'm quick to see the worst in Elspeth. I'm completely sick of her. We've had over two dozen choices in this game about Elspeth, and I've done my absolute best to choose every single one that would keep her away from me. But the game doesn't care. It's pushing her as hard as that awful secretary from the previous game, and I'm just as irritated about it now as I was back then. But even if I'm judging her harshly, there is still no way that all of these questionable scenarios are going to fall in her favour.
Elspeth and the MC aren't that close. He was surprised to see Elspeth had a photo of him, because he thought they were both friends of Alistair more so than friends of each other. And yet, Elspeth is obsessed with him. She's doing all sorts of creepy shit like secretly recording his private conversations, and turning normal conversations into fishing expeditions. So why should we give her the benefit of the doubt all the time? He's known Elspeth for less than a year, and yet she thinks that she knows him better than Viridiana.
Viri: You're doubting me? I've known him the longest.
Els: With a nine year gap in the middle. People change a lot Gingersnap.
Here's one of those questionable scenarios. You have to ask yourself if this is simply an innocent question from Elspeth, or if she's trying to sow doubt in Viridiana's mind that maybe the MC is no longer the person she once loved. The latter seems kind of far-fetched at first doesn't it? But from this conversation we see Elspeth learn about the MC's love of fighting and how it got him closer with Viri's brother, and then a very short while later we see Elspeth eagerly get into a fight alongside the MC and will then blatantly try to seduce him that night.
I don't trust Elspeth any further than I could throw her. I'd also like to point out that the main character himself doesn't trust Elspeth either, as seen in one of his internal monologues with his memory of a lost love.
Zania: She hides it well. Better than you, even. But that is an incredibly dangerous woman.
MC: She's a pacifist, hardly even raises her voice with people.
Zania: Is she? Well, maybe she is exactly what she claims. But if something about her wasn't bothering you, would we even be having this conversation?
Deep down he knows that she's a fraud.
