“Oh, this girl, then. Miyo Saimori… Or Miyo Kudou, rather. The one with Usuba blood.”
“That’s right. However, her husband is this country’s most powerful and capable individual. We won’t be able to make contact with her easily.”
When Eugene voiced his sole apprehension, his boss blinked. Then she pointed her finger straight at him.
“What, aren’t you supposed to figure out how to handle that?”
“You’re leaving it all up to me?”
“Well, that isn’t a nice way of putting it. Fine. If you can at least set the stage, I wouldn’t mind talking to her for you.”
With the face of a detached elderly crone and the sparkle of a young girl in her eyes, Eugene’s boss seemed completely unruffled and composed as she provoked him.
Eugene was slightly irritated by her attitude, but right now, he needed to obediently agree with her proposal.
“…Very well. I’ll get everything ready on my end, so please be sure to convince her. If this fails—”
“You can blame it all on me. In that case, we’ll just have to come up with a new method of getting her to do what we want.”
Eugene inwardly scoffed at how easy his boss made it sound. This country wasn’t nearly as forgiving as she thought.
It wouldn’t be a problem if their target readily agreed to their negotiations, but he could easily imagine how much trouble they would have if they failed and were forced to come up with another means of getting Miyo on their side.
Though if that does happen, I’ll expect you to cover for me like a proper boss should.
The woman had said she would think of something, so he could just leave it in her hands. Eugene would simply go along with whatever she decided to do.
All that was left…
It appears that man is a subordinate of this woman’s husband… I might have a chance to see him again.
Eugene thought back to his Japanese rival, whom he hadn’t seen in several years, and concealed the smirk that came to his lips, making sure his boss wouldn’t notice.
The Miyakouji family fell into disarray after Miyo and Kiyoka returned to the estate.
First, Kiyoka had carelessly tossed into the garden the three unconscious men, prompting the servants and members of the family to see what was going on. With a blunt look that made it clear he was deadly serious, he then declared, “Call Lord Komon this instant, or I’ll turn these men to ash.”
Consequently, everyone cowered in fear at Kiyoka’s menacing glare, and then the manor descended into chaotic pandemonium.
Although Miyo chided Kiyoka about taking things too far, Kiyoka was so enraged that he showed no signs of stopping.
Komon quickly returned to the estate from the shrine, and he and the rest of the important men of the Miyakouji family gathered in a large tatami-floored room.
The ten-odd men, ranging from visibly old to middle-aged to young, all looked extremely uncomfortable in their seats.
After cleaning herself up and repairing her kimono, Miyo sat down with Kiyoka across from Komon.
“Please accept our utmost apologies…!”
Komon’s forehead was practically rubbing against the floor as he expressed his remorse. He had completely tossed aside the prideful, dignified demeanor he put on for the rest of the family.
“Those men got up to trouble yesterday, and I ordered them to stay home. It’s my fault for failing to consider they might resort to violence, of all things.”
“Please, Lord Komon, raise your head!”
Miyo felt flustered when seeing the family patriarch nearly prostrate himself in front of her. However, Kiyoka merely grunted as if to say Komon was stating the obvious, and he glared at the man with ice-cold eyes.
Although the two men were friendly with one another, Kiyoka had still paid a certain level of respect to Komon, but now any and all reverence he demonstrated for the man was gone.
“You were moments away from being assaulted, Miyo. This oversight is the head of the family’s responsibility.”
“You’re absolutely right,” said Komon. “There is no excuse for this. I acted all high-and-mighty and warned you about staying here, but when push came to shove, I couldn’t even keep my own people in line. It’s utterly embarrassing. As the family head, I never should have let this happen.”
Letting out a dull thud, Komon once again slammed his head into the tatami.
“We can’t get all the details out of ’em yet, but sure as I’m sitting here, those men did what they did out of an inferiority complex toward the Kudous and wounded egos. I can’t possibly apologize enough for this.”
Apparently, there was a part of the Miyakouji family who were overly proud of their lineage, and this attitude had been causing problems for a long time.
However, Komon never imagined the men would resort to harming a family guest. If anything, it was natural not to assume such a thing. One would not expect adult men their age to fail to maintain the bare minimum level of courtesy and respect.
Ultimately, Miyo had escape unharmed without the attack becoming a major issue for her, but if she had been a normal woman without any power to speak of, she would have been unable to resist.
The other Miyakouji men besides Komon understood the severity of the situation, grimacing in pain.
“This is a problem of trust between the Kudous and the Miyakoujis,” Kiyoka stated dispassionately, causing Komon to shrink back even further. “I’ll accept your apology. If Miyo wants to forgive you, then I will reluctantly do the same. However, this lost trust won’t come back easily.”
“There’s certainly no arguing with that. It’s easy for me to say I’ll never let this happen again, but I can’t blame you if you never regain trust in us. Our family has done something horrible enough to warrant it.”
“…Reprehensible,” said the eldest of the Miyakouji men after seeing Komon reply in earnest with a quivering voice.
If Miyo recalled correctly, he was presently the oldest living member of the Miyakouji family. She had seen other members of the family treat him like an esteemed elder.
Everyone seemed affected by the old man’s remark.
“How low the Miyakouji have fallen. Those damned fools…”
The others awkwardly averted their gaze as the elder fought back tears. In all likelihood, some of the men here felt similarly to the three who had caused this scandal. But this was where those emotions had ultimately led.
The Miyakoujis had lost the faith of others, ruined their reputation, forced their patriarch to bow his head, and gained nothing for it.
“This indignity and the others like it, they all stem from the Miyakoujis’ sins… If not for our family’s transgressions, we wouldn’t have been cursed with the aberrants and fallen from grace,” the old man said.
“Grandfather, that’s not…,” Komon called out to the elderly man, looking startled and shaken.