Noticing Hana’s focused gaze on him, Kazura turned his attention to her and gave her a warm smile. It was beautiful, the kind that could make any woman fall head over heels in a single flash. Any woman other than Hana, unfortunately, as she was unmoved by the gesture, but Hazuki and Suzu couldn’t take their eyes off him, as if he’d taken their breath away.
Suzu aside, Nozomu’s world would probably have fallen apart if he saw Hazuki swooning for a man, so it was a good thing he wasn’t nearby.
“Might you be Mrs. Hana, Lord Ichinomiya’s wife?”
He had a comforting, disarming air, and he appeared far too genial for anyone to think of him as the strongest of the Obsidian-rank practitioners; if anything, his demeanor made one worry as to whether he could even battle a shade. The title of “strongest” called to mind a man with bulging muscles, and it was safe to say that Kazura was the polar opposite.
But Hana could tell right away. His powers were terrifyingly strong. He seemed to be concealing them similarly to how Hana typically did, but Hana could still sense them plenty. This mismatch between cover and contents was exactly why Hana looked at Kazura with such suspicion.
“Yes, I am…”
Perhaps keenly sensing how cautious her master was, Azuha left her perch on Hana’s head so that she could act at a moment’s notice. Kazura turned his gaze to Azuha’s fluttering, seeming impressed.
“I see. Hard to think of bugs as the lowest form of shikigami with yours here. You do indeed possess a surprising amount of power. Lord Ichinomiya chose you for a reason.”
“May I take that as a compliment?”
Hana had heard that he was called the strongest, but this was her first time coming across someone whose powers she couldn’t sense the full depth of. He was powerful… Even more than Saku, that was for certain.
“Yes, so please, there’s no need to be so cautious. I meant that as nothing other than praise, of course.”
“Much appreciated.”
Hana’s suspicions hadn’t abated, and one could even call her a bit cold, but Kazura didn’t take it personally. In fact, he started to chuckle.
“I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve heard so much from Lord Ichinomiya, after all.”
“Heard…what, exactly? I just hope he didn’t run his mouth too much…”
Though, knowing Saku, she figured he absolutely did.
“Oh no, almost all of it is just him doting on you. The kind that’s so sweet, I worry about getting cavities.”
Yep, he ran his mouth. Hana got absurdly embarrassed. Was Saku saying this stuff to anybody and everybody? Hana suddenly became worried as well. Maybe this was Saku’s way of laying the groundwork for ensuring Hana could never leave him…
“I had heard you were a cute young lady, but you really are adorable. It’s a shame we couldn’t have met a few years earlier. I might have put myself in the running before Lord Ichinomiya had his chance.”
And he was a womanizer, to boot…
Hana was unsure how to respond to this man who seemed to drop flatteries with every breath, but Kazura’s expression suddenly turned serious as he stroked his chin and went deep into thought.
“Actually, it might not be too late. What do you say? I can’t quite provide the life of luxury that you have as the clan lord’s bride, but my salary as an Obsidian-rank practitioner is on the higher end, so I’d say I’m quite the catch.”
His dazzling grin wasn’t making this subject any less awkward. Hana’s lips stretched as she looked toward Yanagi to throw her a lifeline. She figured that Kazura was just giving compliments to be nice to the clan lord’s wife, but this was starting to come off as insulting.
“Kazura, any more, and I fear Lord Ichinomiya will kill you.”
Yanagi seemed exasperated as he chided Kazura.
“Well, let’s leave the jokes at that.”
Just after making his expression the perfect picture of someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly, Kazura suddenly asked Hana if she could answer something he wanted to know. Resisting the urge to sigh at having this conversation dragged on for even longer, Hana half-heartedly accepted.
“What is it?”
“Those around you have always mocked you for being weak. That’s a pain I understand well.”
“I’m sure you do.”
An elite practitioner who managed to get his hands on an obsidian pendant couldn’t possibly understand the feelings of a former washout like Hana.
“But now you’ve obtained power far beyond what the people who insulted you could ever dream of. Nobody would think of calling someone with an inugami at their command a washout. Are you not aggravated by the blatant mistreatment they put you through? Have you not considered getting payback or exacting revenge?”
His expression was genial, but his eyes were peering right into Hana’s heart.
Hana took that gaze head-on.
“Well, I was pretty disgusted by how quickly everyone changed their tune; I’ll give you that. But I couldn’t care less what those people think of me.” Hana lifted her chin. “Show off my powers, and they change their attitude. I knew that’s how they’d be from the start, and that’s why I hid my powers in the first place. It was my choice to hide them, and it was my choice to stop hiding them. That might make everyone else change, but that doesn’t mean I’ll change a bit. I can’t hold a grudge or want revenge when I don’t even care about what the peanut gallery’s yapping about. They can piss off.”
Hana crossed her arms and stuck out her chest. In her eyes shone a fortitude that wouldn’t waver even before the strongest Obsidian-rank practitioner on the planet.
That said, she would have been lying if she said she held absolutely nothing against the others. However, she really didn’t have any interest in the crowd; if she had to hold a grudge, it would’ve been against her parents for causing all her problems. And even then, those parents had already been forced into hiding by Saku, so revenge was off the table even if she wanted it.