Let’s rewind an hour.
Having established the verbal contract agreent with her mother, Haruno turned and made her way directly to the banquet, seemingly content to leave the two of them alone at ho.
Do you think she’s foolish for so easily believing her mother’s lies?
She clearly saw they couldn’t control themselves when she doubled back. So why leave them alone together?
But Haruno isn’t foolish.
Even if the entire nation of Japan were fools, Haruno would never be one. Otherwise, why would her mother entrust the family business to her?
Haruno’s decision to leave them alone was deliberate.
First, her mother was right. She couldn’t watch over Roland forever. Even without this banquet, she would eventually have to return to the company, inevitably creating opportunities for the two of them to be alone.
In other words, life is long, and such situations would arise again. She needed to adapt now.
Of course, "adaptation" couldn’t an completely abandoning them to their own devices. So Haruno resorted to her second tactic:
Summoning her younger sister to the stage!
It was ti for Yukino Yuki to make her grand entrance!
Like her mother and sister, Yukino Yuki was also a remarkable beauty, as her na implied. Her face was so incredibly adorable that it almost seed unjust, and her features were flawlessly honed, frad by long, black hair that fell below her shoulders.
Apart from her less-than-impressive figure (specifically her chest) and a rather sharp tongue, she was practically perfect.
Well, she was only a tiny bit less perfect than her older sister. Roland certainly had an eye for detail, choosing the more flawless Yukino for the arranged marriage.
But that wasn’t the point. The real issue was Yuki’s recent falling-out with their mother. Though her mother pretended to let Yuki live independently, she secretly kept a close watch on her daughter’s situation.
What mother could truly ignore her own child?
Perhaps so existed, but Haruno’s mother wasn’t one of them.
Her mother undoubtedly wanted Yuki to return ho. This gave Haruno a legitimate reason to bring her sister back, ensuring her mother couldn’t bla her later.
Secondly, to improve her image in her younger sister’s eyes, their mother would definitely be more restrained when dealing with Yuki than she was with her.
In other words, Yuki was actually better suited to monitor those two.
Realizing this, Haruno quickly called her "tool" sister, already having devised a plan to trick her into coming ho.
"Yuki~, do you miss your big sister?" Haruno answered the phone with a teasing tone.
"Not at all," Yuki replied coldly before hanging up abruptly.
Through years of experience with her sister, Yuki knew that if she didn’t hang up imdiately, Haruno would tease her endlessly with pointless banter. Only by hanging up once would her sister finally get down to business.
"How cruel~ Little Yuki-chan hung up on her big sister again! Do you really hate that much? Waaah~" Haruno, seemingly used to this, imdiately called back and continued teasing.
"If you don’t get to the point, I won’t answer the next call," Yuki warned, her voice still icy like—a heartless assassin lady from certain
...!
"Tsk, tsk, how unadorable. Even your brother-in-law is cuter," Haruno said, her voice returning to normal, though she couldn’t resist a teasing remark.
"Brother-in-law? What do you an?" Yuki frowned slightly, her sharp mind instantly picking up on the key word.
Does this an my sister finally has soone?
If she does, good. Maybe she’ll stop bothering all the ti.
But who on earth is unlucky enough to catch the eye of soone as haughty as my sister?
"It ans your big sister is getting married! From now on, half of my love for Yuki will be divided between you and him. Isn’t my little Yuki sad?"
"Please, take it all. Thank you."
"Oh my~, so you want all of your sister’s love for yourself?"
"...If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up," Yuki said, her face darkening.
"You’re still so impatient, little sister. Aren’t you even curious about who your brother-in-law is?" Haruno sighed in exasperation.
"Not at all. Though I’ll offer him my condolences."
"Watch your tone. Your brother-in-law is a very capable man. I hope you’ll still talk like that once you know who he is."
"Is he soone I know?"
"That’s a secret~ You’ll find out when you et him."
"You’re not trying to trick into moving back ho, are you?"
"What are you thinking? Do I need to trick you to get you to move back? Once your rebellious phase ends in a couple of years, you’ll co back on your own. You don’t actually want to cut ties with mother, do you?"
"That’s still years away," Yuki said, frowning in displeasure. She clearly disagreed with her sister’s "rebellious phase" explanation.
Yuki didn’t see her conflict with her mother as re teenage rebellion.
She simply wanted to participate in family affairs like her sister did, but her mother always rejected her outright, in a tone that brooked no argunt.
Why could her sister do it, but not her?
If her mother thought she was too young or inexperienced, she could have simply said, "We’ll discuss it later." Why shut her down completely?
Yuki couldn’t help but feel that her mother had chosen her sister, leaving her lonely and abandoned.
"You’re really planning to live out there for years, huh? I’m getting married, so I won’t be able to keep you company forever," Haruno said, shaking her head on the other side of the call. It seed her younger sister still had so growing up to do.
Could I be rushing things? Haruno wondered.
After all, Yuki was still just a 17-year-old high school girl. If she matured too quickly, wouldn’t her cute sister lose so of her charm?
"I don’t recall asking you to co keep company," Yuki replied dryly.
"Oh, right! Then how about your sister and brother-in-law move in with you instead? Wouldn’t that be fun?"
"Absolutely not!"
"What a sha. Your brother-in-law is an amazing cook."
"Cook? What do you an?" Yuki suddenly paused, catching a key phrase in her sister’s words.
Her sister’s partner could cook?
First, that ant her sister’s partner must be soone Yuki knew.
Though Yuki didn’t have many friends, she had plenty of acquaintances. People like Hayama from the Hayama family, or those from other families with business ties to the Yukino Family—they all counted as acquaintances.
With so many possibilities, Yuki couldn’t imdiately pinpoint who it might be.
It seed like none of those people had ever particularly caught her sister’s attention.
But now, the mont Yuki heard her sister ntion cooking, a certain figure imdiately flashed through her mind.
Could it be him?
He was certainly soone she knew well—or rather, soone who had long since crossed the border of re acquaintance.
Moreover, her sister’s relationship with him had always been sowhat enigmatic to say. It was hard to say if it was good, but it was clear she cared about him deeply. After all, it wasn’t every day thing that her sister would tease soone so relentlessly.
So, could it really be him?
Why hadn’t she considered him earlier? Was it because she didn’t think her sister would choose soone younger than herself, or perhaps because she simply didn’t want it to be him?
"Are you talking about Roland as my brother-in-law?" Yuki asked, feeling restless for reasons she couldn’t quite understand.
"Who knows~? You’ll find out when you go back. By the way, Mother’s been quite ill recently. I have a banquet to attend these next few days and won’t have ti to care for her. You need to stay by her side and watch over her constantly, understand?" Haruno finally got down to business.
"What’s this about mother being seriously ill? When did this happen? Why are you only telling now?" Yuki frowned again. It felt like so much had happened while she was away from ho.
She hadn’t even known that her mother was sick.
And if mother was ill, shouldn’t her sister have asked her to co ho to care for her? Why was she being told to go back and "keep an eye" on her instead?
What exactly was wrong with Mother?
"Just go back ho and see for yourself. Stop asking so many questions—are you so kind of interrogator? That’s all," Haruno said impatiently, hanging up the phone. After saying so much, she was confident her sister wouldn’t be able to resist going back to investigate.
Even if Yuki didn’t care about her sister’s prospective marriage partner, surely she’d be concerned about their mother’s health?
Though their mother was practically recovered now, thanks to Roland’s care, that didn’t stop Haruno from using it to manipulate her sister.
Haruno was already looking forward to seeing the adorable expression Yuki would make when she t her future brother-in-law.
Damn it! She couldn’t even witness it firsthand—what a waste!
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