"i Xiang? How are you here?" she asked, feigning composure.
i Xiang did not reply but stared at her intensely, her eyes filled with anger and disappointnt.
Seeing that i Xiang was silent, Sanki Xiaonai aggressively stepped forward. Before she could act, i Xiang grabbed her raised arm.
Xiao Nai turned her head back, puzzled. i Xiang said, "Let ask her."
Xiao Nai lowered her hand and exchanged a few more words with i Xiang. i Xiang nodded, then turned to Chen Cheng and said, "Brother Cheng, wait for ."
Then to Yahata Reina, she said, "Let’s go inside and talk."
The two walked into the inner room and closed the door.
Sanki Xiaonai casually took a seat on the sofa, muttering a few words. Chen Cheng didn’t understand, but it was clear they were insults.
The man nad Hang Sheng was trembling, sandwiched between two bodyguards.
Chen Cheng also took a seat.
Sanki Xiaonai crossed her legs and sized up Chen Cheng again, asking in Japanese, "Are you Chen Cheng?"
"I don’t know Japanese."
...
...
Inside the room, Yahata Reina still wore a smile, "i Xiang, how did you find this place?"
"You owe an explanation."
"What explanation?"
Yahata Reina feigned confusion, blinking as if she didn’t understand i Xiang’s point, "What have I done that needs explaining?"
i Xiang looked at her pretentious deanor and felt disgusted.
Once, she thought her stepmother was a gentle and kind woman, but now it seems it was all just a façade.
"Seychelles Company, Brazilian Mine, Araguaia Mineração, Watanabe and his son, Sunrise Ocean Trading."
i Xiang stared into Yahata Reina’s eyes, questioning every word, each word squeezed out between clenched teeth.
"What do you have to do with all these?"
Yahata Reina’s smile froze, a flicker of panic in her eyes, but she quickly concealed it, "i Xiang, are you misunderstanding sothing? You know I never ddle in your father’s business."
"Not ddling in the business?"
i Xiang sneered, opening her phone and throwing it in front of her, "Alpine Holdings, the beneficiary of this Swiss company—you should know very well, right?"
Yahata Reina’s face went pale instantly. She picked up the docunt, her eyes falling on the beneficiary section, where it starkly read: Yahata Reina.
Her lips trembled, but no words ca out.
"Still pretending?"
i Xiang pressed on, "Do you think those things you did could be concealed forever? Do you think you can continue to enjoy your wealth and status?"
Yahata Reina collapsed onto the bed, her gaze hollow.
"I... I..." she stuttered, not knowing what to say.
"What else is there to say?"
i Xiang asked emotionlessly, "My father treated you so well, what haven’t you received from him? Why would you still betray him, betray the Xingye family?"
Yahata Reina’s tears flowed, she covered her face, "I... I..."
She faltered, unable to form a complete sentence.
"What? Nothing left to say?"
i Xiang advanced, her tone sharp, "Do you have anything else to explain?"
"Do you think you can keep hiding it?"
"I’m telling you, I already know everything! You not only stole our family’s money, but you also caused my father’s death!"
Upon hearing this, Yahata Reina’s body stiffened.
She shook her head in horror, "No... I didn’t! I didn’t kill Osuke!"
"On the night my father had an accident, how co you conveniently left Tokyo?" i Xiang interrogated.
i Xiang’s interrogation pierced into Yahata Reina’s heart like a dagger, causing her already pale face to lose even more color.
She avoided i Xiang’s gaze in panic, her eyes flickering, too scared to et hers.
"You tell , what exactly happened that day?" i Xiang took another step forward, "Why did you suddenly leave Tokyo?"
Yahata Reina clung tightly to her robe, as if it were her last line of defense.
Silence spread between the two, oppressively suffocating.
"I..." Yahata Reina’s voice was as thin as a mosquito’s, as if it would be swallowed by the silence, "I was just... afraid..."
"Afraid of what?"
"I..." Yahata Reina bit her lip, seemingly struggling, hesitant.
Finally, as if making up her mind, she took a deep breath and slowly said, "That night... it was... Watanabe who told to leave."
i Xiang’s mind exploded, "You, you said who? Watanabe?"
Yahata nodded in acknowledgnt, "He said Osuke would be in trouble, and to avoid being investigated, he had return to Shizuoka ahead of ti."
"Why would he do that?" i Xiang couldn’t believe her ears.
Yahata Reina lowered her head, tears sliding down her cheeks, "He said... he said Osuke was hindering his plans, he had to get rid of Osuke..."
"What plans?"
i Xiang’s heart sank, realizing that things were far more complicated than she imagined.
"He said... as long as Osuke died, no one would investigate the deficit at the Brazilian Mine."
"Moreover, Osuke’s death would trigger a series of debt issues, allowing him to...," she looked towards i Xiang, "swallow up the entire Xingye Products."
One revelation after another beyond i Xiang’s imagination continued to wash over her understanding.
"He thought everything would go smoothly, but he didn’t expect, i Xiang, that you would actually bring in financial support and alleviate the debt crisis."
"He said... he underestimated that Chinese man and your relationship, and never expected you would go to such lengths for the Xingye family..."
"So, he killed my father?" i Xiang clenched her fists, her nails almost piercing her palms.
Yahata Reina didn’t speak, just silently nodded.
"Why didn’t you tell my father the truth? Hasn’t he been good to you all these years? You knew he would be in trouble... yet you still..."
"Don’t you care about him at all?"
Yahata Reina took a deep breath, her eyes blurred with tears, her tone trembling but containing long-suppressed pain and resentnt:
"Care? How could I not care! I wanted more than anyone for him to be well! But i Xiang, do you understand what that life is like? Marrying a man who doesn’t have you in his heart, like a bird in a gilded cage, splendidly clothed and fed, yet even the soul is suffocating!"
She abruptly stood up, pacing back and forth in the room like a trapped beast, her tone agitated:
"Do you think I wanted his money? Do you think I yearned for that kind of life? Indeed, before I married him, I was just an Oiran, but I also had my own life, my own dreams!"
"But him? He forcibly kept by his side, gave the status of Mrs. Xingye, but never gave a sliver of love and respect!"
Yahata Reina stopped walking, turned to look at i Xiang, tears in her eyes finally uncontrollable:
"What am I to him? A vase? A plaything? Or... a tool to be used at will?"
i Xiang looked at Yahata Reina in shock, never having seen her stepmother lose control like this, the pain and despair suppressed beneath her glamorous appearance, erupting like a volcano, shocking i Xiang’s perception.
"He never listened to , his eyes only saw the company, only the profits! I was like a decoration, an accessory to adorn his perfect life!"
Yahata Reina’s voice was hoarse, filled with deep exhaustion and helplessness, "Do you know, he even..."
She choked up, apparently struggling to speak, but eventually painfully said: "He even... sent to other n’s beds..."
Yahata Reina painfully covered her face, "He said... it was for the company’s interest, for the future of the Xingye family... he had please those politicians and tycoons... even... let ..."
"He even had ... record those dirty transactions, as chips for future resource exchanges."
She lifted her head to look at i Xiang, "He never saw as a person..."
Yahata Reina’s voice was hoarse, "In his eyes, I was just a tool, a chess piece to be manipulated at will! Never his wife!"
i Xiang covered her mouth in astonishnt, in her eyes, Osuke was a loving father, the pillar supporting the entire family.
But this stepmother who joined their family later, revealed another side of Osuke, completely different from the father she knew.
"I hate him... I wished he would die... but..."
Yahata Reina stood up, undoing the ribbon around her waist, old scars appearing on her fair skin.
"But... every ti I see these scars, they remind that I can only rely on myself..."
Yahata Reina trembled as she touched them, "Only by tightly holding onto the power and wealth in my hands, can I escape the fate of being manipulated by your father!"
i Xiang shockingly looked at the scars on Yahata Reina, the crisscrossing wounds shocking, each one like a sharp blade deeply stabbing her heart.
"Are... these... all done by my father?"
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