Chapter 13: Toying with the Flower

“Kukuku… I’m a genius, if I do say so myself.”

Shiga Inui laughed in his private room.

The retainers working diligently in the mansion were active even in his absence, as Shiga Inui had told them to “act on your own judgment.”

During that time, Shiga Inui was free.

…

And so, after he laid out the bedding, she appeared.

It was Abarabana Tenri, dressed in a lodging robe.

She must have just finished bathing, as her hair was still wet.

She gave Shiga Inui a look brimming with resentment.

“Since I was told to come to your room, I cannot defy you…”

She was blushing.

She bit her lower lip, her expression one of vexation.

“Did you wash up nice and proper?”

His gaze crawled over her body.

It didn’t matter how clean she made herself; she would only get dirty again, so it was all meaningless.

“…How rude. I washed myself thoroughly… every single part.”

Abarabana Tenri answered his question dutifully.

Leaning on her cane, she entered the room.

(Again… by this man, my body will be…)

Abarabana Tenri was about to be taken by him in his room.

She recalled being violated by Shiga Inui.

The pain, fear, and shame had left no room for any other emotion.

The same thing as last time was about to happen.

The mere thought made her expression gradually stiffen.

“Hah, acting all grown-up and getting nervous? How cute.”

As she tensed up, Shiga Inui wrapped both hands around her waist and lifted her effortlessly.

“Ah, w-wait!”

Still holding her, Shiga Inui placed Abarabana Tenri onto the bedding.

He then straddled her.

Excitedly, he tore away her robe.

Her body was laid bare.

Seeing her pure white skin, Shiga Inui asked her.

“Hey, hey… Where’s your underwear?”

“…Y-you were going to take it off anyway, weren’t you? So… I didn’t wear any to begin with. It would be a waste of time.”

Abarabana Tenri, who had been told she would be taken by Shiga Inui, explained that she’d saved him the trouble since he would have removed it anyway.

“Haaah… You just don’t get it. Stripping it off is the best part.”

He was disappointed, saying that stripping her himself was the exciting part.

“I wasn’t asking about your preferences… mmph!”

Just like that, Shiga Inui kissed her.

It was a long, long kiss.

He explored her mouth—gently and shallowly, then strongly and deeply—caressing her with his lips and the tip of his tongue.

Abarabana Tenri resisted his kiss somewhat.

But the heat from the tip of his tongue invaded her, gradually stealing her strength to resist.

“Ngh, pha!… Hah… hah… hah…”

Abarabana Tenri was already ready for him.

Despite her protests, her body was yielding to Shiga Inui.

Laughing, Shiga Inui pointed out her expression.

“Your mouth says no, but aren’t you already dying for me? Looks like you’ve fallen, eh?”

She had completely surrendered to her instincts, her face taking on a woman’s expression.

When he pointed this out, she turned bright red and stammered her denial.

“I-I have not fallen! Absolutely, absolutely not!!”

She insisted to the very end that she had not fallen.

Mwah… smooch…

Mmph… Pah!… Ah…

“How is it? My saliva… it’s as sweet as honey, isn’t it?”

“It is an effect from my arts. Honey Arts. They can make my bodily fluids as sweet as honey.”

“Fufu, my fingers, my toes, my entire body… they will make you melt, won’t they?”

“You should just lick my honey until you go mad… H-hiu?!”

“I-I may have said you could lick anywhere, but… my armpit?! You… pervert! Hya!”

“N-now my navel… Please stop, a place like that… it’s starting to tingle… No, I said—”

“Mmph… y-yes… You should have just been licking there from the start…”

“Licking me over and over, just like a real dog… Ffah!”

“To suddenly bite me… Ah! Where are you biting—”

“Again and again, like that… Kh… If you think I’m going to stay submissive forever, you are sorely mistaken…”

“Next, it’s my turn… I will wring you completely dry…”

Again and again.

They played until they lost all track of time.

“Is it over already?”

She said, panting for breath.

After the fierce activity, after her emotions had peaked.

Having collapsed completely, she spoke to Shiga Inui as if to provoke him.

At her challenging words, he gave a smile that said, Not a chance.

“We’re just getting started… I’m going to make you moan even more.”

There was drinking water placed nearby.

He reached a hand into the darkness to grab it and rehydrate.

His hand touched something warm, and he felt it to confirm what it was.

“Eek!”

Abarabana Tenri, who was straddling him, let a shriek escape her lips.

Shiga Inui, feeling a sudden sense of dread, timidly looked up.

“Inu.”

His name was called.

Hearing his name in the darkness, Shiga Inui was inwardly shocked, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“W-Well hello, Shian-chan. Huh? Didn’t you say you’d be busy with an interrogation all day?”

Shiga Inui asked, finding the situation odd.

“The moment you’re out of my sight, this is what you do. I feel like my own pet dog just bit my hand.”

With that retort, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck with a cold look in her eyes.

“Never mind that for now. I’ll lecture you later. More importantly… I need you. Come on, now!”

With that, Shiga Inui was dragged away.

“Ow, ow, ow! H-Hey, at least let me put on my underwear!”

As he said that, Shiga Inui grabbed Abarabana Tenri’s wrist.

“Wh-I-I have nothing to do with this!”

Abarabana Tenri covered her chest.

Evidently, she couldn’t let him walk through the halls naked.

Mineki Shian, having calmed down, gave Shiga Inui time to get dressed, after which he set off with her.

The former Abarabana family mansion was a labyrinth.

They walked down a hallway to the mansion’s lowest level, the basement, where there was a room.

It was likely a tatami-room cell; behind a wooden cage, the bound figure of Soui Shuryakuma could be seen.

“I brought him, Soui Shuryakuma.”

Soui Shuryakuma looked at Shiga Inui’s face from between the gaps in his bangs.

He wasn’t wearing sunglasses, so he couldn’t be certain it was really Shiga Inui.

However, from that flippant expression, he sensed it was the real deal.

“…Shiga Inui, I wish to apologize for my discourtesy regarding the earlier surprise attack.”

he said, bowing his head to Shiga Inui.

Hearing this, Shiga Inui tilted his head.

“Huh? Discourtesy? Surprise attack? Did someone do something to me?”

Shiga Inui acted as if he didn’t even recognize the assault against him as an attack.

“…I’m no match for you… The reason I called you here is that I have a favor to ask.”

Just as he said that,

Mineki Shian cut into the conversation.

“Hey, what’s this about? Didn’t you tell me to go get Inu because you were going to talk about the surprise attack?”

At her words, Soui Shuryakuma nodded.

“That’s correct… First, before I ask that favor, let’s talk.”

Recalling Mineki Shian’s words, he explained why he had attacked Shiga Inui.

“For convenience’s sake, we formed an alliance… and attempted to ambush Shiga Inui.”

Soui Shuryakuma said, picturing Shiga Inui’s face.

By ‘we,’ he meant the heads of the seven magecraft families, who had all gathered to target Shiga Inui.

“That’s right. Why did you target Inu?”

Mineki Shian wondered why, after forming a seven-family alliance, they had targeted Shiga Inui personally instead of declaring all-out war.

She thought that, surely, if the allied families fought a war, they could have proceeded with the upper hand.

“…We are disposable pawns… used to ascertain the power of the man named Shiga Inui.”

“Disposable pawns… you say? But you are the family heads, are you not?”

She could understand if the allied heads sent out spies to gather information on him.

But a family head is the cornerstone and leader of their organization.

How could they do something that amounted to throwing away their own lives?

“…That’s because we were in the way. If the head is lost, another head can take control.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple story… We are pawns, and ones who are a nuisance just by existing. In the first place, while the alliance was formally established… its true nature was something akin to slavery.”

The truth was gradually coming to light.

Shiga Inui nodded, understanding now.

“So, in other words, you’re all puppets.”

“…That’s right, Shiga Inui. You’re about to be headhunted… We staked our lives just to prepare for that.”

Headhunting.

Betraying the organization one belongs to and joining another.

It meant that many capable mages had lost their lives for the sole purpose of poaching Shiga Inui.

“Who? Who orchestrated this farce?”

Soui Shuryakuma answered Mineki Shian’s question.

“…The Tsuchikurenai family.”

Hearing that name, she grit her teeth.

Shiga Inui looked at her face and asked a question.

“What’s the deal? What kind of organization are they?”

“A family that has manipulated puppets for generations… Their own strength isn’t that great, but I’ve heard dark rumors… that they don’t conquer other houses with military force, but by seizing their weaknesses and ruling them like slaves… They don’t act out in the open, so it has all remained at the level of rumor… Since they weren’t a neighboring family, I never considered it that important, but…”

Soui Shuryakuma ground his teeth.

Then, he bit back at her explanation.

“Yes, that’s right! They laid the groundwork so the rumors would never come to the surface, meticulously! They bit into us and planted their poison! As a result, we could no longer defy the Tsuchikurenai family… Because of that…”

Soui Shuryakuma’s eyes filled with tears.

Hanging his head, he spoke with vexation.

“My… mother, too, was made to… entertain them, night after night…”

Soui Shuryakuma confessed the painful truth.

In other words, she had been forced to offer her body to the Tsuchikurenai family against her will.