NABC Page 333
Page 333
The little fox cried out in fright and instinctively hid in its mother's arms.
Yasaka held his daughter tightly, feeling the shackles from the depths of his soul, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
It was humiliation, but also... peace of mind.
From that moment on, the fate of the mother and daughter no longer belonged to themselves.
But at least they survived.
……
When Zhou Ye returned to Rias and the others, the banquet for yokai had already ended in an eerie atmosphere.
He said nothing, but simply gestured for everyone to leave.
On the way back to her residence, Rias suddenly moved closer to Zhou Ye.
She gently sniffed near Zhou Ye's collar with her pert nose.
A sweet and alluring fragrance, belonging to a nine-tailed fox, had not yet completely dissipated.
“Yes, I’m very satisfied.” Rias suddenly spoke, a mischievous smile on her face.
"Satisfied with what?" Zhou Ye raised an eyebrow.
"I'm satisfied with my fiancé. His taste hasn't fallen to the level of that old lecher Zeus, the king of the gods." Rias hooked her arm around his and said with a coquettish snort, "Sowing seeds everywhere isn't a good habit."
Her tone was tentative, and there was also a hint of barely perceptible nervousness.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ye scoffed.
"I really want those two foxes."
Rias paused for a moment.
Zhou Ye glanced at her and continued in that mocking, emotionless tone.
"But their kin? A bunch of weak, brain-dead burdens with no self-awareness whatsoever. I have no interest in taking them in."
"I just need two pets to warm my bed, not to create a burden for myself."
These extremely cold words, however, brought a look of complete agreement to Rias's face.
"you're right."
She nodded in agreement, a hint of the indifference that belonged to a high-ranking demon flashing in her green eyes.
“I visited Kyoto with my brother when I was a child, and I had a very bad impression of these yokai.”
"Arrogant and conceited, narrow-minded and instigated by internal strife, they have no skills other than bullying ordinary people."
"The entire Kyoto Yokai Group is only maintained by that nine-tailed fox from Yasaka. Without her, this so-called sacred place of yokai would have been swallowed up by other forces long ago, or destroyed by internal strife."
"Taking them in would indeed be a huge burden."
Rias's words were utterly blunt.
As the younger sister of the new demon king Lucifer, she received the most elite education from a young age and witnessed the grandeur and power of the underworld.
In her view, a force of Kyoto's yokai caliber isn't even worthy of carrying a demon's shoes.
Zhou Ye didn't say anything more, and just continued walking forward.
Some things, among wise people, don't need to be said too explicitly.
Even submission has different levels.
Only worthwhile submission can earn protection.
Those things that have no value can only be treated as garbage and thrown away casually.
This is the true law of this world.
Chapter 289 Arrangements
The atmosphere on the return journey was so heavy it felt like you could wring water out of it.
The journey from Kyoto to Koohcho was easy, but the return trip was marked by three figures with different thoughts.
Yasaka, the nine-tailed celestial fox, and her daughter, Kokonoe.
And, Himejima Suzaku, the cousin of the former Himejima family priestess Himejima Akari.
Yasaka kept his head down the whole time, holding his daughter tightly in his arms. His once captivating face was now filled with numbness and humiliation.
The mark of the contract was deeply etched into her soul, making her constantly aware that she was no longer the high and mighty General of Kyoto, but someone else's property.
A pet.
Jiuzhong huddled in her mother's arms, her small body trembling slightly, filled with fear of the unknown.
The most surprising one is Suzaku Himejima.
The head of the Himejima family, who was a figure of considerable influence in the Japanese world, was expressionless, with empty eyes, and a faint scent of blood emanating from him.
Beside her stood the equally silent Himejima Akeno.
Unlike her cousin's numbness, Himejima Akeno's face bore a morbid sense of satisfaction after revenge.
Before leaving Kyoto, she did one thing.
With Suzaku Himejima's tacit approval, she personally executed the culprit who led the hunt for her and her mother years ago—her cousin, Suou Himejima, and all his loyal followers.
The knife fell quickly and decisively.
There was no trial, no nonsense, only the most direct blood debt repaid in blood.
"Suzaku, are you really sure?"
Rias looked at her new ally with a hint of scrutiny in her voice.
“Abandoning the entire Himejima family and coming to this small place with us, this is not the kind of decision a head of one of the five major families should make.”
Suzaku Himejima withdrew her gaze from the rapidly receding scenery outside the window.
"Homeowner?"
She gave a self-deprecating twitch at the corner of her mouth.
"What's the point of a family that could be swept away by the tides of time at any moment clinging to that empty title?"
Her gaze shifted to Zhou Ye, the man who had kept his eyes closed the entire time, seemingly indifferent to everything.
“Miss Rias Gremory, you should know better than me what the world will become.”
"The old Demon King faction, the Calamity Gang, and that Hero Faction..."
“If the mythical war were to repeat itself, the five great clans, who were once powerful, would not even be qualified to be cannon fodder.”
"Those old fogies in the Himejima family still cling to that ridiculous theory of bloodline. Even though a batch of them have died, a new batch is blinded by their lust for power. They can't see the danger; they only see the immediate benefits."
She paused, her tone turning cold.
"I don't want to be buried with a bunch of idiots."
“Besides…” Her gaze fell on her cousin, “The Himejima family owes Akeno.”
Himejima Akeno simply fiddled with her long black hair and didn't reply.
For her, the so-called family was already a joke.
……
Back in Kooh Town, at Zhou Ye's residence.
As the door opened and the group walked in, Yasaka and Kokonoe appeared increasingly uneasy.
Everything here was unfamiliar to them.
Meanwhile, Suzaku Himejima was surveying the place, his eyes filled with assessment.
"Alright, now that we're here, let's talk about the rules."
Rias stopped and turned around, her face bearing the elegant yet aloof smile befitting the young lady of the Gremory family.
Her gaze fell directly on Yasaka.
"Miss Yasaka, and little sister Kokonoe."
Her address was polite, but her tone was devoid of any warmth.
"As you've all seen, Ye is very afraid of trouble."
“Since you are now his…pets,” Rias deliberately emphasized the word, “then you should act like pets.”
Yasaka's body trembled violently, and his face paled even more.
The humiliation felt like steel needles, piercing her heart.
But she could only lower her head and answer in a barely audible voice.
"……Yes."
Rias was pleased with her reaction and continued.
"In this household, I'm the one who calls the shots. My words are the same as Yu Ye's orders, understand?"
This is a blatant show of force.
It also declares who the lady of the house is.
“I… understand, Madam.” Yasaka’s fingernails dug deeply into her palm.
“Mother…” Jiuzhong tugged at her mother’s clothes, her little face full of fear.
Rias glanced at the pitiful little fox, showing no mercy. She knew that a warning was necessary to prevent future confusion about who was the king. Instead, she turned to Suzaku Himejima.
“Miss Suzaku, although you are Akeno’s cousin and an ally, you’d better put away your Himejima family head’s airs here.”
“I don’t need it,” Suzaku Himejima answered decisively. “I came here simply to survive. As for the identity of the head of the family, I discarded it the moment I left Kyoto.”
"very good."
Rias nodded, then looked at Zhou Ye, who had remained silent, as if waiting for his final instruction.
Zhou Ye finally opened his eyes.