““……””

Emera and Furei, heads hung low, were dripping with sweat and trembling violently, unable to utter a word.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they couldn’t open their mouths due to sheer terror.

They seem to fear Maria-san even more than me, but are they perhaps distant cousins of hers? Or maybe even her nieces?

It seems like they live in the same mansion…

If that’s the case, it makes sense they’d know firsthand just how scary Maria-san can be—and be terrified of her.

Since Maria-san called my name so casually, and I spoke to her just as familiarly, those two have probably already realized we have some kind of connection.

“I’ll explain from my side. I ended up having a dispute with them at school and came to the mansion to settle things.”

First, I gave her a concise summary of the facts.

If I explained too much, I risked making her mood even worse.

“So Eito-kun got into trouble with those girls, hmm~? I see, so Emera did something, right~?”

Maria-san rested the back of her wrist against her chin and gazed at Emera as if running her eyes over prey

This causes Emera’s body to flinch, and the already copious sweat increases even further.

She looks at me pleadingly, as if begging me to make it stop.

I ignore Emera’s gaze, thinking she deserves it.

“Why would you think that?”

“Isn’t it obvious~? Smart Eito-kun would never pick a fight with those girls on his own. I didn’t raise him to be that foolish~. And Furei may be lazy, but she doesn’t like conflict. More than anything, that child would never make an enemy out of someone like Eito-kun, even without knowing anything~. Which means… there’s only one possible cause, isn’t there~?”

Yeah, this nagging tone.

Combined with the murderous aura she exudes, it’s no wonder Emera and Furei are terrified.

I even feel a knot in my stomach, despite being innocent in all of this.

“W-what exactly is your relationship with him, Mother…?”

Cornered, Emera tries to divert Maria-san’s attention by asking her a question.

—Wait…

“Mother!?”

I immediately snapped my head toward Maria-san again, stunned by what Emera just said.

Maria-san narrowed her eyes, as if to say “You shouldn’t have said that…”, and fixed her gaze on Emera.

Because of that, Emera immediately lowered her head.

“You’re being pretty slow today, Eito-kun~. We look alike, and this is my mansion, so you really should’ve figured it out by now, you know~? Maybe it’s time for a little punishment, since it’s been a while~?”

It feels as if her anger towards Emera has been directed at me, and she casually suggests punishment.

Indeed, Emera has a strand of white hair mixed with blonde, while Furei has a strand of blonde mixed with white hair.

And Maria-san has an equal amount of blonde and white hair.

On top of that, the blue eye they both share as part of their heterochromatic pair was the same shade as Maria-san’s—bright, vivid blue.

Above all, they inherit a transcendent beauty.

With all that information about her appearance, plus the fact that she’s insanely rich and that they all live in the same mansion…

It really isn’t surprising that she’d call me stupid for not noticing.

But I have something to say too.

“Wait a moment…! Maria-san, you said you took me in because you needed an heir…!? And you hinted at being single as well…!”

This woman’s punishments are on a completely different level. But for the current me, even being thrown into boiling water like back when I was in elementary school, or being made to fight a bear like Pochi, wouldn’t be a problem.

But she knows perfectly well that those wouldn’t work as punishments on me anymore, so she always comes up with something that will actually get to me now.

That’s why I desperately don’t want to receive her punishments.

I can’t even imagine what she’ll do anymore.

“Just because I needed an heir doesn’t mean I couldn’t already have children, you know~? And besides~ by the time I took you in, my husband had already passed away, so I was basically single anyway~.”

That’s what Maria-san said, but I’m pretty sure she phrased things that way on purpose back then just to make me misunderstand.

I don’t know anyone more calculating than this person.

“Now then, about the question you asked, Emera~. Eito-kun is a child I took in, watched over, and raised with lo~ts of care ever since he was little~.”

Just those words alone were enough to make Emera fall into despair.

In other words, she’d picked a fight with the boy her mother had personally taken under her wing.

And on top of that, his little sister was also supposed to be someone their mother took in—so from her perspective, it must feel like she’d gone after someone she absolutely shouldn’t have touched.

Her mind must be anything but calm right now.

My condolences.

“Honestly now, Eito-kun~. Even if Hina-chan was hurt, barging into the Tenjouin mansion all by yourself was a bit too careless, don’t you think~?”

The pressure Maria-san had been putting on Emera suddenly shifted and focused on me instead.

Well, if I hadn’t barged in, her plans wouldn’t have gotten ruined, and honestly, going up against one of the world’s most famous conglomerates all by myself really is stupid—so I can’t exactly blame her for scolding me.

What I’ve realized is that she’s about to blow her top not because her plans were ruined, but probably because Hina got hurt.

Since she knew about Hina’s situation without me explaining it, she already had information before coming here.

And the source of that information isn’t the maids or butlers in this mansion—it must be Shirayuki-san.

The reason she told me to buy time was probably to wait for Maria-san’s arrival.

She’d been surprised when she heard my name because she knew it was connected to Maria-san.

On top of that, since Maria-san had deliberately hidden her ties to the Tenjouin conglomerate, including her connection to Emera and Furei. Shirayuki-san probably couldn’t tell me the real reason behind her silence.

Even so… if it’s Maria-san we’re talking about, someone who dotes on Hina just as much as I do, I honestly expected her to be way angrier after what happened to Hina…

“Well, I did want to settle things peacefully before it got to this point… but once they took those indecent photos of Hina in nothing but her underwear, I had no choice but to make them delete them…”

Just as I said that—

In the next instant, the room was filled with a chill so intense it made me forget we were in a bathhouse.

“Huh?”

I looked at Maria-san again, and her expression had completely lost its playful smirk, turning icy cold—like a snow woman.

Immediately after that, I realized my blunder.

No, normally I would have noticed the incongruity much earlier and chosen my words more carefully, considering what was to come.

But it seems my overheated body had kept my head from working properly—because I’d gone and made the one person I should never anger… genuinely furious.

—Ah… so that’s how it is…

Of course. Shirayuki-san, who worships Emera and Furei as her masters, would never be able to say something like that…

With how sharp that girl is, if she told Maria-san the truth, she would know exactly what would happen to them.

In other words, Maria-san hadn’t heard anything about Hina’s photos from Shirayuki-san at all.

In fact, she’d probably even covered up the part where the twins drenched Hina with water.

Watching the twin sisters collapse as the blood drained from their faces, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for them—even if they’d brought it entirely on themselves.