I sent my daughter to her apartment, where she lives alone, and then went home directly.

After a while, there was a clinking sound from the entrance.

It seems that my wife has returned from the fancy restaurant.

When she came into the living room… well, she looked absolutely terrible.

She usually doesn’t wear much makeup.

Given how naturally beautiful she is, there’s no need to adorn her face. That’s why she only applies minimal makeup necessary for daily life. But this time was different.

This must have been a decisive meeting with an important person—she had to succeed at all costs.

Her determination was evident in the unnecessary amount of makeup applied.

But the tears had smeared it, making it look as if she were crying black, oily tears.

Her whole atmosphere felt heavy and gloomy, completely different from how she had looked earlier that morning when she went to the high-class restaurant with my daughter.

This morning, it had been my daughter who wore that same gloomy aura my wife now carried… and seeing them switch like that made me feel touched, that they truly were parent and child.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Eh…?”

“I said, why are you laughing!!”

My wife suddenly lost her temper.

She raised her voice in a tantrum, shouting loudly.

This is something that happens often with her.

Though she appears to be a refined lady with grace and elegance on the surface, it’s merely an artificial facade for outsiders. Her true self is short-tempered, easily angered, and looks down on others—utterly hopeless as a person.

“It’s all because of that girl! It’s all because of her!! I was humiliated!! Because of her, I was deeply embarrassed!! Why?! Why did this happen to me!!!”

“I’ll handle it later. I’ll make up for it with her.”

“That won’t fix things at all!! Even if I’m the one who was shamed, that’s fine! But what about their son? He was also humiliated!! What will Kuzuryuu do in retaliation?! Can you take responsibility for this?!”

Though it was my plan to force the engagement, she insisted on pushing through with it. This depth of resentment is quite intense, but from someone who knows her well, this is just the beginning.

“I’ll apologize to Masanori on her behalf… don’t worry about it.”

By the way, Masanori was the name of the father of that Kuzuryuu family’s son.

“Are you thinking I’d be satisfied with that? Why didn’t you attend the dinner meeting in the first place!!?”

“As I told you before, I had an important meeting with a client, so I couldn’t attend. This is the result of you forcing the matchmaking meeting ahead without involving me.

And besides, this was an important negotiation for Kuzuryuu Corporation—the very company that hosted today’s dinner. I already informed President Masanori about the situation and explained that I couldn’t participate. You remember that, right?”

“Uuuuugh!! Uuuuuuuhhh!!”

No matter what I say, Reiko just argues back, raising her anger further.

Her face, normally beautiful enough to captivate anyone, was now twisted in fury like a hannya mask.

And precisely because her features were so perfectly sculpted, the expression had become something truly frightening and demonic.

If a baby saw her like this, it would almost certainly burst into tears.

That was the sheer intensity of her anger.

“Well, regardless of the outcome, forcing an arranged marriage without considering your daughter’s wishes could never lead to a good result. Let’s think of another way to rebuild the family.”

“Wha… th…?”

“Hm?”

“…What is thaaaat supposed to mean!!?”

My wife, Reiko, seems to have exceeded her limit for anger.

“Rebuilding the family home is my top priority above anything else! I clearly explained this to you before!! So what are these ‘other methods’?! There’s no such convenient solution!! Are you an idiot?! The only way was to give our daughter to Kuzuryuu and gain their benefits!! If she had sacrificed herself, my long-held wish for the Fuyunagi family would have been fulfilled without exaggeration!! But because of that fool!! Because of that fool everything is ruined!!! A daughter is supposed to do as her parents say, isn’t she!? And then she goes and falls for some scrawny brat whose background we don’t even know!! Break up with him!! Break up with him for my sake!!”

“So what you’re saying is… you don’t care about your daughter’s happiness at all? As long as the Fuyunagi family’s goal is achieved through you, you don’t mind if our daughter suffers?”

“That goes without saying! I married you and endured painful childbirth to achieve this goal. What else could there possibly be?”

“Do you even love your daughter? Do you not love the child born from us two?”

“Love? Of course I do!! That’s why I wanted to marry her into the Kuzuryuu family so she could have a better life! A child’s happiness is decided by their parents! Children are foolish and can’t even distinguish right from wrong, so it’s my duty as a parent to show her the way. Honestly! That girl is an idiot with no morals at all… how did she end up such a low-IQ child…? She’s hopeless… I was already thinking of disowning her, but maybe I should drag her back home, have her quit school, and hire a strict private tutor to lock her down and reform her completely!! Yes!! That’s best!! Idiots need harsh punishment!! If the other person is an idiot, then it’s only appropriate to give her a fitting—”Shut up.”—…huh?”

“Do you feel nothing when you call the child you carried and gave birth to an idiot?”

“Hah? What’s wrong with calling an idiot an idiot?”

“Even if you do think that, the bare minimum duty of a parent is to not say it out loud. And besides, Shizuku hasn’t done anything wrong. She showed us her own will—she showed her parents where she stands. How could I not be proud of that? How could you dismiss her as an idiot? That’s wrong, Reiko. You’re wrong!”

“What!? What, what, what!! A daughter is supposed to obey her parents!! Parents are absolute!! That’s how it has to—…Mmph!?”

Reiko, his wife, was speaking such utterly unreasonable nonsense that Kanemasa finally reached the end of his rope. With one hand, he grabbed hold of her face, specifically around her mouth, and lifted her head as though twisting both her cheeks.

Unintentionally, the force of it made her rise up onto her tiptoes.

“Mmph? Mmm!? Mmph!”

“What do you think your own daughter is?”

Fuyunagi Kanemasa, who was usually gentle and rarely angry, now spoke with a voice full of anger.

He put even more force into his hand, and Reiko’s cheeks, following the pressure, twisted into an absurdly hideous contortion.

“A daughter isn’t your servant! She’s not a tool for rebuilding the Fuyunagi family! Why can’t you understand that?”

“Mmph!? I’m ryighd! A daughter exisds to obey her parends—!”

“You’re still saying that!!?”

“Mmph!!? Gyah—!?”

While still gripping her cheek with one hand, he pushed her onto the sofa and then straddled her, grabbing her head—or strictly speaking, the area around her forehead.

Coincidentally, the grip took on the form of an Iron Claw.

Reiko was squeezed and constricted and dominated by the pain.

“Parents are indeed meant to guide their children! But that does not mean stripping away their freedom and working them like slaves!! We guide them with love, with sincerity, and you…!! What do you think our child is to you!!? Rebuilding the Fuyunagi family—that is something we must accomplish personally!! A responsibility we must fulfill with our own strength, not Shizuku’s!! Do not force it onto our child!! Do not drag her into this!!”

Her beautiful face, now flowing with tears and snot and saliva, combined with the makeup that had melted off, became extremely grotesque.

Crrrk…! Creak…! Crrrk!!

With an adult man’s full-strength Iron Claw.

An unpleasant sound came from her head.

Tears streamed, snot ran, and drool flowed; Reiko’s beautiful face, compounded by the makeup that had melted and peeled off, was the epitome of hideousness.

However, she was experiencing an ecstasy unlike anything she had ever felt before.

It hurts… it hurts… what is this, it hurts…

He’s angry… that man, Kanemasa, is angry.

Kanemasa was always a boring man who only ever smiled and played the fool.

One of the countless uninteresting men out there.

I married him because his family, the Takano clan, was wealthy.

I wanted to use them as foothold to rebuild the Fuyunagi household.

But once we actually married, the benefits were far less than I expected… in the end, he was only worth that much.

Just one of many boring men.

And now, here I am—pinned down by that boring man, my freedom taken, being hurt by him.

It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts.

Me?

Me, of all people?

Men are, without exception, my servants.

And the one who represents them—Kanemasa—is inflicting pain on me?

It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts.

A sharp, creaking pain ran through my head.

This pain… my husband… Kanemasa is the one giving it to me.

What comes to mind is the very first pain he ever gave me.

The two of us naked, holding each other… a completely unproductive act.

No—bearing a child would contribute to rebuilding the Fuyunagi family.

So it wasn’t entirely without productivity.

It was a necessary act.

That’s why I accepted him.

It hurt so much.

It hurt… it should have hurt… and yet… I felt pleasure.

I remember thinking it felt good.

That memory resurfaced.

Kanemasa’s hand clamped around my head, the creaking pain as he squeezed.

His expression—twisted with genuine hatred toward me.

What… what is this feeling…?

My heart hurts.

This strange pain in my body is louder than the pain in my head.

I’m hot… my body is hot… no… it’s hot in a specific area…?

His eyes are filled with anger as he looks at me.

He glares at me.

What is this…? Seeing Kanemasa angry is making my heartbeat speed up.

My heart is loud… pounding like an alarm.

It’s annoying!! Annoying!!

What’s happening to me…?

Sometime after that, Kanemasa finally let go of me, and I collapsed to my knees on the floor, gasping for breath.

“Haa haa haa…”

“…Sorry. I lost my temper a little… but I hope you reconsider.”

He said that and left the living room.

She was finally released, yet her head was still filled with that strange, lingering pleasure.

Her skull throbbed with a dull ache.

The head that had been seized and squeezed tight by Kanemasa.

It hurts… It should have hurt…

But…

Her body was hot.

Extremely hot, like it’s boiling.

She was drenched in sweat.

But one particular part of her body was far more drenched than the rest.

“Wh-what’s… happening to me…?”

Reiko could only feel bewildered by the strange sensations that had suddenly overtaken her body.