"Trash!!" Uzuki roared with rage after seeing Charl's silhouette collapse onto the cold floor right before her powerless eyes.
However, the Zenin clan members didn't pay any attention to it — especially not the person responsible for this disastrous situation.
"Huh… Are you talking to me? Sorry, but you're not worthy of my interest," Naoya declared, turning his back on the woman who was 40% covered in fur.
This blatant act of contempt plunged the young Uzuki into even greater anger, but she managed to hold herself back in time.
Naoya had grabbed Charl by the hair, a mocking smile directed at him.
"I don't understand your interest in these two pieces of garbage, but I don't think my new toys—" he said, stopping mid-sentence to look at Charl.
The man's lips parted with difficulty.
This resilience surprised Ogi Zenin, who was watching the scene alongside his wife and children.
Originally, he had brought the twins to carry out the exchange for Charl. Unfortunately, things were turning out to be more complicated.
"I'll wait," he thought after a quick analysis of the situation.
Even though he was inferior to his brother and nephew, Ogi was not lacking in intelligence.
He decided to wait for the outcome of the conversation between Naoya and Charl before deciding what to do based on the final result his client would obtain.
That way, he wouldn't risk anything.
"O-Yes… I lost," Charl's broken voice echoed.
Naoya's face shifted from confused to satisfied after hearing Charl's admission.
The feline smile on his face grew wider.
"Haha, see? When you want to, you can do it. Fine~ I'll allow you to leave, but I won't be this nice next time—"
Naoya was once again interrupted by Charl mid-speech.
The heir of the clan subtly furrowed his brows as he looked down at the man he was dragging on the ground.
"B-But… I-I won the bet against Naobito," Charl suddenly declared, painfully raising his eyes toward Naoya.
Strangely, his cracked glasses gleamed with a predatory light.
"I-I don't think one of the three great jujutsu clans in the world would go back on their word," he added, observing his captor's reaction.
A silence fell — one that many would have called endless. However, Naoya eventually broke it.
He threw Charl toward Uzuki with a disrespectful gesture, then pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his hands.
"Tsk… Ridiculous," he muttered as he left the area.
He hadn't explicitly acknowledged Charl's words, but all the Zenin understood the personality of the clan heir.
A man with many flaws, including an enormous pride when it came to anything involving jujutsu and himself.
Charl had struck a sensitive spot that Naoya couldn't deny at that moment.
Yes, Naoya had won.
Yes, the Zenin had preserved their honor.
However, those two things couldn't prevent them from keeping their word.
The Zenin twins had to be given to Charl. Otherwise, Naoya and his clan would be seen as people without the slightest shred of honor.
And honor was extremely important for a clan as traditional as the Zenin.
After all, it was because of that very honor that they had refused to acknowledge Toji, despite the latter's unquestionable strength.
"You may take the little ones," Ogi declared, walking at a measured pace toward Uzuki.
The young girl didn't lower her guard.
A gesture the middle-aged man appreciated, but he quickly returned to his stoic attitude toward her.
He forced the reluctant children to let go of his clothes, then pushed them toward the duo before turning his back on them.
Just as he was about to leave, he fixed Charl with a deep gaze.
"You know, Charl… honor is something that only exists between individuals of the same level," he said without elaborating further.
Uzuki wasn't the smartest cursed corpse Jin had ever created, but she understood the subtle threat in the Grade 1 sorcerer's words.
'You forced the young master to acknowledge your strength through your victory over Naobito… but there's no guarantee the others will do the same.'
It was a straightforward statement, but Uzuki refused to be intimidated.
"Oh really? I don't think there's any other monster here besides the old man on the ground," she replied with a smile.
The young girl's fangs deterred the elders of the clan, who were watching the scene from the shadows.
Especially since Uzuki's cursed energy was far from weak.
A direct confrontation would inevitably result in losses.
In the end, they judged that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.
"Cough… W-Well played. I see you've learned how to bluff properly. H-However, we would have lost in a direct brawl," Charl declared as he headed toward the large gate.
It was an act of respect toward them, since they had entered the clan grounds through the small door when they first arrived at the Zenin estate.
"E… Huh? Did I have to bluff?" Uzuki asked in a confused tone.
At that moment, Charl realized that the young girl had been completely serious.
He had almost died because of her naivety.
…
"Hm… Uh… Jin, not yet," Kenjaku muttered after feeling a spear pointed at her lower back.
"…Come on, just one more time. I promise I'll stop using Reverse Cursed Technique," he whispered softly into his wife's ear before pulling her against him.
A very brief moment of intimacy followed in the bedroom as Jin's warmth mingled with Kenjaku's cold body.
Jin placed a kiss on his wife's bare shoulder, then slowly moved up toward her pale neck.
He left a rather aggressive hickey there, savoring the softness of her skin.
It was an act that demonstrated his possessive nature toward the one he considered his.
Kenjaku trembled briefly with excitement at the thought of another round with Jin, but rationality won out in her mind.
She slipped out of his grasp when his hands slowly moved toward her lower abdomen.
"W-What? Is there a problem?" he asked, his voice troubled by his wife's reaction.
The sorcerer's body was laid bare under the moonlight streaming through the window.
Witnessing this dreamlike scene made Jin's desire stronger than ever.
A situation that only reinforced Kenjaku's decision.
"I-I'm exhausted. You should save your energy for another time," she said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before escaping.
The act itself reminded Jin of the gazelles he often saw in nature documentaries.
As for why he watched that kind of program? It was because of the cursed corpses.
He had no intention of stopping with the production of Uzuki's type.
'His disappointed face is so cute,' she thought as she walked down the hallway.
Kenjaku did genuinely want Jin. However, age had given her enough wisdom to understand that excess spoils everything.
If you consume the same dish too aggressively, it's only natural to lose the taste for it in the long run.
On the other hand, if you season it in different ways and make its consumption unpredictable…
The situation becomes entirely different.
"Yes… Next time, I'll give him a treat," she muttered as she settled into the kitchen with a cup of coffee.
The satisfied smile on her face quickly caught the attention of a discreet observer.
"You seem very pleased with your little game with Dad," a cold voice declared from a dark corner of the room.
Kenjaku didn't turn toward the source of the sarcastic remark. She simply took another sip of coffee before replying with even more venom.
"Adults don't play with dolls or gather to talk about their new dog, my dear Nayuta," she said, shifting her gaze from the coffee to her stepdaughter.
Crack.
The coffee cup in Kenjaku's hand cracked under the pressure emitted by Nayuta.
It was clear that the person responsible was standing right in front of her. Yet Kenjaku showed no displeasure.
"How many times have I said it?" the curse master looked at Nayuta with a hint of disapproval.
The young girl furrowed her brows even more at the condescending tone used by her stepmother.
But she didn't react.
"A threat is a useless act unless you really intend to follow through with it," Kenjaku continued, releasing a bit of cursed energy.
The atmosphere grew tense.
The two women stared at each other in silence for a moment until the pressure suddenly withdrew.
"Good girl~" Kenjaku said as she headed toward the exit.
In the past, Nayuta would have been genuinely happy to hear such words from her former teacher.
But now she aspired to more.
The status of a simple obedient student was no longer enough for her after the training in the forest.
Nayuta wanted more.
"You still haven't kept your promise," Nayuta suddenly said, staring at the back of her former teacher.