"Esdeath-san, please try to behave yourself," Yuto said evenly to the general in the doorway.
If one looked closely, though, they could still see the helplessness in his eyes.
"Well, if you're the one asking, then of course I'll listen." Esdeath smiled, looking rather pleased with herself.
One fair hand drifted up behind her head, casually combing through her hair.
For an instant her blue hair fanned out through the air like a flower bursting into bloom — dazzlingly beautiful.
She still had on that sharp, cold-edged military uniform.
She lifted a foot to step inside — and then her brows suddenly knit together.
Something was off.
She could feel it.... a gaze fixed on her.
But...
Esdeath swept her eyes around the restaurant.
Five people were looking her way. And yet — it wasn't any of them.
Her brows drew tighter, a strange, subtle glint entering her eyes.
The corner of her thin lips curled, giving off a sense of danger, of interest.
Esdeath was starting to enjoy this.
That gaze was aimed squarely at her — so what of it?
She'd been through countless battles and schemes since she was a child; she was long past being rattled by a look like that.
If anything, it made her curious about whoever it belonged to.
And if she found out who was targeting her... she'd be sure to teach them a proper lesson!
With that fearless thought, she stepped forward.
The moment her second step landed, her brows furrowed again.
This time it wasn't just a gaze.
'Danger.'
Her instincts screamed that danger was close by. But look as she might, she couldn't find its source.
'A warning? They don't want me coming any closer?' she guessed.
Then she took another step.
The instant the sole of her high heel touched the floor, a crushing weight bore down on her — like a mountain.
It made her footing waver, her breathing quicken, each inhale and exhale coming visibly faster.
A faint flush rose on her snow-white face.
Under that pressure her body trembled, ever so slightly; even her fingers shook.
But Esdeath wasn't afraid.
Quite the opposite — she was starting to get excited!
She lived for fighting strong opponents.
Within the Empire, no one had been able to match her in ages.
This crushing pressure made her feel like she'd finally found prey worth hunting.
She understood now that she'd run into a real powerhouse, and the part of her that craved battle and slaughter above all else was trembling with it.
'Interesting. This is interesting. Good... very good!'
A low laugh slipped out of her, head dipped slightly, that quiet laughter spilling from her lips and lending her an oddly dangerous air.
A flicker of confusion crossed Yuto's face.
"What's wrong, Esdeath-san?"
The instant the words left his mouth, the weight pressing down on Esdeath vanished — so cleanly that the whole thing might as well have been a hallucination.
Her battle-honed mind went to work at once, and in that split second she pieced it together: whoever had pinned her with that pressure didn't want Yuto to know what had just happened!
The realization tugged the corner of her mouth upward.
'Fine.'
Now that she understood what the other party wanted, she didn't mind playing along.
All of it flashed through her head in an instant.
Not a trace of it showed on her face. Instead, she smiled and answered him.
"It's nothing. I just thought I saw a mosquito."
The moment she said it, Yuuka — still in her seat — narrowed her eyes a fraction.
For a heartbeat, a red light flashed through those emerald-green eyes, then vanished just as fast.
Beside her, Yukari covered her mouth and laughed.
She'd definitely felt that flash of killing intent!
Hearing Esdeath's answer, Yuto found himself thinking about his restaurant.
That shouldn't be possible.
He checked the place's hygiene himself, every single day.
How could there be mosquitoes? Had one slipped in when the door opened just now?
A helpless look crossed his face.
"I'm usually pretty careful about keeping things clean. If there really was a mosquito... it probably flew in from outside. It is summer, after all." He smiled, a little apologetic.
"No, I might've just seen wrong." Esdeath smiled back, easy as anything.
Then she settled casually into a seat — which happened to be right beside Yuuka.
The counter was semi-enclosed, open on three sides.
The Gensokyo group sat in the middle, with Ainz and the others on either end.
The seat beside Yuuka had always sat empty — tucked into the corner of the counter, untouched until now.
Now Esdeath took it.
She didn't care for the end seats, they made it too inconvenient to look at Yuto.
Watching all of this unfold, Yukari was more entertained than ever.
"Esdeath-san, would you like to order something?" Yuto asked, looking at her.
As he did, his eyes drifted, without meaning to, to Yuuka beside her.
He noticed she'd only taken that one bite of her flower cake.
Normally she'd work through the whole thing without a word — but today she'd stopped.
That little difference set him quietly guessing again.
Had he screwed something up today? For a moment, the nerves crept back in.
"I don't need anything tonight." Esdeath propped her head on one hand and smiled at him.
Her original plans for the evening had already been completely derailed by that pressure earlier.
And right now, more than eating, she wanted to find the person who'd done it!
"In that case, just give me a shout if you need anything." Yuto nodded and started to turn away.
But Esdeath called after him.
"Is there something else, Esdeath-san?" He looked back.
Esdeath smiled gently and crooked a finger at him. "Yuto, there's something I want to tell you — quietly."
A faint smile rested on her lips, and even that slight curve carried an almost bottomless charm.
Yuto hesitated, then took a small step closer.
He didn't dare get too close; her earlier behavior had already taught him his lesson.
Give this woman an opening, and she'd—
But that little bit of distance was no obstacle to Esdeath at all.
Something blurred in front of him, and the next thing he knew, Esdeath was holding a necklace up before his eyes — and she was already on her feet!
"Yuto, this is a gift I picked out just for you. A rare national treasure. Wear it. Consider it proof of my love for you — and proof that one day, you'll be mine."
Esdeath said it with total sincerity.
The necklace in her hand was crafted from gold and diamonds, and hanging from it was an enormous natural ruby.
One glance was all it took to know the thing was priceless.
Yuto couldn't help feeling helpless all over again.
Wasn't this the kind of scene that usually played out when a man was chasing a woman?
So why, right now... had the roles gotten flipped?
Beside her, Yuuka's state was starting to look wrong.
Her breathing had grown a little short.
Her fair fingers tapped at the counter, over and over, with faint irritation.
But the real change was in her eyes: the red glow that had flashed for only a heartbeat before had now completely swallowed her original green.
This was the true mark of the Flower Tyrant's fury.
Those blood-red eyes spelled out the fate of anyone who dared provoke her — no matter who they were, they'd end up stained with blood.
Only blood could ever soothe a tyrant's rage.
"Esdeath-san, please take it back. You already know I won't accept it." Yuto's voice stayed level.
Esdeath tipped her hat lightly with her free hand, her ice-clear eyes shining with understanding and delight.
"If that's your answer, then what a shame. But it won't change the fact that you'll be mine."
A little thrill ran through her voice.
Yuto frowned faintly. Something felt off, though he couldn't pin it down.
Just then, Esdeath's gaze slid over to Yuuka.
'Hmhmhm... Hehehe... Found you, my unknown strong one~'
Esdeath set the necklace down on the counter, her heart brimming with joy and satisfaction.
Earlier, she'd worked out that whoever had pressured her didn't want Yuto learning their identity.
That was the crux of it.
Esdeath had survived countless battles not through raw power alone, but through her mind — and she'd quickly built a plan around that single point.
If the other party didn't want Yuto to know who they were, then it meant they cared about him just as much as she did.
And if that was the case, finding them got a whole lot easier.
Everything she'd just said and done had a deeper aim: to force whoever was hiding in the shadows to slip up.
If they cared about Yuto, then a display like hers was bound to get under their skin.
Whatever thoughts they were clinging to, they'd react — emotionally — to what she'd pulled.
And the instant she caught that shift, she could trace it straight back to them.
And now—
Her plan had paid off.
The moment she'd offered Yuto the necklace and spoken those words, her whole body had been swallowed in terrifying killing intent.
This time the other party hadn't bothered to hide it, the way they had before.
They'd aimed their bloodlust straight at her, clean and direct.
And the source of that bloodlust—Was Yuuka, right beside her.
If she was being honest, that bloodlust set even Esdeath's heart pounding.
She'd always figured that, after killing as many people as she had, her own killing intent was plenty thick.
But standing inside Yuuka's, she couldn't help feeling deeply shaken.
That intent, fixed on her and her alone, was so dense it felt like blood made solid — she could practically see mountains of corpses, seas of blood, forests of white bone!
Yet she wasn't afraid. She was only more thrilled!
Yes. This was it!
This feeling of every hair standing on end, of danger closing in from every direction.
It had been far, far too long.
A strong person. A real one. Someone who could actually threaten her life!
Ah — she could barely hold herself back from wanting to fight this woman to the death!
Yuto watched Esdeath stare down at Yuuka and couldn't make heads or tails of it.
He'd been on the outside of the whole thing from the start, so of course he had no clue what had just passed between the two women.
Yukari, on the other hand, was having the time of her life!
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