"Did everyone think I would do that?"
The banquet hall fell silent.
The head of the former marquis's family still maintained his slightly leaning-forward posture from just now, and the hand pressing on his arm beside him did not let go either.
The Head of Kazanin looked at the letter of intent pushed back in front of him, and his expression had completely sunk.
"What does Miss Satsuki mean by this?"
"It means exactly what it says."
Satsuki picked up her cutlery again, her tone cold.
"Giving a sum of money to the most anxious person, borrowing a warehouse from the Kuga Family, and letting Father eat a few more meals at the House of Peers. No matter how you look at it, this is the most effortless and rational approach."
She cut off a small piece of fish that had already grown somewhat cold and leisurely pushed it aside.
"Saionji does not even need to come into conflict with everyone. As long as the problems of two or three of them are solved, the remaining people will naturally begin to doubt what this so-called joint institution can still bring them."
The Chairman of the Research Association frowned.
"Since Miss Satsuki also thinks doing this is the most rational, what did that rhetorical question just now mean?"
Satsuki looked toward him.
"Rationality does not mean I must do it this way."
She gently placed her cutlery back beside the plate.
Only then did everyone realise that the faint smile that had always been on her face since the banquet began had vanished.
"I do not understand."
Satsuki looked at the head of the former marquis's family.
"A family that has stamped the letter of intent and is prepared to oppose Saionji—why should I immediately cough up 2.8 billion for them the moment they show a shred of wavering, and even thank them for being willing to leave everyone's alliance?"
The expression of the former marquis's family head froze.
Satsuki turned back to the representative of the Kuga Family.
"Another family clearly promised to restrict Saionji from receiving cultural assets. As a result, the moment they asked how much space was left in the warehouse, I am supposed to immediately clear out a place and restore documents for them?"
"What do you all take Saionji for? A charitable organisation where you can take whatever you please?"
The representative of the Kuga Family put down the wine glass.
"The House of Peers is the same. As long as the people on the list are willing to change their attitude in private, Saionji must continue giving them political funds, local projects, and new positions."
When Satsuki said this, she genuinely seemed to find it somewhat ridiculous.
"If we did this tonight, what conclusion would everyone finally arrive at?"
She did not wait for anyone else to answer, wearing an expression of sudden realisation.
"Oh... It turns out the most effective way to get better terms from Saionji is not to cooperate with Saionji."
"Instead, it is to unite and oppose Saionji first."
The banquet hall quietened down.
The former marquis's family head opened his mouth.
"I... I never said we must make an enemy of Saionji."
"Is that so?"
There was not much anger in Satsuki's tone; instead, it sounded like she was earnestly confirming it with him.
"Then, whose seal is stamped on this?"
The man's gaze fell on the final page of the letter of intent.
"We only hoped..."
"Hoped that Saionji could not buy your debts, could not acquire decision-making power within the family, and could not demand that members of the House of Peers support Saionji."
Satsuki finished the rest of the words for him.
"Of course you can hope; that truly is a wonderful wish."
"But since you have already written these demands into the joint charter and invited banks, Seiwakai, and twenty-six assembly members, preparing to make me agree in front of so many people, you cannot wait until you need 2.8 billion to claim that you actually have not made an enemy of Saionji."
The former marquis's family head turned pale, yet could no longer say anything.
The Head of Kazanin moved his cane a little closer to his side.
"Raising different opinions means being an enemy of Saionji?"
"Of course not."
Satsuki answered very quickly.
"Lord Kujo has not agreed to every decision of Saionji either. The Konoe and Takatsukasa families are still sitting on the fence up to now, and I have not treated them as enemies."
She reached out and tapped the letter of intent in front of Kazanin.
"But you all are not raising opinions."
"You are uniting with banks and Seiwakai, preparing to use the vote of the House of Peers to force Saionji into accepting conditions."
The Head of Kazanin furrowed his brows tightly.
"Miss Satsuki just said earlier that the nine families are to be viewed as a whole."
"That is right."
Satsuki looked at him.
"Therefore, I will no longer break you all apart."
After these words fell, the people beside several dining tables finally realised the true meaning of her rhetorical question just now.
The most rational approach was to make offers family by family.
But Satsuki was not prepared to make an offer to anyone.
The former marquis's family head would not get those 2.8 billion.
Nor would the documents of the Kuga Family enter Saionji's constant-temperature warehouse.
As for those in the House of Peers who were prepared to choose a side after the two sides decided the victor, they likewise would not gain any benefits they did not originally have from Saionji just by taking a temporary step back.
"Saionji's funds can be given to friends, to cooperative partners, and to those who have not yet made a choice."
Satsuki's gaze slowly swept across the banquet hall.
"They simply will not be used to reward enemies."
The expressions of several family heads who were still sitting on the fence changed.
Only until this moment did they realise that the conditions Satsuki put forward earlier were not left for them to choose from.
Satsuki seemed to guess what they were thinking, and her tone instead softened a bit.
"Everyone does not need to rush to show that you have nothing to do with these nine families either."
"Not stamping tonight does not mean you are friends of Saionji. Naturally, you will not receive a reward just for not joining the mutual aid association."
She glanced toward the representative of the Konoe Family.
"It is just that at least tonight, Saionji will not treat you all as enemies."
The representative of the Konoe Family picked up their wine glass and slightly bowed.
He did not rush to say anything in support of Saionji, nor did he touch that letter of intent again.
This was precisely the result fence-sitters wanted most.
There was no need to stand on Saionji's side right now, nor endure the consequences alongside the nine families.
As for so-called benefits, they were never something anyone sitting here deserved to get.
Satsuki looked back at the Head of Kazanin.
"However, the matter of the headcount really should be confirmed clearly first."
She raised her voice slightly. The words that had originally only fallen around the main table quickly reached the ears of everyone in the banquet hall.
"Tonight... which other family is prepared to join this mutual aid association?"
Absolute silence filled the entire venue.
As Satsuki's words fell, the entire banquet hall seemed as though it had been pressed with a pause button; even the waiter pouring wine stopped moving, the bottle suspended above the rim of the glass, only to be withdrawn with some trembling a moment later.
Several family heads subconsciously looked at each other.
The person responsible for registration was sitting on the side of the banquet hall; the stamp pad, signature book, and blank authorisation forms were still laid out on the table. Before the banquet began, some people were still prepared to wait until Satsuki made concessions before going over to stamp.
Yet now that table seemed to have suddenly grown much farther away from everyone.
Satsuki patiently waited for a while.
"Everyone does not need to worry that stepping forward now will seem discourteous."
She even motioned toward the person in charge of registration.
"The letter of intent is right there. Those who want to join can go over and sign right now."
The expression of the Chairman of the Research Association grew increasingly ugly.
"Miss Satsuki, are you threatening the families present?"
"Yes."
Satsuki answered without the slightest hesitation.
For a moment, no one made a sound in the banquet hall.
These people present were not witnessing Saionji's overbearing strength for the first time.
Over the past few years, Satsuki had taken away industries, acquired debt rights, and made some families who once refused to bow accept financial personnel sent by Saionji.
Yet no matter to what extent things were pushed in the end, she would always leave the other party with a relatively decent narrative in public settings.
Assistance was still called assistance, and cooperation was still called cooperation.
Even though everyone knew a certain family no longer had room to refuse Saionji, very few people would directly peel back this layer right in front of the entire Kazoku world.
Tonight was different, however.
Satsuki did not intend to explain that sentence as a reminder, nor did she retract her words to say she was merely explaining risks.
She just sat there beside the main table, admitting in front of the Kujo, Konoe, Takatsukasa, and over a dozen fence-sitting families that she was threatening them.
The gazes that several elderly family heads directed toward her had already changed.
They had originally still been waiting for her to return to that familiar set of etiquette, waiting for her to give the Chairman of the Research Association a way out, and leaving room for herself to ease relations in the future.
Yet Satsuki simply sat there quietly.
The Head of the Kujo Family did not step forward to ease the atmosphere, nor did Shuichi supplement any explanation for his daughter.
Their silence instead made those words become even clearer.
This was not a slip of the tongue by this young "tyrant."
That was precisely what the Saionji Family meant.
The Chairman of the Research Association opened his mouth, the questioning he had prepared beforehand unable to continue for a moment.
Only then did Satsuki look back at him.
"I am telling everyone what consequences there will be after joining this alliance."
Her tone was extremely calm.
"Being willing to stamp it even after knowing the consequences can be called a true shared stance."
"If you cannot even withstand this bit of pressure, what on earth are you all preparing to rely on to oppose Saionji?"
The lips of the Chairman of the Research Association moved.
The words he had prepared beforehand regarding Kazoku unity, political traditions, and shared interests suddenly all seemed somewhat weightless at this moment.
Satsuki did not rush them either.
There were over twenty invitees in the banquet hall.
Not a single person left their seat.
Let alone Konoe, Takatsukasa, and Kujo, even the few fence-sitters whose attitudes were most proactive before the banquet began were no longer looking in the direction of the person in charge of registration at this moment.
Several people whose seats were close to the registration desk even quietly shifted their chairs so they could be a little farther away from that table.
"Are there none?"
Satsuki asked again.
"It is the last chance, oh? Such a rare timing, oh?"
Still no one responded.
She nodded.
"Then, tonight Saionji has only nine enemies."
"Miss Satsuki!"
The Head of Kazanin could finally no longer suppress his voice.
"Are you really prepared to simultaneously make a move against nine Kazoku families over a mutual aid association that has not even been formally established yet?"
"Lord Kazanin is wrong again."
Satsuki tilted her head slightly.
"It is not that Saionji is preparing to make a move against everyone because of the mutual aid association."
"It is that everyone wrote your names here first."
She picked up the letter of intent and flipped to the final page.
Nine vermilion seals still lined up neatly on the paper surface.
"However, please make one thing clear—"
Satsuki looked straight into the eyes of the Head of Kazanin.
"You are the challengers."
The Head of Kazanin looked at her for a long time, then suddenly let out a laugh.
Only that smile no longer had the composure from the start of the banquet.
"Heh. When all is said and done, Miss Satsuki is merely making empty threats."
He leaned back against the back of his chair.
"The nine families indeed each have their own problems, but for Saionji to simultaneously make enemies of all nine families will likewise require paying a price."
"Will banks sell all their debt rights to you just because of a single word? Will the House of Peers watch as Saionji arbitrarily bullies old families?"
Hearing these words, the expressions of several nearby signatories steadied a bit.
They had indeed been stunned by Satsuki's sudden attitude just now.
But what the Head of Kazanin said was not wrong either.
Saionji was powerful, but that did not mean Saionji would deal with all nine families simultaneously regardless of cost... right?