Lady Tsukiyuki Rio’s icy gaze was fixed intently on the beautiful woman kneeling on the floor, searching her still-elegant face for any trace of guilt.
At the same time, the maids led by Yu Qingxue began ransacking the house for clues, checking the shoe cabinet, drawers, wastepaper basket, headboard — not a single corner was to be overlooked.
Fumiko let the maids do as they pleased, remaining where she knelt in silence without a word.
But deep within her eyes lurked an intense hatred. Even Gao Sijin, catching an unintentional glimpse of it, felt his heart stir; it was as if, given the slightest opening, Fumiko would pounce and tear out everyone’s throat with her teeth.
“Lady Tsukiyuki Rio, to doubt my loyalty to you and the family wounds me deeply as the Branch Family Head.”
“Auntie Fumiko, if you truly haven’t wronged me, then I will naturally clear your name.”
Lady Tsukiyuki Rio crossed her fair arms over her chest, the jet-black kimono enveloping her snow-white body.
When Gao Sijin had first met Lady Tsukiyuki Rio, he had always thought of her as the kind of girl who constantly wore a smile.
But only now did he realize that Lady Tsukiyuki Rio smiled only for him alone. When facing others, her expression was always tinged with a trace of impatient coldness and disdain.
“Huh?”
A girl’s startled cry came from a room on the second floor.
It wasn’t a maid’s voice. Following the sound, they came to a sunny room where a high school girl’s uniform hung from a clothes rack. On the balcony were several humanoid doll toys.
In the midst of the dolls sat a girl in loose-fitting pajamas. On her faintly visible, fair back, a tattoo could be clearly seen. Not only that, but both of her arms were also covered in tattoos.
“Don’t look at me!”
She screamed and curled her body tightly.
But there was no hiding the ink on her skin.
On her back was a tattoo of a geisha clutching a sharp knife between her teeth. Her left and right arms were covered with patterns of peonies and maple leaves. Her skin should have been as snow-white as Lady Tsukiyuki Rio’s, but now it was completely taken over by gaudy, colorful tattoos.
In J-Country, those with tattoos often face social discrimination. They are likely to be seen as having an antisocial personality, and those around them naturally keep their distance. It’s said that even some bathhouses firmly refuse entry to anyone with tattoos.
“Gao-kun, she’s Auntie Fumiko’s daughter, and also my younger cousin. Her name is Tsukiyuki Uzuki. She’s just started her first year of high school.”
“Please don’t look at me…”
Uzuki curled up, yet had nowhere to hide, panicking like a frightened little hamster.
The maids completely ignored Uzuki, stepping into her room to search for clues about the assassination attempt on Gao Sijin. This made Gao Sijin uncomfortable, as if he was bullying a child.
He slowly walked toward Uzuki, crouched down halfway, and asked:
“Are you alright?”
Uzuki couldn’t meet Gao Sijin’s eyes. She hid behind the curtains, trembling.
“I won’t hurt you. We don’t have any ill intentions, and we don’t care about your tattoos.”
Morgana, standing to Gao Sijin’s right, questioned her with a somewhat rough tone:
“Do you know something?”
“I don’t know anything… I’m a good girl. Only by being a good girl will Mommy not abandon me. Please don’t ask me anything…”
“Uzuki, calm down.”
Lady Tsukiyuki Rio walked gracefully toward Uzuki and pulled back the curtain, revealing the hiding girl.
In truth, Uzuki was not ugly. Quite the opposite. On closer inspection, she had a cute and sweet face. Beneath her black blunt bangs, a pair of eyes clear as pearls shone. Her fair cheeks carried a hint of rosiness, and her features were exceptionally pretty — the kind of looks that grow on you more the longer you gaze.
Her European-style pajamas with long, lace-trimmed sleeves hinted at a princess’s heart, but her expression was endlessly bewildered, like an angel fallen to earth.
“Big Sister Rio… I…”
The way she spoke was utterly devoid of confidence.
Gao Sijin recalled.
Earlier, when attending a banquet at the Tsukiyuki Main Family with Lady Tsukiyuki Rio, he had seen Uzuki. She had been just as lacking in confidence, timid and cowering, easy to overlook like wild grass on the roadside.
She had wanted to properly greet Lady Tsukiyuki Rio back then, but a neurotic woman had quickly dragged her away. That neurotic woman was Uzuki’s mother, Tsukiyuki Fumiko.
“I remember now. Uzuki, we met before,” Gao Sijin suddenly spoke, startling Uzuki into ducking her head.
He felt that if anyone even spoke harshly to her, Uzuki would burst into tears immediately.
The pitiful, self-loathing Uzuki stirred deep sympathy in Gao Sijin. Yet as an outsider, he didn’t know how to help her become more cheerful.
More often than not, a person’s low self-esteem isn’t innate, but shaped by their environment after birth.
“It’s okay, Uzuki. If there’s something on your mind, just take your time and speak.” Gao Sijin tried to help her pull herself together, but Uzuki continued to breathe in ragged gasps.
“Come, relax. Breathe, breathe in.”
Hearing Gao Sijin’s words, Uzuki nodded earnestly. She used the hem of her pajamas to cover the tattoos on her body, then walked to stand before Lady Tsukiyuki Rio.
“Big Sister Rio, I want to ask you for something.”
“What is it, Uzuki?”
“I want to be your… friend…”
Before she could finish, hurried footsteps came from downstairs.
In barely ten seconds, Fumiko charged to the doorway of Uzuki’s room and practically roared:
“Uzuki!”
Uzuki visibly flinched.
Immediately afterward, Fumiko rushed forward and slapped Uzuki hard across the face, leaving a bright red mark.
The crisp sound of the slap alone was intensely painful to hear. What was most heartbreaking was that this solid, unreserved slap was delivered right in front of Gao Sijin, Lady Tsukiyuki Rio, and the maids — not sparing her own daughter even the slightest shred of dignity.
“You belong to Mommy alone. How can you abandon Mommy? Uzuki, are you going to make Mommy be all alone again, just like your father did?”
Fumiko’s bloodshot eyes burned with a hint of madness and possessiveness, like a wild beast in human skin. Her voice sounded disturbingly distorted as well.
“I’m sorry, Mom…”
“Why would you want to be friends with others? Isn’t having Mommy enough?” Fumiko’s fingernails dug into Uzuki’s shoulders. “You cannot become happy all by yourself. You must keep living only together with Mommy. Do you understand?”
“I’m sorry, Mom…”
“Don’t disappoint Mommy. Raising you has been so hard for me already, and I still have to work for the family. You won’t abandon Mommy, right?”
“I’m sorry, Mom…”
Again and again, Uzuki apologized, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes.
Those were the eyes of someone who had already died inside.
