“You—!”
Shiroyasha was furious!
“You’ve got this kind of resource and you won’t share it with everyone?
Keeping it all to yourself?
You’re no gentleman at all!”
“Sorry, but I never claimed to be a gentleman.”
Ryo maintained his cross-armed stance, leaning back with a smug expression.
“And here I thought, seeing you show up with such a cute girl, that you and I were kindred spirits.”
Shiroyasha shook her head in disappointment.
Ryo nodded in acknowledgment.
“Unfortunately, we may indeed be the same type of degenerate.
But clearly, I lack your…
generosity.”
They were both degenerates.
Both appreciated beautiful girls — especially those kind, scantily-clad bodhisattvas, toward whom one could only feel gratitude.
But Ryo and Shiroyasha were fundamentally different.
When it came to strangers, sure — he hoped they’d wear as little as possible.
But for his own people — especially someone like Lamia, who had already entrusted the rest of her life to him — the less she wore around others, the better.
Her adorable appearance was for his eyes alone.
Finding that she and Ryo were never going to see eye to eye, Shiroyasha snorted and turned her head away.
The fact that Ryo wanted to monopolize a cute girl like Lamia irritated her immensely.
But Lamia was someone else’s person.
If they weren’t willing, what could she do?
After all, Lamia wasn’t Kuro Usagi — forced by circumstance to come to her for help.
After a period of mutual standoff, a shop attendant arrived in the courtyard with tea.
She leaned in and whispered a few words in Shiroyasha’s ear.
In an instant, Shiroyasha’s expression changed — from her previous standoff with Ryo to barely suppressed fury.
She clenched her fists, took several deep breaths, and only then regained her composure.
Once calm, she no longer had any interest in sparring with Ryo.
She turned and said coldly:
“Come in.
We’ll talk inside.”
What did she just hear to make her that angry?
Ryo watched Shiroyasha’s reaction with curiosity, then shook his head.
That attendant wasn’t simple either.
Though it looked like a whisper, her lips hadn’t actually moved at all — it was a sound-transmission technique of some kind, probably to prevent lip-reading.
Lamia, meanwhile, was worried. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Had their identities been discovered?
Was Shiroyasha going to attack?
As a full-authority Floor Master, Shiroyasha had every right to eliminate Demon Lords — even if they hadn’t fallen yet.
“Stop overthinking.
Come with me.”
Seeing the normally bold and lively Lamia reduced to such a state, Ryo rapped her lightly on the head to snap her out of it.
Their identities being discovered?
Please.
Shiroyasha didn’t even know Ouroboros existed yet.
How could she possibly identify them?
Never underestimate Ouroboros’s ability to operate in the shadows and control the flow of information.
Besides, Ryo and Lamia were complete unknowns at this point.
Watching Ryo’s back, Lamia stuck out her tongue.
Her?
Afraid?
She was worried about him, thank you very much.
But if Ryo wasn’t worried, then neither was she.
She’d just follow.
Ryo’s backing was big enough that even if they got caught, the worst case scenario was being held prisoner for a while.
Following Shiroyasha into the reception room, Ryo made himself comfortable with practiced ease — which made Shiroyasha’s eye twitch.
“You certainly make yourself at home, brat.”
Shiroyasha felt like she was seeing a familiar figure in Ryo, and couldn’t help muttering.
Then, turning her curious gaze to Lamia:
“So what’s this child’s relationship to Leticia?”
“Leticia is my aunt.”
Lamia explained.
“Oh?
Interesting.”
A smile — half mocking, half pleased — curled at Shiroyasha’s lips.
“Leticia spent all those years searching for her sister, only to find she’d already become a married woman?”
Shiroyasha sighed in apparent disappointment.
She’d met Lamia I before.
Such a fine girl — to think someone had gotten their hands on her.
Lamia frowned at that, clearly displeased.
And her mother had fallen to the vampire clan’s curse long ago, degenerating into a highly aggressive monster.
What kind of legendary warrior could possibly feel that way about her mother?
As for Lamia herself — she was a child born through parthenogenesis caused by the curse.
“Hm?
A pure, unwed mother!!”
Shiroyasha was instantly thrilled.
Lamia, Lamia I, and Leticia — three beauties with similar features but completely different styles.
Mature, sultry, and adorable — covering every possible taste!
This was her dream combination!
It was just a shame this combination didn’t belong to her.
Ah…
Shiroyasha admitted she was a little jealous of Ryo.
What made it worse was that, knowing his personality, the brat was absolutely the type to keep it all to himself.
Ryo’s face darkened.
He coughed lightly to remind Shiroyasha they were here on business.
“Ahem.”
Shiroyasha cleared her throat, folded up her fan, and straightened.
“I already know why you’ve come.
But unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do to help.”
She shrugged helplessly.
“Why?
Unless my intel’s wrong, Leticia should be the prize for a Gift Game your Thousand Eyes is hosting next, right?”
Ryo frowned.
Shiroyasha sighed.
“That, you’ll have to take up with Perseus.
They may be Thousand Eyes executives, but Leticia’s ownership is in their hands.
We can’t interfere with their decisions.”
Perseus — a community descended from the Greek hero Perseus, who slew Medusa and later ascended to the heavens as a god.
Now run by Perseus’s descendants, it held many of the Gifts he had once wielded.
It was also the community that had purchased Leticia from the Leo Chamber of Commerce.
Due to insufficient funds, the Leo Chamber’s eagerness to offload her, and the chamber president’s own little scheme — the three parties had reached an agreement.
Leticia would surrender her godhead to lower her value, gaining a degree of autonomy in return.
Perseus could fulfill the task assigned from above, and Leo Chamber could get rid of Leticia.
Without Ryo in the picture, it would’ve been a win-win-win.