A week later, after the night of the massacre within Jinkai City that is now known as the Ghost Debt Purge incident by the locals, Kars and his concubine Sophia could be seen having breakfast together with their guests, Sophia's half-sister Mei Mei, who came to visit, as well as Juri, the girl who had reluctantly become a hostage for her family, inside the dining room of Kars's mansion.
Currently, Juri is sitting rigidly on a cushion chair beside Kars, who sits at the head of the long dining table, as she is picking at her food with a tiny scowl while trying to ignore the stares from Mei Mei, who is, for some reason, very interested in her.
Juri's spoon clinked against her plate as she pushed away pieces of vegetable she didn't like, her appetite nonexistent anyway under the unblinking, smiling eyes of Mei Mei as the money-obsessed young woman leaned forward slightly, her purple eyes flickering with something between amusement and calculation as her mind had already thought up many ways of utilizing Juri for her benefit.
The silence at the breakfast table stretched uncomfortably, broken only by the clink of silverware until Sophia finally set down her teacup and decided to break the silence, her pale blue eyes switching between Juri and Kars, who was now trying to force-feed the resisting girl his tomato slice since he saw her being a picky eater.
"So," Sophia began, her voice filled with curiosity, "what exactly do you intend to do with the girl? I doubt you need her as leverage against her family, right?"
"Heh, sure, I don't really need her as leverage, but I do have a couple of plans for her." Kars smirked a little, pushing the tomato slice on his fork harder against the girl's cheek as Juri stubbornly clamped her lips shut and turned her head away to avoid it like a fussy baby.
"She's got backbone," he mused in a joking tone, flicking the tomato onto her plate after he saw that she determinedly refused to open her mouth no matter what. "Figured I'd mold her into something useful. Better than letting her rot away in that gilded cage, don't you think?"
"Your brazen confidence is really refreshing to see, Mr. Kars. Though I wonder if she wants to be molded by her family enemy..." Mei Mei, who is sitting next to Sophia, chuckled as she picked up the porcelain teacup next to her plate, her gaze lingering on Juri's frowning face. The girl still stiffened but kept her eyes down, fingers gripping her spoon tightly as she wiped the tomato juice off her cheek with a napkin.
"Oh, I doubt she has much of a choice then. What a poor girl..." Sophia murmured into her own cup, giving Kars a side-eye glance as the man himself only let out a humorless huff at the implication that he was going to force the girl to comply with him regardless.
"Well, enough about the girl," Kars snorted dismissively, turning his attention to Mei Mei. "Let's talk about the takeover. How's the transition going? Did you get everything worth taking or any difficulties that need my attention?"
"Oh, there's no need for your assistance since everything is going wonderfully, Mr. Kars..." Mei Mei's teacup paused midair as her lips curled into a beautiful smile since, with the subjugation of one of Jinkai's council members, her influence is spreading further and her economic power is greater than ever before.
"Now I managed to secure all of their important assets and connections in my—oh, excuse me, I meant in our control..." Mei Mei casually set the cup down with a soft clink, like she didn't just slip out her greedy inner thought at all, as she looked at Kars with affection, since her alliance with him is working out just like she imagined it would. "The council's silence was... purchased, so to speak. Though some still raise their voices in concern over your aggressive methodology in solving disputes."
"And my family also took note of our partnership, so some inconvenience might be brewing soon..." Mei Mei added with a meaningful glance at Sophia, whose fingers tightened around her fork and knife. The air seemed to stiffen as Sophia's pale eyes sharpened at the implication. She can imagine what her family could do when they smell just a tiny whiff of a benefit to be had.
"Are you already making sure they understand that Kars' alliance with you is individual business?" Sophia's voice carried the slightest edge, her knife scraping against the plate as she sliced into her steak with unrestrained force. The unspoken annoyance of Kars's concubine is palpable since she and Mei Mei's family would surely become quite persistently annoyed if they thought they could demand something from them.
"Of course, Sister," Mei Mei hummed with a calm voice, swirling a teaspoon in her tea with practiced nonchalance. The porcelain clinked as she set the spoon aside, her smile never reaching her cold dark purple eyes. "I made sure that they know that Mr. Kars' generosity extends only to me... and whoever he chooses to share it with..."
"But you know how unfortunate most of them are, so I doubt it's going to discourage them completely." Mei Mei chuckled slightly, with her gaze locking with Sophia's, who growls with annoyance before returning to her meal with a controlled exhale. Sophia is going to receive quite a lot of visitors in the coming days; she just knows it.
"I'm done." While the Silverveil sisters were talking, Juri's spoon clattered onto her plate as she finally shoved it away, her face still frowning.
"I'm not hungry..." she muttered, glaring at the half-eaten meal like it had personally offended her. The two women barely glanced her way—their conversation was too complex and uninteresting to Juri, and she didn't understand most of what was going on with them anyway.
"Oh, hi. Not Hungry. I'm not your dad; wait, he's dead, my bad...." Kars couldn't help himself as he blurted out the childish and outright cruel remark at Juri for no apparent reason with a smirk.
"What... you... idiot!" Juri gave him a confused look at first and then realized he just made a dumb, cruel joke to her and shot him a harsh glare she could muster before she immediately ran off with a huff and puff as frustrated tears threatened to come out of her eyes.
"You can't say that..." Sophia looked at Kars with a speechless expression while Mei Mei hid her smile with her hand as she giggled slightly, amused by how scummy Kars was acting and how unapologetic he was right now.
"What? She didn't finish her breakfast, so she deserves it." Kars shrugs his shoulders and continues to eat nonchalantly.
÷×÷×÷×÷×÷
"Well, Mr. Kars," Mei Mei said as she straightened her white tie, her silvery white hair catching the morning light peeking through the mansion's open entrance, "I expect our next meeting to be just as profitable."
"Let's hope so..." Kars replied, watching Mei Mei adjust her black shoulder cape with Sophia standing next to him with her arm hooked with his arm, while on the outside, Mei Mei's personal carriage, a sleek, black-lacquered car pulled by two white horses, waited for her at the mansion gates. The driver and twenty escorts, all dressed in white uniforms, stood at attention while Mei Mei's personal butler, Noburo, waited patiently by the carriage door.
"Oh, I almost forgot," and then just before she turned and left the mansion, Mei Mei was walking toward Kars with a smile and mischievous look in her eyes. "My appreciation for your... hospitality."
Mei Mei leaned in, her cherry-red lips brushing Kars' cheek as her soft lips lingered a little too long on him, which made Sophia's grip tighten on his arm. The scent of Mei Mei's perfume sticking to Kars's collar as she pulled away, her smirk widening at Sophia's thinly veiled irritation.
"Until next time," Mei Mei purred, stepping backward and turning toward her carriage with a sway of her ponytail. Noburo bowed low and opened the door for her. Then Kars watched as the carriage rolled away, the white horses' hooves clattering against the recently laid cobblestone. Beside him, Sophia expressed her displeasure with a huff, her dark red nail fingers digging into Kars's bicep, but she said nothing, only glancing at him with her pale blue eyes narrowed.
"Do you want a kiss too?" Kars smirked down at Sophia, whose grip on his arm tightened further. Her pink lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't dignify him with a response as she just exhaled sharply through her nose and dragged him forcefully back inside by the elbow, her heels clicking crisply against the marble floor, showing him how displeased she is right now.
"Heh." Kars could help but chuckle at how cute she was acting.
÷×÷×÷×÷×÷
That evening in the bathroom of Kars's mansion, Kars could be seen lounging in a large, steaming hot tub, arms draped along the marble edge as Sophia, on his side next to him, currently rubbed soap across his chest with her large breasts coated with soap bubbles as the humid air clung to their skin, thick with the scent of rose and sandalwood oil.
"Ahh..." There was also Siesta, who released an embarrassed noise as she knelt on the other side of Kars, her hands nervously scrubbing his hair with shampoo as she avoided his gaze until his fingers suddenly pinched her pink nipple, making her squeak.
"B-Boss!" Siesta embarrassedly gasped in protest, her soapy hands quickly covering her breasts as she nearly toppled backward into the water. Kars only chuckled as Sophia rolled her eyes but didn't pause her ministrations, her soapy hands now sliding lower across his abdomen with deliberate slowness.
"..." The maid's face burned crimson, part humiliation, part something else, as she watched Sophia reaching down to grasp the big silhouette beneath the water.
"Hmph, look at you, so big already..." Sophia murmured with amusement as she felt Kars hardening under her touch, her fingers pumping his big cock beneath the water's surface. Siesta's breath hitched at the sight of them before she scrambled to rinse the shampoo from Kars' hair, eager to escape before things escalated further. But Kars' free hand shot out, gripping her wrist and yanking her to him until her large breasts pressed against his hard chest.
"Leaving so soon?" he teased, his breath hot against her ear as Siesta squirmed against him, her wet skin sliding against his. The maid whimpered incoherently as Sophia's fingers continued stroking Kars beneath the water while her thighs pressed together at the heat of Kars' hard cock in her hands. Steam curled around the three of them as Kars dragged his free hand down Siesta's spine until his fingers were digging into the plush curve of her ass, making her squeal.
Then the bathroom door suddenly creaked open just as Sophia's hand was obscenely working Kars beneath the water and Kars' hand was groping Siesta's ass like a stress ball. All three of them stopped and turned toward the sound where Juri stood frozen in the doorway, her purple eyes wide, clutching a towel against her chest to hide her modest young body.
"Hey girl, it's still too early for the like of you to play with us; wait until you're grown a lot bigger." Kars smirked lazily as he said to Juri without missing a beat, his fingers resuming kneading Siesta's ass as the maid squeaked and buried her face against his shoulder. Sophia merely arched an eyebrow; her soapy hands also resumed their lewd rhythmic strokes beneath the water's surface.
"As if...!" Juri's face twisted in disgust, disbelief, and embarrassment before she hurled the towel straight at Kars' head.
"You stupid idiot—!!" She screamed, face burning crimson, before she turned and slammed the bathroom door with enough force to rattle the hinges. The towel missed Kars's head and landed limply in the tub, soaking instantly as Kars let out a laugh.
÷×÷×÷×÷×÷
Outside the bathroom, Juri's bare feet slapped against the marble hallway as she stormed away in the hallway, her fists clenched so tight her nails bit into her palms. The image inside the bathroom still stuck inside her head, making her flushed face burn hotter.
"Stupid... perverted... idiot... arghh—?!" she hissed under her breath, kicking a nearby decorative vase stand for good measure, but it barely wobbled because of how heavy it was, and Juri just ended up hurting herself, which only pissed her off even more...