— — — — — —
"Brother, calm down! Seriously, calm down!"
"You little brat, let go of me! Today it's either her or me!"
Midair, Ryo had an arm hooked around Indra's neck, gritting his teeth as he hauled him backward with all his strength, doing his best to stop the man from charging forward.
Across from them, Asura looked perfectly relaxed, smiling as if none of this concerned her at all. She said nothing, but the mockery in her eyes was unmistakable.
"Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh on Indra," Kenshin said as she stepped through space and appeared beside Asura.
Her expression was extremely serious.
Unfortunately, the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward, completely betraying her mood.
"Harsh my ass!" Indra barked, nearly breaking free of Ryo's grip to rush over and punch someone.
"Brother, let's talk this out. She's still your daughter!"
The moment Ryo finished speaking, Indra snapped back, "Talk my ass! You're not the one who just got castrated!"
"That's not the right attitude."
Ryo straightened his face, speaking with righteous solemnity. "I'm just worried you'll do something in the heat of the moment that you'll regret for the rest of your life. I mean, she's your own daughter."
"Damn it!"
Indra had officially given up on polite language.
If she weren't his daughter, there was no way Ryo could've stopped him. Asura would already be chopped into pieces.
Sure, a god's body could regenerate.
But the trauma of that cucumber-cutting moment? That kind of psychological shadow stuck around.
And worse, Asura had used a cutting authority in that attack. It left behind internal damage. Even for Indra, clearing that lingering power would take years.
If he, the famously handsome playboy of Little Garden, ended up impotent for years, his reputation would be completely ruined.
Damn it!
The more Indra thought about it, the angrier he got. The angrier he got, the harder he struggled.
Ryo almost lost his grip.
He hurriedly shot a look at Kenshin.
Understanding immediately, Kenshin stepped forward and positioned herself in front of Asura.
Compared to their leader Indra, she was actually closer to Asura.
After all, this was her most promising niece.
Out of all of Indra's many children, Asura was the only one who had reached the peak of the four-digit rank, just a step away from breaking into the three-digit tier.
Realistically, Indra wouldn't actually do anything too extreme to her.
But protecting her a little was still the right move.
Asura normally acted like a quiet, well-behaved girl. If she'd lashed out like this, it was obviously because of Indra's disgraceful behavior. There was resentment in her heart. Letting her vent a bit was probably healthier.
What could they do?
The girl existed because Indra had slept with someone else's wife.
Asura was the product of an affair involving the former queen of the Asura race. The prince had been publicly cuckolded. Back then, the scandal had rocked all of Little Garden.
The Asura race's reputation took a massive hit. They were mocked everywhere.
Even Indra, the man responsible, had been too embarrassed to show his face for centuries.
He also couldn't take the child away, which meant Asura had grown up inside the Asura race, enduring endless cold looks and whispers.
People always said childhood trauma ran deep.
For long-lived races, childhood was even longer than for humans. Among the Asura, childhood alone lasted over three hundred years.
That was basically three lifetimes worth of resentment.
So letting her vent a little wasn't such a bad thing.
Sure, it embarrassed Indra, but that guy had skin thicker than armor. What was there to lose?
Still, since Indra was furious right now, someone needed to give him a little face.
So after shielding Asura, Kenshin immediately scolded her, "Look how angry you've made your father. Why would you go and do something like that?"
Asura blinked her watery eyes, looking innocent and harmless as she replied in a soft voice. "Mother was worried Father might start fooling around again in the lower layers, so she asked me to help take care of the problem."
"Rosalie…"
Indra sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, muttering the personal name of the former Asura queen. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead as his eyes darted around.
He believed it.
That yandere woman absolutely could do something like this.
Back then, their relationship had just been casual fun. In their social circle, that sort of thing was normal.
Zeus would sleep with anything that moved. Indra had a well-known weakness for married women. And Shiroyasha loved teasing pure, innocent girls.
These things were basically open secrets in Little Garden.
Any woman who hooked up with Indra was hardly some pure and virtuous lady. Affairs weren't exactly one-sided responsibility.
But Indra had miscalculated one thing.
He never expected the former Asura queen to harbor that much resentment toward her arranged marriage. A few sweet words from him had actually made her fall for him.
She even gave birth to his child.
That… made things extremely awkward.
They'd agreed it was just physical, no feelings involved.
But she actually wanted a relationship?
And she was a yandere on top of that?
Indra had immediately chickened out. He'd been both afraid of and wary around that woman ever since.
Yanderes looked fun when you hadn't gotten close to their hearts.
Once you did, they were terrifying. Practically ghosts.
If someone told him the former queen had really ordered her daughter to castrate him so he wouldn't flirt around in the lower layers…
Indra would absolutely believe it.
Because that woman was genuinely unhinged.
"Why do you listen to your mother about everything?"
Grinding his teeth, Indra glared at Asura, trying to look fierce despite his obvious frustration.
Asura looked completely natural as she replied, "I don't have a father. If I don't listen to my mother, who should I listen to?"
'Yeah right.'
'Earlier you said this was a personal grudge. You didn't mention your mother once.'
Knowing the truth, Ryo's mouth twitched.
There was no way Asura had come here because of her mother's orders. The resentment in her voice whenever she mentioned Indra made that obvious.
As if hearing his thoughts, Asura turned her head toward Ryo and blinked at him with big, innocent eyes.
Ryo's eyelid twitched.
No matter how he looked at that gaze, it only conveyed one word.
Kickback.
Wow. Did she really think he was the kind of person who could be bought with money?
Indra was practically family. Kurousagi's great-great-grandfather. Someone like Ryo would never…
'You'll have to pay extra.'
Ryo raised an eyebrow, his eyes gleaming mischievously.
Asura closed her eyes and gave a faint nod.
Deal.
Ryo's smile immediately turned meaningful, and the grip he had on Indra tightened.
What could he do?
He couldn't just let the boss get beaten up.
He was only working hard for the paycheck.
"Brother, harmony in the family brings prosperity," Ryo said earnestly, trying to sound fair and reasonable.
"Get lost!"
Indra looked seconds away from slapping him.
Did the brat think he was blind?
He'd seen that little exchange perfectly clearly.
.
.
.