Translator: Reflet

  Editor: ryunakama——

  Aoba had returned to her family’s home, the Miyagi household.

  Three mothers and one beloved daughter, catching up on life.

  “Is that the person who injured Mio-san?”


  Taiyou’s seventh bride, Sakura. Atsuko was asking about her.

  “Ah…”


  Aoba looked at Mio, the only one in the room wearing a maid uniform. She was taken aback by the question.

  She apparently hadn’t realized it until now.

  She began to panic slightly.

  “That’s wrong, Atsuko-sama. The perpetrator is someone else, and it wasn’t a line of command either. They just so happened to be part of the same organization.”


  “Mother?”


  “Well well well, Mio-san, aren’t we the informed one here…”


  “It’s to be expected.”


  Nazuna said.

  “Mio-san does indeed know the full details, at least about the family over there. She’s been keeping tabs on Aoba the whole time to make sure nothing happens to her.”


  “It’s only to be expected.”


  Mio remarked nonchalantly.

  “Oh, well I guess that makes sense, yup yup.”


  Atsuko nodded as well, understanding the situation.

  Aoba was astonished to suddenly hear all this. Mio’s adoration for Aoba had convinced her that it was only reasonable to do such a thing; that it would in fact be crazy not to monitor her.

  “But wow, my idiotic son really outdid himself this time. The madlad actually made a former enemy into his wife.”


  “That’s Natsuno-kun for you.”


  “Pffft, this girl just bragged about her man.”


  “So what? You all brag about your husband on a regular basis.”


  “Well yeah.”


  “Just keeps growing, doesn’t it. So now we’re at—-”


  Nazuna counted on her fingers. Aoba answered before she could finish.

  “Seven.”


  “Not nine?”


  Atsuko asked a perfectly reasonable question.

  “No, isn’t it actually ten?”


  Mio asked, clearly having caught on to something.

  “Well, the sisters are all one person. And Juurokuya isn’t even a bride.”


  “Seems to be getting quite complicated. Guess I’ll hafta grab that dumb boy and get it straight from his mouth.”


  “I will prepare a truth serum for such an event.”


  “Let’s have that be the last resort.”


  But she never said they wouldn’t be using it. On one hand, you had Atsuko all revved up to use the serum, whereas Nazuna appeared calm but seemed to also have a persistent nature to her.

  “No, how about you just not do that.”


  Aoba said with a grimace.

  Atsuko would probably object, but affairs in this household, or the actions of the three female leaders, were generally decided by a parliamentary system.

  With both Mio and Nazuna banding together, there was a high chance they would take the helm.

  Of course none of this would likely have an effect on Taiyou by this point, nor would he allow those around him…such as Ruri and all the other brides, to be subjected to this (in more ways than one).

  Still, she felt she should at least warn them.

  Because there was a slim chance it might happen.

  “But wow, how many people is it gonna be from now on?”


  “No, you don’t need to worry about that.”


  Aoba declared.

  “Why?”


  “Uhh…”


  Aoba chose her next words carefully so that her mothers would quickly understand.

  “Natsuno-kun’s main wives are seven, that’s been decided.”


  “Hmm, so the rest will be concubines, in other words.”


  “So that’s where you’ve decided to draw the line.”


  “…”


  The three mothers all reacted differently.

  After a brief moment, Atsuko began speaking as if she remembered something.

  “Oh yeah, Aoba, is there anyone among the seven…I mean, six brides who you’re particularly close with?”


  “Close? Uhh…Akiha?”


  Unable to interpret Atsuko’s reasoning, Aoba gave the simple answer.

  “Oh, okay. Akiha-chan.”


  “What about it?”


  “Yeah, we were thinking of teaching you all sorts of things fairly soon.”


  “All sorts of things?”


  “All sorts of things.”


  Atsuko lifted the corner of her mouth up in a grin.

  Aoba had a bad feeling about this. She knew that whenever this mother made a face like that, she was up to no good.

  “So we’ll have that talk sometime.”


  “How about right now?”


  Nazuna attempted to escape, but Atsuko caught up to her, smiling with a thrilled expression that showed she would not let her close the conversation.

  “Atsuko-sama, could you be talking about…”


  Mio seemed to have caught on.

  “Mm, yeah. Are you opposed, Mio-san?”


  “…”


  “Interesting. I rarely see you hesitate like this, Mio-san.”


  Nazuna remarked, and Aoba was of the same opinion.

  Mio always had her priorities straight. So her actions were always clear and straightforward.

  “How many years has it been since Mio-san hesitated?”


  “I don’t even recall. At least ten years back.”


  “I think maybe twenty years.”


  “I haven’t the slightest clue…”


  The three of them exchanged their thoughts. That was just how rare this occasion was.

  “What is it? What are you hesitating about?”


  “No, my apologies. I concur.”


  Mio said.

  Her expression was back to that of Akita Mio, the maid with firm decision-making.

  “Welp, even if Mio-san did object, we were still gonna do it. Right?”


  Atsuko sought agreement.

  “Right. It’d be two against one.”


  “And I understand that.”


  “All that aside, what in the world do you want to discuss? What do you want to teach me?”


  “Some. Thing. Good.”


  Atsuko said in a playful manner.

  “Aoba, right now you should call Akiha-chan over. Ah, it doesn’t have to be her specifically though. Just whoever you get along with is fine.”


  “Seriously, what is it? Tell me.”


  “You’ll find out once they arrive.”


  “Whaaat…”


  Aoba wasn’t sure what to do.

  Was it really such a good idea to call Akiha over in this situation?

  In one sense, you could say Akiha would be fine. She had a strong personality that contended with Atsuko’s.

  But when she got out her phone…


  “Ah.”


  It was right at that moment that her phone rang.

  “Who is it, who is it…oh.”


  “Well would ya look at that.”


  “Juunishima Sakura.”


  The number in question belonged to Sakura.