Lord Genji leaned against the marble railing, his eyes narrowing with a dark, satisfied curiosity. "Then speak, boy. Show me the mind that thinks it can solve a riddle."
Yuki didn't flinch. He adjusted his stance, looking less like a beggar in a palace and more like a professor giving a lecture.
"It started with the car ride," Yuki began, his voice calm. "You told Seri-chan to stay away from me. You made it sound like an ultimatum. But then, you had me driven home in the same limousine as her. If you truly wanted her isolated from me, you would have sent me back in a taxi or had Tetsu throw me out the gate. You left us alone in that car because you wanted her to feel the weight of my injuries. You were baiting her empathy."
Seri looked between Yuki and her father, her breath catching.
"Then came Tetsu-san's 'One-Hit Trial,'" Yuki continued, glancing at the silent mountain of a man in the shadows. "That wasn't for me. You knew I couldn't beat him. You knew I'd be broken. The trial was for Seri. You wanted to see if she would watch me die out of obedience, or if she would commit 'treason' to save me."
Yuki stepped forward, meeting Genji's predatory gaze with a sharp, blue-eyed clarity.
"A Royal who only follows orders isn't a leader; they're a servant. You were being harsh, cold, and demanding because you were trying to suffocate her. You wanted to see if she had enough fire in her to burn the cage down. You didn't want a perfect daughter, Lord Genji. You wanted a rebel. Because only a rebel has the spirit to rule a family as ruthless as yours."
The silence that followed was heavy. Even the wind in the garden seemed to stop.
Lord Genji didn't move for a long time. Then, a low, guttural chuckle escaped his throat. It grew into a full, booming laugh that echoed off the mansion walls.
"Sherlock Holmes indeed," Genji said, his eyes flashing. "Most men spend their lives trying to please me. You spent your time dissecting me. You're right, Kinatarou. A Kyorin without a will of their own is a waste of blood. Seri has finally shown me she is capable of choosing her own path—even if that path leads to a Zero like you."
Lord Genji's laughter died down into a sharp, appreciative smirk. He looked at Yuki not as a nuisance, but as a fascinating puzzle. "You have a dangerous mind, Kinatarou. To see the strings while everyone else is focused on the puppet show... that is a rare gift."
Seri was still processing it all. Her father hadn't been trying to destroy her happiness; he had been trying to sharpen her soul. She felt a strange mix of exhaustion and newfound pride. She looked at Yuki, her heart swelling. He had seen her struggle, understood her father's twisted love, and laid it all out to save them both.
He looked like a mastermind. A strategist. A king in the making.
"Well," Yuki said, rubbing the back of his neck, his face suddenly turning a bright, sheepish pink. "I mean, it was pretty obvious if you think about—WHOA!"
His foot caught on a particularly thick patch of ornamental mondo grass.
In an instant, the "Master Strategist" vanished. Yuki's arms flailed wildly like a windmill in a hurricane. He let out a distinctly uncool yelp before face-planting directly into the manicured lawn with a muffled thud.
The silence that followed was different this time—it was pure, stunned disbelief.
Tetsu, usually a statue, actually let out a small, huffing sound that might have been a snicker.
"Yuki!" Seri cried, rushing over as he groaned into the dirt. "Are you okay? You were just so cool a second ago!"
Yuki pushed himself up, a blade of grass sticking to his forehead and his nose slightly red. He gave her a dazed, lop-sided grin. "The grass... it staged a coup. Totally unprovoked."
Lord Genji sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I take it back. The boy is a genius, but he is also a monumental idiot."
Lord Genji looked down at Yuki, his smile fading into something much sharper—the look of a craftsman who had finally found the right piece of raw iron.
"I accept," Genji stated. "Since you've proven you have the eyes to see the truth, I will show you how to survive it. You are officially my student, Kinatarou."
Yuki's face lit up with a pure, childish joy that completely ignored the fact that he was talking to the most dangerous man in the country. "Really? You won't regret it, old man! I'll be the best student you've ever—"
"However," Genji interrupted, his voice dropping an octave, "we will not begin here. Your training will commence during the upcoming school break. We are going to the Kyorin ancestral grounds in the deep mountains."
He leaned in, his shadow looming over Yuki. "There, the air is thin, the beasts are hungry, and—most importantly—no one will be around to hear you scream."
Yuki swallowed hard, his excitement curdling into a sudden, cold realization. "Scream? Why would I be screaming? We're just... meditating, right?"
Genji didn't answer. He simply turned and walked back into the mansion, his cloak billowing like a death shroud.
After a few minutes, Yuki headed for the gate, Seri hurried after him, her school bag clutched to her chest. "Yuki! Wait! I'm coming with you."
Yuki blinked. "To the slums? It's not exactly a Royal resort, Seri-chan. You shouldn't be spending too much time there."
"I don't care about that," she said, her expression softening into one of genuine guilt. "I need to apologize to Hana. The way I spoke to her before... the things I said to keep up my 'Queen' act... it was horrible. I can't be your partner if I'm an enemy to your family."
"Partner?" Yuki tilted his head, the word hanging in the air.
Seri's heart skipped. She clamped a hand over her mouth, her face heating up. Did I just say that out loud?
"I like the sound of that," Yuki said, breaking the tension with a grin as he threw an arm around her shoulder. "I'll be Holmes, and you'll be Watson. It's a deal."
Seri let out a long, shaky sigh of relief. I'm so glad he's an idiot, she thought, though a small part of her felt a twinge of disappointment.