She looked at me.
"Sir, please, you must accept us."
"Why?"
I furrowed my brow slightly. The dozen or so maids all looked dejected, which made me curious. I had a vague idea...
and could more or less guess what was going on.
"We...we're just ordinary people."
"Mm, I can see that. But what does that have to do with what you said?"
I didn't want a bunch of women wandering around my room. It'd be distracting, and besides, this villa wasn't as big as it looked. There was no need for over a dozen maids.
"If you don't take us in, Mr. Jiang will punish us..."
"Then I'll go tell him—"
"No. If you do, Mr. Jiang will punish us even more severely."
I frowned slightly and paused, then looked at the woman.
"Why?"
The maid hesitated, then looked up at me and said,
"So the next group of women will be more obedient..."
My brow furrowed. After thinking it over, I understood more or less.
This sort of thing...was probably something that man named Jiang did on purpose to win over the powerful.
Whatever the reason, if the other person sent the women back, Mr. Jiang would punish them severely. That way, the next women he sent out would do whatever it took to stay by the powerful person's side. That would mean...he'd managed to win them over, at least halfway.
"...I'm sorry, but I can tell you I won't be staying at this base for long. When I leave, won't you be punished?"
The maid hesitated, then pressed her lips together and nodded.
"We will, but it won't be too severe."
Mm...as expected. These officials had already figured out how people thought.
If someone was set on leaving, there was no point trying to keep them. Better