Strategically despise the enemy; tactically take the enemy seriously! Sogo Doma had always admired the words of great men, and this had always been the Doma Family's policy. Otherwise, Toshiro Hijikata would not initially have believed that Keiryu Doma agreed to the marriage alliance in order to deal with the Shinomiya Family. After all, that was taking the enemy seriously on a tactical level!
In fact, being called trash by Sogo Doma and Toshiro Hijikata was already quite an honor for Ai Hayasaka. If it had been an ordinary person, they generally could not even be bothered to offer an evaluation... Though Toshiro Hijikata had only made that assessment to echo Sogo, she had still been evaluated. It was not an exaggeration to say she could take pride in that. Even if Sogo Doma had not intended to evaluate her, her name had been mentioned, hadn't it?
"Tsk, tsk..." Sogo Doma chuckled and shook his head. "Hijikata, Gan'an Shinomiya had far more in mind than that. If he transferred Hayasaka, that informant, away—or simply ignored her—then I, or rather, our Doma Family, could use that as an excuse. He wanted his Shinomiya Family to form a marriage alliance with the Doma Family using a daughter like Kaguya Shinomiya, one they did not even value? He could keep dreaming... He would have no way to deny it, either. They had planted an informant by the other party's side; could Gan'an Shinomiya possibly not know? If he did not, then he should stop being the Shinomiya Family head and get replaced as soon as possible. He could not even grasp his own family's situation, yet he wanted to lead a family?"
"..." Toshiro Hijikata froze. "Right. If Gan'an Shinomiya directly transferred Hayasaka away, never mind whether Lady Shinomiya would break down—the question