The smile vanished from Minato Namikaze's face, leaving it cold and hard as iron. The sunny curve of his lips disappeared completely, replaced by a darkness that chilled Nōhime to the bone.
He stepped forward. His boot crushed a half-charred stone with a sharp crack.
"You want to cooperate?"
Nōhime nodded. The sleeves of her white kimono stirred in the dusk, while calculations raced through her pale violet eyes.
She was about to deliver the speech she had rehearsed countless times—
"Come here."
Minato Namikaze cut her off.
His voice was low and stern, carrying a pressure that brooked no argument.
Nōhime frowned, caught off guard.
"Kneel!"
Nōhime's pupils widened, then shrank to pinpoints. Fury flashed in her pale violet eyes.
She gripped the sleeves of her white kimono, her fingers pressing pale marks into the fabric. Her whole arm trembled.
She was an envoy of Takamagahara, Oda Nobunaga's wife, the sharpest blade the Takamagahara Divine Kingdom wielded in mortal affairs!
First, Yongye had treated her like free takeout, then tried to add Himiko, Tamamo-no-Mae, and Princess Kaguya to his order.
Now Minato Namikaze had opened his mouth and told her to kneel?
Those two bastards had gone too far!
"You..."
Her voice squeezed through clenched teeth, every word steeped in anger and humiliation. "Do you know what you're saying?"
Minato Namikaze stood amid the charred ruins, the mountain wind stirring the front of his dark blue shirt. His golden hair glowed softly in the dusk.
A smile returned to his lips, but beneath it lay a naked malice that chilled Nōhime's spine.
"I said, kneel!"
"Because you brought up that bastard Yongye."
"I'm furious right now!"
Nōhime's lashes fluttered sharply.
Now she understood.
The bastard wanted to use her to cool himself off!
That only made her angrier!
Nōhime