Sure enough, Jinno Ai continued with a smile, "It's that promise from when we were kids. Didn't we agree that we'd get married when we grew up?"
Hikari rubbed her little head and laughed, "Wasn't that just playing house when we were kids? You took it seriously? Back then, it wasn't just you I married. I married Little Aoi and Sister Suiren too. I even married all three at once, or played the role of your dad. I've done all of that."
Hearing Hikari say this, Jinno Ai puffed up her lips in dissatisfaction, "What you did with Little Aoi and the others was just playing around. I was serious back then! Little Ai has always liked Hikari-kun, just like when we were kids!"
Seeing Jinno Ai acting so childishly, Hikari could only smile and rub her head again.
"I like Little Ai too."
Hearing the slightly perfunctory tone in Hikari's words, Jinno Ai felt even more dissatisfied, but she didn't show it.
Instead, she brightened up and suddenly smiled at Hikari, "Hikari-kun, wait a second. I've got some imported tea here. You absolutely have to try it!"
"Oh? Really? What kind of tea? Let me see," A trace of curiosity appeared on Hikari's face.
"Hehe! Anyway, it's super good imported tea. If you want to know, close your eyes first," Jinno Ai said mysteriously.
"Is that so?", Hikari obediently closed his eyes.
Seeing how well-behaved Hikari was, Jinno Ai showed a smug smile.
"Hikari-nii, wait a bit. I'll feed you the imported tea right away!", Holding back her excitement, Jinno Ai clumsily picked up the tea and took a deep mouthful.
Just as she leaned her head toward Hikari's face, about to press her lips to his and feed him the "imported tea," Hikari suddenly opened his eyes.
"Little Ai, this imported tea of yours wouldn't happen to be the kind you feed mouth-to-mouth, would it?", Hikari said with a smile, looking at Jinno Ai whose delicate nose was already almost touching his.
"Mm! (How did you know!)", Seeing Hikari suddenly open his eyes and expose her plan, Jinno Ai widened her beautiful eyes. A shy blush appeared on her cute face.
"I've seen this trick before," Hikari chuckled and reached out to rub her head.
But Jinno Ai, her face red, suddenly pressed her lips onto his, "Mm! Mm! Mm! (I don't care, I'm feeding Hikari-nii the imported tea!)"
Her lips were sealed by two soft petals. The bittersweet taste of tea, mixed with the sweetness of a young girl, flowed into his mouth. That strange flavor was intoxicating.
Faced with Jinno Ai so proactively wanting to feed him imported tea, Hikari didn't force himself to refuse.
Because he could clearly tell that Jinno Ai's confession just now had been sincere, not a joke.
Like the persistent Aoi, this young lady Jinno Ai was also the type who dared to love and dared to hate.
With such a beautiful and adorable rich young lady throwing herself at him, Hikari couldn't bring himself to put on the act of a gentleman and reject her outright.
Anyway, with enough debts, one more didn't matter. With Aoi already settled, adding Jinno Ai didn't change much.
He immediately captured Jinno Ai's lips and returned the equally imported tea back to this young lady.
This wild idea had come to Jinno Ai on a whim. Although she had long planned to get closer to Hikari and confess her feelings, today's opportunity had still been a sudden impulse.
So in truth, completely inexperienced, she had been extremely nervous and burning hot all over when she first fed Hikari the imported tea.
Now, feeling that Hikari hadn't rejected her, but instead cooperated with her imported tea, even guiding her to savor that sweet tea together, Jinno Ai finally relaxed.
But before she could be happy for long, Hikari's experienced imported-tea skills revealed themselves.
The Jinno Ai who had initiated the tea-feeding was soon led by the nose by Hikari, able only to obediently follow his rhythm.
Her skin gradually heated up, her delicate body slowly turning limp.
Jinno Ai's petite yet curvy body slowly collapsed into Hikari's embrace, letting him firmly take control with both hands.
The two of them stayed like that, holding each other, their heads pressed close together.
Just a single mouthful of tea, and neither of them knew how long it would take to finish.
In any case, Jinno Ai had already drifted off, completely forgetting about time and space.
But just when Jinno Ai's mind and body were both satisfied to the point of floating, something unexpected happened.
A voice filled with anger suddenly exploded inside the side hall of the shrine.
"Hey! What are you two doing in here?"
Startled by the sudden scolding from a woman's voice, Jinno Ai and Hikari both turned their heads toward the entrance of the side hall.
There stood a beautiful, cold-faced woman in a kimono, staring at them with a face full of frost.
"M-mother?"
Seeing the suddenly appearing cold beauty, Jinno Ai's delicate body trembled. The tea she had been holding in her mouth for a long time was swallowed unconsciously, and fear showed in her beautiful eyes.
The person who suddenly appeared at the doorway, wearing loose shrine priestess robes that still couldn't hide her full, voluptuous figure and noble, dignified aura, was none other than Jinno Ai's mother, Jinno Sumire.
Seeing her precious daughter Jinno Ai still being held in a man's arms in such an intimate posture, Jinno Sumire's ample chest heaved violently beneath her wide robes. Her usually icy pretty face was now flushed red with rage.
Jinno Sumire had not expected that the moment she arrived at the side hall, she would see her daughter Jinno Ai and Hikari being all lovey-dovey. Her ample chest rose and fell fiercely with anger.
"Little Ai! Get off that man right now!"
"Do you even know where this is? This is Ino Shrine! A shrine!"
"As a woman of the Jinno family, how can you do something like this with a man in a solemn and sacred shrine?"
"This is simply a grave sin, something that will bring down divine punishment!"
Jinno Sumire strode into the side hall and scolded Jinno Ai loudly, pointing at her.
Seeing Jinno Ai standing there with her head lowered, body trembling, not daring to speak, Jinno Sumire turned her head again. With anger on her face, she coldly said to Hikari, who was still holding Jinno Ai, "Hikari, please let go of my daughter immediately!"
Jinno Sumire was actually very indulgent toward her daughter Jinno Ai under normal circumstances, often putting Jinno Ai's matters above everything else.
When she had just learned that Jinno Ai had almost been kidnapped, she had been furious and immediately sent people to rescue her.
But toward any man who dared approach Jinno Ai, Jinno Sumire would show no mercy and drive him away. She didn't want her innocent daughter to be deceived by some man.
That was why Jinno Sumire had always been unwilling to let Jinno Ai meet Hikari too often.
But Jinno Ai had ignored her warning and continued to interact with Hikari, which was already enough to make her furious.
And now Jinno Ai had even brought Hikari into the shrine, and was kissing him in the side hall of the shrine. This was simply outrageous.
So even the usually calm and dignified Jinno Sumire was now so angry that she felt dizzy.
Seeing her mother so furious, Jinno Ai snapped back to her senses and hurriedly struggled out of Hikari's arms.
Because of the long kiss just now, her limbs were still a bit weak. If not for Hikari reaching out to support her, she would have fallen to the ground.
"M-mother! I-is something wrong?", Jinno Ai said with her head lowered, looking awkward.
Seeing the intimate behavior between the two and the flushed cheeks on Jinno Ai's face, Jinno Sumire felt another surge of anger in her chest.
"What's wrong? Pulling and tugging with a man inside the shrine, what kind of behavior is that? Get back to your room right now and copy the shrine scriptures ten times! Until you finish copying them, you are not allowed to go out!"
After scolding Jinno Ai, Jinno Sumire shot Hikari a cold look and said in an icy tone, "Hikari, Little Ai is still very young. As her aunt, I advise you not to harbor thoughts you shouldn't have."
After warning Hikari, Jinno Sumire flicked her sleeve and left, her pretty face still covered in frost.
Seeing the shrine priestess storm out of the side hall, the two shrine maidens guarding the courtyard entrance didn't even dare breathe loudly and hurried to follow her.
Jinno Sumire was indeed extremely angry.
Aside from being angry at her rebellious, disobedient daughter Jinno Ai going through puberty, she was even more angry that Hikari had led Jinno Ai astray.
Jinno Sumire now had a very bad impression of Hikari, because she cherished her only daughter Jinno Ai immensely.
From very early on, Jinno Sumire had known that Jinno Ai's beauty, inherited from her, would attract trouble and draw men like flies.
So from childhood, she had tried her best to prevent Jinno Ai from having contact with other men.
Jinno Ai had been obedient before, but for some reason, once she got involved with Hikari, she changed.
Jinno Sumire remembered clearly that her daughter had always been obedient, sensible, pure, and adorable since childhood. So naturally, it must have been Hikari who led her daughter astray.
Thinking of Hikari's face, handsome enough to deceive young girls, Jinno Sumire couldn't help but suspect that this boy had his eyes on the Jinno family's wealth and power, deliberately trying to get close to Jinno Ai.
After all, she had seen plenty of such things. There were at least dozens of men who had deliberately approached their family for the sake of their influence, some even targeting her instead of her daughter.
It was just that before, Jinno Ai had always been obedient and hadn't had contact with any men, and few people dared to set their sights on her personally.
But now, thinking that someone might really be trying to eat swan meat like a toad, even successfully tricking her daughter into early romance, Jinno Sumire was filled with rage.
Then thinking of how Jinno Ai had secretly gone to find Hikari today without even bringing bodyguards, almost getting kidnapped and taken away, Jinno Sumire's chest hurt with anger. She was furious at Hikari, who had nearly caused something to happen to her daughter.
Finally, recalling the scene of Hikari and Jinno Ai being all lovey-dovey in the shrine just now, Jinno Sumire felt like her lungs were about to explode.
But at the time, since Jinno Ai had been present, Jinno Sumire was afraid that scolding Hikari on the spot would affect the relationship between mother and daughter. She was also worried that scolding him might make Jinno Ai even more rebellious during puberty.
So Jinno Sumire had held back her anger just now and hadn't directly berated Hikari too harshly, only scolding her daughter a bit.
"Right now, the most important thing is to interrogate those guys who tried to kidnap Little Ai!"
"As for that stinking brat who wants to eat swan meat, after I'm done with proper business, I'll come back and teach him a good lesson!"
"Trying to deceive my daughter? What an ungrateful little bastard!"
"If I, Jinno Sumire, don't teach you a lesson, then I'm unworthy of being the shrine's priestess!"
Jinno Sumire held back her fury and strode aggressively toward the interrogation room.
———
On the other side, inside the shrine's side hall.
Watching her mother leave in a rage, Jinno Ai's delicate body trembled slightly, her pink cheeks turning a little pale with fear.
After all, Jinno Ai knew that although her mother Jinno Sumire doted on her very much, she was also quite strict in her discipline.
Not only had her sneaking off to find Hikari been exposed today, but her mother had also caught them kissing.
Just thinking about it, she knew there wouldn't be a good outcome.
But although she was already very scared, Jinno Ai was more worried about Hikari being frightened. Instead, she spoke up to him beside her, "Hikari-kun, my mother… she's just sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. She's only a bit fierce with her words. She won't really do anything to you. Um… um, maybe you should go back first."
Hearing Jinno Ai's words, Hikari turned his head to look at her.
"It's fine. I know Aunt Sumire's personality. Little Ai, you don't need to worry," Hikari smiled.
In turn, he rubbed Jinno Ai's head and comforted her, "As for Aunt Sumire, I'll explain things clearly to her. Don't worry. I won't be in any trouble, and I'll make her feel at ease about what you did too."
Although Hikari didn't say exactly how he would do it, hearing his words and feeling his hand on her head, Jinno Ai's previously anxious heart gradually calmed down.
It seemed that as long as she stayed by Hikari's side, there was nothing to be afraid of. Looking at Hikari's reliable, smiling face, Jinno Ai happily nodded, "Mm! I believe in Hikari-nii!"
Smack!
As she said that, Jinno Ai even gave Hikari another kiss on the cheek.
Compared to her fear of her mother, Jinno Ai's fondness for Hikari was clearly even stronger.
After that, Hikari followed Jinno Ai to her room in the shrine to rest.
———
"Have these people confessed?"
Sitting on the only chair in the dark room, Jinno Sumire was expressionless, like a queen in the darkness. Her expression was cold and solemn, inspiring awe.
Four or five meters in front of her was a table covered with torture instruments. Behind the table, the men in black were bound tightly, their hands tied and hoisted high. Each of them had several bloody wounds on their bodies, and dripping blood had pooled into a sticky layer on the floor.
Clearly, these men in black who had tried to kidnap Jinno Ai had already been subjected to severe torture.
Hearing Jinno Sumire's question, one of the subordinates who had been responsible for recording the interrogation results hurried over to her.
He answered respectfully, "Shrine Priestess, these guys have all confessed."
"They were sent by someone from the Yoshizawa family. Their mission target was to kidnap the young lady, but as for the exact purpose, they don't know…"
"So it was people sent by that Yoshizawa Eigen?", Hearing this, Jinno Sumire's brows knitted slightly as her jade-like fingers lightly tapped the armrest of the chair.
"Recently, the Jinno family doesn't seem to have had any conflicts with the Yoshizawa family. That Yoshizawa Eigen daring to suddenly lay hands on my daughter, what nerve."
Thinking of how her daughter Jinno Ai had almost been kidnapped, Jinno Sumire felt anger surge again.
"Send people to block off all the Yoshizawa family's businesses that can be sealed shut. As for the ones that can't be completely shut down, hit them hard!"
"And go gather information on Yoshizawa Eigen! He dared to make a move on my daughter. I will definitely make him pay the price!"
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