"Your Highness, you must be joking," Kozuki Toki pressed her lips together, weakly closing her eyes, not daring to meet Rosse's gaze again.
Her heart was already in chaos.But even so, she still did not want the man in front of her to see any ugliness from her.
She was the head lady of the Kozuki family. She used to be, she is now, and in the future she will as well.
"Whether I'm joking or not, you know clearly yourself," Rosse chuckled, and gently hooked Kozuki Toki's chin with his fingertip.
Kozuki Toki immediately felt as if her body were wrapped in some kind of liquid, lifting and supporting her whole figure.
She didn't know what ability this was, but she knew for certain that her posture right now must look quite dreadful.
And just as the other retainers were despising Kozuki Toki's initiative, Rosse's voice spread throughout the entire hall, "All right, the welcoming ceremony is over. Since you're the hosts, you should also prepare a place to talk."
Hearing Rosse's words, the rest of the retainers felt even more stifled.
He kept saying they were the hosts, but ever since arriving, Rosse hadn't done a single thing a guest should do.
Kin'emon felt incomparably aggrieved in his heart, but in order to carry out the plan that had been agreed on with Kozuki Oden beforehand, he forcefully endured it.
"My lord, please proceed inside," After Rosse released the control of his Conqueror's Haki, even though the fractured bones would need time to recover, for retainers–level physiques, moving freely wasn't a problem.
Kin'emon stood up limping slightly, walked to the front of Rosse, and made a gesture to invite him inward.
From beginning to end, he didn't glance at Kozuki Toki even once.
Ever since the plan was drafted, Kozuki Toki had already been abandoned.
Not to mention, Kozuki Toki's behavior today made this Kozuki retainer extremely dissatisfied.
He had thought Kozuki Toki was prepared to sacrifice herself. He never expected that Kozuki Toki was actually planning to cater to the enemy.
Since that was the case, he had no need to care about any sentiment.
"Lead the way," Rosse smiled slightly, following behind Kin'emon without the slightest care.
But Kozuki Toki, standing beside him, suddenly found that she simply couldn't control her own body. She could only watch in despair as her own arm rose up and supported Rosse's body, following behind Kin'emon and walking forward.
The movement was as if she were a dutiful and professional maid.
But this wasn't something she could control.
Desperation shone in Kozuki Toki's eyes as she looked pleadingly toward Kin'emon in front of her.
Yet she helplessly found that Kin'emon didn't look at her at all. Although he turned his head repeatedly while leading the way, his eyes fell only on Rosse, as if he didn't care in the slightest about the humiliation she was suffering.
Her red lips pressed tightly together, and tears unconsciously flowed from her eyes.
Kozuki Toki couldn't understand why she had to endure these things.
But just as her tears flowed out and hadn't yet rolled down her cheeks, they suddenly vanished as if evaporating.
At the same time, Rosse's whispering voice once again came to her ears, ["Tears only work on those who feel pain for you. To your enemies, they just make them more excited, y'know?"]
Rosse's mocking words made Kozuki Toki hold back her sobs. She lifted her head in anger and glared at him.
She knew that this kind of voice-transmitting technique must be one of Rosse's abilities.
From the very beginning, Rosse was deliberately targeting her, creating a rift between her and the other members of the Kozuki family.
From the very beginning, Kozuki Toki understood this very clearly.
But even knowing it, she couldn't keep herself from overthinking.
"Your Highness, this is the Kozuki family's reception room," Kin'emon's voice came from ahead. At this moment, they had already arrived at the reception room of the Kozuki residence.
Not long ago, Kozuki Oden had even met Kurozumi Orochi in this very reception room.
Rosse didn't care in the slightest. He didn't care whether the Kozuki family had any traps.
In the face of absolute power, everything else was nothing but a joke.
Ever since entering the Land of Wano, a near–invisible layer of seawater vapor had surrounded him.
Combined with his own Observation Haki and that layer of protection, no Devil Fruit ability could affect him through this seawater vapor.
And speaking of raw power… Rosse wasn't being arrogant. Even if everyone in the Kozuki residence joined together, and even adding Kozuki Oden with his green hair–turtle-like face, they still wouldn't be his opponent.
Rosse entered the reception room and, under the retainers' furious yet speechless gazes, straightforwardly sat in the main seat where Kozuki Oden usually sat.
He even tapped the table lightly and gave Kozuki Toki a meaningful glance.
At the same time, Rosse's voice privately reached Kozuki Toki's ears, ["A guest is here. Won't you prepare a cup of tea for me?"]
Seeing the resistance in Kozuki Toki's eyes, Rosse didn't care at all. He continued, ["If you don't, then in one minute, I'll randomly kill one Kozuki retainer."]
Hearing that, Kozuki Toki abruptly stood up.
This time, it wasn't due to Rosse's control. It was of her own accord.
The other retainers were puzzled and looked at Kozuki Toki in confusion, not knowing what she intended to do.
Kozuki Toki glared at Rosse in humiliation, but in the end still took a deep breath, forcing a smile toward the retainers, and walked alone toward the adjoining tea room.
Seeing what she was doing, Kin'emon and the others were completely dumbfounded.
Especially someone hot-blooded like Raizo, his eyes already carried a dangerous glint as he looked at Kozuki Toki's retreating back.
According to what they had all agreed beforehand, if Rosse showed up, Kin'emon would step forward to entertain him.
Unless Rosse brought up Kozuki Toki, they wouldn't let her appear.
But what was this situation now?
Rosse had only just arrived, all of them had suffered humiliation, and then Kozuki Toki had actively stepped forward to greet Rosse.
At first, they thought she was representing the Kozuki family so they could maintain some face, so they held back.
But afterward, her proactive attitude toward Rosse had been right in front of their eyes.
Not only did she allow herself to be manipulated, she even obediently supported their enemy all the way to the reception room.
And that wasn't enough. Now she was voluntarily acting as a maid, going to the tea room to prepare tea for the enemy?
They weren't naive enough to think that Kozuki Toki was trying to avoid the situation by going to the tea room, or that she was preparing tea for them.
After all, everything that happened between Rosse and Kozuki Toki just now had clearly been seen by them.
That final look she gave Rosse, filled with allure, they definitely didn't think they'd misseen it.
Rosse took in all of their gazes, a faint smile at the corner of his lips.
He didn't expect that this newly developed ability of his would be unexpectedly useful.
Just now, all of Kozuki Toki's actions had actually been entirely controlled and forced by him. But from the perspective of others, that might not be how it looked.
Human vision often deceives itself.
The principle he was using was simple. Human eyesight receives information through light, and light forms refraction in various mediums.
In other words, by controlling that refraction, one could create a certain degree of visual deception.
He couldn't turn a horse into a cow, but merely changing the expression in someone's eyes was something Rosse could manage.
This kind of trick couldn't fool a meticulous strategist, nor could it fool a top-level powerhouse with beastlike instincts.
But for just these retainers in front of him, it was more than enough.
[T/N: Woah! I never expected to read atomic level manipulation in this novel.]
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