They are all a bunch of scheming and black-hearted bastards!

Shigematsu Akio looked at Morizono Kikuto and still said it, "Back then, Madam came here to look for me, but Master mistakenly thought Madam liked him and proposed to her."

"And then?" Morizono Kikuto pressed, "My mother agreed, didn't she?"

"Yes, Madam was moved by Master's passion, which is why she married into the family," Shigematsu Akio sighed. "As for what happened back then, Master probably sensed a little bit of it..."

"There wasn't anything between you and my mother, was there?" Morizono Kikuto finally asked his suspicion directly.

Realizing what Morizono Kikuto meant, Shigematsu Akio was instantly anxious and annoyed. "Kikuto-shachou, do you still not trust Madam? We had accepted our fate back then and never entangled ourselves with each other again. This time, it's just because Miss Kaede and Sakuraba are so much like us back then, but they still have time. I... I didn't want to see such a regret happen again."

Morizono Kikuto felt a wave of relief. As long as there was nothing between them, everything was fine. He sat back down on the sofa. "I can cancel the wedding, but it shouldn't be done through you threatening me. You should have told me directly."

Shigematsu Akio bowed deeply. "I am truly sorry, Kikuto-shachou!"

"Hand over the evidence you have," Morizono Kikuto said. "I will explain things clearly to Kaede and Sakuraba later. Of course, if you are worried, you can wait until after the wedding is canceled before giving it to me..."

"No, no need. I'll go get it right now!"

Seeing that Morizono Kikuto was willing to cancel the wedding first, Shigematsu Akio felt the weight of that trust and grew even more remorseful. He immediately left the room to retrieve the items.

Ten minutes later, the same room, the same three people.

After confirming that the items were all originals, Morizono Kikuto destroyed them. "Have you ever thought about how severe the consequences of canceling the wedding tomorrow will be?"

Shigematsu Akio looked hesitatingly at Morizono Kikuto. Was the young master going to go back on his word?

"Rest assured, I won't break my promise. I'm not lacking women who like me, and I certainly don't want to spend the future having to guard against my own wife having an affair," Morizono Kikuto said, sitting back down on the sofa. "However, canceling a wedding always requires a plausible reason. Take Uncle Shinnosuke, for instance. He is usually very busy, but to attend tomorrow's wedding, he must have pushed back everything he had to do. That is a gesture of goodwill toward the Morizono family. Other guests might not all be like that, but a certain portion of them certainly are."

"This..." Cold sweat instantly broke out on Shigematsu Akio's forehead.

Previously, he had only been anxious to have Morizono Kikuto cancel the wedding. Now that the matter was settled, he finally thought of the consequences of abruptly calling it off.

Without a proper reason, if the Morizono family suddenly canceled the wedding on the eve of the ceremony, it would undoubtedly draw a great deal of dissatisfaction.

"The matter of canceling the wedding started because of them, so they should bear the responsibility as well," Morizono Kikuto laid his cards on the table. "Tomorrow, or tonight after the guests leave, Kaede will suddenly fall ill—serious enough to make holding the wedding impossible. We'll cancel the wedding first, drag it out for a while, let the matter blow over, and then go our separate ways. In a bit, you and I will go talk to them together."

Shigematsu Akio nodded hurriedly. "Thank you, young master! I think they will agree!"

Seeing that the two had reached a consensus, Ichi Feichi had no intention of lingering. "Since the matter is resolved, I'll head downstairs first. I'll keep today's affairs confidential."

Watching Ichi Feichi head out, Shigematsu Akio hesitated for a moment before asking, "Kikuto-shachou, all of this... was thought of by Feichi-shachou, wasn't it?"

"All of this?" Morizono Kikuto let out a dry laugh. "Which parts do you mean?"

Shigematsu Akio frowned as he recalled. He couldn't quite pinpoint which parts, but he simply felt that during today's conversation, he had completely lost the upper hand, as if everything had been neatly arranged far in advance.

He understood his own young master; it was impossible for him to evoke that kind of feeling...

Morizono Kikuto did not pursue the topic further and instead brought up something else. "Once this matter is handled properly, you are responsible for finding a way to patch up those loopholes in the company and ferret out the person who leaked the information. Dismiss the ones who should be dismissed, discipline the ones who need disciplining, and take the opportunity to clean house!"

Shigematsu Akio was somewhat surprised. "Kikuto-shachou, you still plan on letting me stay at the company?"

"Is that strange?" Morizono Kikuto countered.

Shigematsu Akio's expression softened somewhat as he smiled bitterly, "Perhaps it's because Feichi-shachou was here just now, which subconsciously reminded me of Shinnosuke-san. If it were Shinnosuke-san, I'd probably have been shown the door immediately. Even though you're still willing to trust me, how could I possibly have the face to stay in the company..."

"Staying is fine," Morizono Kikuto said earnestly. "Anyway, the company won't be doing those kinds of things anymore."

"Kikuto-shachou?" Shigematsu Akio was both surprised and puzzled.

In the past, Morizono Kikuto had been eager to make a name for himself to prove his worth, stubbornly resorting to bribing high-ranking officials. How had he suddenly seen the light now?

"My dad told me a long time ago that Uncle Shinnosuke is a terrifying man..." Morizono Kikuto didn't continue, standing up and walking out of the room. "Have someone come and clean up."

Though he didn't know what had happened in the early years, his current mood was probably very similar to his father's back then.

He now felt that Ichi Feichi was a terrifying person.

Earlier, when he proposed that he could first let go and then retrieve those pieces of evidence, it wasn't out of trust at all—it was because Ichi Feichi had given him the backing to do so.

If Shigematsu Akio had gone back on his word afterward, the anonymous tip-off letter he had prepared would have been mailed out that very night, reporting his own company for illegal activities in a certain area and providing ambiguous evidence. Once the word spread, he would have cooperated with the investigation at top speed to clear his name.

After that, he would have stirred up trouble from a couple of other angles to create the illusion that someone was maliciously targeting him.

When Shigematsu Akio tried to use the evidence to threaten him, he could simply ignore it, tweak a few minor details in the company to make people suspect that it was yet another piece of ambiguous evidence.

During the buffer period while the public was half-believing it, he could use other events to divert public attention, let the matter cool down, and then deal with it—either clear his name by finding a senior executive to take the fall and let that person turn around and bite the person he wanted to target to manufacture the illusion that he was the victim, or else...

Ichi Feichi had offered far too many operational strategies. The worst-case scenario was that the company would suffer losses, but he and the company wouldn't be completely ruined.

To put it in a single sentence—

That little bit of a threat was nothing. Letting the other party hold a piece of leverage while robbing it of any real threatening power was the proper way to solve the problem!

And Shigematsu Akio's choice had also determined his attitude toward Shigematsu Akio.

If Shigematsu Akio had not trusted him and had not handed over the evidence to him first, he wouldn't have let Shigematsu Akio stay in the company either.

Ichi Feichi was entirely right about one thing: once a person's trust collapses, no matter how much you try to patch it up, it is very hard to restore it to the way it was.

In truth, he still harbored wariness toward Shigematsu Akio now; it was just that keeping Shigematsu Akio in the company could help him more. As long as the company no longer involved itself in illegal matters and he left no leverage for others to grab, he could slowly observe and confirm things over time.

In the past, he would use any means necessary and fixated entirely on climbing upward. Now, he felt that those methods of his weren't even methods at all, and it was much better to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

Fine, he was just being cowardly.

Think about his father's past evaluation of Uncle Shinnosuke, and then look at Ichi Feichi—he suddenly felt that those at the top were all a bunch of dark-bellied, black-hearted fellows.

What could he do when he couldn't outplay them?

He might as well follow his father's example, manage things prudently, and call it good enough, lest he be plotted against and end up utterly defeated...

...

Half an hour later, dinner was served in the first-floor dining room.

Upon hearing Shigematsu Akio introduce the identities of the incoming guests, Morizono Mikio was instantly intrigued by Mōri Kogorō. "Oh! So you're that famous detective!"

Mōri Kogorō beamed with joy while trying his utmost to put on a solemn expression. "Hello, I am Mōri Kogorō. Pleased to make your acquaintance!"

"It is my honor to dine with someone like you," Morizono Mikio said with a smile.

"Not at all, you're far too kind!" Mōri Kogorō responded politely in kind.

Servants brought food and drinks to the dining table.

Not cooping himself up in his room, Morizono Kikuto had also arrived at the dining room early, sitting alongside Katagiri Kaede. Both of them appeared somewhat ill at ease.

Nearby, Morizono Yurie was cradling Rebeca, while Ichi Feichi held Hika, the two sitting adjacent to each other. Both pets had layers of gauze wrapped around their bodies.

Across the dining table, Conan first noticed the strange atmosphere between Morizono Kikuto and Katagiri Kaede, feeling a sense of doubt, before turning his gaze to the others. Upon seeing Hika draped halfway across the dining table, he almost burst out laughing right then and there and hurriedly lowered his head to suppress his giggles.

It was his first time seeing a snake wrapped up like that; it looked genuinely miserable!

Hika sat there listlessly. Seeing Conan lowering his head with his face twitching, it stared for a long time and said in astonishment, "Master, look! This brat Conan is acting weird! Is he about to transform? Is he suddenly going to turn into Kudō Shinichi?"

Ichi Feichi hadn't spoken, though he wasn't ignoring the situation at the dining table either. He said in a low voice, "He's laughing at you."

Hika instantly propped its upper body up, stopped forgoing its tongue flicking, and stared unblinkingly at Conan.

Noticing Hika's movement, the little cat Rebeca also stood up from Morizono Yurie's lap, curiously patting Hika's body with a retracted paw.

"Cut it out!" Hika flicked its tail to swat away Rebeca's paw.

Rebeca's cat-like eyes lit up. Seemingly recalling what happened last night and thinking Hika wanted to play with it again, it pounced forward.

"I didn't expect Feichi to have known Mōri-san beforehand, and even know Shizuha's son. What a surprise!" Morizono Mikio had just heard Morizono Yurie mention this and was lamenting it when he heard Rebeca's shrill howl.

"Meow-嗷!" With a fierce look, Rebeca pounced toward the table right in front of Ichi Feichi.

Hika instinctively lashed out with its tail, then shifted its position, sliding rapidly underneath the table.

Rebeca took a swipe, regained its balance, stepped onto Ichi Feichi's lap, and leaped off the table, eagerly giving chase. "Meow-oo!"

The commotion here instantly drew the gazes of Mōri Kogorō and the others, though all they saw was a feline shadow darting off the table.

"Ah!"

The two girls, Mōri Ran and Tōyama Kazuha, were startled.

Things descended into chaos beneath the table, with the sound of table legs being struck echoing continuously—first on the left, then on the right—accompanied by Rebeca's vicious growling.

After a moment of astonishment, Morizono Yurie said helplessly, "They're at it again..."

"Hey, hey, shouldn't we stop them?" Hattori Heiji hurriedly lifted his feet up slightly, suddenly feeling a bit envious of Conan's current short legs, as he didn't need to worry about his feet being caught in the crossfire.

"No need to worry, they'll quiet down after a little while." Morizono Mikio remained entirely calm. Compared to last night, without the addition of crows, this was practically a minor skirmish.