The taxi finally stopped in front of a modest house in a residential area.
Ten minutes after leaving the café, Ren stood before the Uesugi family home—a house still under a twenty-year mortgage.
A thin, meaningful smile spread across his lips as he gazed at the house, a symbol of the "normal" life that was, in truth, fragile.
With confident steps, he approached the front door. Instead of ringing the bell, Ren pulled a duplicate key from his trouser pocket. The key had been secretly given to him by Yotsuba herself, a symbol of their forbidden intimacy.
*CLIK!*
With a soft click, the door opened, and Ren entered the house as if it were his own.
He slipped off his shoes and walked down the narrow corridor, his footsteps echoing faintly. A humming sound from the kitchen immediately caught his attention.
"Hm~ hm~ hm~"
Yotsuba's cheerful voice echoed from behind the wall. Ren approached silently, his steps catlike, and saw her standing with her back to him at the kitchen sink. Her hands were busy washing dishes, her mind likely wandering elsewhere, completely unaware of the man who wasn't her husband.
Without warning, Ren closed the distance and wrapped both arms around Yotsuba from behind, trapping her in a sudden embrace.
"…?!?!"
Before Yotsuba could react, he gently turned her head, and Ren's lips covered hers in a deep, passionate kiss.
"Mmmph!!!"
Startled, Yotsuba struggled instantly. Her body tensed, her wet hands trying to break free. But her resistance lasted only a fraction of a second. Once she realized the man kissing her was Ren, her defiance weakened and collapsed entirely.
Instead, a forbidden passion quickly ignited within her. Her hands, which had been pushing away, now returned the embrace, pulling Ren closer. Her initially stiff lips began responding to his tongue with equal fervor.
"Slurp…. Chu… mmf… haa… ba-dump… shff… mnnh… smooch… haa…"
Their kiss in the brightly lit kitchen was a perfect picture of betrayal.
A display of forbidden lust between a pregnant wife and a man who was not only not her husband but also her brother-in-law.
Just as their passion reached its peak, a voice filled with disbelief and anger shattered the moment.
"Yotsuba-san! What are you doing?!"
Hearing the voice, Yotsuba's body trembled as if struck by lightning.
She broke away from Ren's embrace in a panic, her face, once flushed with desire, now pale as a ghost. Her lips, still wet with their shared saliva, quivered as she tried to form words.
"N-No, I-It's not what it looks like, Raiha-chan! I-I… I…"
"Yotsuba-san… You're cheating?" Raiha asked, her voice trembling with a mix of disbelief and disappointment.
"…"
Yotsuba couldn't respond. She lowered her head deeply, her shoulders trembling slightly. Her silence was a more painful admission than any words.
"This is a lie…" Raiha shook her head, her eyes welling with tears. "There's no way someone as kind as Yotsuba-san would betray Onii-chan… He must be threatening you, right?!"
As Fuutarou's younger sister, Raiha had known the five Nakano sisters for a long time. In her view, Yotsuba was the most loyal and sincere—the least likely to cheat!
Thus, without hesitation, she placed all the blame on Ren. Though her guess about coercion was wrong, her suspicion that Ren was the root of it all was entirely accurate.
Ren himself stood calmly, observing the drama with a blank expression. To him, this was merely a minor complication in his game.
"This is an unexpected situation."
Ren was unfazed by Raiha's hate-filled glare. His eyes calmly assessed the girl from head to toe.
"What's your husband's little sister doing here, Yotsuba?"
Raiha, standing at the kitchen doorway, was no longer the little girl from past memories. Now, she had grown into a beautiful high school girl with a vibrant teenage aura.
Her long black hair flowed down to her waist, with neatly combed bangs swept to the right. A small hairpin adorned the left side of her head, adding a sweet touch to her appearance.
She wore a trendy casual outfit popular among young people—an oversized pastel hoodie paired with fitted ripped jeans, reflecting her cheerful personality.
"Raiha visits occasionally." Yotsuba answered in a weak, guilt-laden voice.
"I see."
Ren nodded lightly, his demeanor suggesting that being caught cheating was no big deal to him.
But for Raiha, the situation was a crushing blow. Her wide eyes brimmed with tears ready to spill.
"Yotsuba-san, why? Why would you do this? I know my brother has plenty of flaws. He can be annoying, selfish, and sometimes act like the worst person ever! But he also has many good qualities! Didn't you know him well enough, and that's why you accepted his proposal and married him? So why… why are you cheating with this man?!"
Every word Raiha spoke was laden with deep emotion. As a sister who dearly loved her brother, seeing his wife betray him like this broke her heart.
Sadness, disappointment, and anger mixed into one, making it nearly impossible for her to believe what she had just witnessed with her own eyes.
"Master, what should we do?"
Yotsuba whispered, biting her lower lip hard. Her moist eyes looked at Ren with desperation and dependence.
Ren thought for a moment, then his face showed a nonchalant expression.
"Hmmm… It's simple. Just erase her memory."
Hearing Ren's suggestion, Yotsuba's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had found a way out.
"Understood, Master! Let's do it!"
Though the child in her womb wasn't Fuutarou's, deep in her heart, Yotsuba still loved her husband. She didn't want the marriage she had built to crumble. However, one thing remained clear in her mind: Ren's priority always surpassed Fuutarou's.
"Y-Yotsuba-san?! D-Don't come closer!"
Raiha stepped back, her face filled with fear. Though the concept of memory erasure sounded impossible, like something from a movie, the terror was real as she saw Yotsuba—the always cheerful and kind woman—now obediently following this man's orders.
With the swift movements honed from years of sports since high school, Yotsuba grabbed and locked Raiha's arms from behind, preventing her escape.
Yotsuba's strength was clearly far above that of an average woman, let alone a high school girl like Raiha.
"Please, Yotsuba-san, don't do this! Snap out of it! This is wrong! What you're doing isn't right! I promise I won't tell Onii-chan about this affair. I know he'd be devastated if he found out. So please, let me go!"
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Raiha tried to plead with Yotsuba.
But Yotsuba only shook her head slowly, her grip unyielding.
"I'm sorry, Raiha-chan… I'm truly sorry. But this has to be done."