As the order was given, the other people who were present here using holograms directly logged out of the meeting, the guy Kuroba Mitsugu, also bowed down and was saying goodbye like the rest and after he received a nod from my mother, he was beginning to head out of the Hall .
But just as he was about to open the door and go out, my mother seemed to have recalled something and she stopped him just as he held the door handle, she said :
I hope that the Kuroba family head will stop trying to pull such a tasteless pranks without asking for my permission first, I will let your actions this time slide, but I hope that next time, you would wait for my approval, the family is going to be following a new policy from now on .
One in which internal fighting would not be allowed in, also the orders and wishes of the family head will be followed more obediently and those who are considered family members are treated better than those who I deem as outsiders, I believe you should have already become aware of how your actions had violated some of the terms in this new policy .
But I will let this offence slide after all even though this wasn't your first offense, you had contributed greatly to the family, I should let this slide, but be aware that I hadn't continued to follow up this matter not because you had contributed to the family, I let this slide because you weren't aware of the new policy, so I hope you mind your actions from now on .
Offending a family member without a reason would be a great deal, one that will earn the person who did it some severe punishment, I hope you keep my words in mind, there are some people who already don't look favorably at our family .
There was no reason to fight among ourselves and make those guys think even badly of us, are my words clear .
As my mother said this, I was able to see that the expression of the man standing in front of the door seems to turn a bit unsightly, but this time the Kuroba family head wasn't displeased, but his expression was that of a child who had been caught playing with fire .
Other than me and Tatsuya and probably Hayama-san as well, there shouldn't be anyone who was able to tell, but seeing the expression on Miyuki face, I couldn't help but be startled at the fact that the girl seemed to be completely accustomed to hearing about things like those .
She was quite surprised only after she heard about what my mother said regarding the new Policy that will go on from now on, that was weird to me at first, but then I heard my mother say that that this wasn't the first time for that guy to do something like that and I understood that this might be the reason .
That guy had a nervous expression on his face as he turned his head and apologized, after apologizing, he was then given the permission to leave if he liked and my mother's words seemed to hold enough weight that made this guy wanted to get out of here as fast as he can .
He said his apology and directly escaped from the Hall, leaving in quite a hurry as if he was afraid that she would eat him at any second now, without even looking back, the moment he got her permission to leave which was her nodding as if accepting his apology, the man fled the Hall directly .
Seeing him going away in such a hurry, I couldn't help but look the person who made him react like that, looking at her, I didn't see anything but calmness that seemed unwavering, but as to think of her as a scary person .
I didn't get that feeling from here even when we had just met, not to mention now, seeing me looking at her she looked back and was about to say something and for the first time, I felt that her calmness waver slightly, but I was able to see that her aura was indeed dark and I was reminded of the epithet that the doctor had called here before .
So connected these dots together, allowed me to understand the reason that might explain why was he running away like that, not bothered much by thinking about his actions anymore, I sighed at the fact that this meeting should be now over, luckily for him, no chance to show my strength had presented itself or else, I might have given him more things to be traumatized of .
The scene in the Hall was engulfed by silent, but this silent was soon broken by the cold voice of my mother saying :
You can go and do your own thing, Miyuki-san, Tatsuya-san .
She was telling them to leave, I seeing this, couldn't help but say :
" What about me ? .
She frowned at my question and that exactly the reaction I wanted to get from here, she seemed displeased at my inability to read the room, but I was smiling nonchalantly at her, seeing that her glare wasn't working, she said :
Miyuki-san, Tatsuya-san ? .
She called for the two siblings and awakened them from the trance they were in, the two complying to the orders, gave me a hope you stay alive kind of look, then they got out of the Hall as well .
Leaving only me, the old butler Hayama and her, I couldn't help but look at Hayama-san with a weird look, signalling for him to go away as well, but the old man kept standing there like a statue and was the literally depiction of unmoving in face of dangerous .
I don't know why but looking at her currently, I was able to smell the scent of gunpowder in the air, this Hall wasn't the safest place to be at currently, the Psions around her seemed to whisper this to me in the silence, yet the old butler stayed steady as before .
As the two siblings got out, she finally said what she wanted to say earlier, she said :
Now, what do you think of the family and this new policy of ours ? .
Suddenly the tensed atmosphere was back to normal and the Psions that were whispering of chaos, calmed down instantly as well, I was a bit surprised at this happening, I couldn't help but find her control over her Psion and her Mental Interference Zone seemed to be quite refined as well, her magical abilities and strength were top-notch .
But her question what really took me by surprise, I took a few seconds to consider everything that I saw happening here and after I finished gathering my thoughts, I said :
" If no one disagreed with them being implemented, or there were no one who was intent on creating troubles for this new policy, I could see this new policy do a very good job, but only if nothing from what I mentioned above was there to block the progress .
" I could see that the new Policy will work on mending the family and make it stronger than ever, while also keeping the loyalty and there might be a room to nurture it even more, if you asking about whether I was beginning to look at the family more favorably, I would be lying if I said no .
" But I would still like to wait and see for a bit more before I state my opinion on this, but I do have one question that I would appreciate you answering ? .
At my words, she seem to have already anticipated this result, but it was the question I wanted to ask her that took her by surprise, she squinted her eyes at me and had a faint smile that had no emotions in it, then said :
You have aroused my curiosity, ask away ? .
" What exactly were your intention in telling them that I was the person who influenced the change in the family, was it to make them alerted of me, or was there no intention at all ? .
If I were to say that there was no intention behind it, would you believe me ? .
We stared at each other in silent and even though my thoughts were in a complete contrast to my actions, I found myself still nodding at her, which took both me and her by surprise, after this awkward situation passed, she then shook her head and said :
Well, since you are honest enough with your actions, I see no problem in telling you this, I really don't have any intention in making you the next head of the family, don't take it in a wrong way .
The you currently in front of me is real and I do consider you as my son, but it was for that exact reason, I believe you should aim to become something more than a Yotsuba Family Head, don't you agree Hayama-san ?
After hearing her saying this, I couldn't help but look at her with a bit bewilderment, unable to grasp the hidden meaning behind her words, I couldn't even comprehend whether she was praising me or was she fooling me, I also couldn't help but wonder about the reaction of the other members of the family if they were to hear this .
I as per her words should be aiming for a higher position of power and influence, a thing that had never crossed my mind, I never dreamed about becoming a big shot in this world, even though the current me can certainly be considered as one .
But from her words, she seemed to be wishing for me to become more influential and more brilliant, but what exactly does she have in mind, I had no clue, but I had a feeling that not many people would be happy about this .
The most surprising thing for me, was her asking the old butler who was staying behind us in the background, what surprised me wasn't her asking his opinion, what surprised me was the old guy's reaction after she asked him this .
I hadn't known the old butler for long, but I had already understood that he was quite loyal to my mother and the Yotsuba Family, him being able to attend the meeting from the beginning to the end while even other members weren't allowed was already a proof of that, so I had no doubt that he was a trustworthy guy .
But a trustworthy guy shouldn't have that kind of an expression on his face at least not according to my knowledge, the old butler's eyes and expression become quite sharp and he looked at my mother with uncertainty, but with much alertness as well .
That old guy who I only recently got acquainted with shouldn't be reacting like that, but as if his change in expression wasn't enough, I heard him say :
You are playing quite a dangerous game Maya-sama, I still hope that you come out victorious .
As he said this, the darkened expression and the atmosphere around us began to lighten up and I turned to look at my mother and saw that she was genuinely smiling, I was familiar with that kind of smile .
She nodded her head and the old butler reacted instantly as if he was under a spell, he bowed his head and directly left the room though another door in the back leaving me completely baffled at what just took place here .
I wanted to ask her to clarify what just happened and why did he react like that and what exactly did she mean by what she said earlier, but just as I wanted to ask her, she took the initiative to change the subject and be the one to do the asking, she said :
I believe that the things that appeared on the shoulders of the Kuroba siblings had something to do with you, am I right in assuming that ? .
I seeing her shifting the subject already understood that she won't be willing to share what she had in mind with me, but her question took me by another surprise, I was about to refute her claim, but she continued to say :
Don't you dare lying to me, I had Tatsuya thoroughly check them earlier when you were in the dinning room .
Any thoughts of telling lies or even half-truths vanished from my mind, I felt betrayed by Tatsuya, before, I thought that he was just checking on us, but it seemed that she told him to spy on what we were doing, even though I felt that it was weird that something like this caught her interest, I still nodded my head and affirmed her assumption .
She suddenly smiled at me and said :
Great .
~Half an hour later ~
Phew, that was quite the headache, I had finally returned to my room after spending half an hour in customizing a pet for my mother, which ended up being A glimmering Black Bat whose looks were quite refined and had amethyst eyes, that was the final form she settled at .
Customizing this bat took a full 30 minutes and only after she got what she wanted and was finally satisfied with the results, only then did she let go of me and allowed me to leave .
I didn't even had the chance to discuss or ask about anything from here, she gave me her permission to go back and was the one who fled from the scene in a quite of a hurry, but after contemplating about her reaction after what I had said, right before she dismissed me I asked her about whether did she intended to go ahead and do what she told me she would .
Me healing the magic knots in her mind, but she seemed to still haven't decided whether to go ahead and do it or not, no it was more accurate to say that she was having second thoughts after I had shown her the drawn picture from earlier .
As for what exactly was she thinking regarding this whole situation, only she could know the answer to this question, but I was certain that the picture played a role in forcing this kind of development, she panicked and dismissed me, but she was even faster than me in leaving the area .
Seeing her lost of what to do expression, I couldn't bring myself to follow her, thinking that I might end up making the matter worse, so in the end, I settled on watching her go away and giving her some time to think about this through .
I returned to my room and surprisingly there wasn't anyone waiting for me outside the Hall, I thought for certain that Miyuki or even that guy Tatsuya will be there to ask me about what took place inside and what exactly did I talk to the family head about .
But fortunately there wasn't anyone there, I hopped into the bed and thought about how hectic today's was .