Exchange

"Austin Kiryu will be held up for three days. You're going to have to put up with me."

Lila's eyes twitched, annoyed. "You strolled in here all nonchalantly. But where have you been this whole time?"

"Unlike your carefree family, I have been working." Soichiro picked up the briefcase and took out an emerald-colored bar. "What do you think this is?"

"Um, colored gold?"

"Right, right now, there are multiple trees that are dropping different colored gold bars everywhere. What use is there having gold when the world is in this state? At first, people just ignored it. But, now there are land mines of gold."

"I can't think of how this is related at all."

"Your so stupid."

"Did you come here to insult me-" Soichiro didn't let Lila finish her sentence since he pushed her down onto the bed?

Ever since he entered the room, he has been restraining himself. The girl did not wear anything, particularly revealing. But there was something about her weak and fragile appearance that triggered something inside him.

He did not get a chance to hover over her for long since her eyes flashed red. In the next second, he was the one pinned down; heavy and hungry lips were on his neck in a matter of seconds.

She truly is troublesome to deal with.

"Your that hungry, dear? Don't tell me you haven't been drinking blood."

The girl's silence proved his point. Or rather, his gaze drifted to the bedside table to see familiar tablets. She must be crazy; even though Austin Kiryu is right by her side, she didn't drink from him even once?

According to the reports he received from the people he planted around her, they all informed him that 'Miss Lila made it clear who her beloved person was.' She made a stupid announcement to draw the line between Austin Kiryu and her.

She truly is a fool. Does she think her deep feelings for him will vanish if she does something like that? But who is he kidding? This girl is truly serious about it this time. Why does he have to keep reminding her? It is not like this will benefit him either?

Soichiro exhaled deeply. Whenever it comes to this girl, his thoughts end up a mess. How many people have advised him that getting involved with Terashima Lila was a bad idea? So many, even more after the state of the world ended up this way.

But he never listened to their complaints. It doesn't matter what type of person she is. For him, she has always been the only woman in his heart.

'At first, I persuaded myself that I only wanted her body and not her heart. That was why I was so cruel to her.' By the time he changed his mind and realized that he wanted her heart too, she already belonged to another man.

Lila kept drinking, and the smell of blood filled the air. He gently caressed her hair, and she paused for a moment.

"Soichiro, what about Yori? You don't like her."

"Crazy woman, don't you already know who I like?"

"I like Haruka. I love Haruka."

This girl wants to continue irritating him. Soichiro sighed. "Keep drinking. I know you need more."

"Mmm."

If he listens to her talk about Haruka and her feelings for him, he gets angrier.

'I don't understand why I get so angry when it comes to that man. Austin Kiryu did irritate me, but Karashima Haruka took his anger to another level.'

Is it because he can tell? He can tell that Lila's feelings for Karashima Haruka are stronger than the ones she has for Austin Kiryu? After a long three hours, Lila pulled away from him.

She wiped her lips and looked down, ashamed.

"You haven't eaten yet. I will tell them to send the food here."

"I can walk."

At those words, Lila stood up and walked towards the door. Soichiro silently followed behind her. The hallways were quiet, indicating that people were sleeping. Even though half the people who reside in this building are hangouts, it appears as though they are adjusting to the human lifestyle.

His gaze fell on Lila, who was walking a few steps ahead of him.

"Are you finally going to tell me why you suddenly decided to cut Austin Kiryu off like that?"

Surprisingly, this girl sent him a message about it, so even if his spies did not report it to him, the news would have reached him. Soichiro didn't know why she told him. Perhaps she got into the habit of reporting everything back to him.

Whatever it was, he wanted to hear the answer directly from her.

"Mmm, alright, I will tell you."

This brat, what is with that tone? She is making it sound like he ought to be grateful for her to release that news.

"Soichiro, you probably know the most about me, even more than Kiryu and Haruka does. You were the one who saved me from that forest after all."

Right, it was something people did not know. But the reason he started to help Terashima Lila out and provided her with everything was that encounter. He found a small child in the forest running away from monsters.

At first, he decided to just watch and see what she would leave behind. But he changed his mind once he recognized who she was, a pureblood hanyou female, Terashima Sumire's daughter. Since he also belonged to the hanyou circle, it was not like he did not know who she was.

Her fragile appearance and the power she demonstrated a second later intrigued him.

'I saved you, so now you owe me.'

A few days after she got discharged from the hospital, it took the silly thing to remember the promise. He almost walked up to the Terashima family mansion and dragged her out himself.

'I don't like to owe people favors; what do you want from me?'

He recalled clearly how fierce her gaze was when she came to his home that day. His boring days will no longer be dull; what an interesting little girl.

Terashima Lila proved to be the kind of girl he needed by his side. She was strong, not as strong as her mother but strong enough to keep up with him when he went on dangerous jobs. She was true to her word and even shielded him from harm several times.

He needed a weapon, and she needed to get stronger.

Their exchange was fairly simple, despite those odd rumors about them. Their relationship was only master and subordinate. When he finally started to see her as a woman, he thought he only wanted to sleep with her.

"You saved me from that hell and because we saw each other frequently. I told you a lot of things I hadn't told other people. I needed somebody to talk to, somebody who wasn't involved with my mother. You fit the requirement at the time."

He clenched his fist at her words. Is she trying to draw the line between them too?

Soichiro grabbed hold of her wrist and pushed her against the wall. "Do you think I won't do anything? Don't mess with me."