Chapter 267: Yoshinon, Kurumi Tokisaki's Unease
Watching Franklin leave, Yoshinon instantly let out a sigh of relief. But at the same time, a faint sense of unease welled up in her heart.
Having relied on Franklin for so long, Yoshinon had always harbored her own small thoughts.
Although Yoshino depended on and liked Franklin very much, in Yoshinon's own heart there had always been a trace of wariness and resistance toward him.
She wanted to rely on Franklin to change the fact of her mother's death in the past, but this was a request she could never bring herself to voice.
During this period of getting along, not only had she failed to provide Franklin with any help, she had instead been continuously using him as shelter to protect herself and Yoshino.
This made her feelings toward Franklin incredibly complicated.
She wanted to let go of everything, to rely on Franklin, to help him—but the sense of guilt from using him left her unable to face her own heart.
Until now, Yoshinon realized that she still harbored the thought of offering her own body in exchange for Franklin changing the past and preventing her mother's death.
But every time such a thought arose, there was always a voice in her heart telling her that if she truly did that, the relationship between her and Franklin would never be able to return to the way it was now.
Gently shaking her head, Yoshinon quietly lay back down beside Yoshino. Her heart could not calm down.
Walking outside, Franklin rubbed his chin in thought. From the very beginning—when Yoshinon had only been sealed after a forced kiss—to her instinctive resistance toward him just now, Franklin understood that Yoshinon's affection for him was false.
It was a kind of disguise.
As for why she was doing this, Franklin couldn't think of it, nor could he guess it. He could only rely on time to slowly change everything.
Going downstairs and opening the living room door, Franklin's hand twitched violently.
When he had expanded his domain earlier, he hadn't covered a very large range—he hadn't even noticed Kurumi sitting in the living room.
"Why are you here? Don't tell me you've thought it through and decided to skip all the steps and directly join the Spirit harem family I'm building."
Facing Franklin's teasing, Kurumi—dressed in a black one-piece dress—revealed a faint smile.
"Not a bad idea. I just wonder whether Mr. Franklin can actually conquer me…"
Looking at Kurumi's smile, tinged with a hint of seduction, Franklin recalled the thought he had earlier that morning.
Perhaps he had found a bug for rapidly increasing his cultivation.
Kurumi's hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of clones were all real and possessed physical bodies.
As long as he conquered Kurumi's main body, any clones she created afterward would automatically have full affection toward him.
Sensing Franklin's evaluating gaze, Kurumi shuddered subconsciously. Her expression instantly darkened, and her entire aura became far more dangerous.
"Mr. Franklin, please don't indulge in lewd fantasies about me in your head. It makes me very uncomfortable."
Hearing this, Franklin instantly snapped out of his imagination.
"Sorry, that wasn't my intention… I was just—"
"Just what?"
Seeing the dangerous smile on Kurumi's face, Franklin hurriedly shook his head.
"Ahem. I can guarantee that I absolutely wasn't imagining anything bad about you just now. Absolutely not."
Seeing how serious Franklin looked, Kurumi let out a light breath and withdrew her dangerous smile. The tense, confrontational atmosphere quickly dissipated.
"Mr. Franklin, your behavior just now was extremely vulgar. The little bit of goodwill I had left toward you has already vanished for the most part.
I sincerely hope you won't do anything again that would make a lady feel deeply disgusted. Otherwise, I will never like you for the rest of my life."
Watching Kurumi sit back down on the sofa and close her eyes to rest, Franklin felt extremely awkward. He scratched his head, then tossed all those thoughts aside.
With a snap of his fingers, a pot of black tea appeared on the coffee table.
"My apologies. Consider this an apology for my earlier inappropriate behavior."
With that, Franklin didn't explain further. He stretched lazily and walked into the kitchen, unhurriedly preparing breakfast.
Although snapping his fingers could solve everything, at this moment, Franklin wanted to enjoy a simple life guided by his own hands.
"Oh right, Kurumi. You still haven't said why you came to our house. Don't tell me you're really planning to move in?"
Taking a light sip of Franklin's specially prepared black tea, Kurumi's cheeks grew noticeably rosier from the rich spiritual energy it contained.
"I've already transferred into Raizen High School. As for the class—it's second year, Class Four.
As for why I'm here now, of course it's to fulfill our promise and try to like Mr. Franklin.
Don't tell me Mr. Franklin doesn't welcome my arrival? If that's the case, then I can only live under a bridge, in abandoned buildings, or perhaps in an empty hotel.
If Mr. Franklin is at ease with it, I can stay in places like those."
Franklin waved his hand casually.
"No need to say things like that. I'll arrange everything for you. Since the deal was proposed by me, your food, clothing, housing, and safety will all be guaranteed by me.
As for the room, it's already been prepared for you. It's on the third floor. You'll see it when you go up—your name is on the door."
Hearing this, Kurumi froze for a moment, but quickly recovered.
"If Mr. Franklin says so, then I'll go take a look. If I don't like it, I'll have to trouble you to redo it for me."
After seeing Franklin nod, Kurumi finished the tea in her cup in one gulp and turned to leave the living room.
"The third floor, huh…"
Murmuring to herself, Kurumi went upstairs with a trace of curiosity. Passing the second floor, she saw the rooms of the five girls.
Each door bore a bright, sunny smile and a beautiful name. This made her even more curious about her own room.
"The third floor…"
Seeing the door directly facing the stairway, with Franklin's name hanging on it, and noticing that it was slightly ajar, Kurumi wanted to suppress her curiosity.
But in the end, she couldn't resist glancing inside.
Seeing the five girls lying on the large bed, Kurumi's expression shifted slightly.
"What a pervert… Mr. Franklin… So this really was your plan…"
Kurumi pressed a hand to her chest, forcibly suppressing her rapidly beating heart.
Glancing to the sides, she instantly located her own room.
Seeing the doorplate bearing her image from when her eyes were still normal—paired with a bright smile—Kurumi felt momentarily dazed.
As the door slowly opened, Kurumi froze completely in place.
Her expression gradually darkened, then returned to normal, then became strange once more.
She gently closed the door, leapt directly down from the third-floor stairway, and her black dress transformed into her Spiritual Dress midair.
She strode straight into the living room, kicked the door open, and pointed both guns at Franklin.
"Mr. Franklin, just who are you exactly? Why are you able to perfectly recreate my bedroom from my old home?"