Ignoring Kato Yusuke's shocked reaction, Nakano Yukihira said calmly:
"In fact, I have talked to Ryoko about you since she had not graduated from high school.
Although your background is not very good, fortunately, you are quite up to par, with excellent grades and good athletic ability.
In addition, you have a handsome face, which barely meets our family's standards and can be considered as a candidate to be Ryoko's husband.
Since the topic has reached this point, I might as well ask you directly——"
Nakano Yukihira looked at him with burning eyes and asked: "Kato-kun, are you willing to join our family and marry Ryoko?"
As these words blurted out, it was as if even the air was vibrating slightly. Kato Yusuke's scalp tightened, and he suddenly felt a pressure on his body.
He suddenly lost his previous calmness, forced a smile and twitched the corner of his mouth, and said: "...Chairman, you are joking. The relationship between senior Nakano and me is just a simple senior and junior relationship. You must have misunderstood something."
"--ha."
Nakano Yukihira sneered.
"Listen up, Kato-kun, maybe you will think that I am an overbearing and unreasonable father, but I am definitely not blind. I know very well whether Ryoko has a good impression of you or not.
Not to mention that she rarely uses her family connections to help people solve problems, and it is unprecedented for her to stay at a boy's house. It's not like she doesn't have other friends, so why would she ask you for help? "
Kato Yusuke was a little stuck when asked, and then defended without confidence:
"...That's because you put pressure on Nakano-senpai. Everyone was worried about your existence and didn't dare to help her, so she came to me."
"Oh——? So you are saying that my daughter is the kind of person who is so ignorant that she would easily live in the house of the opposite sex and even go to festivals with her?"
"That's not the case! It's just-"
Kato Yusuke instinctively wanted to argue, but halfway through his speech, he found that he could not think of anything powerful to say, so he shut his mouth tightly.
Nakano Yukihira continued indifferently:
"It is precisely because of Liangzi's different attitude towards you that I choose to turn a blind eye to many things. Otherwise, how could you use our family's resources so easily?
To take a step back, even if Liangzi doesn’t like you, at least she doesn’t hate you, and that’s enough for me. So——”
Nakano Yukihei paused deliberately here, and then asked loudly:
"Kato-kun, become our son-in-law and marry Ryoko. I will raise you as a stepson, and the entire Nakano family will be yours from now on. What do you think?"
"--ah??"
Kato Yusuke was immediately confused and couldn't help blurting out: "This can't work, I already have a girlfriend."
"Oh, you're talking about the little girls around you, right?" Nakano Yukihira raised the corner of his mouth intriguingly, seemingly not surprised.
"If I remember correctly, there are four people in there who are classmates with you, one is your former teacher, one is your business partner, and one is a college student who helps you run the association?"
Kato Yusuke's pupils shrank slightly, and he felt as if he had been stripped naked in front of the other party. There was no secret at all!
He tugged at the collar of his shirt uncomfortably and asked in a low voice: "...Since you know everything, why do you keep talking about those unrealistic empty words?"
"Empty words?" Nakano Yukihei narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, "What if I said that even if you marry Ryoko, you don't have to break up with those little girls?"
"---What……?"
Kato Yusuke opened his eyes in astonishment, and even couldn't help but doubt his ears.
"You seem surprised." Nakano Yukihira laughed.
"Of course, although I tacitly agree that you will not break up with other people, your legal wife can only be Liangzi forever. As for your lovers, you can do whatever you want with them.
I have only one request, and that is to give birth to an heir with Ryoko as soon as possible, and then your son will be the legitimate heir of the Nakano family."
"——!!??"
Although Kato Yusuke prides himself on having a strong psychological quality, when he heard such shocking remarks, his mind went blank and he was stunned for a long time without reacting.
His lips pursed, and he wanted to ask Nakano Yukihei if he was joking, but he closed them automatically when his eyes met.
The other party's eyes were rigid and serious, with no hint of joking in them, only some indescribable paranoia and enthusiasm.
The pressure in his eyes made him lower his head slightly, and his mind was in turmoil.
As if he had spotted this opportunity, Nakano Yukihira further followed the instructions:
"As far as I know, the relationship between the opposite sexes around you doesn't seem to be that harmonious, right?
Especially the little girl from the Spencer family, her mother is not an easy person to deal with. It is impossible for her to let you be ambiguous with other people after you marry her daughter.
And as long as you marry Liangzi, our family can help you suppress all the discordant voices. The only price you have to pay is some insignificant freedom, which is almost nothing compared to what you get. You said
Really? Kato-kun."
"..."
Kato Yusuke's eyelids trembled slightly, and he asked in a hoarse voice: "...Can I ask why this person is me?"
Nakano Yukihira smiled slightly and answered frankly.
"It's not why it's you, it just happens to be you. To be honest, I don't care who Ryoko's husband is, as long as that person is beneficial to the Nakano family, in fact, it doesn't matter who it is, you just happened to meet it."
Kato Yusuke slowly raised his head, "...In other words, you never intend to consider Nakano-senpai's thoughts."
"You are still insisting on that boring statement." Nakano Yukihira said contemptuously: "Listen up, Kato-kun, Ryoko doesn't need what you said. The will of this family is her will, it's that simple."
At this point, Kato Yusuke finally understood that the person in front of him was exactly that kind of feudal aristocrat. To this day, he still follows the old-era concept of elders being superior to the younger and being completely unable to communicate with him.
So he stopped trying to persuade and chose to be more direct, "Sorry, I can't agree with your approach, so I have to reject you."
Nakano Yukihira's face darkened slightly, and he asked in a low voice:
"Do you understand what you are talking about? This matter will do almost no harm to you! It can even save you from struggling for decades in your life. Don't you know how to flatter me!"
Kato Yusuke nodded and did not deny this objective fact.
He is not a fool, and of course he understands how deep the energy and heritage of a family with a long heritage are. Once you can marry into such a family, glory and wealth will be at your fingertips.
However, he resented the feeling of being controlled by others and could not get over the hurdle in his heart. If he just agreed like this, some of his bottom lines as a human being would be irreversible.
Kato Yusuke pretended to shrug and said to Nakano Yukihira:
"Perhaps what you said is right, but unfortunately I have a surly personality and don't like to do things that make my thoughts unclear, so I can only refuse your kindness.
What's more, even if you allow this marriage, what about Nakano-senpai's will? To me, her thoughts are far more important than yours."
Upon hearing this, Nakano Yukihira's face suddenly turned gloomy, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"I originally thought you were a smart person, but it turned out to be nothing more than that. It's really disappointing. In this case, no matter who Liangzi marries in the future, you have no right to interfere."
"No, that won't work either."
"Um--??"
"Sorry, I can't agree to your request. Nakano-senpai can't get married yet." Kato Yusuke shook his head and said.
As soon as his voice fell, the room became silent for an instant, as if even the sound of a pin dropping on the ground could be clearly heard.
Nakano Yukihira was stunned for a moment, then a hint of anger gradually appeared in his eyes, and he stared at him without saying a word, as if thinking about how dare he dare to be so arrogant.
That posture was extremely oppressive, like a volcano that was about to erupt in the next second, filled with monstrous rage, which made people feel intimidated.
However, Kato Yusuke could not give in.
Once he chooses to surrender here, Nakano Ryoko's future may be decided in this way.
So he took a deep breath, carefully raised three fingers, and said as if he was swearing:
"Three years, please give me another three years. I promise that Nakano-senpai will achieve satisfactory results in her career.
She is only 18 years old now, so she should not decide the rest of her long life like this, and please don't stifle her possibilities."
"...What did you say?" Nakano Yukihira couldn't help being slightly stunned.
Kato Yusuke continued:
"Nakano-senpai was the object of countless people's admiration when she was in high school. Not only did she have excellent grades and excel in sports, she was also very intelligent in how she dealt with people. She was recognized as an outstanding representative by everyone.
I want to say that your daughter has just entered college now. It will be at least three years before she graduates and enters the society. Please have more confidence in her and don’t limit her here. Please——”
After speaking, he lowered his head deeply, bowed solemnly to Nakano Yukihira, and silently waited for a response.
From an angle that he couldn't see, Nakano Yukihira blinked slightly in surprise, looking at him up and down, with a strange look in his eyes.
"...You mean, you want me to postpone Liangzi's marriage for three years? So that she can develop her career during this period?"
Kato Yusuke nodded, "Yes."
Nakano Yukihira said calmly: "Let's not talk about why I agree to you. What qualifications do you have to make such a request to me?"
Kato Yusuke shook his head, "This is not a request, but a request."
"Request..." Nakano Yukihira chewed his words and asked thoughtfully: "Since it is a request, what price are you going to pay?"
Kato Yusuke was silent for a moment, "...if Nakano-senpai's development in three years' time is not as good as your expectation, I am willing to take responsibility for it."
"Oh??" Nakano Yukihira's eyes flashed, "Are you serious about this——?"
Kato Yusuke slowly straightened up, "If I go back on my word, you can punish me in various ways. This must not be difficult for you."
Nakano Yukihira stared into his eyes intently, his sharp gaze as if he was observing whether his words came from his heart.
Kato Yusuke did not choose to escape, but looked at him with all his strength, hoping to show his determination and strive to win the slightest chance.
The two stared at each other in silence, and in a daze, the air around them became heavy and oppressive, making people breathless.
It wasn't until an unknown amount of time passed that Nakano Yukihira said calmly:
"Three years is too long, I will only give you one year. If Liangzi fails to achieve results that satisfy me by then, you will have to take responsibility, marry Liangzi into our family. Are you willing to accept it?"
"One year..." Yusuke Kato muttered and pursed his lips, hesitating for a moment.
No matter how confident he was, he would not dare to brag so easily that Ryoko Nakano could achieve dazzling results within one year.
However, this seems to be the other party's final bottom line. If he does not agree, it means that he has completely lost the qualification to intervene in this matter.
Kato Yusuke suddenly gritted his teeth when he thought of this, and said bravely:
"Okay, just one year! But you must promise not to cause any trouble to us, and you must give senior Nakano enough freedom during this period and not interfere with any of her decisions."
Nakano Yukihira looked at him deeply, and finally nodded slowly and condescendingly, "Okay, I hope you will remember what you said today. I agree to this request."
Kato Yusuke's tense nerves relaxed slightly, and he was about to say something when he found an uncomfortable sticky feeling on his back. It turned out that he had broken out in a cold sweat without even realizing it.
He didn't want to show his timidity in front of Nakano Yukihei, so he bowed quietly to thank him.
"Thank you for your understanding. I still need to tell Nakano-senpai about this news, so I will take my leave now."
Nakano Yukihira didn't hold back, and quickly called his servants to guide him. As he was about to leave, he suddenly asked -
"Kato-kun, what kind of existence does Ryoko look like in your mind?"
Kato Yusuke paused and was silent for a moment.
"I have always felt that Nakano-senpai is an outstanding person. She seems not to have noticed her noble and beautiful side. I just want to show it carefully and let her know."
Nakano Yukihira made no comment and listened to his footsteps fading away.
…
Sorry, I originally said that I wanted to update stably, but it turned out that I was really busy. Sorry...