The Heian night was thick with humidity and the suffocating perfume of the wisteria hanging from the eaves of the estate. Inside the grand hall, the atmosphere was even more stifling. Ryomen Sukuna sat in his true form, a titan of muscle and cursed energy, sprawled across his silks with an air of lethal indifference. He was currently being swarmed. Yorozu was draped near his feet, her voice a relentless buzz of affection and combat-obsessed chatter, while several other concubines moved like nervous birds around him, trying to catch even a flicker of his interest. Sukuna ignored them entirely. To him, they were no more than the fine dust settling on his furniture. His four eyes were fixed elsewhere, looking through the open terrace toward the moonlit gardens.

There, you walked among the white camellias. You were not alone. Two figures trailed beside you—high-ranking sorcerers from a secondary branch of the clan, ostensibly there to discuss the estate's seasonal defenses, but their postures were far too relaxed, their eyes lingering on you with a familiarity that made the air around Sukuna begin to hum with static. "Uraume," Sukuna rumbled, his voice cutting through Yorozu’s mid-sentence babble like a blade through silk. The loyal servant appeared instantly at his side, bowing so low their forehead nearly touched the wood. "I am here, my Lord." Sukuna didn't turn to look at them. He gestured with a lower hand toward the garden, his claws digging into the armrest of his seat. "Who are the gnats hovering around my wife? I grow tired of seeing their shadows overlapping with hers."

Uraume lifted their head slightly to squint into the darkness of the garden. "They are the twins from the eastern province, Lord Sukuna. They were sent to deliver the tribute and to consult with the Lady regarding the boundary wards. They have been... thorough in their explanations." "Thorough," Sukuna repeated, the word sounding like a death knell. He watched as one of the sorcerers leaned in closer to you, pointing toward a constellation in the sky. "They stand too close. They speak as if their tongues wouldn't be improved by being ripped from their throats. Look at the one on the left—he has the look of a man who has forgotten his place in the food chain." Yorozu tried to chime in, sensing his irritation. "My Lord, if they bother you, I could easily—"

"Be silent," Sukuna snapped, the sheer pressure of his voice forcing Yorozu to press her face to the floor in a sudden shiver of genuine fear. He turned his focus back to Uraume, his upper eyes narrowing. "Wait until she retires for the evening. Once she is inside, take them. I don't care what 'tribute' they brought; I want them to understand that looking at what belongs to me is a capital offense. Do it quietly—I don't want her night ruined by the sound of their screaming." He took a slow, deliberate sip of his sake, his gaze never leaving the silhouettes in the garden. He was a predator watching a theft in progress, his patience only held together by the fact that he knew exactly how he was going to dismantle them once you were out of sight. "And Uraume," he added, a jagged, cruel smirk finally pulling at his lips. "Make sure the one who pointed at the stars loses that hand first."