Oda felt uncomfortable.
Very uncomfortable.
"Young Master Naoya, do I... do I really have to go there dressed like this...?"
The middle-aged man tugged at his tight collar. The fabric was absurdly fine and the tailoring flawless, but it was so constricting he could barely breathe.
This kimono, clearly worth a fortune at a glance, was sothing Naoya Zenin had casually pulled out of the wardrobe. The silk was top-grade, gleaming with a cold sheen under the light. But on a servant like him, soone who had spent years doing rough labor, it only made his sun-darkened, coarse skin stand out even more, making him look stiff and painfully out of place.
More importantly, there was the crest on the garnt.
It was the Zenin Clan crest.
A symbol of status reserved only for mbers of the main family.
A distant clansman like Oda, a servant fit only to do odd jobs in the Kukuru Unit, was never worthy of bearing the Zenin Clan crest.
In the entire clan's history, only a tiny handful of servants had ever received such an honor, the right to wear such a symbol of glory.
How could soone like him possibly deserve it?
"What else would you wear?"
Hearing the impatience in his young master's voice, Oda didn't dare say another word.
With both hands on the steering wheel, he lowered his head and looked at his feet. White tabi wrapped around his broad feet, and on them were lacquered gold zori, made from expensive materials and decorated with intricate patterns. They cost more than three months of his wages.
As the saying goes, clothes make the man.
But Oda couldn't help thinking that for a lowborn nobody like him, even the finest and most elegant clothes couldn't hide the bumpkin air about him.
He quietly sneaked a glance at Naoya Zenin in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
The young master sat there expressionless, resting his chin on one hand as he looked out at the scenery beyond the window. Tall and lean, with a face as dazzling as a gemstone, he wore perfectly tailored formalwear and radiated a noble air that allowed not the slightest flaw.
Yes, that was what soone truly born to the upper class looked like.
That face had a deadly charm for children and adults alike.
There were plenty of handso n in the world, but soone with Naoya Zenin's particular kind of presence was exceedingly rare.
After all, that cold appearance paired with his distinct aristocratic bearing made him utterly unique in all of Kyoto.
"B-but, Young Master, didn't you say just a few days ago that from now on I should turn down these aristocratic parties for you whenever possible...?"
Oda genuinely felt overwheld.
He really wasn't making things up.
Naoya Zenin really had told him in private that if any more invitations to banquets or parties ca in, he could reject all of them outright.
So what the hell was going on today?!
It was one thing for his master to say one thing and do another. He was his boss, after all.
But why was Young Master Naoya making him co along to an aristocratic party too?!
Since the day he started serving him, not once had this man ever allowed him to attend a gathering of this level!
He was just an unremarkable lackey. How was he supposed to show his face at a place packed with the powerful and the elite?!
This was the Imperial Palace, for heaven's sake!
If you grabbed a brick and threw it into that crowd, the entire jujutsu world would be crippled for a while!
"What? Are you saying I don't keep my word?"
"I-I would never think such a thing! I was just... worried about my nephew at ho. I still haven't told him I won't be back for dinner..."
Catching the displeasure in Naoya Zenin's tone, Oda imdiately started trembling all over and hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away his sweat.
"........."
Naoya Zenin shot Oda a speechless look.
Watching the middle-aged man lower his head, squirm awkwardly, and fuss with his clothes, watching the faint blush spread across that dark face, the transmigrator suddenly felt like he was about to lose it.
What is with this overwhelming sense of embarrassnt?!
Who does he think he is, so Cinderella in the middle of a glamorous makeover?!
Sooner or later, I'm absolutely going to kick this middle-aged man out and replace him with an attractive young girl as my assistant!
That said, Oda really was capable.
After all, he was the only personal secretary by Naoya Zenin's side. That ant all the Zenin Clan's miscellaneous affairs, along with Naoya Zenin's personal business, were basically handled by this one middle-aged man alone.
He had managed to work under that bastard Naoya Zenin for this long, after all.
If he weren't competent, that cold-blooded, heartless scumbag would have kicked him out ages ago.
Still, if possible, he'd rather hand this position over to Mai Zenin in the future.
That way, he could keep a constant eye on Mai Zenin and stop her from suddenly dying and triggering Maki Zenin's awakening, while also laying down the law for that scumbag father of theirs, Ogi Zenin, and making him give up on killing his daughter as soon as possible.
"Rember this. Don't talk nonsense later. If you can keep your mouth shut, then keep it shut."
Even though he knew Oda probably wouldn't make any mistakes, Naoya Zenin still warned him out of nowhere.
The party he was attending tonight was no ordinary one.
It was being held at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, the very core of upper-class society, filled with princes, nobles, and aristocrats beyond counting.
If Oda made a major blunder in a place like that, then even as the heir of one of the Three Great Families, Naoya would have a hard ti protecting soone as powerless and insignificant as him.
The reason Naoya Zenin had suddenly decided to attend tonight's aristocratic gala was actually very simple.
He needed to find a partner.
Kenjaku wasn't an enemy he could deal with on his own. The best option was to find soone at tonight's charity gala who could handle Kenjaku and leak information about him in advance.
[Jujutsu Headquarters] was naturally not an option.
Kenjaku had already infiltrated the upper ranks of the jujutsu world long ago. That place was full of his spies. And those old fossils were all useless blowhards anyway. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been slaughtered outright the mont Satoru Gojo was unsealed.
So the only candidate left was actually obvious.
Another Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, the one who got ahead of the curve and developed the Digital Stream "Violent Death" series first, only to have her waist-slashing payoff stolen by Gojo.
Yuki Tsukumo!!!
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