Chained to old wounds

CH26

Morgan

I shook my head. “You’re delusional.”

“You knew that Mizuki was a spendthrift and that her father was an idiot, and yet you stepped down anyway. You abandoned your duty as ahead of this family. Your father will be ashamed of

you.”

I glared at her. “How interesting you think that you can talk to me like that after bowing your head to this man, knowing that he was an idiot and his daughter was a spendthrift.”

She flushed and sputtered before slamming her hand on the desk. “Don’t try to turn this back on me. You were supposed to take over, so you need to step up and do what needs to be done! We can’t keep running this place on our own! You need to use your newfound…power…and shower us with money! Hire some people to run the shop so none of us have to work another day!” She glanced at the guard beside me. “He’s a good start.

I stared at her. This wasn’t the family reunion I’d envisioned, but I wasn’t surprised, really. Anger bubbled within me, threatening to boil over. She didn’t care that I could have died. She didn’t even care what trauma I might have had from the experience. All she cared about was her own continued survival. But before I could say a thing, Adele stepped forward.

“That’s enough,” she said, her voice firm but gentle. “Let’s give Morgan a chance to explain.”

“Explain? What’s there to explain? If I hadn’t stepped down, Mizuki would be dead, Goro would have killed me, and you’d still be poor. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but give it another five years with the way Goro spends money.”

I took a deep breath. “And don’t misunderstand. I’m not here to save you by bailing you out. I’m here to make you work for it. The Ryuyama Silks and Tailoring shop has been operational and self–sustaining for generations, and it will return to that state.”

She sputtered, “How selfish of you! You show up here in your fancy new clothes with your bodyguard and tell us to work. Why do we have to work when you don’t? You’re just going to go off and live as a fairy tale dragon queen and leave us here? That’s not what your father would

have done?”

“My father also let himself be killed by his brother. Should I follow in those footsteps, too?” Goro and Adele paled. My aunt flushed.

“Why are you bringing up something like that?”

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CH26

I narrowed my eyes. “So you knew the plan. What did Goro promise you?”

A tense silence followed, and I scoffed. “Nothing he can pay you, obviously.”

My aunt’s face scrunched up.

Adele stepped forward. “Your father-

“Don’t you speak of him,” I said coldly. “I’m not here because of you or him or her; I’m here because of Hiro. My original plan to turn the family over to him when he’s of age still stands, even more so now that I have more responsibilities to deal with, but I will not turn it over in the state that it’s in right now. It’s going to be profitable before he has to ever worry about it.”

“Profitable?” my aunt scoffed. “The whole neighborhood’s buzzing about your new title and what it will mean. The shop’s been empty for weeks! Chen’s shop has taken all of our customers

because of cashflow issues!”

“Chen, hm? How’d that happen? You all stopped sewing?” Adjust your to the bolts of fabric on the walls. “All of this merchandise could have been moved. What happened? It’s been more than at

few weeks since Dad’s death. Bereavement time is over, especially for a bunch of snakes.”

I crossed the room to the table and grabbed a sheet of paper. In a flurry of movement, I sketched out a design – a comfortable undergarment that offered support and structure without the need

for restrictive bras or binding. It was a version of the structured slip I was wearing now with a little tweaking.

“Call whoever you have to, but you’re going to get them in here and make clothes the way you should have been doing for the last couple of weeks. And you’re going to add this to the catalog. I slid the page across the table to the aunt. She sneered at it. “We’ll call it a structured slip. Comfortable, supportive, and set to replace most women’s underwear. Expand the style into something more seductive if you want.”

Goro leaned closer, squinting at the page. “This design… it looks familiar,” he mused. “We own

this design in the family books.”

A wide grin split my face. “Really?”

Some heir,” my aunt huffed.

Goro nodded. “We do… It was discontinued for reasons, but it wouldn’t be hard to recreate it now, probably.”

Good. And with the return of the Dragon King, what better time to bring it back?”

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CH26

A collective gasp filled the room. They all looked at me with wide eyes.

“That’s… Is it really going to happen?”

I nodded. “We use my position to push it as a symbol of tradition and a new era. The Imperial family is already loaning us money to deal with the cash flow issue-”

“You-”

“And you will be

work.”

“I don’t-”

ng my husband back for his generosity,” I said, glaring at them. “Get to

I whirled on my aunt, whose arms were crossed and lips pursed in a disapproving line.

“I’m giving you one chance,” I said, my voice calm but firm, “are you in or out? This is a family business, and we need everyone on board. If you’re not willing to contribute, perhaps it’s time you considered living with your husband’s family.”

The threat hung heavy in the air. She turned a shade of purple, and for a moment, I thought she might explode. But then, with a huff’and a muttered curse, she threw her hands up in defeat.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “But don’t expect me to like it, selfish bitch.”

I smiled. “Thank you. Get to work.”

I clapped her on the back a little too hard, eliciting a surprised yelp from her.

“Head of the family orders, or would you prefer Imperial orders?” I leaned close. “You slack off, and I’ll have you and your little family packed and shipped to his family’s little farm in an hour.”

paway!

She

1. me. The shop crackled with a newfound energy. Goro kept his eyes averted. Adele pulled bolts of fabric, staying away me and my aunt went to the back to yell at whoever was back there to get to work.

The guard looked amused.

“What?”

“You just

from

He shook his head. remind me of the late queen. It’s refreshing.”

I took a seat, trying not to think of all the days of drawing alongside my as I sketched out variations of the structure slip design, each one more daring than the last. I paused on one that

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CH26

made me think of Tsuneo. I wondered if I wore something like this, how would he look at me? I

could se

it in my mind’s eye, the hungry look in his eyes, and my stomach jolted, and I kept

moving on.

My circumstances aside, every wife probably, on some level, wanted their husband to look at them. like that. Maybe that would be another element to help market it.

Just as I sat back to start making tweaking notes on fit and color, the shop door burst open with at bang. A family figure clad in a shimmering blue dress stormed in, wailing like a banshee.

“Papa!” Mizuki shrieked. “They won’t let me shop anymore! They said I have to pay for things. upfront now!”