"Ah, that. I was not insulting you. Rather, I was giving Aneko her last gift. As much as I dislike humans, you seemed to be her type." She shrugged uncaringly.

"What are you talking about?" Mel voices the question that immediately crossed your mind.

"Well, simply that Aneko should've been the one to have children with a Savant. She was poised to become one of the greatest merchants in Centria." Sumiko said. "The Mitsubishi clan needed a Savant so they would be cemented in history. Despite this logic, I will have always disapproved of adding a human into our family. Better a mermaid than a human." She scoffs. "But it seems like my Master considered you worthy, Savant, to at least grant you this useless daughter of mine."

"I mean no disrespect towards you, mother, but you're wrong." Ayane said with confidence.

"Oho? You think so little of your niece to-"

"You know what I mean." Ayane continued. "If there is one thing I've learnt from my Master here, it's that I deserve to be happy. I deserve to feel love. And, if my Master wills it, I shall have children with him as well." She had a fierce confidence in her eyes. "I will always be by his side; my Master is worthy of your respect, and I deserve to be in love."

"Hmm." Sumiko looked at Ayane as though she was seeing her for the first time in her life. "Perhaps I was mistaken about you... could your teenage bluster truly have been strength all this time?"

"You still didn't answer my question." You said.

"Red chrysanthemums are a symbol of love." Sumiko quickly explained. "And, in a way, you were right to say this was a test. But if you passed or failed, that is not for me to say."

"Alright," You take a breath, "How the fuck was I supposed to know about what flowers mean?"

"It's hanakotoba." Sumiko says. You almost glare at her. "Don't look at me like that, you only have yourself to blame! We kitsune did nothing wrong, but you filthy huma-" Ayane interrupts her with a cough. "Hmm. Very well. I suppose I was slightly unfair by my part. But don't think I'm doing this because I wanted to disrespect you," She repeats, "No, I merely wanted to see if you would've wanted to be with my dead granddaughter instead of my daughter."

You honestly didn't know if that was worse of not.

"Not like I wanted a human to be my grandson, you d-dummy!" Sumiko exclaims. You're taken a little off guard, but then realize this must be where Ayane and Aneko apparently got their 'tsundere' thing from.

"Master," Rose whispers to you, "Shall I call the other three?"

"No, not yet." You returned Ruby's whisper with one of your own.

"Master," Mel followed up with what Ruby said, "I can set up a few traps to make sure she doesn't try anything funny."

"Just don't let your guard down and be ready for any attack." You said.

Herta was still miffed.

Meanwhile the ghost granny was talking to Ayane again. "If you had only been as ruthless as I was, you might've had Eisho and none of this would've happened."