The grand opening ended with a lot of praise for Elements. But Akira did not care or even check the drama happening online. After bidding the guests goodbye, she cooked for her staff with some help from Hina and Benji to mark the beginning of the new era.

The only unusual occurrence was the delivery of a large box addressed to her at the restaurant just before she left. When she opened it at the apartment, she did not need to check the card to know the sender.

It was a red panda plushie. She smiled as she hugged it and took out the card from the box. [A red panda for my red panda. Congratulations on a successful grand opening.] The card did not have a name, but there was a childish drawing of a fox.

She laughed. It seemed like Kaito had accepted his identity as a shameless fox. Akira carried the plushie to her bedroom and gave it a place of honour on the bed.

On Saturday morning, Akira went to the gym in the apartment complex and had breakfast with Hina. Then, she worked on her manga for a couple of hours before leaving for the old Yamazaki residence. Her parents had sent her the address so they could meet there directly.

When she arrived, she was shocked by the number of cars and people there. She expected a simple pop-in and exit with her parents, but things would probably not be so simple.

"Akira!" Sayaka met her at the door.

"Mom, what is going on?" She asked.

Sayaka showed some anger because their family was ambushed by her mother-in-law.

"It seems your grandmother invited the entire Yamazaki clan for lunch. But I suspect that she is planning something. We have also just arrived. Your father and I had no idea that she would pull something like this." Sayaka explained.

Akira frowned a little, but she did not say anything. She entered the old house with Sayaka and found that the inner courtyard had been transformed into a venue for a small party. The intentions of the gathering could not be pure.

"Oh, look who finally decided to show up!" Makiko exclaimed loudly from the place of honour away from the rest of the people beside her mother.

Makiko knew that she should be a little restrained, but she was in a bad mood. Her children had refused to come to the party to get closer to their grandparents. Furthermore, her husband was not talking to her. Everyone in her house was ostracizing her while she was working hard to give them a better life.

Akira smiled. "Hello, Aunt Makiko. Could it be that I am the guest of honour?"

The casual and indifferent attitude angered Makiko.

"What kind of attitude are you showing your elders?" Her grandmother spoke up immediately.

The relatives, who were conversing happily, became quiet at the shout. Even though they were all from the Yamazaki clan, the status between them and the main family was different. They survived through the support of the core branch.

Most of them could only work in the smaller branches of the company, and they had to be careful to protect their identity. It was the reason they were all willing to rush to Mountain Ridge when the matriarch called.

"Hello, Grandmother. I have made it clear how I feel about respecting elders." Akira said evenly. "You should try to remain a little calmer at your age. Otherwise, you will end up with a lot of stress-related diseases."

Grandma Yamazaki sputtered while some people murmured at the attitude displayed by Akira.

"Are you cursing me? Do you want me to die so that you can usurp the family?" The old woman shouted at Akira before turning to the relatives. "Listen, I have called you all here today to make sure that you understand that our Yamazaki family will not become a laughingstock due to bad descendants."

"We have always been fair and lenient with all the children from our clan. However, from now on, we will not be accepting every Tom, Dick and Harry into the fold just because they have a little Yamazaki blood. You must prove your worth and character."

There was a long moment of silence, and the relatives looked at Akira, who was at the centre, with hostility. Compared with other wealthy families, the Yamazaki family did not oppress distant relatives. They kept a record and tried to provide each promising member with a way of survival.

Moreover, as long as a member of the family was excellent, their opportunities would be great because they would have support from the Old Master. If this special support stopped because of Akira, no one in the clan would forgive her.

"As for this person who claims to be a direct member of the main family, I hereby announce that she is expelled from the Yamazaki clan." She turned to Akira with vicious eyes. "You will not use a single coin of the Yamazaki family money or benefit from our connections."

Everyone was shocked by the unprecedented event. Then, someone started clapping at the announcement. Akira was responsible for making their future lives difficult. The expulsion was a simple punishment.

Most of them were already plotting their revenge. As long as Akira did not have protection from the Yamazaki family, dealing with her would be a piece of cake.

"Mother! How can you do this?" Daiki and Sayaka stepped forward to shield Akira.

Akira shook her head to prevent them from speaking further and looked at the old woman evenly. "Oh, don't worry. I am not interested."

"Impudent! Even though you have the Yamazaki blood, your character is questionable. You do not respect your elders, and you have an evil heart."

There was more clapping.

"How am I impudent? I am agreeing with you. You don't want me to use your things. And I don't want to use your things." Akira responded.

The woman sputtered angrily.

She had been incited by Makiko to expel Akira from the family after they confirmed through a DNA test that the jinx was not a fraud. As for how they did it, they had the butler collect hair samples from Akira's room while she was away.

After a lot of whispering about how Akira would end the family, Makiko convinced her mother to hold this rushed occasion to expel Akira and cut off her livelihood.

"Insolence!" The old woman shouted.

She started breathing heavily as if she was about to have some sort of respiratory attack. Everyone felt afraid at this occurrence. If something happened to the Old Madam, no one would be able to explain it later.

"Mother!" Makiko shouted. "Wretched girl, look at what you have done. If anything happens to my mother, I will hold you accountable."

She supported the old woman like she was a loving daughter.

"What is happening here?" The authoritative voice of the Old Master filled the courtyard.