Volume 3 - CH 3.2

It was raining. It was raining so hard that it felt like they might pierce through the cobblestones. It was only a short spell, so it wasn’t too bad, but if this rain had continued for even one night, it might shatter the roof tiles of all the palaces.

“It’s raining too hard to make the rounds.”

The sound of the rain drowned out Tan Kai’s voice as he looked out the window in dismay. In addition to Jiujiu and Ishiha, Onkei and Tan Kai, who were usually outside the palace, were also inside because of the rain, making the room feel smaller than it actually was. Kougyou and Keishi were preparing tea in the kitchen. However, the smell of boiling tea was overpowered by the scent of the rain and didn’t linger in the air at all. Jusetsu raised her head from her book and looked out the window. It looked more like it was pouring water outside than raining. She couldn’t see anything because of the mist.

It was dark inside the room, so the lanterns were lit. The darkness of the rain gave a strange feeling that was unlike the gloominess of twilight and dawn.

Jiujiu and Ishiha were playing Go by the window. Both of them were very faltering in placing their stones. Onkei and Tan Kai were standing behind each of them and interjecting with comments of “you should put it there” and “that’s a bad move.” No, only Tan Kai was interjecting. Onkei was silently watching, occasionally telling Tan Kai to “be quiet.”

The Go board was a gift from Koushun. He seemed to be telling her, “Practice diligently with this.” She found out that Onkei was unexpectedly strong at Go, so she sometimes had him be her opponent. She didn’t know if Tan Kai was strong or weak. He was capricious and couldn’t concentrate until the end.

Jusetsu followed the characters with her eyes, but the content didn’t enter her mind. Perhaps it was because of the sound of the rain, but she found herself locked in her own thoughts. The Great Sea Turtle God and the Eight Truths. Hakumyoushi. The Crane Consort… And finally, Shoumei’s white hand pulling on Shiki’s sleeve.

Even Jusetsu didn’t want to leave that ghost as it was. However, Shoumei was still in this world because she was worried about Shiki, and Shiki knew this but couldn’t let go of his own obsession—the obsession with revenge.

Does Shiki want to kill the founder of the Eight Truths?

Just as it was the empress dowager for Koushun.

If so, then Koushun would be the one who understood Shiki’s feelings. And Koushun would sympathize with him. He surely wouldn’t tell him to stop feeling that way.

Shoumei wanted to stop him. But Shiki had no intention of doing that. If that was the case, there was nothing Jusetsu could do.

Even though I know that he will become empty.

Koushun will probably never stop…

Jusetsu felt like she understood Koushun, but there were parts of him that she would never understand. The flames of hatred he carried within him. It continued to smolder inside him even now that the emperor dowager was dead, leaving him empty and frozen.

Jusetsu didn’t understand that. But Shiki would surely understand.

This strangely pricked at Jusetsu’s chest. It wasn’t irritation or pain, but a mixture of frustration and loneliness, just a little bit.

What is this feeling I don’t understand?

Jusetsu stood up. Jiujiu and the others stopped talking, stopped their hands, and stood up. Jusetsu gestured for them to stay where they were and headed for the doors.

“The rain has stopped.”

The torrential rain that had been causing clouds of mist to rise up had stopped at some point. The green leaves seen through the lattice windows were dripping with raindrops.

“Are you going somewhere, Niangniang?” Jiujiu asked.

“I want to go to Koutou Academy.”

“Then, let us send out a messenger first.”

Onkei looked at Tan Kai. “Huh, me? Not Ishiha?” Tan Kai said. “Ishiha would be slower,” Onkei said and pointed to the doors. “Hurry and go.”

“Why are you ordering me around?” Tan Kai grumbled, but he ran out anyways. His movements were indeed light.

“Since Tan Kai is a fast runner, it will be fine if we start walking there now. I shall accompany you. Please, go ahead.”

“But Niangniang, what about the tea? It’s just done brewing.”

Jiujiu turned to the kitchen. Now that the rain had stopped, Jusetsu realized that the fragrance of boiled tea was wafting through the air.

“You all should drink it.”

“But today we’re having the lotus seed baozi that Hua Niangniang gave us.”

Jusetsu, who was about to head towards the doors, stopped.

“…Leave some for me.” After she said that, she added, “And leave some for Onkei and Tan Kai as well.”

At the gate of the area where Koutou Academy was located, they ran into Tan Kai on his way back.

“I told them that the Raven Consort is coming,” Tan Kai said lightly. “Would you like me to accompany you?”

“No, it’s fine. Return to Yamei Palace.”

“I’m also your bodyguard too, Niangniang.”

“I’m fine as long as Onkei is here.”

“It makes me feel lonely to hear you say that, since I’m ‘unwanted,’ haha,” Tan Kai laughed. “Just ki—”

“You feel lonely?” Jusetsu looked up at him.

“Huh?”

“In that case, you can follow me.”

Jusetsu passed through the gate after saying that. Tan Kai was staring at her, taken aback. “Niangniang is a kind person. Don’t tease her,” Onkei whispered to him.

“…”

Tan Kai closed his mouth and followed Onkei.

In front of the Koutou Academy building, there was a scholar waiting for them. He, who bowed to Jusetsu, was Ka Meiin. A man in his forties with an intellectual face. Jusetsu once described him as “a man who looks like he has the knowledge of all the books in the world in his head.” He still had that kind of face.

“Is Reiko Shiki here?”

Even though she immediately asked the question without any preamble, Meiin responded without moving even an eyebrow. “Yes. I shall take you to him.”

As they walked down the corridor, the scholars stopped with startled looks upon seeing the figure of the black-clad consort. Come to think of it, when she visited here before, she was disguised as a eunuch. Although it was easier for her to come and go from the inner palace since she got a permit from Koushun, it was still less troublesome for her to dress as a eunuch than as the Raven Consort.

Meiin opened the door to a room. It was lined with shelves containing various books such as bamboo slips, paper scrolls, and bound books. A young man who was holding a bamboo slip scroll in front of one of the shelves turned around. It was Shiki.

“——Lady Raven Consort.”

Even though he was flustered, he gently returned the scroll to the shelf and bowed in front of Jusetsu.

“I want to talk to you for a little bit.”

“Yes…”

Jusetsu sat down across a table from Shiki. Meiin bowed and was about to leave, but then said “Oh yes,” like he just remembered something.

“His Majesty will be here soon. I have just sent a messenger to inform him that the Raven Consort has arrived. Eating and drinking are strictly forbidden here, so we regrettably cannot serve tea.”

Speaking quickly, Meiin left the room.

Koushun is coming here?

There was nothing particularly problematic about that, but she had a slight feeling that she didn’t want to include Koushun in her talk with Shiki.

Onkei stood behind Jusetsu, and Tan Kai stood by the door. Jusetsu leaned back in her chair and looked at Shiki, as well as the white hand pulling on his sleeve. The thin sunlight that shined through the lattice window gently illuminated the upper half of Shiki’s body. The white fingertips grasped the sleeve helplessly, but also firmly. Slender, unreliable fingers. Those were the things emerging in the weak sunlight.

“Do you…want to kill the founder of the Eight Truths?”

Shiki looked down. A shadow fell upon his gentle expression.

“…I don’t know. There are times when I want to strangle him to death. He is, of all things, trying to attract those who were once followers of the Moon Truth Sect by implying that they were the successors of the Moon Truth Sect. Even so, it seems that they are being protected by the Saname clan, so the provincial government and envoys are only standing idly by…or they were won over as well. The Eight Truths must be crushed. We must not let any more people end up like Shoumei. …But, to tell the truth, my desire to slam that man against the ground and kill that man as he is covered in blood and humiliation is stronger than such honest reasons.”

Shiki spoke in a deep and low voice. There was no intensity in the slow tone of his voice, yet she could still feel a roiling passion at the bottom of it.

“It isn’t just hatred. I also have regrets, so I despise him even more.”

“Regrets? Of not being able to save Shoumei?”

Shiki closed his eyes tightly and hung his head.

“Shi—”

She was about to say his name, but then the door opened. Tan Kai, who was next to the door, hurriedly kneeled, and Onkei also got onto his knees after turning that way. Shiki also knelt down and bowed. Only Jusetsu remained seated.

It was Koushun. Ei Sei was behind him. Koushun told Tan Kai and the others to be at ease and approached the table.

“May I listen to your conversation as well?” he asked Jusetsu. She thought that this was just like him. Even though he held the position of emperor with no one to find fault with him whether he listened in or not.

“Do as you like,” Jusetsu answered. Koushun sat down in the chair next to her. Shiki was looking between them with a slightly curious look in his eyes.

“Let us continue,” Jusetsu addressed Shiki. “What did you regret?”

Shiki lowered his head and stared at his hands for a while. Then he looked up.

“I suppose there is a difference between being like brother and sister and actually being brother and sister, isn’t there?”

Jusetsu blinked her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I thought of Shoumei as my younger sister. That was why I was so happy when we were both taken in by the Reiko family. I thought Shoumei felt the same way. I had no doubt that she loved me as an older brother.”

After saying that, he then laughed self-deprecatingly.

“That wasn’t true. I just wanted to think so. I was averting my eyes from the issue. I somehow sensed it. But I pretended not to notice.”

“By that, you mean…” Jusetsu was about to say it, but closed her mouth. She didn’t know if this was something she should say plainly.

“On the night before her marriage, Shoumei confessed to me that she loved me…not as a brother. I—couldn’t respond to that. Shoumei seemed to know what I was going to say. She wasn’t reluctant to get married, and the next day she married as though nothing had happened.”

But, Shiki held his head. “Would it have been better if I had answered her? If I had done so and stopped her from marrying, would Shoumei not have died? But that…that would have been a lie.”

Shiki spoke as if he was spitting out the dregs that gathered at the bottom of his heart.

“Shoumei was my little sister. To me. I couldn’t see her that way for the life of me.”

Shiki must have been carrying around this circling agony for a long time. If only he had been able to respond to Shoumei’s feelings, he might have been able to save her from her death. However, Shiki could only love her as a sister…

Jusetsu recalled the deceased Magpie Consort. There were sisters who loved their blood-related brothers, and brothers who couldn’t love their non-blood-related sisters.

It truly is something beyond one’s control.

If one were to say that everything would have been fine if Shiki returned Shoumei’s feelings even if that was a lie, of course, that was highly unlikely. But there was no escape from regrets. Jusetsu understood this feeling well.

“…Is that regret the reason you can’t escape from your hatred?”

Shiki shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know. I don’t hate because I want to escape from my regrets. But regret is also mixed in behind my hatred.”

Jusetsu looked at the white hand pulling on Shiki’s sleeve. It was motionless and quietly clutching the sleeve.

“Just because your regrets disappear, it doesn’t mean that your hatred would as well,” It was Koushun who murmured that. He turned his face towards the dimly lit lattice window. “And even when the person you hate is gone, the hate is still there.”

His voice sounded desolate and dry, like the wind blowing through barren trees in winter.

“In my empty chest, the banked fire continues to burn.”

Wouldn’t that eventually burn up even Koushun himself?

Jusetsu trembled faintly as that fear loomed in his heart.

“Banked fire…yes, that’s the word to describe it. There is a fire inside me as well. Because it is inside, whether the person I hate dies or not, the fire cannot be extinguished from the outside.”

Shiki brought his left hand to his right sleeve. Towards the hand pulling his sleeve.

“I’m sorry, Shoumei. I can’t clear away your worries. So—let’s stay together. Until you can find peace of mind.”

In the pale sunlight, his hand was on top of hers.

Shiki bowed his head to Jusetsu. “My deepest apologies. You came all this way to talk to me.”

“No…” Jusetsu looked away.

Koushun rose from his seat quietly. There was only the sound of clothes rustling.

“Shiki. I want to ask you some things about the Eight Truths,” Koushun said, then headed for the door.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Shiki stood up and followed him. Jusetsu remained seated and watched them go.

What is this feeling?

In the depths of her chest, she felt a prickly, smouldering sensation. It felt like a snake slithering, or mud being stirred up from the bottom.

What those two understand…no, what Shiki understands, I can’t understand.

I probably never will.

“Niangniang,” Onkei called out to her, and Jusetsu came back to herself. “Shall we return?”

“Ah…yes.”

She nodded and stood up. When she left the room, Tan Kai, who was waiting by the door, quietly asked her, “Are you okay, Niangniang?”

Jusetsu looked up at him. Instead of his usual easygoing expression, he was looking at her with a serious expression.

“I’m fine,” she answered and left the room. She didn’t know what made Tan Kai ask that, or why she answered with “I’m fine.”

Yamei Palace was surrounded by a grove of laurels and rhododendrons. When the rainy season arrived, the trees darkened their green color as though singing with joy, and they scattered fresh breaths of life. Under the dense foliage, Tan Kai was walking soundlessly toward Yamei Palace. A star raven noisily flew overhead.

Sensing the movement of the wind, Tan Kai stopped walking. A drawn blade was thrust before him. Tan Kai glanced at the blade, which reflected the shadow of the leaves, and shifted his gaze left. Onkei, who was holding the dagger, was standing in the shade of a tree.

“Oi, this escalated quickly.”

“Who were you meeting with?”

Onkei’s eyes were cold. He showed no sign of lowering the dagger.

“Who, you ask…it was a palace lady from another palace. I was getting information from her. You know that I’m an informant, right?”

“That palace lady is one of Secretariat Un’s ‘ears.’”

Tan Kai’s lips curved into a smile. “You were watching me. Well, I thought that would be the case.”

“Are you an ‘ear’ as well?”

“Nope. I’m no one’s spy. –Would you believe me if I said that?”

Onkei took a step forward. His dagger flashed. Tan Kai quickly dodged, grabbed his wrist and swept his feet. He snatched the dagger from Onkei down on the ground and held him down, pressing the dagger against his throat. Onkei looked up at him in disbelief.

“Archery is my strong point, but I don’t remember ever saying that I’m not good at martial arts.”

Onkei frowned in frustration.

“You…because you deceive people like this, I can’t trust you.”

“Keeping your cards close to your chest is necessary for survival. But, I’m telling the truth about not being a spy. If I were one, I’d be a lot better at it. I wouldn’t let you trip me up.”

Onkei was still glaring at Tan Kai suspiciously. Tan Kai searched through Onkei’s pockets and returned the dagger to its scabbard. After returning the blade to Onkei, he removed himself from his body.

“The reason I met with that palace lady was to get information about Secretariat Un. You want it, don’t you?”

“…What kind of information did you provide to the other party for that purpose?”

“Secretariat Un wants to learn more about the Raven Consort. So I told her things that are suitable.”

“What do you mean by ‘suitable’?”

“Stuff like how the Duck Consort likes her, how she showed her a picture scroll the other day, that kind of thing. Even for Secretariat Un, being on good terms with your own granddaughter is safer than being at loggerheads with her.”

Onkei stared at Tan Kai’s face fixedly.

“…Was it for Niangniang’s sake?”

“I’m Niangniang’s bodyguard, so I won’t do anything that’s not for her sake, of course.”

Onkei stared at Tan Kai for a while, like he was probing him, and then finally let out a small sigh.

“Is that so. If that’s the case, then that’s good.”

“Hey, weren’t you scolded by Attendant Ei about whose eunuch you are?”

“Dajia is the one I serve, but right now I’m Niangniang’s bodyguard.”

“Hmm,” Tan Kai laughed. “Attendant Ei must have been furious. That’s why he sent me over here to be your partner. –But I do get it now.”

Tan Kai turned his face to Yamei Palace. The black tiled roof peeked out over the treetops.

“It’s as you say. Niangniang is a kind person. It’s no wonder that people are so drawn to her.”

Including me, Tan Kai murmured.

“She’s gentle, vulnerable, and somewhat fragile. You know?”

Onkei silently listened to his words.

“We’re a group of people who will never be treated the same as people anywhere, whether we become eunuchs or not. Isn’t that right? I was a failed bandit who got caught because I made a stupid mistake, but got bought by a broker who thought I had a nice face and got thrown into here. I’m a worthless bastard. But I’m sure that Niangniang would be just as concerned for me whether or not I’m royalty, a bandit, or eunuch.”

Tan Kai stared vacantly at the jet-black roof and continued.

“I’m a good-for-nothing, but even a guy like me wants someone like Niangniang to live a happy life.”

Onkei also stared at Yamei Palace.

“…You’re right.”

“I’m not deeply loyal like you. I just want to be liked by her.”

Onkei furrowed his brow. “What?”

“I’m fine as long as I can devote myself to Niangniang, but I also want her favor.”

“…”

Onkei didn’t seem to understand and only looked at Tan Kai contemptuously, but didn’t say anything.

“——And so?” Onkei asked as they started walking towards Yamei Palace. “Did you get any information about Secretariat Un from the palace lady?”

“I did. But it’s something I need to inform Dajia about rather than Niangniang.”

“Is something wrong?”

“There might be something wrong in the future. Someone like me wouldn’t know, though.”

Tan Kai lowered his voice.

“Secretariat Un is gathering information about Ga Province. He’s having his ‘ears’ spying on Hakkaku Palace, investigating everything from the Crane Consort, her father Chouyou, to the store merchants and traveling merchants visiting the palace. She doesn’t know the reason behind this. Dajia might know. It wasn’t like how he was keeping tabs on the consorts like he did in the past. It feels more troublesome and shadier.”

Onkei stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Hakkaku Palace…I don’t know much about that place.”

“The Crane Consort has a mixed reputation. There are those who praise her for being generous, while others call her eerie and uncanny.”

“Eerie and uncanny?”

“You can’t tell what she’s thinking.”

A warm breeze blew through the woods. It was a damp and heavy wind. Tan Kai looked up at the sky. It was covered entirely in thin gray clouds. It was the same color as their eunuchs’ robes.

“Let’s get under the roof before it rains.”

Hurrying Onkei on, Tan Kai started running.

Even before the sun set, the main street of the entertainment district was brightly lit. Behind the paper lanterns hanging from the doors, the prostitutes, their skin coated in cold kneaded face powder, were plucking at the strings of their biwas, looking bored. In winter, it would already be the time of business, but the days were long this time of year, and the sudden rainfall slowed down customer traffic. There weren’t many people walking around, and all the brothels seemed to be having plenty of spare time.

Ei Sei was wearing a cloak to protect himself from the rain and was walking at a brisk pace with his mouth tucked beneath his collar.

I never thought I would set foot in this place again.

He was walking with his brows tensely furrowed and his face downcast. There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t run into a familiar face. This was the place where he was born and raised.

He was born into a house filled with the smell of powder and sweat. His mother was the most beautiful prostitute in the brothel. His father was one of her good customers. Apparently, there were talks of buying her out and making her his mistress. Those talks fell through, and his mother killed herself by slitting her throat with a razor. The smell of face powder, sweat, and the choking scent of blood. This was one of Ei Sei’s childhood memories.

Left alone, there was no other path for Ei Sei but to become a male prostitute. Female prostitutes were called bustards, and male prostitutes were called mallards. Young boy prostitutes were called chi’er. Ei Sei, who refused to become a male prostitute and chose to become a eunuch, was shocked when he learned that new eunuchs were also called chi’er. And, his shifu made it known to him that they were the same thing. The beautiful Ei Sei was easy prey. Unable to endure the pain and humiliation inflicted on him by the shifus, Ei Sei ran away, and in the garden that he barged into without knowing why, he met Koushun.

His memories were fuzzy, but that was probably Hakkaku Palace. The palace Koushun’s mother lived in. Koushun sheltered Ei Sei, who was practically naked and covered in injuries, and took him into his service without any question. To this day, he never questioned Ei Sei about that time.

Koushun gave Ei Sei his name. His surname and given name were given to him by Koushun. Ei Sei had abandoned his former name. He would never use it again.

For Ei Sei, Koushun was his one and only master. A master who was more important than his own life. That was why he feared and was irritated by Jusetsu, who could threaten his master’s position. But recently, he came to understand that that wasn’t the only reason he disliked Jusetsu.

Jusetsu was Koushun’s friend.

That was something Ei Sei could never be. Ei Sei was Koushun’s servant. That was what Ei Sei chose to do. For him, Koushun was his savior, his parent who named him, and an object of worship from the very beginning. To be called his equal was outrageous. But—

It was Shiki. Ever since he showed up, ripples arose in Ei Sei’s heart. Koushun seemed at ease when dealing with him. That was probably because Shiki didn’t act stiff with Koushun. Perhaps because he had been in the countryside all his life, but he wasn’t as formal as the other officials in the imperial palace. He thought that must be much more comfortable for Koushun.

Ei Sei couldn’t do that. After realizing that, he became aware of the fact that he had been harboring feelings of near jealousy towards Jusetsu.

He was Koushun’s servant, more loyal than anybody. But he couldn’t be his friend. Ever.

He didn’t have the slightest regret about becoming Koushun’s servant. There was just a spoonful of loneliness, bitterly seeping into his chest—that was all.

He pressed down the collar of his cloak and hurried on. He turned off the main street and entered a narrow alley. The brothel he was heading for was in this alley.

You can have someone else go.

Koushun was considerate in that way. However, Ei Sei told him that he was certain that he would be the one to go and left the palace.

A small brothel was located on the corner of the street. It was an old and sooty building, but it didn’t give off an air of dirtiness. The front of the brothel and the door were well-swept. That was a rare thing for a brothel located on a back street like this. The door was open, but there were no customers yet, so it was quiet. He walked from the front, where lanterns were hanging, to the back and looked in through the doorway. It was dimly lit inside, and the kitchen was right behind the doorway. A girl was sitting in front of the stove and making up the fire. Ei Sei called out to her.

“Good evening.”

The girl turned around in surprise. She looked up at Ei Sei’s face and widened her eyes even more. She looked to be only around fifteen or sixteen years old.

“I hear you have a scribe here. Can I ask for him?”

After repeating his question again to the girl, who was staring blankly at his face. “Oh, the old scribe, you mean. Yes, yes, of course,” she finally understood.

“Please wait here for a little bit. Just for a little bit. He’s in the back. I’ll be back soon, very soon.”

Ei Sei followed her as she jumped to her feat and went to the back of the house. It was a small brothel, so it was a short walk to the back.

“Grandpa Hou, I have a customer for you,” The girl opened the door, calling out slowly.

A bed and table were crammed into the small room. There was a lattice window in the back, and the light from outside illuminated the room faintly. An old man was sitting in front of the table. He was a frail old man. He looked healthy, but he didn’t seem to be a vigorous person. He looked dispirited.

Ei Sei wordlessly pushed the girl aside and went inside. He stood in front of the old man. The old man bent himself back to look up at Ei Sei with frightened eyes. This was the person he had been searching for for a long time.

“I’m surprised. I thought you would have used a fake name at least, Hou Ichigyou.”

The old man—Hou Ichigyou—tried to stand up, but Ei Sei grabbed his shoulders and held him down. “Don’t use strange tricks. It will only increase the charges against you,” he threatened.

Hou let out a whimper and sat back down. It seemed that his knees had always been bad. He was grimacing. The girl was looking flustered in the doorway. Ei Sei turned around. “He’s an old friend of mine. Leave us alone for a while,” he said. The girl hesitated, but she nodded and left. She left the door open. Perhaps she thought closing it would put Hou in danger. She was a surprisingly shrewd girl.

Ei Sei looked down at Hou. He was a weak-looking old man. His face was pale, and he was trembling faintly. Ei Sei was a little surprised. This feeble old man was the one who sent Shougetsu into the inner palace?

“I’ve investigated your background, Hou Ichigyou. You were the emperor’s personal sorcerer in the previous dynasty and Ran Hyougetsu’s master, isn’t that right?”

Ei Sei thought he would talk his way out of it, but Hou only nodded weakly. Ei Sei furrowed his brow.

“Didn’t you ever consider escaping from the capital? No matter how far-flung the brothel is, you know that we will find you sooner or later.”

Hou hung his head as though struck.

“…I no longer have the strength to run away,” his words were a hoarse moan.

“Then why don’t you just get arrested?” Ei Sei snorted. “Is your life so valuable to you?”

Hou shrank his body. Ei Sei’s brows gathered together.

“…I hate men like you. You are the only one who sneaks around and hide yourself and pretend you don’t know anything. Gyoei is dead, you know.”

Hou looked up in shock. He looked like he had received a great blow.

“He wasn’t executed. It was suicide. He took responsibility for sending Shougetsu to the inner palace. It was a noble thing.”

Unlike you. That implication was contained in his words. Hou lowered his head with a pale face.

“Oh…I’m so sorry…Lord Gyoei…”

Hou buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Ei Sei frowned.

“I…I didn’t know. I didn’t know that Shougetsu wanted to kill the Raven Consort. If I had known, I would never have brought him to the capital. I intended to never set foot in the capital again…”

“Never? Why?”

“I…I fled the capital when the Ran dynasty fell. That’s why I can’t face the Ran clan’s mausoleum…”

Ei Sei now understood. In the previous dynasty, sorcerers were highly valued, but when the emperor before the previous ascended the throne, they were all either executed or exiled.

“You abandoned Ran Hyougetsu and ran away. What a despicable man you are,” Ei Sei spat. Hou was still sobbing, his face covered in tears and snot. Ei Sei didn’t know how such a man became the emperor’s personal sorcerer or Hyougetsu’s master. Was he that good at the sorcerous arts?

Ei Sei sighed in frustration.

“I would rather you be executed immediately, but Dajia wishes to question you. I’m taking you to the palace.”

Hou raised his head in surprise. “W-What does he want to question me about?”

“Everything you know. About sorcerers, the previous dynasty, the duties of a sorcerer…”

Hou blinked. Snot was dripping from his nose. Ei Sei grimaced and took out a handkerchief from his pocket, then tossed it onto Hou’s lap.

“How unsightly. Wipe your face.”

Hou wiped his tears and sniffled. “S…Sorcerers are…” He wiped his snot several times before lifting his face.

“A sorcerer is a practitioner who uses arts that have been handed down from ancient times. They are different from shamans and priests. Their origins date back to ancient times, and the arts are taught to them by a god. Now they are treated as nothing more than roadside fortune-tellers, but in ancient times, they served kings, supporting and protecting their dynasties.”

His speech was smooth and fluent. His confident voice made his earlier disheartenment seem like it never happened, and Ei Sei could see a glimpse of the dignity he had when he served the emperor as a sorcerer. I see, he thought.

“It was Gou-no-Kami who taught the arts to sorcerers. Gou-no-Kami was created from the corpse of the Great Sea Turtle God, who was chopped up and washed away. He was worshipped in the Hi dynasty—”

“Wait. Talk about this in front of Dajia. I’m going to take you to the palace now.”

Stopping Hou, who was rambling on, Ei Sei urged him to get up. When Hou closed his mouth, he returned to being the dejected old man he was before. He got up unsteadily. When Ei Sei grabbed Hou’s arm and headed for the door, he saw the girl from the kitchen peering anxiously into the room. Next to her was a middle-aged woman who appeared to be this brothel’s bustard mother—the madam. She might have been a prostitute who was promoted to bustard mother, as even her loose skin had a somewhat sensual quality to it. She looked at Ei Sei with puffy eyes.

“Don’t treat that old man so roughly. He’s a poor thing.”

Her voice was raspy despite her age. Perhaps it was from over-drinking or singing too much.

“If you knowingly harbored a criminal, this brothel will have to pay the price as well,” Ei Sei snapped.

Hou shook his head. “No, these people know nothing…”

“I don’t know what this old man did, but everyone around here has a guilty conscience, so I didn’t worry about it too much. And him being a scribe was very helpful.”

As she said that, the ibis mother stared at Ei Sei as though licking him with her eyes. It was as though she was assessing him. Ei Sei glared back at her. The ibis mother tilted her head. Her sloppily-tied hair flopped to the side.

“Are you—Jakuji?”

The blood suddenly drained from Ei Sei’s face.

“You are, aren’t you? That strong-willed, cold, and astonishingly beautiful face. You look just like your mother. I thought you had a beautiful face when you were a kid as well.”

A nostalgic look appeared on the bustard mother’s face, and she smiled.

“You became a eunuch, right? I don’t know how many years it has been since your mother passed away. Do you remember me? I used to live in the same brothel as your mother. I wasn’t that popular, but I had a decent number of customers. But what happened to your mother, such a waste! She was such a beautiful and skilled girl, but she got involved with that worthless man and got thrown away by him in the end. That man was a real bastard, even having a child with her but switching to another girl anyways.”

The bustard mother continued to rattle on and on. Ei Sei steadied his breathing and quickly turned to leave.

“Do you know about the girl who that man changed to? Her name was Ougyoku, but she got herself beheaded. I don’t know what the crime was, but the soldiers of the Southern Command came to arrest her. All those soldiers just for one prostitute? It was a terrifying time. The brothel where Ougyoku was working was demolished too—”

Ei Sei stopped and looked down at the bustard mother. She flinched a little. “W-What is it?”

“This prostitute named Ougyoku. Did she have a child?”

“Huh? I’m pretty sure she didn’t. No, there were rumors that she did have one. Well, rumors like that are common with prostitutes.”

“…”

“There was talk about buying her freedom. But that man was like that with your mother as well. Saying that he was going to buy her freedom after giving her a child—oh, then Ougyoku might have given birth to his child as well. That bastard has kids all over. Do you know what happened to him? In the end, he was stabbed to death by a prostitute. It’s very fitting, don’t you think”

The bustard mother let out a raspy laugh. Ei Sei silently left the room while holding Hou in his arms. He could see several of the brothel’s girls anxiously watching from behind the stairs. He went around to the back door and left the kitchen. He took Hou to the horse parking area in a corner of the red-light district. He was right to have come here by carriage. With Hou’s legs, it would have been difficult to walk to the palace.

Ei Sei bound Hou’s hands and put him into the carriage. It started to rain as they traveled along the main road leading to the gates of the imperial palace. Amidst the heavy rain drumming against the carriage top, Ei Sei kept silent as though he had forgotten Hou’s existence and didn’t say a single word.

Ei Sei pushed Hou into a room in the Interior Ministry, located in the inner palace. The small room that had been used as a storage room was cleaned, and the minimum necessary furnishings were brought in.

“For now, your punishment is suspended because you’re a source of information. But if you escape, you’ll be punished immediately.”

With that threat, Ei Sei left the Interior Ministry. The passing shower had weakened somewhat. He covered his head with his cloak and headed for the inner court. The droplets dripping from his cloak fell on his face. His surroundings were dark. He didn’t know if it was because the sun had set or because of the rain.

Why did I come here? Before he knew it, he had stepped into a forest of laurels and rhododendrons. It was the forest around Yamei Palace. The rain hit the leaves of the trees, sounding like off-beat drums.

Ei Sei leaned against a laurel tree and looked up at the dark roof. Even though it was raining so heavily, he felt like he could still smell the white face powder of the entertainment district. It repulsed him. Luckily, there weren’t many customers coming and going today. The smell of the customers who came to buy prostitutes, or boys, was more nauseating than that of face powder. He thought that if he became a eunuch, he would be able to live a life free from sex, but in fact, it was even worse for eunuchs. Why did they seek carnal desires so relentlessly even though they had abandoned their sexuality? Ei Sei had fallen into despair on the night that he met his shifu.

Memories of his shifu’s soft, sweaty hands and wet tongue running over his body came back to him, and Ei Sei, unable to bear it, vomited. It happened more than ten years ago, and yet these memories had never disappeared from his head. Ei Sei’s heart had died that night, and was revived when he met Koushun.

He leaned against the tree and took shallow breaths. He calmed down after a while. Hearing footsteps, he looked up with a start.

“…Ei Sei?”

Jusetsu was standing there, candlestick in hand. The rain had already stopped, and the damp heat and humidity had returned in the dimness. Even so, Ei Sei’s body was frozen up to his fingers.

“Onkei was worried and came to inform me. I came to check on you.”

A shadow stirred near Jusetsu. It must be Onkei. It was natural to be suspicious of him, seeing as he was standing idly in a place like this and vomiting. He could have called out to me, Ei Sei thought.

Did I look like I was in no state to be called out to?

Was he that upset? It wasn’t because the memories from when he was a chi’er came back to him. Ei Sei wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and looked down at Jusetsu. Her white face illuminated by the candlestick. It bore no resemblance to Ei Sei.

Do we both resemble our mothers?

That thought flashed through his mind, and he vehemently denied it. There was no way that was true. A prostitute would have no way of knowing who the father of her child was. He didn’t even know if the prostitute who was Jusetsu’s mother was Ougyoku or not.

“…Lady Raven Consort. Do you remember your mother’s name? Not her real name, but her name as a courtesan.”

Jusetsu furrowed her brow in confusion. But she answered.

“I think she was called Ougyoku. That’s the only name of my mother I know.”

“…What about your father?”

“I don’t know who he is.”

Ei Sei closed his eyes and exhaled.

“What? What about it?”

“No. It’s nothing. I took a wrong turn because of the rain. Excuse me.”

“Wait, take this,” Ei Sei turned on his heel, but Jusetsu stopped him. She was holding out a handkerchief. “Wipe your face.”

Ei Sei recalled that he had given his handkerchief to Hou. He then suddenly realized what was on his face.

Tears.

It seemed that he was crying without even realizing it. Ei Sei pulled his cloak deep over his eyes.

“…Since it’s raining.”

It was a contrived excuse, but Jusetsu nodded silently. He took the handkerchief and wiped his face.

“The road is already dark. Take this with you.”

Jusetsu pushed the candlestick into his hand. Then, she turned around and went back to Yamei Palace. For a while, Ei Sei gazed at her black-clad figure as she walked away.

Like Dajia, she never attempted to ask me about anything…

He wiped his eyes with the handkerchief once again.

So what?

He had known for a long time that Jusetsu was that kind of girl. Supposing that they might have the same father, so what?

Ei Sei’s master was Koushun. If Jusetsu was a threat to him, Ei Sei would hate her.

The light from the candlestick he borrowed from Jusetsu illuminated the dim road.

Ei Sei stared at the handkerchief and stuffed it into his breast pocket.