Chapter 14: Volume 1 - CH 4.2

Jusetsu learns more about the ghost and Koushun gets closer to the truth behind the Raven Consort!

Translation Notes

1. Gyokou means “congealing light”

2. A futou is a Chinese headwear worn by government officials.

3. The term used here is 鉄鼠 (tetsunezu), which is this color

4. The Sou in “Soutsuten” means “paired”

5. Ka is 夏 (summer) and Jusetsu’s name contains the character for snow (雪) 

Past the fifth watch of the night (four a.m. to four-thirty a.m.), Ei Sei came to get her at Yamei Palace. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the edge of the sky was faintly white. It was already the time for Koushun to begin his morning council.

“I have come to receive you.”

Ei Sei bowed politely, but he was probably extremely discontented with leaving Koushun’s side and coming to get Jusetsu. He was taciturn and unfriendly. Jusetsu followed him and left Yamei Palace. She had to go into the treasury, so she left Jiujiu behind. While arranging Jusetsu’s hair, Jiujiu kept reminding her to be careful. It wasn’t as though she was jumping into danger, but she seemed to be worried about her leaving the inner palace. Even when one left the inner palace, one ended up in the inner court which was the residence of the emperor, not the outer court. There was no change from the inner palace. Jusetsu was dressed in black as usual. It would be less troublesome this time to stay in her Raven Consort dress.

Ei Sei showed the guards a letter with Koushun’s signature, and Jusetsu left the gates of the inner palace. They walked to Gyokou Hall without using a palanquin. As they walked, the sky calmly began to brighten. The eastern edge was tinged with coral, and one by one, the stars disappeared from the sky that was shifting from ultramarine to pale blue. The atmosphere slackened like it was dozing off. In spring, the nights and mornings were somewhat mellow, and the boundary between oneself and the air around you became vague and fuzzy.

After cutting across a clearing paved with pebbles and passing through several gates, Gyokou Hall finally came into view. The light of dawn bounced off the blue-glazed roof tiles and sparkled as though covered in precious stones. It was aptly called “Gyokou Hall.” (1)

There were two eunuchs standing at the front of the palace, and they respectfully opened the doors when Ei Sei and Jusetsu climbed up the steps. The inside was cool and quiet. Other than the vermillion pillars, there was a vacant hall with only porcelain and bronze vases placed on flower stands and a hallway that led to the back of the palace. Faint light shone through lattice windows from three sides. Hard footsteps echoed as they walked on the floor with floral patterns formed from colored stones. Jusetsu opened her mouth.

“Did the ghost appear last night as well?”

She was talking about the ghost who appeared before Koushun. Ei Sei, who was walking ahead of her, didn’t turn around and stayed silent for a while. However, when they approached a turn in the hallway, he turned around. His brow was furrowed, and there was a conflicted expression on his face.

“Will you keep silent about what I have told you to Dajia?”

It seemed that he was reluctant to talk about what Koushun had forbidden him to mention to others. However, the fact that he still wanted to talk about it was probably out of concern for Koushun’s well-being.

“I shall,” Jusetsu answered shortly. Upon her answer, for some reason Ei Sei got an even more conflicted expression on his face.

“What is it?”

“No…I just assumed that you would have a more malicious answer.”

“Who exactly do you think I am?”

She wondered if he thought of her as a wicked woman who was leading the emperor by his nose. Looking at the results, she was the one who was always being used as he wished.

“I apologize,” Ei Sei said, and continued walking again.

“It seems that it was only in the past month or so that Dajia became haunted.”

Ei Sei began to speak as they walked.

“I only found out recently. I was concerned about how unwell he looked, but he told me he was fine… The Winter Minister had also pointed out Dajia’s lack of sleep, so with my suspicions confirmed, I repeatedly asked him about it until he finally told me.”

He must have pressed him persistently, in a formal manner. It was hard to imagine. ——However.

“The Winter Minister? So he met the Winter Minister? He is not an official who appears at council meetings.”

“Dajia went all the way to Seiu Temple to ask about the Raven Consort.”

“…He went to a lot of trouble, I see. It must have been a waste of a trip.”

Ei Sei glanced back at Jusetsu, but quickly resumed the conversation.

“At midnight, the ghosts of Lady Sha and Tei-da’ge stand in front of his door.”

“Big Brother Tei? Are you referring to Tei Ran?”

“Yes. I used to call him by that name. He was old enough for me to call him father, but he told me that it was more lighthearted to call him this way.”

I see, Jusetsu responded. It seemed that Ei Sei was also very attached to Tei Ran.

“So there are two ghosts? Those two are only standing?”

“Yes. I told Dajia that I would stay with him at night, but he said I didn’t need to, so I don’t know what is actually happening. Dajia said that they only stand there and not talk or do anything, so just leave them be…”

Jusetsu sighed. “That fool.”

Ei Sei stopped and turned around. His eyebrows were raised. “What a rude thing to call Dajia.”

That came quickly. Jusetsu turned her face away in annoyance. She could see the hallway dividing. Her eyes stopped at the end of it.

“Is that the main residence?”

The hallway extended and connected to the palace at the back. “Yes,” Ei Sei nodded. Jusetsu stared intently in that direction.

——This sensation is…

“Can you do something about those two ghosts?”

“’Tis a simple thing to do. However—” Jusetsu tilted her head a little. “Did you say that the ghosts started appearing a month ago?”

“Yes.”

Jusetsu said no more and looked towards the main residence.

“A little ingenuity is needed.”

“Ingenuity…?”

“Let us settle the manner of the treasure room first. Where is it?”

“Haa…it’s this way,” Looking puzzled, Ei Sei nevertheless led the way. They turned several corners and walked through a crossroads as Ei Sei led Jusetsu to the far back of the palace. Jusetsu didn’t think she could make it back to the entrance by herself. Eventually, a door came into view. It wasn’t very big, but it was a sturdy-looking iron door. That seemed to be the treasure room. In front of the door, there was a small, elderly eunuch waiting for them. He was dressed in a pale charcoal robe, and his dark gray futou (2) had snow goose feathers inserted into it. The old eunuch bowed deeply to them. His face was sagging and covered in several layers of wrinkles, but his complexion was good and his skin was glossy, which gave a strange and inconsistent impression.

“I am the Ui. I have been expecting you.”

He announced his official position in a thin, high-pitched voice.

“What is your name?”

“I do not have one. Please just call me Ui.”

Jusetsu thought that he must have had a name before he became the Ui, but she only nodded and said nothing. Ui took out a key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock. The lock turned, and Ei Sei and Ui pushed the metal door together. The door creaked open.

“I cannot go inside, so I shall wait here,” Ei Sei said. “Please be careful not to damage any of the treasures inside.”

The “please be careful” part was emphasized, but she ignored it, since she wasn’t a child. Ui respectfully motioned for her to come inside. Jusetsu stepped in and looked around. It wasn’t a large room, but there were many boxes of various sizes on shelves lined up in rows. It was stifling, but that was probably due to the lack of windows.

After she went all the way inside, Jusetsu stopped in her tracks. There were no shelves on the left wall, and the entire wall was covered in a painting. It depicted a round island that was almost a circle and wave patterns surrounding it, probably representing the sea. They were blue in color. At the eastern and western edges of the sea were depictions of something that looked like forests of fruit trees. Both of them were palaces of the gods. It was a map. It was an old painting. The colors must have been preserved so well because it was in a dark storehouse. Jusetsu had once been shown a painting like this by Reijou. The round island was this country, Shou.

“Lady Raven Consort. Please, this way.”

Ui called to her from the back of the room. She went over there and found him holding a wooden box. It was small enough to fit in both hands. Ui placed the box on a table next to him. He opened the lid, and Jusetsu saw a gemstone inside. It was a red onyx stone.

“This stone is Princess Meiju’s pendant.”

“Princess Meiju…?”

“She was the second princess of the Ran dynasty’s last emperor. She was renowned as a great beauty.”

Ui answered smoothly in his high voice. He lacked intonation, so it sounded like he was woodenly reciting everything from memory.

“She died at twenty-four years of age. When the Forbidden Army marched into the inner palace, she did not want to fall into the hands of the enemy, so she died under a willow tree by plunging her blade into her own throat. This was the pendant she was wearing at that time.”

“Under a willow tree——” Jusetsu’s eyes widened. “Are you speaking the truth?”

“I was also the Ui at that time, so I am quite familiar with this matter. The knife she used to commit the deed is over here.”

Ui opened the other box that was on the table. It was a small knife in a sheath decorated with jade.

“This is the offerings book.”

A scroll was spread out on the table, and it seemed that it was opened up to the section where those two items were recorded. Indeed, they were labeled “Princess Meiju’s pendant” and “Princess Meiju’s knife.”

“…Did you say she died at twenty-four years of age? So, a princess who was renowned as a great beauty lived in the inner palace without becoming wedded at that age?”

“That is indeed the case.”

“Why is that?”

Ui tilted his head slightly. He didn’t have anything that could be called an expression, so he looked like a well-made doll tilting its head. She had considered Koushun to be expressionless, but he was much more human than this eunuch.

“I do not know,” he said, and immediately returned his head to its original position. “Would you like to see a picture of Princess Meiju?”

While bewildered by Ui’s lack of life, Jusetsu nodded. Ui silently disappeared among the shelves and returned after a while with a folding screen. It seemed heavy for the small-framed Ui, but he carried it lightly. He opened it in front of Jusetsu. It was a folding screen with six panels. Each panel had a portrait of a person. There were women as well as men. They were all young and beautiful.

“The folding screen depicts the six people who were praised as being especially beautiful even within the Ran clan. Princess Meiju is over here.”

Ui pointed to the leftmost panel. It depicted a beautiful woman in blue with her silver hair tied up. Her slender limbs looked delicate, but the lines of her white cheeks and eyes were soft, and their elegance was surpassing. Her appearance was reminiscent of a mellow nephrite, shining like dewdrops. This was the ghost she saw under the willow tree. The impression was quite different, though, because she wasn’t covered in blood.

There was an unusual accessory in Princess Meiju’s bun. It was a milk-white tinted quartz comb. It seemed to be in the shape of waves and peony flowers. In the portrait, she had her hand gently on the comb.

“——Is that quartz comb here?”

When she asked Ui that, he brought his face close to the portrait and squinted. And then, he spun around to Jusetsu.

“No, this comb is not here.”

“Not here? A valuable item like that?”

“At that time, there were many treasures taken away from the inner palace. Many fine items are scattered and lost.”

“…I see.”

While contemplating, Jusetsu looked at the folding screen. On the panel next to Princess Meiju, there was a picture of a girl who seemed to be younger than her. Did that innocent-looking girl dressed in gold and jewels also become the victim of ruthless blades? Next to her, there was a boy who seemed to be the same age as her, and on the panel next to him, there was a young man who looked about twenty, and next to him, there was a woman who also looked to be about twenty. And on the rightmost panel—.

Her eyes stopped on the panel at the right end. A young man was depicted on it. He was beautiful, dressed in blue robes with his silver hair loose and flowing down his back. Unlike the him who Jusetsu saw, there was no shadow of melancholy in his eyes. He had a cold and untouchable beauty, like a clear moon.

It was Hyougetsu.

“That is the imperial grandson Hyougetsu,” Ui said, following Jusetsu’s gaze. “He was a renowned shaman. His beauty, above all, was said to be the finest in the imperial family.”

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The anecdotes Ui told her were the same as the ones she heard from Koushun. His monotone way of speaking was like water flowing, and Jusetsu wondered if he had all sorts of historical facts and anecdotes memorized in his head.

“I see. I have heard plenty.”

After she finished hearing about Hyougetsu, Jusetsu decided to return. As she was heading for the door, she stopped in front of the wall painting again. She looked over it once and began walking again.

“Thank you for your help.”

At the door, she turned around and thanked Ui. He bowed humbly with his hands locked in front of his chest.

“I am unworthy of those words. If the Lady Raven Consort is in need of anything, I will be happy to fulfill your request. I am a servant of Wulian Niangniang, after all.”

——Grey garments are the mark of Wulian Niangniang’s servants.

Jusetsu suddenly asked him a question.

“…You said you were also the Ui during the Ran dynasty. How old are you?”

“I do not know my birth year.”

She opened the door and found Ei Sei waiting. Leaving behind Ui, whose head was still deeply bowed, Jusetsu exited the treasure room. While following Ei Sei through the hallways, she stared at the back of his dark green (3) robes.

—

Past the hour of the Monkey (three to five p.m.), Koushun, who had finished his government affairs, had a palanquin take him to Seiu Temple. This time, he wasn’t received in the temple, but the building behind it. Although it was as clean and tidy as the temple, it still showed its age, with its faded latticed windows, creaking floorboards, and the grating of rusted hinges every time one opened a door.

In the room where he was ushered to, the Winter Minister, Setsu Gyoei, knelt down and bowed. Taking into consideration his old age, Koushun suggested that he sit in a chair. The room, which only had two weathered cabinets in addition to a table and chairs, was dim and cold even though it was spring.

Koushun stared at Gyoei, who was sitting across from him. He was wearing dark grey robes and a dark grey futou with pintail duck feathers. The uniform of the Winter Ministry was similar to the eunuch uniforms, but they weren’t eunuchs. But they were different from the other government officials, not having houses near the imperial palace and instead living in this palace. Those who joined the Winter Ministry cut their ties to worldly things and devoted themselves to Wulian Niangniang.

Other than the acolytes who brought them tea, no one passed in front of the room, and it was quiet. Koushun’s guards, as usual, didn’t make a single sound.

“I wish to learn more about the Winter Minister called White Smoke who wrote the Tsuushinshi.”

The Tsuushinshi was the only book that had a description of the Raven Consort.

“I went back through the records, but there was no name for White Smoke, the previous dynasty’s Winter Minister. Why is that?”

Gyoei picked up his white beard between his fingers and slanted his gaze. Not answering the emperor’s question was an exceedingly irreverent thing to do. Ei Sei would have raised his eyebrows if he were here.

“I don’t understand why you are so fixated on the Raven Consort, Your Majesty.”

Koushun fixed his gaze on Gyoei. Gyoei stared back into his eyes without flinching. ——He isn’t just an ordinary old man, he felt.

Koushun turned his eyes to the latticed window. A faint light was shining in.

“——That girl is alone.”

He murmured. Gyoei raised his eyebrows that were as white as frost. “Pardon me?”

“I think Jusetsu is forced to be alone. What is the reason for that?”

Jusetsu lived in that palace alone with no attendants or palace ladies, only a single bird as her companion. He thought that it might be to hide the fact that she was the sole descendant of the previous dynasty, but there was more to it than that. He couldn’t help but think that it was to hide an even bigger secret.

But, if so…

“Isn’t that miserable for Jusetsu?”

Gyoei’s eyes, hidden by his eyebrows, fluttered, and his eyes opened reluctantly.

“That is what the Raven Consort is.”

“So you know the Raven Consort’s name, then.”

Koushun said immediately. Gyoei raised his eyebrows even higher than before. His widened eyes could be seen from behind his eyebrows.

“That is—”

“The only people who know Jusetsu’s name are me and those close to me. Who did you hear it from?”

“…”

Gyoei’s eyebrows lowered and he fell silent. His mask of easygoingness was now removed, and he had a complicated look on his face. He finally let out an exhale.

“I’m getting senile now. ——I heard her name from the previous Raven Consort.”

“The previous?” At that unexpected name, Koushun asked him back. “Did you have a relationship with her?”

“I wouldn’t call it a relationship…we merely greeted each other when her role was succeeded.”

“The Raven Consort took the trouble to tell you Jusetsu’s name. Is it because both of you serve Wulian Niangniang?”

Gyoei nodded as though he had given up. “Yes, precisely.”

“However, the Raven Consort doesn’t publicly worship Wulian Niangniang. Similar to this temple. Even though she’s a special consort, she lives in the inner palace. Isn’t that strange?”

“…”

“I’ll get back to the main topic. Who is the White Smoke?”

Koushun placed one arm on the table and slouched forward, bringing his face close to Gyoei’s.

“I am asking you. Why do you think you can get away with not answering? There must be a reason for that as well.”

“…Because we are made to do the bidding of the Raven Consort.”

“What?”

“But, I suppose it’s fine. ——White Smoke is another name for the pintail duck. The pintail duck has black feathers, but the area from the breast to the eyes is white. The pattern looks like smoke, hence the name ‘White Smoke.’”

Gyoei took out the feathers from his futou. They were pintail duck feathers.

“In other words, White Smoke refers to the Winter Minister. All successive Winter Ministers are White Smoke.”

“——”

Koushun stared at Gyoei.

“So, we don’t know which Winter Minister wrote it?”

“No, it was written by the first Winter Minister of the previous dynasty.”

“How do you know that?”

“That is what was handed down to us.”

“Handed down—” Koushun looked at the feathers. “What exactly was handed down to you?”

Gyoei put the feathers back into his futou.

“The history of the past and how we continue to bury it.”

“History?”

“May I ask you to order your guards to leave, Your Majesty? I will tell you if you will keep it in your heart alone.”

Koushun turned to his guards, who were standing in front of the door, and ordered them to wait outside. Once it was just the two of them, he felt that Gyoei’s face looked strangely young again. He almost mistaken him for a fearless military official instead of an old man.

“In this country, there is the history book called the Soutsuten.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why it’s called the Soutsuten?” (4)

“Because it’s divided into two volumes. The first volume consolidates the administrative and civil codes, and the second volume describes historical facts.”

Gyoei shook his head.

“It’s because there are two of them.”

“Two of them?”

“Even if the historians were ordered to write falsehoods, their pride compelled them to leave the truth somewhere else. There is another book that contains the true history.”

Falsehoods—and, the true history?

“——What do you mean? If there is a book like that, then where—”

Koushun stopped. Don’t tell me, he groaned.

“It’s Yamei Palace, isn’t it.”

“Well discerned, Your Majesty.”

Koushun pressed his hand against his forehead. The palace built opposite to Gyokou Hall, Yamei Palace—the palace that shined brightly at night—

“That book is kept secret, and the truth remains buried. The White Smoke have replaced the origins of the Raven Consort. That is our duty. The faith has already faded, and soon this temple will decay, and then the Winter Minister will no longer be needed. The day will come when the Raven Consort will no longer need to serve. So be it. Then we will finally be able to finish our duty. We are simply waiting for that day. I am waiting, as well as the Raven Consort—”

Koushun leaned forward.

“What is the true history?”

“Ask the Raven Consort. Tell her you wish to see the other Soutsuten.”

“Ask Jusetsu? Would she show me—”

“I’m sure that the Raven Consort must also sense the movement of the stars. You are of the Ka clan, and the Raven Consort has winter in her name. (5) Is this also the guidance of Wulian Niangniang, or is it a fated encounter that transcends even her…?”

“What do you mean?”

Koushun asked, but Gyoei had closed his mouth, ending their conversation there. He seemed to be telling him to ask Jusetsu for the rest. Koushun stood from his chair and headed towards the door. Gyoei called out to him.

“Your Majesty. Have you not discussed your lack of sleep with the Raven Consort?”

“…There’s no need for that.”

“I think it would be best if you consulted with her as soon as you can.”

After saying that, he bowed like any other subject. Koushun could no longer consider this old man to be his own subject.

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