Chapter 24: Volume 2 - CH 2.2

After she pleaded to Jusetsu, An’s figure vanished like smoke slowly dissipating. Jusetsu took in a light breath and stood up from her chair.

——She doesn’t seem to have crossed over to paradise.

“I have visitors like you from time to time.”

Just as she had told her in the beginning, this wasn’t the first time she had such visitors. The ghosts who came to the Raven Consort. Some knew that they were dead, while others seemed to be unaware of it. An seemed to be in the latter group.

Jusetsu stepped inside her curtains and tossed her robe on the couch. Xingxing was already asleep. Giving it a sidelong glance, she sat down on her bed and laid down.

“——She wants me to save Enrin, huh…”

Staring absentmindedly into the darkness, Jusetsu closed her eyes. Sleep came quickly.

The next day, Jusetsu questioned Kougyou.

“Do you know a palace lady named An?”

Kougyou had lived at Sen’e House before. That was why she thought she knew her. Kougyou blinked and tilted her head slightly in thought. When Jusetsu had first met her at Sen’e House, her complexion was pale and she looked as if she might die at any moment, but now her complexion was healthy and her cheeks were plump. Jusetsu had never asked her how old she was, but she must have been around thirty. In contrast to Jiujiu, who was hasty and had clear waves of emotions, Kougyou was always calm and composed.

“She is an old woman who was the attendant of the Magpie Consort in the reign of the emperor before the last.”

When Jusetsu added that, Kougyou nodded several times in recognition. It seemed she did know her.

“Did she talk about hearing the dead Magpie Consort’s voice?”

Kougyou also nodded at this.

“Is that so…?”

Jusetsu brought her the scrap paper and brush Ishiha used for writing and placed them on the table. She prepared the ink and had Kougyou hold the brush.

“What kind of woman was An?”

Kougyou considered her question for a moment with the brush in her hand.

“Everyone thought she was creepy and kept a distance from her,” she wrote down. “She kept saying that she could hear voices coming from the water.”

“No one around her could hear it?”

Kougyou nodded.

“I have never spoken to her directly, so I don’t know much about her personality.”

After writing this, she dipped her brush in ink and slid it across the paper. The brush drew curved lines. She wasn’t writing characters, she was drawing. She drew eyes, a mouth, eyebrows…a face was drawn.

“Oh, you’re quite skilled.”

In the blink of an eye, the face of an old woman was completed. It was the face of An from last night.

“It’s An. ——I did not know you had a talent for drawing.”

“It is sometimes quicker to draw a picture.”

Kougyou continued to draw. It was a simpler picture than the previous one. The face of a young girl. She had a sweet round face and pretty eyes like those of a skylark. Jusetsu recognized her immediately.

“It’s Jiujiu.”

Kougyou smiled and nodded.

“Let’s keep this. No, it would be better for you to draw on a clean piece of paper.”

Kougyou shook her head hastily.

“No? Then we shall keep this.”

As Jusetsu stared fixedly at the drawing again, Jiujiu brought tea from the kitchen.

“Oh, what kind of picture is that?”

“Kougyou drew it. It’s your face.”

Oh, really? Jiujiu widened her eyes and exclaimed in admiration. “Is this me? Miss Kougyou, you’re so talented!”

Jiujiu seemed happy.

“Please draw Niangniang too, Miss Kougyou.”

“I’m fine. ——Can you draw anyone else?”

Kougyou stared thoughtfully into the air, and then she suddenly picked up her brush and began to draw. The outline of the chin was firm, the mouth was set in a straight line, and the eyes were puffy.

“It’s Keishi.”

Her meaninglessly grumpy expression was well-depicted.

“Miss Kougyou, what about His Majesty? Can you draw His Majesty?”

Jiujiu asked enthusiastically. Kougyou raised her eyebrows and waved her hands at her. She seemed to want to say, “How preposterous.” Jiujiu pouted in disappointment.

“I thought if you drew a portrait of him, I could stare at it thoroughly.”

“You don’t need a portrait of him, since he comes here so often.”

“Just because he comes here, it doesn’t mean that I can just stare at His Majesty’s face!”

Does she want to observe his face that much? She thought. Even though his expression hardly changes.

“And if you keep His Majesty’s portrait here, you won’t feel lonely when he isn’t here, Niangniang.”

Jusetsu frowned. “I don’t want his picture here. And in the first place, I won’t be lonely just because he doesn’t come.”

“Are you still saying that, Niangniang? On days when His Majesty doesn’t visit, you always seem bored.”

“…”

It seemed that Jiujiu’s eyes saw someone that was Jusetsu and wasn’t Jusetsu. She wondered how she came to this interpretation.

“Then, what about Ishiha?” Jiujiu asked Kougyou. “And then Mr. Onkei after that?”

Kougyou could draw Ishiha quickly, but Onkei seemed more difficult. It’s because I haven’t seen his face clearly, she explained.

“It’s true that he isn’t always here.”

Onkei was Jusetsu’s guard, and he was a eunuch who rarely appeared in front of others in the first place. Whenever Jusetsu went out, he was nearby to watch over her secretly, and when she was Yamei Palace, he patrolled the area around the palace. But Jusetsu wondered if he was bored. It wasn’t as though she had any enemies who would attack her.

“Let’s ask him to show you his face next time. Mr. Onkei has a beautiful face.”

Jiujiu said innocently, but Kougyou chided her, saying, “We mustn’t interfere with his work.” Jusetsu was watching them as she drank tea.

“Niangniang.”

Since Onkei called out to her without her sensing his presence, she almost dropped her teacup. When she turned around, she saw Onkei kneeling in front of the door to the outer corridor.

“You were there, Onkei?”

“I have just returned.”

“And how did it go?”

She had asked Onkei to go to Sen’e House in the morning.

“She passed away last night. She seemed to have some sort of illness in her lungs.”

“I see.”

——An died last night.

Since that ghost came to Jusetsu immediately, she must have been extremely worried about Enrin. Though it would have been hard to forget about her since An had been hearing her voice for a very long time.

Jusetsu stood from her chair.

“I wish to go to Jakusou Palace’s pond.”

Onkei nodded. “I shall guide you there.”

“Then, I shall accompa—” Jiujiu enthusiastically started, but Jusetsu turned her down. “I will be back soon, I have no need for your company.” Jiujiu seemed to refuse to back down, but she closed her mouth when Kougyou nudged her.

“It’s almost time for Ishiha to finish cleaning and come here. You and Kougyou can watch him write.”

When she told her of her task, Jiujiu smiled happily. “Certainly. I’ll make sure he improves.”

They left the palace and headed for Jakusou Palace. This palace was located to the south of Yamei Palace. As they passed between the rhododendrons and laurels, Onkei suddenly looked up. There was a rustle of wings, and a bird flew away. A brown bird with white spots—a spotted nutcracker. A feather fell from it and landed at their feet. Onkei relaxed his shoulders and apologized. “I apologize for surprising you.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Jusetsu picked up the feather. It was a brown feather with a white tip and a greenish sheen. It was beautiful. She wondered who would be pleased if she gave it to them. A few faces came to mind. Jusetsu let go of the feather. ——This isn’t something the Raven Consort should think about. She hastened her pace.

Jakusou Palace was marked by the roof tiles decorated with magpie ornaments and the redbuds that encircled the palace. In early spring, the reddish-violet flowers were visible from a distance, and on cloudy days, the palace looked like it was surrounded by a red haze. The pair of magpies on the decorative roof tiles were holding a branch in their beaks in order to make a nest.

“The pond is in the back of the garden. It’s almost on the outskirts of the palace.”

Onkei walked past the redbuds and continued onward. The flowers had already fallen, and green husks dropped from the branches.

“Have you been here before?”

“Yes.” His answer was short. Was it as a spy, or just to examine the situation there without going to that extent?

“Ei Sei depends on you a lot.”

Without turning around, Onkei said, “If so, then it is a great pleasure.”

He added, “I have already spoken to a eunuch here.”

It seemed that every time he worked at a palace, he befriended a eunuch there. It came in handy later—like now.

They went around to the back and entered through the gate used by servants. There was a kitchen and buildings that looked like dormitories for palace ladies and eunuchs. It seemed that the construction of the consort’s palace wasn’t so different from the others.

The pond was dim. An had said it was a beautiful as a mirror, and while it was indeed clear, it somewhat appeared like there were shadows coiled around it. The willow trees that were reflected on the water surface were lawlessly entangled with ivy, and the hanging branches were in disarray. The flowers and grasses were so vigorously overgrown for the season that the smell of the water mixed with the smell of grass was almost suffocating. The lizard’s-tails that An talked about had probably grown in clumps over a much wider area than now.

In a word, it was neglected.

“This is far from the palace, a consort fell into the water and drowned, so there are not many people who come near here. The current Magpie Consort also avoids this place because it is too dark. Because of that, this has become a forgotten place.”

“I see.”

She thought it would be a picturesque place if only it was taken care of. As she looked around, she saw what appeared to be a shadow coming out of the tall, thick grass at the corner of her eye. Onkei put himself on guard, but Jusetsu raised her hand to stop him. It wasn’t a person.

It appeared like a pale haze and hadn’t yet taken the form of a human. As they watched, it gradually took shape. A face covered with wrinkles appeared with a gaping mouth, and it staggered to the water’s edge, dragging its faded, dirt-covered robes behind it.

It was An. But her appearance was even more dismal than last night. Her grey hair was wild, and her body was nothing more than skin and bones. Her skin was ashen and cracked and her eyelids were sunken. Only her eyes were startling wide. The hem of her robes was so tattered that it broke off every time she stepped forward.

An was huddled by the water’s edge, leaning forward to peer into the water. Lady Enrin, a sluggish voice echoed. She stared at the surface of the water and tried to scoop water with both hands, but her ghost’s hands couldn’t seize anything and simply cut through the air. Even so, An still tried to scoop out the water.

Jusetsu walked over to her. She heard a low mumbling. As she got closer, it became clearer.

“It won’t go away…why…if…if only there isn’t water here…”

“Can you still hear Enrin’s voice?”

An looked up and turned her goggling eyes on Jusetsu. Aah, she moaned, and fell to the ground at Jusetsu’s feet, clinging to her.

“Lady Raven Consort, you came. Please save Lady Enrin.”

Jusetsu looked at the pond. The surface of the water was calm, with only an occasional ripple in the wind. There were no other ghosts except An there. There were no voices either.

“…Enrin is not here. She must have already crossed over to paradise.”

An’s sunken eyelids fluttered open.

“What are you saying? I can hear her voice so loudly.”

“There are no voices here.”

“See, even now Lady Enrin is calling to me again. She’s calling me over and over again with that voice——”

An insisted, ignoring Jusetsu’s words. She looked at the water with a frightened face and began to move like she was scooping water again.

“We have to get all the water out…when the water is gone, the voice should be gone as well…”

An’s fingers, trying to scoop water that couldn’t be scooped, became bonier, and her fingernails became sharper. Her hair became more dishevelled, her eyes became blazingly bright, and the corners of her lips began to turn up and split.

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“Niangniang——”

Onkei called out, his voice a mixture of alarm and bewilderment, but Jusetsu responded, “Don’t worry.”

“What is so terrible about hearing voices, An?”

An suddenly stopped moving and looked up at Jusetsu. ——It seems that words are still able to get through to her.

If she could no longer be communicated with and her appearance changed completely, then she would cease to be a ghost. She would become a demon.

“What is it that you really fear?”

An’s eyes widened. Her hands began to shake.

“I—am not afraid. I just feel sorry for Lady Enrin—”

Jusetsu quietly shook her head. “No more deceit. You’ve never pitied or felt sorry for Lady Enrin.”

An closed her mouth and stared at Jusetsu.

“Don’t disgrace Enrin for the sake of your own deception. It is exceedingly regrettable that she is used by you in such a way even after her death.”

“Are you saying that I have lied to you? That’s too harsh.”

Tears flowed from An’s eyes. Tears that streamed down a misshapen face didn’t look like tears at all. The sharp nails of her hands on the ground gouged the soil.

“I have dedicated myself to Lady Enrin since I was twenty-two years old. Without my devotion, she would never have entered the inner palace. I took on the role of attendant to a ten-year-old little girl from a family that’s far inferior to mine. Because I had nowhere else to go! I was sent back home from my in-laws, who shouted at me for being a barren woman just because I couldn’t conceive a child for two, three years. Do you know how much shame I felt at home? Do you think a woman with a bad reputation of being barren will receive another marriage offer? That’s why I accepted the job. I was angry at that upstart father and that little girl who treated me as her attendant without question. But I raised Lady Enrin properly. I brought her up to be a lady who could enter the inner palace without shame. Did I not do a good job?”

An howled on and on without stopping.

“And yet! And yet, Lady Enrin did such an—ungrateful thing!”

An pounded the ground with her fists. Jusetsu’s chest felt heavy at the fact that An called Enrin’s suicide “ungrateful.”

“——Enrin is dead.”

Jusetsu murmured. An’s hands stopped in surprise.

“Yes, yes, that’s right. Lady Enrin is dead. She must have hated me. That’s right. It’s my fault, isn’t it? I understand. That is why—I am afraid. I am afraid of her resentment.”

An said flatly, as though becoming defiant.

“Please help me, Lady Raven Consort. I can’t stop hearing Lady Enrin’s reproaches. Please protect me. She calls to me again and again from the bottom of the water. She wants to drag me to the bottom of the pond. Please help me.”

An pleaded, about to transform into a grotesque monster. Jusetsu just stood there. She wanted to send as many ghosts to paradise as possible. She wanted to take away their suffering. But what could she do to help An? How could she be saved?

An tried cling to Jusetsu, who had fallen silent. Her hands couldn’t grasp Jusetsu’s clothing, only cutting through the air.

“I’m not the one who can save you.”

“Lady Raven Consort, that’s—”

“It is you yourself who is dragging yourself to the bottom of the water. The voice from the bottom of the water is your own voice. Listen carefully.”

An stopped trying to cling to her. Her eyes shook as if she was frightened by something.

“It is not Enrin you fear, but yourself.”

An shook her head. “No—no!” Her wild hair scattered about.

Those who didn’t have a sense of regret wouldn’t hear the voices of those who weren’t there. What she feared was herself, the one who caused Enrin’s death.

An screamed and turned around, then fell to the water’s edge. She flailed her hands about and tried to bail out the water. The water remained calm and still. An tried to push her way through the water, gasping her breath, and she waded into the pond. She staggered forward, her body gradually sinking into the water. Her waist disappeared, her shoulders were submerged, and then, finally, her head.

Her grey head sank into the water.

“Aah, I can’t hear the voice if I’m in the water.”

An’s voice echoed with joy, and then no more sound could be heard. The surface of the pond was as still and clear as ever.

“——Niangniang, that was…”

Jusetsu shook her head in response to Onkei’s call.

“In time, perhaps the water will save her soul.”

The coldness and weight of the water, the light shimmering on the surface of the water as the sun shined through it, and the shadows that fell to the bottom of the water might grind, wash away, and dissolve that soul. Those were things that Jusetsu couldn’t do.

“Onkei, cut some ivy for me.”

Jusetsu pointed to the ivy twining around the willow trees. Onkei quickly brought a handful of ivy. Jusetsu gathered them into a hoop, took out a string made of twisted paper from her pocket, and tied them together. The string had characters written on them in red ink. She then threw the hoop into the pond. The ivy hoop fell in an arc into the water and sank with a slight splash. Ripples were left behind.

“Reijou told me that this was an art that sorcerers were skilled at, and she had learned it from someone. Now An can’t get out of the pond, but we’d better make sure no one comes near this place.”

Although it seemed that no one visited this place in the first place.

“We’re returning.”

Jusetsu turned on her heel. Onkei followed her.

“May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Can’t something like that be exorcised by you, Niangniang?”

Jusetsu thought about it for a moment before speaking.

“…It would be simple to destroy her. But that isn’t desirable.”

“Why is that?”

“To destroy a soul is to have a soul disappear completely without even crossing over to paradise. It is not for me to decide which souls should be there and which souls shouldn’t be.”

The dead were sad beings. Every one of them were equally sad. Jusetsu was alive. It was arrogant of the living to sort the dead.

“The living and the dead are by nature separated. I can connect them together, or I can sever them from each other. That is all.”

It would be arrogant to want to save them. But sometimes she couldn’t give up that desire.

——Reijou would have done better.

She moved her heavy legs forward and away from the desolate pond. She could hear no voice from the depths of the pond.

When they returned to Yamei Palace, Ishiha was sitting between Jiujiu and Kougyou, who were teaching him how to write.

“Ah, Lady Raven Consort,” Ishiha rushed out of his chair and knelt down next to Jusetsu. “A letter has arrived for you.”

“A letter? From who?”

“It’s from Dajia.”

“Toss it away.”

Ishiha raised his head in surprise and looked flustered. “But, that’s——”

There was no point in troubling a child. Jusetsu held out her hand.

“Give it to me.”

“Yes, Niangniang,” Ishiha, looking relieved, took out the letter from his pocket.

The letter was wrapped in paper sprayed with a pattern of two fishes looking at each other, and it was even fragrantly scented with incense. Jusetsu thought that this must be an act of harassment by Ei Sei. Koushun wasn’t the kind of refined man who would scent a letter addressed to a woman with incense.

She opened the letter, thinking that she might give it to Ishiha as a copybook if the contents weren’t absurd. Koushun’s handwriting was upright and firm, making him a good model to copy.

Jusetsu’s eyes ran over the letter, and then she pursed her lips in thought for a little bit.

“What’s the matter?” Jiujiu asked.

“It’s nothing…” Jusetsu put the letter in her pocket.

“——The Winter Minister, Setsu Gyoei, is an old friend of Reijou’s. You should meet him and talk with him. I will arrange a place for a chat soon——”

What was he trying to do by having her meet with the Winter Minister? Did Koushun have some sort of ulterior motive? It was hard to tell just from reading the letter. But—Reijou’s old friend?

“How will you reply? I will deliver it.”

“I am not going to—”

Write anything back to him, she was about to say, but since Ishiha was waiting for an order with a sparkle in his eyes, Jusetsu grew weak. She guessed he enjoyed doing what he was told.

“…Wait a little bit.”

Saying that reluctantly, Jusetsu took out a sheaf of colored paper from the cupboard. She chose a light indigo piece of paper, picked up the brush, and only wrote, “I accept.” She folded it and gave it to Ishiha. His cheeks flushed red and he said enthusiastically, “I will deliver this to Dajia without fail!”

“’Tis not such an important letter,” Jusetsu said, but Ishiha eagerly ran out of the palace.

“He desperately wants to repay you,” Jiujiu laughed. Kougyou was also smiling.

“Repay me?”

“He told us that it’s because Niangniang took him in when he had nowhere to go.”

“…But I was the one who caused him to lose his place.”

“Oh, but that’s not true, Niangniang. It was that shifu that drove Ishiha out of Hien Palace. It wasn’t you. Besides, that man might not be able to stay in that mentor role anyway. I heard he is ill now——”

“What?”

Kougyou nudged Jiujiu’s elbow. Jiujiu covered her mouth, and Kougyou mouthed the word “chatty” to scold her.

“Is that eunuch lying ill in bed?”

“No, it isn’t that serious. I’ve said something unnecessary.”

My apologies, Jiujiu said.

“It matters not to me. If it is unnecessary, I’ll ignore it.”

“Niangniang,” There was a broad smile on Jiujiu’s face, but Kougyou quickly wrote down something on a scrap paper and showed it to Jusetsu. “You must not spoil him.” Even Jusetsu couldn’t help but laugh a little.

At night, Jusetsu went to the table alone. Various colored papers were spread out on it. Pale red, yellow, apricot-colored, golden-brown…they were sprinkled with gold and silver leaf. Next to them were a brush and an inkstick. The brush was a sparrow-head brush—a brush which had a point that resembled a sparrow’s head—with a spotted bamboo shaft. The inkstick was boat-shaped with its place of origin carved into it. The inkstick was a famous specialty of the east and of high quality.

After he delivered her reply, Ishiha came back with these items in his arms. They were gifts from Koushun. The message behind them was probably, “Write me more letters.” They were definitely not lovers, so she wondered if they could even exchange letters so often. It was most likely something that even friends did. Koushun seemed to be a surprisingly diligent writer. Apparently, he often wrote letters to the consorts. It was troublesome work.

She gathered the hemp paper and put them in a lacquer tray, and then put the brush and ink in a box she used for letters and papers. When she was about to get up to put them away in the cupboard, Jusetsu felt a sensation in her body, like something had shattered.

“——This is…”

Jusetsu clutched her arm. Something had broken.

She hurried to the doors. Xingxing flailed about, scattering its feathers, but she ignored it. After leaving the palace, she followed the same route she had taken during the day. Her destination was Jakusou Palace.

Moonlight illuminated her path. The shadows of the trees were scattered on the ground in a different way than during the day. The shadows were blue and absorbing.

Insects were beginning to make sounds. They were still not so loud that they were deafening. Once they got noisier, it would be the height of summer.

Jusetsu walked past the redbuds and went around to the back of Jakusou Palace. A light stronger than the moonlight was being cast from the palace. The hanging lanterns in the outer corridors were lit up brightly. The lanterns were dazzling, but this area was disproportionately quiet. Jusetsu headed for the pond.

Perhaps it was the darkness of the night, but it didn’t seem as wild and rough as it had during the day. The ivy and greenery growing all over the area illuminated by the moonlight gave the place a rather wistful aspect. However, it was somewhat dreary.

——I knew it.

The ivy hoop Jusetsu had tossed into the pond was not working. What she felt earlier was an indication that it had been broken. And then…

Jusetsu stared at the water. The moonlight was cold and the surface of the water was calm. The shadow of the willow trees was cast onto it. She couldn’t feel An’s presence.

Did An break the hoop and escape? ——No, that wasn’t it.

It was broken from the outside. There was a faint hint of An’s presence drifting in the air. Fragments here and there, faint and slight.

Jusetsu felt her breathing becoming quicker and quicker. What was this presence scattered here and there? It was—it was as if it was devoured messily by something.

Jusetsu backed away. It was an unconscious act. Her legs were paralyzed. Her body was frightened.

She suddenly recalled that she had felt this fear before. The night of the new moon. The young man that the escaped Wulian Niangniang had seen in the port town. This was the same fear from that time.

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