Chapter 6: Volume 1 - CH 1.6

“It is all men here.”

Jusetsu was looking around curiously. Ei Sei’s eyes seemed to say, “That’s a given.” Koushun didn’t say anything.

They were walking down the hallways of Koutou Academy. Scholars were coming and going. Their guide was a scholar named Ka Jun, courtesy name Meiin. Even when he caught sight of Jusetsu and Jiujiu dressed in eunuch uniforms, he only glanced at Koushun briefly and didn’t change his expression. He was a man who looked over forty with an intellectual face.

“This way, please.”

Meiin led Jusetsu and the others to a room. It was a book storage room. The shelves that lined the walls were filled with bamboo slips and scrolls, and the smell of ancient ink filled the room. The center table was piled high with scrolls and papers, but there was a young man sitting at the corner. At the sight of Koushun, he hurriedly stood up and knelt.

“Are you Kaku Kou?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Koushun sat down in a chair. At the same time, the moment Jusetsu saw Kaku Kou’s face, she stood there in blank amazement.

“You are…”

Koushun turned at Jusetsu’s shocked voice, and Kaku Kou also turned his gaze to her. He looked dubiously at Jusetsu dressed in a eunuch uniform for a moment, and then exclaimed, “Ah!” His face paled so quickly that one could almost hear the blood draining from it.

She had only saw him once, but there was no mistaking him. Drooping eyes and good-natured features. He was now wearing a bureaucrat’s uniform, but he was the eunuch who saved Jusetsu from being attacked.

“What is the meaning of this? Are you not a eunuch? Why are you here?”

“No, that’s—”

Sweat broke out on Kaku Kou’s face and his lips trembled. Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and prostrated himself on the floor.

“My deepest apologies!”

“…What’s going on here?” Koushun sought an explanation from Jusetsu. However, even she didn’t know what was going on. She explained that this was the person who saved her from the eunuchs who attacked her.

“Oh ho,” Koushun raised an eyebrow. “In other words, this person snuck into the inner palace?”

Was that what happened? Jusetsu stared at Kaku Kou’s pale face. When one looked at the things with no explanation, that seemed to be the case.

“Why did you do such a foolish thing?” Meiin reprimanded. “You should know what will happen to you if you’re discovered.”

“…If so, he risked discovery to save me,” Jusetsu walked over to the cowering Kaku Kou and kneeled down. “What was your reason for sneaking into the inner palace?”

Kaku Kou hung his head, seeming to hesitate over whether to tell her or not.

“Was it regarding Han-oujo?”

Kaku Kou raised his head in shock at her words.

“How do you—”

“We heard that you were Han-oujo’s betrothed,” it was Koushun who said that.

“Y-You know that much?”

“The person who was once Han-oujo’s attendant told us.”

“Attendant—” The panic disappeared from Kaku Kou’s face and he sidled up to Koushun. “Where is that person!?”

Ei Sei swiftly stood between him and Koushun and prevented him from getting closer. Kaku Kou continued to talk in spite of this.

“I want to ask her some things. Shousui’s attendant should know that she would never poison any—”

Ei Sei pushed away the excited Kaku Kou. Jusetsu lend a hand to help him up.

“…Is Shousui Han-oujo’s nickname?” Koushun asked quietly. Kaku Kou seemed to have regained some of his composure at the sound of his calm and collected voice.

“Yes.”

“You want to ask her attendant about the poisoning of the Magpie Consort at the time, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Shousui would never do such a thing. And on top of that, hanging herself—”

Kaku Kou choked up, and he hung his head down.

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“Did you sneak into the inner palace in order to search for her attendant?”

“…Yes. So that I can find the truth behind Shousui’s death,” he said, and then clenched his fists on top of his knees. “When I heard that Shousui died, I didn’t know that she had hung herself or that she poisoned another consort. Her father only said that she died from an illness. I thought it was strange since her body wasn’t weak, but there was the possibility of her dying from a disease that was spreading around. At that time, I only mourned her death.”

It wasn’t until he became a civil official that he learned of the circumstances that led to her death.

“I heard many rumors surrounding the previous emperor. About the consorts and the empress as well. I was shocked when I heard her among them,” Kaku Kou bit down on his lip hard. “Shousei would never poison anybody. She would never kill herself while being suspected.”

“…But that doesn’t mean you can sneak into the inner palace.”

When Koushun said that, Kaku Kou hung his head.

“I do not think Your Majesty would understand the feelings of one who had his betrothed stolen by the emperor.”

“How rude,” Ei Sei’s eyes sharpened at Kaku Kou’s tone. Koushun raised a hand to hold him back.

“We have been engaged to each other since we were young. Shousui and I never doubted that we would get married when the time came. But then suddenly, I was no longer allowed to see her because she was being sent to the inner palace. The night before she left for the capital, Shousui came to me without her parents’ knowledge. She then put one of her earrings in my hand and asked me to keep it as a memento. It was the jade earring she inherited from her mother.”

Kaku Kou’s face slackened. He looked like he was about to cry.

“…And I lost even that in the inner palace…”

“What?” Jusetsu’s eyes widened when he said that in a small voice.

——He lost the earring in the inner palace?

It can’t be, Jusetsu took out the earring tucked in her sash.

“Was it this earring?”

Kaku Kou’s eyes widened so much that they seemed to almost pop out of his head.

“T…That’s the one! The metal fitting has a scratch on the edge, but—oh yes, this is the one. This is Shousui’s earring!”

He accepted the earring with trembling hands, his cheeks red with excitement.

So her betrothed was the one who possessed the earring. Jusetsu was surprised. She had thought the earring was something Han-oujo had given to someone in the inner palace. Because it was lost in the inner palace. She never would have thought that it was her betrothed who had dropped it after sneaking in.

“Are you the one who found it?”

“No, it was that man.”

Jusetsu looked at Koushun. To be more accurate, it was his spy. Come to think of it, Koushun was searching for the person who dropped it, because they were a witness. That would mean Kaku Kou was that witness, but Koushun showed no indication of referring to that at the moment. It wasn’t something for Jusetsu to talk about as well, so she kept silent.

Kaku Kou seemed startled that Jusetsu called the emperor “that man,” but since no one around them was calling her out for it, he seemed to have presumed something.

“That earring is being possessed by a ghost. That man wanted me to save it, so I ended up being recruited.”

“His Highness—” Kaku Kou looked at Koushun, and then returned his gaze to Jusetsu. “Did you say ‘ghost’? Don’t tell me it’s Shousui’s—?”

“It is.”

His eyes became pained, and Kaku Kou stared at the earring.

“…So even after she died, she is still suffering,” Muttering that, Kaku Kou leaned toward Jusetsu. “You said you were recruited to save the ghost. Does that mean you are the Raven Consort? They say you can use mysterious arts.”

“Precisely,” Jusetsu nodded proudly, but became troubled when she was asked, “Can you save Shousui?”

“…I know not.” She answered honestly. Kaku Kou was obviously discouraged. “When she no longer has any regrets, she will go to paradise without any help from me. If her regrets of being killed is the cause of her becoming a ghost, she will soon be able to clear her name—is that not so?”

Jusetsu looked at Koushun for confirmation. He nodded.

“Preparations are underway to capture the eunuch who framed and killed Han-oujo.”

Kaku Kou let out a sound that was somewhere between a faint cry and a sigh.

“So then, Shousui is indeed innocent? And—and she truly was killed…?”

He sank down to the floor as if all strength had left him, and his face contorted in frustration.

“Why? Why did Shousui had to meet with such a fate?”

“The other side was targeting the Magpie Consort. Han-oujo, who lived in the same palace as her, was the most convenient person to frame as the criminal. That was probably all there was to it.”

That was the reason? Kaku Kou buried his face in his hands. After taking a few deep breaths to hold back his anger that had nowhere to go, Kaku Kou raised his head. He straightened up and looked at Jusetsu.

“Lady Raven Consort, I have something to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“Can you allow me to meet Shousui’s ghost?” Kaku Kou gripped Jusetsu’s sleeve, as though clinging to her. “Please, I beg of you.”

Jusetsu hesitated when the tormented eyes of Kaku Kou beseeched her. The ghost wasn’t the Shousui who was most probably beautiful, but a pitiful figure who was strangled to death. She hesitated to show such a figure to Kaku Kou.

“That ghost is not the Shousui you know and love. It is the figure of a ghost that is congealed regret and lament.”

“I don’t care what she looks like. As long as I get a glimpse of Shousui, that’s all that matters.”

Kaku Kou said desperately. Infiltrating the inner palace was a capital crime. He knew that, and that was why he was desperately begging her. One last glance.

Jusetsu felt something painful spreading in her chest.

“…Very well.”

She gently held out her hand. The palm of her hand turned hot, and petals appeared on it. One by one, the petals increased, eventually becoming a peony.

The peony was filled with a faint light. It slowly transformed into a pale flame. Jusetsu took Kaku Kou’s hand and picked up the jade earring he was holding. And then, she blew on the flickering pale red flame.

The flame dissolved like smoke and enveloped the jade earring. Beyond it, a figure appeared. A woman in a red dress—Shousui. Just as she appeared at Yamei Palace, her face was swollen purple, the shawl biting into her neck.

Kaku Kou gasped at the terrible sight of her, but even so he didn’t avert his eyes.

“Shousui…Shousui…”

He reached out his hand to the ghost. But his hand couldn’t touch her. Shousui didn’t look at Kaku Kou, but simply stared upwards. Kaku Kou’s voice didn’t reach her.

Kaku Kou’s head drooped. He murmured Shousui’s name many times over.

Although Shousui recalled her former betrothed by touching her earring, she wondered if the ghost had any feelings left towards him.

Or was it because this was the earring given to Kaku Kou, and the earring she had used as a memento wasn’t here?

However, they didn’t have time to look for the earring she had given to someone else in the inner palace. Jusetsu was impatiently racking her mind over how she could Kaku Kou’s voice to reach Shousui when Koushun called out to her.

“Jusetsu.”

——I feel strange when this man calls my name.

Koushun’s voice was low and gentle. Although he had a face that showed no emotion, his voice was gentle and warm, like a faint ray of sunlight. It shook Jusetsu from the bottom of her heart.

Stifling her discomposure that seemed to raise goosebumps on her chest, Jusetsu turned to him.

“…What is it?”

“Here,” Koushun took out something from his breast. Jusetsu reflexively reached out her hand, but she widened her eyes when she saw what was put in her hand.

“——What is the meaning of this?” Koushun had given her a jade earring. An earring with a somewhat large drop of dangling jade. “This earring is—”

It was just like Shousui’s earring—no, it was identical. Jusetsu held the two earrings in front of her eyes and compared them. The earrings with gold filigree and dangling jade were in a set.

“Why do you have this?” Jusetsu was confused.

Shousui had given one of the earrings to Kaku Kou and the other to someone in the inner palace. ―To someone.

“Don’t tell me…”

“…It happened when I was ten. After my mother’s funeral, I met her in the garden.”

Slowly, quietly, Koushun began to speak.

“I didn’t know who she was, but she gave me a single jade earring. Finding that strange, I asked her about it, and she told me that she gave the other one to someone precious to her. She said that when she wore her half, she feels like she’s connected to that other person. …I thought that it was something quite bold for a concubine of the inner palace to say, but she most likely said that to distract me, since I was crying.”

I was crying, he easily said. Jusetsu recalled the words Koushun told her before. “I also abandoned my mother to her death.” She wondered what kind of feelings were in his heart as he cried.

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“…I did something terrible to her. I asked her to give me that earring. I was jealous of her, whose important person was alive even though she couldn’t see him, and I couldn’t bear it.”

Koushun spoke quietly, like water seeping into a rock. His emotions from that time seemed to steadily permeate Jusetsu’s heart as well.

“She gave me her earring. She was smiling. She didn’t give it to me because I was the crown prince. She was consoling a crying child…”

Koushun stopped talking briefly. His eyes were wavering, and he blinked. He let out a soft breath and began to speak again.

“I immediately regretted taking the earring from her, but I lost the opportunity to return it,” Koushun stared at the earring. “I wanted to return it one day.”

Was that why he was so concerned about the owner of the earring? Jusetsu finally understood his heart.

——Can’t you save her?

Those words were indeed Koushun’s true feelings.

Jusetsu held out the pair of earrings to Kaku Kou. He stared at them, and then accepted them with great care. He enfolded them in his hands and held them close to his chest.

“Shousui…”

Kaku Kou suddenly raised his head. The ghost in front of him was transforming. Her face that had been swollen purple changed into a pale and slender face. The shawl that strangled her neck disappeared, and her disheveled clothing transformed into a dress the color of vividly green grass.

Shousui’s lips were gently curved. It was a graceful smile.

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Kaku Kou stood up. He stretched out his hand to touch her cheek, but of course, he couldn’t touch it. However, Shousui’s eyes narrowed as though his fingers truly did touch her. She stretched out a white finger, stroked Kaku Kou’s cheek, and touched his lips. Shousui then brought the finger to her own lips and kissed it.

Tears spilled from Shousui’s eyes. However, she was smiling. It was a smile that couldn’t have been happier. ——Just for this.

Shousui’s figure began to waver like smoke. She faded, unraveled, and dissolved like purple smoke trailing away. When Kaku Kou reached out his hand, the smoke lingered around his fingers, as though reluctant to part, and then finally disappeared.

——For Shousui, being able to see him for only a short time is her solace. Jusetsu’s heart ached as if it was being squeezed tight.

Kaku Kou collapsed onto the floor. The sound of sobs came from him as he hugged the earrings to his chest. His wails were the only thing that resounded in the room.

“——Thank you very much.”

After his sobs finally settled down, Kaku Kou wiped his face and thanked Jusetsu. And then he turned to Koushun and bowed.

“With this, my regrets have disappeared. I shall pay for the sin of sneaking into the inner palace with my death. –But before that, there is a matter I wish to report to Your Majesty.”

——Something he wants to tell Koushun?

Jusetsu peeked at Koushun, but he only nodded and said, “Go ahead.” Kaku Kou raised his face respectfully.

“When I snuck into the inner palace, I pretended to be a mallard man and blended in with the mud-sweepers in the drains of the inner palace.”

Mallard men were low-ranking eunuchs who engaged in manual labor. There was a large number of these eunuchs, and there were frequent personnel changes. Even when they went back and forth between the inner palace and outside to dispose of the mud, the guards wouldn’t ask their identities one by one. That was why it was easy to sneak in, Kaku Kou explained. They would need to know how he infiltrated the inner palace for future security purposes.

However, Jusetsu was stunned by what he revealed next.

“The palace ladies like to gossip. I would hide myself in the bushes and listen to their chatter. I wanted to hear something about Shousui. As I was doing this, I overheard a conversation between a certain eunuch and palace lady. ——It was at night, in the shade of a tree with no one around. I couldn’t understand them at first because they didn’t use clear phrasing, but they seemed to be secretly working on a plan to poison His Majesty.”

“Poison…!?”

A tension ran through the room. Jusetsu looked at Koushun, but he was calm and composed, his expression unchanged. Did he already know about this from his spies’ reports?

“…Where did you hear this conversation?”

Koushun quietly inquired. “In a corner of Kinkou Hall’s courtyard,” Kaku Kou answered. Kinkou Hall—that was the Library Tower. “The eunuch and palace lady were in the shade of a sweet olive tree, and I was in a nearby thicket.”

Koushun nodded at that response. “A palace lady who was formerly an attendant of the empress dowager works at the Palace Secretarial Bureau in Kinkou Hall,” he said. “The eunuch was also someone who worked for the empress dowager. Currently, he is demoted to the Internal Affairs Ministry. Most of the eunuchs and palace ladies who worked for the empress dowager have been punished, but not all have been hunted down.”

That is why, Koushun matter-of-factly continued.

“In the inner palace, I set spies on the eunuch and palace lady who used to work for the empress dowager. We were aware that there were suspicious activities going on around these people. However, my spies were unable to obtain any conclusive evidence. Then one night, they found the eunuch and palace lady talking in secret.”

Koushun glanced at Kaku Kou.

“From my spy’s location, they couldn’t hear what they were discussing secretly. The two left after they finished their talk, but afterwards, they saw someone hurriedly running away from a nearby bush. They seemed to be a eunuch, but my spy couldn’t be sure. They tried to chase after him, but they lost sight of him in the darkness of the night. ——However, he left a parting gift. Perhaps he had dropped it because he was in a panic. It was a jade earring.”

——In other words, it was that earring that Koushun brought to Jusetsu.

Kaku Kou’s mouth was hanging wide open.

“Then…then, you already know about the poisoning plot, Your Majesty?”

No, Koushun denied.

“Just as I said, my spy didn’t obtain any definitive information or evidence. That’s why you are an important witness. What you have revealed here is of great significance. I thank you.”

Kaku Kou stared at the floor with a complicated expression.

“Dajia does not need to apologize,” Ei Sei interrupted coldly. “If this person had reported this to you immediately, we wouldn’t have to act in such a roundabout way by finding the person who dropped this earring. He kept quiet until now because if he had told us, his infiltration into the inner palace would have been discovered.”

He was more concerned for his own self-preservation than for Dajia’s life, Ei Sei said in a severe tone.

Kaku Kou hung his head.

“…When I heard the conversation between the eunuch and palace lady, I didn’t feel compelled to tell His Majesty immediately. To be honest, I don’t have good feelings towards the imperial family. My betrothed was taken from me, after all.”

Perhaps because he had no more regrets, Kaku Kou stated what was on his mind without hiding anything. Ei Sei and the others raised their eyebrows.

“However, His Majesty made a great effort to save Shousui. And thanks to His Majesty taking good care of her earring until now, she was saved. In order to repay that debt, I told him everything that I knew. But…Your Majesty, were you working so hard so that you could find me? So that you can get my testimony?”

There was a look of disappointment in Kaku Kou’s eyes. Koushun didn’t answer in any way.

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That is not so, Jusetsu thought. The fact that Koushun had always kept the earring and the fact that he asked her to save Shousui were all true. It must have been his own wish to save her, which was different from the purpose of finding Kaku Kou.

Also, if he only wanted to find the witness, he should have kept quiet about the spy and other things. If that was the case, Kaku Kou would only hold feelings of gratitude towards Koushun. Koushun wasn’t so foolish as to not know that. Did he purposely told Kaku Kou everything because he felt it was only fair to do so?

——This man is not a dexterous person.

Finally, Jusetsu began to understand him somewhat. Koushun was unable to express his emotions and had no way to communicate his true feelings. She didn’t know if it was because of his mother’s death or the period of time when he was the deposed crown prince, though.

Jusetsu opened her mouth.

“…If he only wished to find you, there are many methods that are quicker. It is nothing but slow and cumbersome to ask me for help. But I had to be the one to save Shousui. –This man told me to save her.”

That was most likely the best answer.

Kaku Kou stared at Jusetsu, and then looked at the earrings in his hand. If he thought about it calmly, he should understand what Jusetsu was saying.

“…Yes,” After a while, Kaku Kou nodded. “It is as the Lady Raven Consort says. Thanks to this, I was able to see Shousui.”

I said something insolent, Kaku Kou bowed his head and thanked Koushun formally.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for Shousui.”

“I was only repaying the favor I owed to Han-oujo,” Koushun said, and then stood. “You can return now. Do not tell anyone about what happened today.”

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“——What?” Kaku Kou’s eyes widened. “‘You can return now’…I’m not being sent to the Autumn Ministry?”

The Autumn Ministry was the government office in charge of criminal punishment.

“Any man who infiltrates the inner palace without permission will receive the death penalty, but those who have the emperor’s permission may go in and out. You have been ordered by me to sneak into the inner palace to investigate the eunuch’s movements.”

He was saying, I’m overlooking this.

Certainly, he couldn’t kill Kaku Kou, who was an important witness.

But, Kaku Kou raised his voice. “I didn’t tell you what I heard in order to beg for my life. I am not asking you to overlook—”

Kaku Kou was growing angry. A man who shows emotions freely, Jusetsu thought somewhat inappropriately. She was slightly envious of him, and also thought that it was precisely because he was like this that he was able to go to such lengths for Shousui.

“I told you, didn’t I? I wanted to repay the favor Han-oujo did for me. You are one part of that,” Koushun’s way of speaking was curt. “This won’t bring Han-oujo back to life, however.”

It was curt, but there was a sense of unfathomable loneliness in that murmur. Kaku Kou was silent. Perhaps he had also picked up on it.

“It would be a shame to lose one of our capable officials over something as trivial as that. ―Now all that’s left is to find the poison they’re hiding.”

Koushun looked at Ei Sei, who shook his head. “According to the spies’ reports, no poison was found in Kinkou Hall or the Internal Affairs Ministry.”

It seemed that they had already done their investigation in that area.

“In the first place, they shouldn’t have had an opportunity to obtain poison.”

The other side knew they were being watched by spies, so they had no way of getting poisons or weapons from the outside.

“However, since they were talking with each other about poisoning me, they must have been able to obtain poison. I want to get the evidence before we arrest them. We can make them tell us the location of the poison after we arrest them, but if they have collaborators we don’t know about, the poison will get disposed of in the meantime.”

I don’t believe they would hide important assassination tools somewhere out of sight, Koushun said with a difficult look on his face. Even if they managed to steal away from the spies’ eyes, the places they could hide the poison were limited. There was no evidence they were in contact with collaborators. While Koushun and Ei Sei were discussing this, Jusetsu was deep in thought. Something tugged at her mind, ringing a bell in her head.

——Kinkou Hall…a palace lady of the Palace Secretarial Bureau…eunuch.

What was it. Haven’t I heard those words a little while ago?

“Palace lady of the Palace Secretarial Bureau…eunuch…”

She muttered the words aloud, searching her memory. The mention of the palace lady caught on something in the corner of her mind—.

“—Ah!”

She let out an unexpectedly loud cry. Koushun and the others turned their gazes to her.

“What is it?”

Koushun asked, but Jusetsu didn’t answer him. She turned to Jiujiu, who was standing behind her.

“Jiujiu, you had entanglements with a troublesome palace lady from the Palace Secretarial Bureau, did you not?”

“Huh? Ah, yes,” Suddenly being asked to speak, Jiujiu nodded, flustered. “Yes, that is true.”

“That palace lady is a newcomer, just like you?”

“Yes, she is.”

“I see…”

“What are you talking about?”

Koushun asked. Jiujiu blushed when he turned his gaze on her.

“Um, well, a palace lady I’m acquainted with works at the Palace Secretarial Bureau. She is exchanging letters with a eunuch at Hien Palace—ah, she told me to keep quiet!”

Jiujiu hurriedly covered her mouth. Palace ladies belonged to the emperor, so love affairs with eunuchs weren’t things that were openly discussed. Although, they were overlooked in reality.

——However, that wasn’t the reason why that palace lady told Jiujiu to keep quiet about it.

“If I remember correctly, you said that she herself wasn’t the one exchanging letters with a eunuch,” Jusetsu confirmed, and Jiujiu nodded. “Yes,” she said.

“That palace lady was asked to deliver letters. If she was running an errand, it must have been a high-ranking palace lady who asked her to do so, and she most likely received something in return.”

High-ranking—a veteran palace lady. Koushun’s gaze sharpened.

“Jiujiu, that palace lady was forcing difficult tasks on you to create a distraction.”

“Distraction?” Jiujiu was puzzled.

“A distraction from the fact that she is delivering letters.”

She thought it was strange that she would pester Jiujiu every time she went to Hien Palace. Also, the fact that a new palace lady could frequently abandon her post. If it was a high-ranking palace lady, it could have been handwaved in some way.

“——What is the name of the eunuch at Hien Palace who is exchanging letters with her?”

Koushun asked. His voice was low and heavy. Jiujiu’s body stiffened at his severe tone, and she answered with a nervous look on her face. “Haa, um, his name is Chou Eki.”

“He is not a eunuch who once worked for the empress dowager. What’s the name of the palace lady from the Palace Secretarial Bureau who is delivering these letters?”

“Ri Juushijou—her given name is Shuuyou. She is the daughter of an imperial treasury official.”

“Have you heard the name of the palace lady who asked her to deliver the letters?”

“No…” Jiujiu’s eyes moved around restlessly like she was desperately trying to remember. “Oh, but she told me that there was a palace lady who was very considerate to her…and that she was going to be promoted to attendant with that palace lady’s recommendation. The palace lady’s name was Shin-shi.”

Ei Sei suddenly looked at Koushun. Koushun’s eyebrows twitched for only a moment, but Jusetsu could see the waves of emotion within him trembling.

“Shin-shi was a former attendant of the empress dowager,” Koushun said quietly. “She is the palace lady holding secret talks with the eunuch from the Internal Affairs Ministry. I don’t know if Chou Eki is her friend or lover, but they are keeping in touch with each other using that new palace lady as a cover. Letters wouldn’t be the only thing she is sending to Chou Eki. ——Sei, the poison isn’t in Kinkou Hall or the Internal Affairs Ministry, it’s in Hien Palace. Search Chou Eki’s room.”

“Yes,” Ei Sei bowed and left the room.

Jiujiu, upon learning that a palace lady she knew was involved in the poisoning plot, turned pale. “Ri Shuuyou most likely cooperated without knowing everything,” Jusetsu told her. “I don’t believe she has that much gall. She was used with the chance of becoming an attendant as bait.”

“Yes…” Jiujiu weakly nodded. Jusetsu looked over at Koushun. He was looking into space, as though he was thinking about something. Jusetsu recalled the color of the emotion that flashed across his face when he heard that the palace lady’s name was Shin-shi. Wasn’t that the color of joy?

Koushun’s profile as he stared ahead of him was as still as clear water, and it was impossible to see the emotion in the depths of his eyes.

The palace lady of the Palace Secretarial Bureau, Shin-shi, and the Internal Affairs Ministry eunuch Ko Gen were arrested soon after.

In Chou Eki’s room, a packet of heartbreak grass, a kind of poisonous plant, was discovered. Chou Eki hadn’t known that it was poison or that it was for assassinating the emperor. He was asked by his lover Shin-shi to hold onto it and not let it be found, so he hid it.

Shin-shi, whose parents were medicine sellers, had concealed her possession. Heartbreak grass was also the poison used to kill Consort Sha during the reign of the previous emperor. After the empress dowager was placed under house arrest, Shin-shi was transferred to the Palace Secretarial Bureau, a leisurely post, when she was approached by Ko Gen with the assassination plot and took part in it. However, even if they wanted to proceed with this plot, they were being watched by spies and couldn’t make a move, so they decided to use Ri Shuuyou to leave the heartbreak grass in Chou Eki’s custody.

Ko Gen confessed that he had been bribed by the empress dowager to plot this assassination.

The eunuch who framed and killed Han-oujo was also captured at the same time. He also admitted the empress dowager’s involvement.

After the above matters were solemnly tried by the Autumn Ministry, the decision was made to execute the empress dowager.

Feeling a presence, Jusetsu looked up. The door opened, and at the same time, Xingxing flew out. Ei Sei easily caught the bird as it came flying towards him and held it by the neck. From behind him, Koushun entered. Jusetsu sat on the bed surrounded by thin silk curtains and watched. When Koushun came to the curtains, he ordered Ei Sei, “Let it go.”

Koushun opened the curtains slightly. Jusetsu glared at him.

“I did not say you may come in.”

“Then you should have barred the doors.”

“…What is it tonight? You no longer have any business here.”

Without giving any regard to Jusetsu’s harsh comment, Koushun looked around the room. His eyes landed on an incense burner on top of a cabinet.

“When I first came here, I thought that scent of incense in this room was overpowering, but was it to mask the smell of hair dye?”

Jusetsu frowned. Had he come here just to say that?

“Leave.”

Jusetsu raised her hand to the peony in her hair. “Wait,” Koushun calmly stopped her.

“You were a great help to me, so I thought I had to give you a reward and brought you this.”

“Reward? I have no need for money.”

Koushun walked behind the curtains without asking and stood in front of Jusetsu. Jusetsu recoiled slightly, leaning her body back.

“W-What is it?”

Koushun put his hand in his breast pocket and tossed a silk pouch onto Jusetsu’s lap. While thinking, What a crude motion, she opened the mouth of the pouch and saw that it contained dried jujubes.

“…This is quite paltry for a reward.”

It was like a reward given to a child.

“I had the idea earlier and that was what I had on hand. I will prepare an official one with a certificate later.”

“I have no need for overblown gifts.”

This will do, Jusetsu said and bit into a jujube. The more she bit into it, the more the distinctive sweetness spread in her mouth.

Koushun sat down on the couch. Why is he sitting? Jusetsu thought as she shifted to the side slightly.

“…It all ended today.”

Koushun muttered in a low voice. Just as she was about to ask what he was talking about, she realized. ——Today was the day of the empress dowager’s execution.

Koushun’s eyes were wandering in space. He seemed tired.

“I’ve been wanting to kill her for a long time,” Koushun said, the words like dirt peeling off a wall. “That woman killed my mother and my friend. Off-handedly, like plucking the wings of insects.”

“Friend…?” She had heard about his mother, but this was the first time she was hearing of this.

“However, I made up my mind that I wouldn’t kill her out of hatred. I would judge and execute her righteously according to the law. I would not act cowardly or underhandedly. Because I am different from the empress dowager. ——So when I thought I might be able to get evidence, I was elated. Now I could finally kill that woman.”

Koushun threw himself down on the cushions behind him and stretched out. She wanted to tell him to not sleep on someone else’s bed without permission, but he closed his eyes, seeming exhausted. Jusetsu found it difficult to protest.

“But there is no such thing as killing someone righteously, is there,” he murmured faintly and opened his eyes slightly. “All that remained was regret that I couldn’t save anyone. I always consoled my heart by longing to kill her.”

Koushun turned his face to Jusetsu.

“You have never hated anyone. How did you hold yourself together?”

Jusetsu looked down at Koushun, and then averted her gaze.

“I know not. I was empty once. It was the previous Raven Consort who filled me up again.”

“…Is that so.”

Koushun let out a deep sigh.

“Then, I am now empty.”

His voice was hoarse. Jusetsu didn’t say anything. She was painfully aware why this man came here tonight, but she couldn’t think of any words of comfort.

Thinking something, Koushun was about to reach out his hand to Jusetsu, but then stopped. He then languidly raised himself up and loosened his collar as he spoke.

“About the eunuchs who attacked you.”

“What?”

What is he talking about? She thought, but then recalled the previous incident where she was attacked on the way to Sen’e House.

“As expected, it was instigated by the empress dowager. When she learned that you were doing something on my orders—”

“How could the empress dowager have known that? Your guard is too wea—”

She was about to say it, but closed her mouth. ——He made it weak. On purpose. He had loosened the net and was waiting for them to get caught in the trap.

“Thanks to that, we were able to flush out the remnants of the empress dowager’s faction along that line, but I am sorry for putting you in harm’s way. I apologize.”

His matter-of-fact tone didn’t sound like he was truly sorry. When she remained silent, Koushun continued to speak.

“I placed a guard on you, so I thought you would be fine. I’m sorry.”

He seemed to feel apologetic in his own way. His facial expression didn’t indicate this, however.

“…It no longer matters.”

When she said that, Koushun blinked a little and stared at Jusetsu’s face.

“What?”

“——Have you any interest in becoming my consort?”

“Excuse me?”

Jusetsu frowned.

“What are you talking about, there is no coherence between any of your thoughts. Are you half asleep?”

“I’ve been so busy today that I haven’t slept properly. But I am not talking in my sleep when I said I wanted to make you into my consort.”

“You must be talking in your sleep. I am the Raven Consort—”

“There is no law against the Raven Consort cannot become the emperor’s consort.”

“Because it’s a matter of course, there is no need to make it into law.”

It was not as though Koushun didn’t know that. Jusetsu was irritated by the words that were nothing but a joke. Jusetsu couldn’t become a consort, and she couldn’t go anywhere. She couldn’t hope for anything. —There was nothing she could do except shout and rave about the absurdity of what he said to this man. Jusetsu only looked away.

“I am fed up with this drivel. Get out of here.”

She spoke coldly, but Koushun didn’t move. Just when she was about to kick him out, he reached out his hand and touched her hair. Jusetsu stiffened.

“…When I saw you by that pond, I thought, ‘So this is what a goddess looks like.’”

Koushun cast down his eyes, as though recalling that scene.

“Your silver hair shining in the moonlight, I never saw anything as beautiful as that…”

His quiet whispering voice fell from over her head. Jusetsu was at a loss as what to reply. As her gaze roamed about, Koushun brought his body closer, flustering her even more.

“Wha—”

What are you doing? She was about to raise her voice, but Koushun’s body tilted to the side and fell on top of the cushions. “…Huh?” Looking at him, she saw that his eyes were closed and he was letting out the breaths of sleep. Koushun was sound asleep.

“…Hey.”

Jusetsu called out to him, but Koushun’s eyes didn’t open. In its place, she only heard the sound of his breathing as he slept. Jusetsu shook his shoulders in a panic.

“Hey, wake up. This is my bed, do not sleep here.”

Koushun showed no indication of waking up. On top of that, he was gripping her hair. Even when she tried to pull her hair away, he didn’t let go. On the contrary, his grip grew stronger.

“E-Ei Sei! Ei Sei! I know you are here. This man has fallen asleep. Take him back.”

She could sense Ei Sei on the other side of the curtains.

“I cannot do something as irreverent as waking up Dajia and taking him back. You wouldn’t understand how tired he is. Please at least display the consideration of letting him sleep here soundly.”

“Wha—this is not a joke. Then where am I supposed to sleep?”

“Would you be fine with resting on the floor?”

After saying that, Ei Sei’s presence disappeared from the other side of the mirror. It had occurred to her before, but his attitude towards her was much too thorny.

“That…”

Jusetsu glared at the curtains, then looked down at Koushun with bitter feelings. Even though this was someone else’s bed, he was in a deep sleep. He showed no sign of letting go of her hair.

However, whether he slept or woke up, it would be an easy thing for her to chase him out. Jusetsu put her hand to her peony and removed it from her hair. If she blew on it once, Koushun would be outside the doors.

Jusetsu stared at Koushun’s sleeping face. ——How is this man sleeping with such a peaceful face?

The peony in her palm turned into a light red flame. Jusetsu gently cupped it with her hands and held it above Koushun’s head.

“…Only for tonight,” Jusetsu murmured. “I will grant you good dreams.”

The flower petals disappeared when they touched Koushun’s body. As to what kinds of dreams he had that night, Jusetsu didn’t know.

Man that took a while but here it is, the final part of chapter 1!

Also I’ve been seeing some things online so I want to make this clear to avoid future disappointment (and as someone who read the final volume): this series is NOT a romance. Jusetsu and Koushun do not get together as a couple by the end. There is no romantic development. I know it’s weird to say this at the end of this particular chapter, but they are more like platonic life partners/lifelong BFFs.

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