And now, the long-awaited vol 11 post.

The book starts with some flashbacks of Shuuei’s past. We get an extended description of Gyokuka, the wife of Setsuna, the eldest of Shuuei’s brothers. She’s not really super-beautiful, and she also has freckles, but she is apparently a very nice person, and she and Setsuna, the eldest of Shuuei’s brothers, are totally in love. It appears that she was supposed to become one of their father’s wives, but somehow she ended up marrying Setsuna. Shuuei fell in love with Gyokuka, but unable to stand the sight of their wedded bliss, he ran off to Kiyou.

Then, we go to when Shuuei moved to the capital. This was before he became a military official or took the National Exam, when he was around sixteen or seventeen, and he’s hanging around the back palace, having stood up one of the ladies-in-waiting (in Saiunkoku, it seems that anyone can hang around the inner palace. I thought the whole point of a harem was that strange men weren’t supposed to hang around there.) Suddenly, he comes upon a woman in the snow performing a famous dance of unrequited love, with a fan. Shuuei is so moved by this that he stands there in tears, and the woman throws her fan at him. He covers his face with the fan. Feeling sorry for him, Shusui takes him to her room, where she repairs his sleeve, which was torn when she trew he fan. Shuuei says that it paints him to see that the woman he loves is happy with another man, but Shusui says this is because he was raised in happiness, but for her, who was not raised expecting she deserved happiness, it is enough to see the happiness of the person she loves, and wonders if it is permitted for her to be in love, or to even continue living. Later, it seems that Shusui does not remember this incident at all, and continues her one-sided impossible love, which makes Shuuei happy when he confirms it by rejecting him, so he sort of identifies her with both his sister-in-law and himself.

Moving away from Shuuei’s youthful angst, in the present day, Ryuuki is meeting with the council, and they are discussing the Ran clan’s sending of Jyuusan-hime. Ou Ki is very suspicious because of his distrust of the Ran clan, and also says that the fact that Kouyuu and Shuuei are no longer at Ryuuki’s side looks very bad. He also complains that Ryuuki shows favoritism towards the Seven houses, ignores Ou Ki’s suggestions, ignores the other nobles, who unlike the Seven Houses need the king’s favor, etc. Ou Ki was hopeful when Ryuuki appointed Yuushun, but he was disappointed. Ryuuki cannot deny that Ou Ki has a point.

Meanwhile, in the country, a girl (duh, Jyuusan-hime) is traveling alone on a magnificent horse, when she is confronted by a group of ruffians. However, a helpful traveller (Ensei) appears and battles them for her.

Back at Kiyou, Ki Kouki (head of the Censorate) meets with Undersecretary Mou of the Military Department (the equivalent of Kouyuu, in other words, for that dept). He reports that someone is plotting to assassinate Jyuusan-hime.

I try to strike a balance in the summaries between just going exactly by what happens in the book, BTW, but it’s annoying when there are tons of little scenes that contain information that is important later. So sometimes I’ll just blow the info for the sake of not making these summaries a bunch of little fragments. Okay. Shusui is in a bad state. She’s trying to resist the mind-control of the Hyou clan, which seems to have started when Riou (the younger) came to Kiyou. Ryuuki is lonely and spends a lot of time hanging out with her. She wishes to be there as a support for him, but knows her time is running out.

Shou Taishi and Sou Taifu are hanging out, drinking wine and stuff. Shou Taishi seems to have gotten two weird little pets, that look like round fuzzy balls, one white and one black. Shou thinks about how Shuurei’s destiny cannot be changed, but how he may help her realize the future she wishes for a bit. The critters do not seem to obey Shou very much, but they take a liking to Sou, who asks if he can have them, and names them Shiro and Kuro. Shou irritably agrees.

Shuurei is cooking and beating the hell out of the dough while angrily cursing Seiga. Both Shouka and Seiran are impressed by this, with Shouka noting that the Kou family is famous for bad tempers. He had worried about this, but now he feels relief. He thinks that you can sort of see now she’s Reishin’s niece. Seiran wonders if that’s something you should really be happy about. Seiran thinks that he never imagined a day would come when he found Shuurei scary (as she smiles looking at the knife). Interestingly, during this conversation it’s implied that Seiran doesn’t know about Shouka’s superherosecret identity.

At the Censorate, Shuurei has brought lunch for herself and Suou. They have the smallest room. For some reason, Shuurei outranks Tantan. Suou is reading some books about law. Shuurei mentions that to pass the National Exam they had to study all kinds of things, including military strategy. Shuurei asks Suou to explicate a passage from what is actually part of Sun -Tzu’s Art of War. Basically, it’s about the best way to win a war is by defeating the enemy without fighting. Shuurei explains that in the case of internal strife, sometimes civil officials will command armies (wow, I never thought we would see any military strategy in Saiunkoku. Pretty please, author?), so it’s necessary to know that. Suou reflects that Shuurei is unlike other young women, uninterested in love or entertainment, and he feels she’s going about everything too fast, like flame of a candle burning brightly before going out.

Then Seiga enters the room, and battle is joined. Basically Seiga and Shuurei continually insult each other. Seiga eats the bento that Shuurei had made, rudely, and he also seems to enjoy angering Shuurei, smiling as they snipe at each other. (At one point, the author notes that had the situation not been as it was, you would think he was smiling as if he had fallen just fallen in love with the woman he was destined for…) He then tells her that Ki Kouki wants to see them in his office after lunch. After Seiga leaves, Shuurei takes out her anger by beating up a futon.

At lunchtime, Shuurei and Suou eat lunch in the supernumerary officials’ room, where they can meet people and gather information. There, they meet Anju. He comments that it’s annoying that Suou is there so they aren’t alone, but Seiran had told Suou that he was under no circumstances leave Anju alone with her. XD Shuurei tries to pump Anju for info on Seiga, but he only lies that Seiga is Kouki’s illegitimate child. Shuurei comments that from Anju’s viewpoint Seigan and Kouki seem to be the same, but for the first time Anju makes a serious face, and says that’s what Shuurei thinks. (Interesting) Later Shuurei promises to tell Anju where she had met him before, in return for explaining the rumor that Shuuei and Kouyuu have disappeared from Ryuuki’s side.

Anju explains: Due to his unhappy childhood, the king has no long-standing friends in the nobility, and the previous king and Shou Taishi destroyed many noble families, and instituted the national exam, and did not value the traditions and loyalty of the nobles, so right now, although they had hoped for better from Ryuuki, right now there is no meaning in swearing loyalty to the king. Because Ryuuki ignored Ou Ki’s Department of Deliberations and pushed things through with just Kouyuu and Shuuei at his side, because he doesn’t have the accomplishments of the previous kings, officials are becoming more and more dissatisfied. So, it looks as if Ryuuki has screwed up by bestowing his favor on Shuuei and Kouyuu, because regardless of the truth, it seems as they’ve stopped hanging out with him because Yuushun has become prime minister, or because they’re not truly loyal to him. In return Shuurei reveals she knows Anju because he used to be a secretive, mysterious customer at the Kougarou.

Shuurei meets with Kouki. He tells her she shouldn’t trust Anju, because he’s a good-for-nothing. Shuurei is shocked because she thought that Anju was his friend; he goes onto say that Anju wanders around telling lies and blathering about pointless things frivolously. He says that he’s only going to tell her this once, run away from him, and don’t accept any peaches. Shuurei says that she has already done so, so Kouki basically says, never mind, all it means is that his life is going to become three times more amusing. Shuurei protests that she has never seen the expressionless Kouki look amused at anything. But he says that thanks to Anju, his life is pleasant, thrilling, and unpleasant. (Shuurei is not sure what he means by that, and neither am I)

Anyway, back to work: he wants Shuurei and Seiga to work together on preventing the assassination of Jyuusan-hime. Shuurei will work as a double for her. Seiga is displeased about this, but Kouki tells him after Shuurei has left that sooner or later she would need to get involved in this case. Seiga says he hates Shuurei and that he would work better without her and that just seeing her angers him. Basically their existences are a denial of the other, so they refuse to lose to the other. Seiga likes it that a person as nice as Shuurei shows him such hatred. Kouki is interested at this and says that if he showed such interest in Kouyuu, that Ou Ki would probably be relieved.

Seiga says he totally considers Kouyuu unworthy of him, because unlike Shuurei, Kouyuu would have never aspired to take the exam, if not for Reishin. Even if Kouyuu sits at the side of the king, he has no desire to be anything more than Reishin’s aide, and has decided on that as his stopping point. No matter how talented Kouyuu is, Seiga will never recognize a man satisfied with mere that as his rival, and that’s why it’s better to target Shuurei, because she has a true desire to rise, meaning that she’s the one in his way. [Okay, this is going to make me unpopular in the fandom, but I think Seiga really has a point. Reishin doesn't even care about doing a good job or about the meaning of being an official, so it seems sort dubious to aspire to be the aide of such a man, as Reishin hasn't even demanded it of him.] Getting back to business, it seems that the assassins after the 13th princess have also killed some high officials in the provinces.

Ryuuki seeks out Riou. Riou, in response to his questions, says that he should accept Jyuusan-hime as his bride because otherwise this would be an insult to the Ran house. However, even if he should marry her, there is no promise that the Ran house would return their officials. Ryuuki is depressed, and Riou asks him if love is so important? Ryuuki says it’s the most important thing in the world. Riou says that he knows a family which, because of love, is trapped in a spiral of misfortune, in which people bring misery to themselves and others, because they can only see their beloved, even ignoring their own children, using them and throwing them away. He asks if everything is permitted for the sake of love? Riou does not think love is not that important, and if Ryuuki makes the people unhappy for the sake of love, Shuurei will not be pleased. He also says that Shuurei has chosen to be his ally, and won’t he be satisfied at that and not demand so much from her? However, the noble faction and the Hyou clan would like to see the Ran clan loose face, so Ryuuki can decide as he pleases.

Riou leaves the room, and Yuushun tells him he said too much; he borrows Riou’s words: if it’s not mistaken, is it permissible to say anything? Riou says that although Yuushun is about fifty years younger than his father (who spends much of his time sleeping, like a snail), he acts older. We also learn that the heartwarming-ness of the court has increased by fifty percent since Riou came, because he can be seen riding around on Uu-sama’s back. [Wait, the court was heartwarming at all in the first place?!] Yuushun says that if Riou should visit him, because he has candy. Riou is irritated to be treated like a child. (But Riou, you ARE a child…) Riou thinks that Yuushun past is shrouded in mystery. He tells Yuushun to not do too much, because otherwise he’s in danger of being assassinated. But Yuushun says that humans can die at any time, and whether the time comes slowly or quickly, there isn’t truly a large difference.

Later, Shuurei and Suou go to the jail. It’s part of their duty to inspect the jails. Accompanying them is Kou Kanshou (we should make it clear that this is yes, a different Kou from Shuurei’s last name. He is also not related to Kijin/Houju), boyish military officer who appears to specialize in archery. On their way, they see a woman has had her purse snatched, but a mysterious young woman… Juusan-hime defeats the thief, gives the woman her bag back, and is about to take the thief’s wallet before Shuurei stops her. She then disappears into the crowd.

Seiran has come to visit Shuuei. We recall that Seiran noticed that Shuuei lied about the Hyou clan’s activity a few vols back, and that the political situation is developing. Seiran asks which he will choose? If he’s not going to do anything for the king, it’s a problem, and that if it were Seiran, he would get rid of such a retainer, and that it has nothing to do with whether Ryuuki likes him or not. Ryuuki has said it’s okay if he’s second, but Seiran is not as nice as the king, because the king needs true allies. Seiran says it’s okay if Shuuei chooses the Ran house, but if he does, he should return the flower and go back to Ran province. Suddenly, Jyuusan-hime enters, and says that even if he’s a former prince, he’s now a commoner, so he should show some respect. However, Shuuei does have a tendency to run away from things, she admits. Anyway, she brushes Seiran aside, and she and Shuuei have a brother-sister reunion (she seems to be the half-sister Shuuei is closest to). Jyuu-san-hime is slightly better-looking that Shuurei and has a larger chest, and she, aside from having mad fighting skillz, is also knowledgable about literature and courtesy and other princessy things. She says she was told either to enter the Inner Palace or marry Seiran. Shuuei thinks that the latter would be a bad thing. They discuss Shuuei’s conflicts, and Jyuusan-hime jokes that Shuuei could resolve this problem by killing her and hiding the corpse, so he’d have time until the triplets send a new sister. From his reaction, Jyuusan gathers that the assassins were not sent by Shuuei.

Shuurei and Suou are inspecting the jails, which is the newb duty for the Censorate officials. She learns that Seiga formerly did this job, and was highly respected for his abilities. Shuurei realizes that her rival has years of experience and accomplishments (six years, btw). They meet a prisoner known as Shun, a one-eyed, dark-skinned man with the tattoo of a prisoner sentenced to death on his forehead. Shun is not supposed to be in prison, but he doesn’t seem to mind being there; he says that Shuurei reminds him of the woman he loves. In return for her efforts, Shun tells her to beware of the ‘ghosts who died in jail.’ As they are leaving the jail, Shuurei and Tantan are attacked by assassins. Kanshou tries to get to them, but they are too far away. Shuurei throws a flare or something explosive given to her by Sai Rin, which buys them some time, and Kanshou is able to alert the guards and save them. Shuurei falls down and scrapes her wrist.

Later, Shuurei finds that her wrist won’t stop bleeding, even though it’s just a slight cut. After she returns to the Censorate, Kuro and Shiro seem to do something to stop it from bleeding. Seiga helps her bandage her wrist, and reveals that he used to use this room. Although this seems to be a nice thing to do, Seiga just wants to see her scream when he dumps disinfectant on the wound. Seiga says that he works perfectly for the sake of his own success, and he laughs at the people who were thankful to him. Shuurei says that she will never recognize him, and Seiga says the feeling is mutual. As they discuss the plans for Shuurei to serve as a double for Jyuusan-hime, Shuurei wonders why Seiga voluntarily doesn’t try to become an upper-level Censorate official, and later, whether he knows that she served as a secret consort to the emperor. (okay, one mystery resolved: Shuurei’s identity as consort was not at all public.)

Later, Riou visits. He pours Shuurei some tea and asks to hear her play the erhu. Riou says that he’s been feeling strange after he said too much to Ryuuki. Shuurei asks him whether he has apologized, so Riou decides to do so. She says that Ryuuki is very kind, so of course he will forgive Riou, and also that Ryuuki is fond of him. Shuurei then thinks about Ryuuki: she has sometimes thought about what it would be like if she did just give everything up to become empress. Right now she isn’t that useful. However, she will not give up beforehand. Riou asks if there’s anything strange about her health, and says that if something happens, the Hyou clan can help her.

In the Inner Palace, Ryuuki wants to do embroidery with Shusui, who is not fond of embroidery because she sucks at it. But Ryuuki just wants to hang out with her, which he can’t do if he were practicing the sword or something (so he thinks). They discuss Jyuusan-hime, and how they know nothing about her. Ryuuki asks Shusui if she is thinking of marrying, because he would miss her if she left. Shusui says she wants to stay as long as she can, but appears very disturbed and leaves the room. She collapses in the hallway while trying to resist the Hyou clan’s powers and Riou discovers her, however, someone (of uncertain identity) else takes her away and looks after her. Shusui thinks about Shouka. It seems that although he’s a natural statesman, he won’t use his talents until things get really bad, which is why he’s not really doing much now.

tags>>saiunkoku