Takes place relatively early in the book.

“….Riou…. as always, was impressive.”

Having returned to his office, Ryuuki collapsed over his desk. Recently he had been thinking that, however you looked at it, Riou was far more suited that he was to being king.

“You seem depressed, my lord.”

Yuushun and Seiran had together followed after Ryuuki and entered the room, where they saw him slumped there like a crushed frog.

“Today he also was a great help to me. Without him, I couldn’t have stopped things either.”
When it came to politics, Riou certainly could be said to have a natural gift for them. Yuushun was impressed. It might have also been the result of his education within the Hyou clan, but his instincts were in a class of their own. Ryuuki was confused.

“What do you mean?”
“Regarding the Civil Administration matter, when you were asked ‘what does his majesty think about this?’ before your majesty related his opinion, because you looked at me, the people who saw this now think that all of that is my opinion.”
After an instant, Ryuuki raised his head from the desk. His face had become white.
“Up until now, have you then been asking Kouyuu-dono and Shuuei-dono?
“…That’s so.”
“Listening to people’s opinions is very important. It is a rare quality. But if you are asked something and do not relate your own opinion, you will seem like a king who is ruled by the words of his advisors. Riou-kun probably sensed that. Since Ou Ki-dono asked for the king’s opinion, the prime minister should not answer in his stead. That would not be the opinion of the king, but just that of a single retainer. ”

Seiran, who was standing beside Ryuuki, saw him tightly bite his lips. Inside of his head, the images of Shuuei and Kouyuu, who had privileged upbringings, welled up. Up until now, they had been carelessly answering for Ryuuki while at his side, and so Ryuuki’s government was now viewed as full of favoritism.

“It is important for you to be conscious of how everyone is viewing you, and to carefully act as though everything is by your own judgement. It is the proof that the king has examined all of the issues one by one, and finally, takes responsibility for the decision. It will be fatal if my words at the Council of State are publicly taken to be the king’s opinions.”

Ryuuki said nothing, but just nodded. Up until now, Kouyuu and Shuuei had been by his side, and when he agreed with their opinions, he simply nodded to them.

However, that implied to everyone that those were not Ryuuki’s thoughts, but their thoughts. He hadn’t realized that his actions were being interpreted that way.

“Riou-kjun values your authority more than anything. ‘If you think so, then so be it.’ Wasn’t that what Riou-kun said at the end? That is the important thing. The officials follow because the king has decided something. So if they think that this is someone’s else’s opinion, the officials will be displeased, and no one will obey. When I took up this post, I said that ‘the duties of sovereign and minister should be clear,’ and that was what I meant. It didn’t mean that the king can do whatever he wants simply because he is king.”

Could things have come to this? Ryuuki tried to smile, but was completely unable to. Whether he looked up or down, tears threatened to come out, so he hurriedly closed his eyes. When he stopped breathing, the front of his jaw shivered.

“…..Don’t you want to quit already? Prime minister.”
“No, not at all.”
“You’re lying! If we were prime minister, we would have gotten fed up and moved to Ran province to go and play with the pandas!”
“Really? But I am the prime minister.”

Those words were painful to Ryuuki. They stabbed into his heart the most. Right now, he was empty-handed. Even regarding the Civil Administration posts, he had no idea who to suggest. He saw nothing.

“There really is… nothing within my hands.”

There was no one. He had not groomed anyone. Just as Ruka had said, that was Ryuuki’s reality.

“Your majesty, do you know this? This is about deer and cows, but while in a herd, they eat grass and rest. And for some reason, when doing this, they face their heads either north or south.”

This sudden twist in the conversation took Ryuuki by surprise.

“Wha…? No, what about that? I didn’t notice. Why?”
“Now, migratory birds, and butterflies, even without a map, go straight towards their destination, as if they are born knowing where to go. Did you know that? The migratory butterflies which come from the north of the Banri Range travel down to southern Ran province. They are said to carry the souls of the dead. And why do the positions of the stars change with the seasons? Why does the sun rise in the east and set in the west?”

This was as clear as mud to Ryuuki, so he did not notice that Seiran’s eyebrows had slightly knitted at this talk.

“Eh? There’s a reason for all of that?”

Although Ryuuki had never in his life wondered about these things, Yuushun smoothly said them.

“If you put things all in the proper order, you should be able to make a rough guess. Everything is connected.
“Whaaaa? I don’t get it at all. Why cows and deers all rest with their heads to the north or the south? Why?”
“Well, never mind about that. What is certain is, usually when a riddle is posed, there is a clear answer, so if you think about it, you will arrive at a consistent answer. It is the same in go. However, for people, that doesn’t work. They are always doing strange things that make you go ‘what’s with that?’”

Ryuuki crumpled at this great detour. He hadn’t thought it would come back to that.
Yuushun, while smiling brilliantly, tilted his head a bit.

“Personally, there is something I find more mysterious than why cows all sleep with their heads to the north or the south.”
“…..you have already said a lot of mysterious things.”
“I know. When someone racks up a high tab, they know that if they do that, they’ll be angrily pursued later. Someone like Ensei can cheerfully eat and run, but your majesty did not escape to Ran province, but returned with the intention of paying the bill.”

His voice was as gentle as a spring rain. Unlike the rain of winter, which would mercilessly steal away all life, the rains of spring allowed the small sprouts to grow.

Ryuuki stared at Yuushun. At that time, Yuushun had said nothing. He had just smiled as always and sent Ryuuki off, telling him to have a safe trip. The only two to have seen him off were Seiran and Yuushun.

“You thought that when we went to Ran province, we might have just run away and never come back?”
“That was one of the possibilities.”
“What would you have done if we hadn’t returned?”
“What would I have done? I don’t know. But because your majesty has returned, I am now here as your prime minister. That is my answer, as to why I do not want to quit.”

Yuushun never got angry. Or at least, other than the time Ryuuki had angered him at the time of his coronation, he had never been seen to do so. Probably right now, he was the only person who had never blamed or gotten angry at Ryuuki, no matter how stupidly he behaved. Therefore, for Ryuuki Yuushun had become a safe haven, someplace he could return to.

“Then, it was you, my lord, he chose to return with the resolution to face up to that tab. Since the king has decided not to run away, then the prime minister must not run away either.”

When he had returned, Ryuuki thought, from the bottom of his heart, that he had done the right thing. If he had run away, all of that debt would have come to rest on Yuushun.

Seiran opened his mouth for the first time.

“…Yuushun-dono, is it alright to leave the Civil Administration Bureau that way? To have the secretarial post be empty, and to promote You Shuu to undersecretary.”
“Right now, the only thing we can do is wait this out. We can leave the post of Secretary for later, when we have more of a choice of candidates, but since the undersecretary directly takes charge of things, it is necessary to have a experienced, talented Civil Administration official. You Shuu is an appropriate choice. Ou Ki-dono should let the matter drop with this.”
“That is neither very good, nor very bad.”

Ryuuki was surprised at Seiran’s strangely sarcastic way of speaking.

“Seiran! Why is your mood so bad all of a sudden?! Are you hungry?!”

Seiran let his head drop, as if he had let down his guard.

“No, not particularly. Well, then You Shuu is okay. I was just worried a bit about it.”
“Seiran-dono, how is the condition of the Kou officials?”
“Not very good. They seem to be highly dissatisfied.”

Hearing that, Yuushun’s eyes narrowed behind his fan.

After Yuushun left the king’s office, Seiran went with him as his bodyguard, as usual.

Seiran checked to see that there was no one around, and then quietly said Yuushun’s name.

“—Yuushun-dono.”
“Yes?”
“Actually, I am not completely satisfied about the Civil Administration affair. Why did you make that recommendation?”

The sound of a cane, and the sounds of their shoes, echoed throught every crevice of the corridor.

“Before Reishin-dono was dismissed, you borrowed a lot of personnel records from the Civil Admin bureau. So you must know all about the past posts, achievements, experience, merits and demerits, etc, of the important officials in both the central and provincial governments.You should have been able to choose a Civil Administration Secretary who would have helped his majesty and also silenced the complaints of both the noble and national exam factions. So why did you let the post stay open without recommending anyone?”

Yuushun neither stopped nor turned around. Without any change in his slow steady pace, the measured sound of his cane tapping the ground echoed, as if he were marking time.

“I said it was neither very good or very bad, but actually, it’s the same as You Shuu single-handedly having all discretion over personnel decisions below the fifth official rank. What were you thinking?”

While walking, Yuushun softly chuckled.

“That was an extremely direct way of asking a question for you, Seiran-dono. What a rare thing.”
“It’s annoying, but I have never been able to beat you at go, so I could only think that it would be useless to beat around the bush. But right now you are not going on the attack either. It’s not like you to just defend. Regarding that case, before all of that happened, you could have used your authority as prime minister to transfer the two of them. Considering your talents, there must have been a better way.”

For the first time, Yuushun stopped walking and turned around. On his face was his usual smile. However, Seiran realized that for him to be able to smile ‘as always’ at a time like this was not normal. It was almost bizarre for him to be so calm. Yuushun was always using his smile when he wanted to conceal something. Why was he thinking something like this?

“You overestimate me. But your face shows that you are still dissatisfied, so I shall answer honestly. There are. Many of them. If you want plans that would be more thorough, more perfect, and not trouble the king, there are mountains of them.”

He said this so freely that Seiran did not understand his meaning right away.

“Wh—what?”
“But, that would be meaningless.”

Seiran was so angry that sparks flashed before his eyes.

“Meaning? What do you mean by “meaningless”? I do not understand what you mean.”
“For me to pay the entire bill myself—while it would not be easy—would be possible. I could make a plan, prepare everything, explain everything propertly, and by giving out precise instructions, I could each the king the “right answer” before he made any mistakes. And the king might do just as I say. Then losses might be kept to a minimum. But then, just whose country would it be?”

Seiran closed his mouth.

“That’s…”
“Right now all of the bills due have come due at once. Although it is hard, the king must pay them. My job is to help him, not to shoulder them all myself. To do the best with what the king has, and to advance as far possible on the path he has chosen. That is my work. Right now, the king does not have the game pieces of either the Civil Administration Secretary or Undersecretary. That is how things are for him. It would be easy for me to supply some skilled Secretary from somewhere, but that would amount to the king easily making someone he didn’t know until now a high official.”
“That… that may be true.”

Yuushun’s argument was correct. But Seiran could not be satisfied with that. It was far too idealistic.

“Right now, is this really the time for such leisurely education? The pieces that should be taken should be taken. If that is not done, things will get worse and worse. He will continue to be backed into a corner. Ou Ki-dono is not someone to make bad moves. He’s the sort of person who will move as he plans, until the end.”

When Seiran had been a prince, it had been under Ou Ki’s direction, while he was serving as chief of the Censorate, that his maternal grandfather had been arrested for the crime of plotting a rebellion. Ou Ki had thrown Seien into jail as well.

“I know.”

Seiran froze, despite himself, wondering whether he knew of how Prince Seien had been arrested. But this was impossible. Yuushun did not know that Seiran was former Prince Seien. During that time, he had not yet passed the national exam, so he had not even seen Prince Seien, and so of course would not have known about his exile.

Whether he knew or not, Yuushun was saying rather dangerous things like they were nothing.

“Perhaps if you were king, then things would not be as they are now.”

Seiran’s cheek worked as he struggled to not say “that’s sarcastic.” What did he mean “things as they are now?” he had already been exiled to Sa Province. No, Yuushun knew nothing of those things, so there was nothing sarcastic about what he had said. He needed to calm down.

“For the Kou officials, all they want is for Reishin-sama alone to be safe. If after the Civil Administration Secretary is fired, the position just remains empty, then isn’t it all right if he stays, anyway? As long as Reishin-sama is here, the Kou officials are guaranteed to follow the king. If he must be fired, then you should have done it, using your authority, rather than the king. Isn’t it the prime minister’s job to take on the dirty work?”
“That is Seiran-dono’s ‘best case scenario’?”
“Things have gone so far, it can’t be helped, so I think that should be done.”

Yuushun smiled forcedly.

“Seiran-dono, why do you think that the Ran triplets have totally withdrawn all of the Ran officials from court?”
“Eh?”
“The seal of the Ran clan is the “Twin Dragon Lotus Spring.” ….. It’s a rare thing, but in some ages, there are two dragons. This is such an era. Besides Ryuuren-dono, there is another dragon hidden among the triplets. It’s to be expected, you could say, but they’ve made a skillful move.”

Seiran had no idea what was so skillful about that. But more than that, Yuushun had said something he couldn’t ignore. Just like the talk of the Hyou clan earlier, this also bothered him.

(Yuushun-dono knows far too much about things that ordinarily shouldn’t be known.)
His words about the heavens, migratory birds and butterflies, the cows and horses. Now matter how intelligent he was, that wasn’t something he could discover on his own. The results of gigantic surveys spanning generations, and the calculations based on those, would be necessary. Most importantly, the nature of “Ran Ryuuren” was nearly a classified matter. And it was the first time Seiran had ever heard of the “Twin Dragons.” The haphazardly sown seeds of doubt were quietly beginning to sprout.

(Just who is Yuushun-dono?)

Where was he born, how was he raised? Why did he know things that only those at the center of the Hyou clan or Eight Clans would know? Come to think of it, he had never heard anything about Yuushun’s parents or siblings. Even when he had been made Prime Minister, not one of his relations had appeared. No one had sent any messages of congratulation. There was neither hide nor hair of them. In conclusion, it was as if…

“You’re making a face as if you had seen a monster.”

Yuushun faintly smiled, as if he had seen right through him. Seiran froze. He had a tendency to let his mind drift before Yuushun’s gentle smile, but now he had a feeling that Yuushun could really see everything.

“If there is something bothering you, you should go to his majesty. After all, in the end, it is my lord who will choose the path, not me.”

tags>>saiunkoku|translation