The summary given is: “Shuurei has awakened in the palace of the Hyou clan, who possess supernatural powers. Because she must meet the high priestess Ruka in order to leave the sealed-off palace, she seeks Shusui, who possesses the power “Senrigan” (thousand-league-eye). Meanwhile, in the capital, is the worst locust plague in history beginning….?! ”

I wonder who will make the cover this time? Shuurei is always on the cover, and since Shusui is mentioned, I suspect she might be as well (possibly also Shuuei?) However, maybe some of the characters from the capital will also be depicted. Anyway, I’m glad to hear that the author hasn’t forgotten Shusui. XD

If you liked these translations, blog about them on your own blog and encourage other people to read them.

Prologue
Chapter 1 (part 1, part 2, part 3)
Chapter 2 (part 1, part 2)
Chapter 3 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)
Chapter 4 (part 1, part 2)
Chapter 5 (part 1, part 2)
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue

*****

Following the Heki Province shrine, the Sa Province shrine was now gone.
–In a corner of his field of vision, he could see a red star suddenly appear and fall through the heavens, dragging a tail.
A star of calamity. The comet fell from the constellation of the Record of Heaven to the constellation of the Weaver Maiden. A great burden fell on Uu Uu’s small body. He was trying with all of his might not to scream. Kiyou was the linchpin of the nation. Especially in spiritual affairs. The Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals in Kiyou and the main house of the Hyou clan presided over all of the seals of the sacred grounds in each prefecture, and at the same time, the power which flowed from the sacred grounds in each prefecture protected Kiyou. If one were lost, then the other sacred precincts would make up for it, and together they would make it so that the seal would be without any gaps.
After Heki Province, now it was Sa Province. And furthermore, the mirror which had been broken in Nine Colors Cove had had its remaking entrusted to Heki Karin-dono, but it was not yet completed.
…..When it was finished, Karin-dono would probably die.
However, the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals needed to ask this of her.
(It’s done in this way…)
From ancient times, though, there had been things which someone protected for someone’s sake.
There was someone who could enter the sacred grounds and get as far as the enshrined object, and then easily destroy it.
That—in some way or form, could only be someone connected to the Hyou clan.
He ha heard that Ruka had not tried to stop the “Black Wolf” from breaking the mirror in Nine Colors Cove.
“‘The outside’ is ravaged by war. You have gained much necessary wisdom and magic, so you should leave. It is the iron rule of the Hyou clan not to be involved in politics, but we cannot be indifferent. Do not even dream of fogetting this. We protect the people without fighting. When you go “outside,” look at the world and its people, consider well, and at last, you must do as you think right. Do not forget the pride of the Uu clan as one of the Hyou clan’s retainers.”
In the midst of darkness, those words had always been Uu Uu’s guide.
He did not know what had caused her to transform. However, Uu Uu had also probably made a mistake somewhere.
He did not regret his decision to let “Bara-hime” escape, betraying her. However, from that time, it was as if a long, pitch-black shadow had fallen. The shadow had gradually extended in a strange fashion, become longer, and even though he noticed this, Uu Uu had become unable to turn back. The older he got, the more skillful he became at turning his back on his own mistakes. Truly, he did not have the right to lecture the young people.
Gradually, things had come to this. The time to pay the bill had come to Uu Uu as well.
For the young king’s sake, for Riou’s sake, there was something he had to do.
…Before, he had had the “Black Wolf” do it. But precisely because of that, his bad conscience had become a long shadow.
(My hime-sama)
If you do not return once again to your original self…
This time, then, I shall confront you.
As promised, I shall offer up to you all of this life, which has been preserved for your sake.
—Even if I end up losing you forever.

Notes:
Yeah, I didn’t think that Sakujun was Eiki’s grandchild. Maybe she meant it metaphorically, as the ‘younger generation’ or something. /shrug.

Commentary:
Well, it sure seems to me like Eiki died. But it isn’t stated directly in the text.

So Uu Uu is going to do something, hmm. (He’s only oh, several decades late) Has he come to a similar conclusion to Riou’s? I wonder if Ruka is aware that this might happen. It seems to me that Uu Uu has a better chance of killing Ruka than Jin or Riou, since he has actual magical powers.

To be honest, the (romantic?) relationship I find most interesting in the books now is the one between Ruka and Uu Uu, so there. XD

So, my final impression of the book: Good character development for Shuurei, and Yuushun had some good scenes, (and finally we got some Jyuusan-hime) and a lot was revealed about the Hyou clan and the supernatural elements, but waaaay more is needed, because there were some seriously confusing parts in there. The things I’m most interested in seeing next book are:

What the heck is Ou Ki doing? (And what is Anju doing? They were both pretty much nearly absent in this book) I want more backstory for Ou Ki. I demand that someone from Team Ou Ki get the Opening of Angst next book, ahahaha.

As usual, what the heck is Yuushun planning? (The author cannot keep stringing us along forever….:P)

What the heck is Ruka doing, and what is she so busy with, besides avoiding assassination attempts?

BTW, there are two things that I wish for: that the author not resolve major problems with divine intervention or insane changes to the laws. So far, a theme of Saiunkoku seems to be that miracles don’t come for free, and that you’ve got to pay the tab eventually.

Anyway, I find I am better at editing my own translations after I have sat on them for awhile, so I expect I’ll edit them and collect them into one file in a month or so.

This vol of The Beans, BTW, does not contain a short story, but it does contain a replacement cover (of Ou Ki, Anju, and Yuushun), and some other pic of the Censorate people (office group photo? XD), as well as some other stuff. I don’t own it, though, so I have no idea how true this all is.

BTW, Ou Ki, Anju, Yuushun (and Kouki) really should be on the cover for real sometime, IMHO.

Riou would not go back.
“Please return after making all of the tightly shut doors of the Hyou clan open, from that side”
He had chosen to fulfill the duty of the Hyou clan.

******

Shuurei, alone in the room, sat down on the bed. She put her knees together and put both hands on them. The white mouse scuttered in, and very slowly approached her, and stopped right in front of Shuurei.
Shuurei regarded the elegant white mouse.
Why was it that from the beginning, Shuurei saw that mouse as a woman?
A beautiful woman, with sparks of flame left in her coal black eyes, like a young girl, like an elderly noblewoman.
White mice were the guardians of the house. The small messengers of the gods.
Thus, she especially was the person who had always continued to protect the Hyou clan.
The white mouse fluffed the fur under its throat. Its beady black eyes, at the same time, resembled a bottomless darkness.
From somewhere there was a sound of leaves rustling, like the sound of waves.
For a moment, she thought she could see a gigantic pagoda tree, its top branches swaying.
The moment she blinked in surprise, the sound of the leaves and the shadow of the pagoda tree vanished.
In place of them, before Shuurei’s eyes, appeared the figure of a girl beautiful enough to make one’s eyes close.
“Hmph…..You are brave, girl. Are you choosing to confront me all alone?”
Shuurei remembered this girl.
Hair the color of darkness, pale white skin, lips like blood.
It was the girl who had appeared by Shuurei’s bedside, in the midst of the lonely blue moonlight pouring into the room.
–Hyou Ruka.
Ruka stretched her elegant, slender, transparent fingertips towards Shuurei.
Shuurei did not run away.
Ruka’s fingertips entwined around her wrist, a sensation more fleeting than reality, yet more certain than nothingness.
Something flowed from Shuurei to Ruka, like an electric current. Something was being sucked up—the next moment after she though that, along with an illusion that what was in front of her had shifted a half turn, her vision warped.
She was extremely dizzy, and her ears were ringing.
Spots of red and blue and black were in her eyes.
From somewhere came the rippling laughter of some girls.

*****

Shuurei was surrounded by some tens of beautiful girls, in their teens and twenties.
The girls were all innocently smiling.
Though they were in their teens and twenties, they had a defenselessness like that of infants.
Then, Shuurei, who was surrounded by them—- Shuurei, who was being looked down on by them, was a child younger then them, around ten. One of the girls pulled at her sleeve, as though she could not wait.
—-Hime-sama, our hime-sama.
Although it was as if she were speaking, Shuurei noticed that the girl’s lips were not moving at all.
—Today, please talk to us a lot.
—Please play your beautiful erhu.
—-Please sing to us the songs of evening.
—I’m so happy you’ve returned. Our hime-sama….
Small voices, like the rustling of leaves, gentle enough to make one dizzy.
One of the girls, making a puzzled face, touched Shuurei’s cheek with her fingers.
—Why are you crying? Did something sad happen?
She was crying. Streaks of tears, flowing down her face along with sobs, dampening her hand.
Someone answered. The clear bell-like voice, not yet aged, was beautiful, though twisted by sobbing.
“No…. The sad things have ended….. They’ve ended. Today, I have killed all of the foolish clan members, magicians, and priestesses who feared and flattered my father, who threw away their pride, their eyes clouded by desire and money. Therefore, we are fine now. You will no longer be called by father any more. I have shut up father. Father has become strange in the head, so I have shut him up in a place no one will find, in “Bara-hime”’s tower. I’ve used strong seals, so no one will ever be able to see father again. Even I cannot enter….. So, he will not see anyone anymore. After this, we will not see that strange father again. We can do without hating him. So, there is nothing sad anymore. Everyone, the sad things have ended….”
The girls tilted their heads, and at the last word, smiled. As if to say, thank goodness.
Her entire body was dyed in dripping blood, and the voice finally muttered.
“The ‘master’ was father. As long as the human man doesn’t come, things will stay as they are over there. As long as no one kills father, he will continue to be the ‘master.’ However, there shouldn’t be anyone who can do that. There is no way that anyone can break my seals, and find him. There cannot be any other person who can kill father.”
Other than herself, born under the star of patricide, there should be no one else who would.

The scene changed.
Quickly, her line of sight rose.
“–Eiki has run off to the ‘outside?’ That foolish girl! Pursue her, even to the ends of the earth, and bring her back!!”
From the sound of the angry voice, which had hit like lightening falling, the owner of it was in her thirties.
Her vision wavered, and she dropped to her knees. She scratched at her chest as though she were a fish on dry land.
“….Have I…used too much power?…. Guh, that foolish girl…. I knew that soon this would happen, so I raised her dearly as my successor, but….. I waited and waited, and finally she was born, the sole priestess who possessed the divine power befitting my successor…. Of all things, to run off after a third class nobleman who chose that accursed prince, how idiotic can she be…”
There was the sound of her life flowing away like the the rapids of a river. That was a sensation which Shuurei could recall.
“At least until…. Eiki comes back, I must live—Someone…..protect…”
There was no one else. The priestess possessing enough power to succeed Ruka, magicians, no one.
But—-her life, and her body, she had continuously used them hard, and so they had become worn out.
The empress of bloodshed, wielding vast divine power. The speed at which her life was flowing away, was not half-rate either.
Even so, she had not changed. She had something she must do. Work she had to do. She did not have time to worry about her own life or body.

To exist for the sake of the many weak people, who she had to protect, was the pride of the Hyou clan. Ruka’s pride.
If she let go of that, Ruka would no longer be Ruka.
‘My hime-sama,’ came a familiar voice from somewhere. A voice which she hadn’t heard for over ten years.
—Let us meet again at twilight.
‘Until then, please do not die, please wait for me’–even if she had to betray Uu Uu’s words. Because her pride was the difference between Ruka and her maddened father.
Dying was better than losing it
Shuurei’s heartbeat could be felt near her ears. That was too—
She knew she was crying. It was not Shuurei. The owner of the voice’s cheeks were wet with hot tears, and dampened her sleeves. Frustration? Anger? Misery? It could be any of those, or all of them mixed together. It was all alone she cried, in this way.
“I still….have a mountain left of things I must do….”
With footsteps like leaves falling, someone knelt by her side.
Girls who had become adults, ceaselessly smiling their unchanging innocent smiles.
—Oo-hime-sama….um, um, please use us.
—Our bodies, please use them.
—-So, don’t cry.
—-You’ve talked to us so much, sung so many songs for us.
—Please let us return the favor. You have always protected us, beloved oo-hime-sama.
—Like our other sisters, we’ll little by little go blank white, and someday only fall asleep and die. Hime-sama, please enter us. Then, we’ll be happy.
—Then, we can live for a long time with you. We won’t be lonely. Right….?

That was why.

*****
She felt as though she had been thrown somewhere by a giant hand. She stood up, wavering. She knew there were spots dancing in front of her eyes.
(Now was—-what….)
That time of “something” was like a second, but also like a hundred years.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and raised her head. Shuurei’s eyes widened in a flash.
This was not the room she had been in before.
The pure blue moonlight. Lamps lined up like a funeral procession.
Between them were some tens of long white boxes.
They were coffins.
“———!”
Ruka appeared in the air and made as if to walk between the coffins.
Her transparent slender feet stopped in front of a coffin. She slowly turned towards Shuurei.
“Now, girl—Kou Shuurei.”
A tone as cold as the snow left unmelted in the summer, and eyes like the darkness of the abyss.
“You must have heard this already. The paths you have to choose from are few. However, there are not none. If you were waiting for me, then it seems you have chosen one.”
That gaze, and an oppressive authority. Without knowing it, Shuurei made a sound in her throat. Although Ruka was glaring at her, she was not threatening her. Though she was only standing there, Shuurei felt like her knees were about to bend.
The empress of bloodshed. Somewhere….she didn’t recall where she had heard that, but that name suited her.
Shuurei pooled her strength in her gut, and looked up at Ruka. Since the scenes she had seen earlier for a second were not mentioned, it seemed that by some work of chance or something, Shuurei had been the only to see them.
Ruka smiled, the ends of her lips curling up slowly.
“….However, before I ask you, shall I give you a single guarantee? Truly, I did not intend at all, though, to open this path for you.”
Ruka made as if to tap the lid of the coffin she had stopped before. That seemed to be as if she thought, for a few second, that the person within might awake.
“If you wish to test it, then open whichever one you wish. Don’t be afraid, all of them are empty. Except for this one.”
Even though this had been said to her, Shuurei had not been especially ordered to open them, but since the world ‘empty’ bothered her, she slowly, just a tad, opened a nearby coffin.
There was a sweet smell of flowers. She peeked within it it… and definitely, it was empty. There were only pure white flowers, spread within like a carpet. Shuurei, her stomach jumping, opened one or two more, but all of them were the same. There were only beds of flowers.
“You must have heard how I have extended my life. I wanted to live. For this reason, I have mercilessly used up many daughters of this clan. The number of these empty coffins is the number of girls I have used up. Now, all of them have passed away, and sleep below the ground.”
Shuurei was speechless.
There were some tens of white coffins. Nearly all of them…
However, Ruka’s expression did not change a bit. Her expressionless eyes dispassionately passed over the coffins.
“A special spell has been cast over these coffins. The girls can remain alive for some tens of years sleeping. When the body I am using has passed its limit, I chose a body from one of these coffins, and use it as my new body. Now there is only one coffin left.”
Ruka stroked the coffin whose lid she had tapped at earlier, with a touch as light as a feather.
“—Only one body is left.”
She threw a glance at Shuurei’s face.
“Now, aren’t you lucky? If I had used this girl’s body before, there would be nothing left for you. Of course, I have no reason to give this precious body to you. …. But, this time, a small whim has appeared within me. You may use this girl’s body. For whatever reason: if you wish to live ‘outside,’ if you wish to live, if you have some desire, any is fine. If you want to live more—then I will give this girl’s life to you. I guarantee that I shall move all of your ’soul’ to this girl’s body. I swear on my name that this is no ploy.”
Ruka landed three steps before Shuurei. Her haughty gaze poured onto Shuurei, like an arrow.
“…Then, after that, I shall ask you again. Kou Shuurei, what will you do? Will you choose the same method as me? Will you use this girl’s body and return to the ‘outside’?”
Shuurei slowly turned her gaze to the last coffin.
“….May I open it and see what is inside?”
For some reason, an odd silence fell. After this unnatural gap, Ruka disinterestedly nodded.
Shuurei approached the coffin, and opened the lid. There was the sweet smell of flowers. But unlike the other coffins, a girl slept there, surrounded by the flowers. She appeared to be older than Shuurei, a few years past twenty. Her hands were crossed below her breast, and there was some pink in the cheeks of the girl sleeping in the midst of the flowers, and when she stretched out her hand and touched her, they were soft and warm. Enough to make it hard to believe that she would never again awaken. Shuurei gazed at the girl. She was sleeping there as if she had been buried in the flowers a hundred years before.
“….She is beautiful. If I moved to her, this person’s face would become mine.”
“Yes.”
Shuurei smiled slightly, then….closed the coffin.
“It would have been nice to have been born as such a beautiful person. …. But, I like myself well enough.”
“You dislike changing your face?”
“No.”
“You don’t want to live?”
“No, I want to live. I want to live for a long time. There are many things I want to do. If there were a way, I’d fly at it. But, I will not choose this method.”
Ruka’s eyes narrowed. She was not angered or irritated.
Rather it was as if she was carefully trying to pick up in detail every little change in Shuurei’s words and expressions.
“Do you dislike exchanging your body for that of a living person’s body and heart, even if they can never wake up?”
“It’s not a question of good or evil.”
The scenes which she had glimpsed for a second before reawakened within her. If that was the past, and true, then the girl who had been called ‘hime-sama,’ perhaps had been Ruka.
….Ruka had not possessed the girls against their will, but rather, they had offered their bodies to her of their own will. They had wished for her to use their bodies when they would someday fall into a death-like sleep.
The body of the girl in the coffin was soft, warm, had a heartbeat. Perhaps she was more human-like than Shuurei, who had become cold up to her fingertips. However, she could never re-awaken.
As long as they couldn’t awaken. Exchanging your heart with that of another living person.
Was that ‘killing’ the girl in the coffin, or making her ‘live’?
There was no right answer, but an fruitless going around in circles. It was up to the heart of the person asked.
Yes, it wasn’t about whether it was good or evil.
For whatever reason: if you wish to live ‘outside,’ if you wish to live, if you have some desire, any is fine. If you want to live more—then I will give this girl’s life to you.
“Ruka-hime….I want to live. Whether I have a reason or not. Since I have some things I want, then even more. That’s why I don’t think the method you’ve chosen is mistaken. Though only you know whether you were right. However, my reply is different. It’s not whether this method is good or evil, but whether I will choose this path or not—That is what I think.”
A question without a right answer. Up to the heart of the person asked it.
After she had heard about it from Riou, she had thought about it for awhile.
“Even if I change my face, surely my father and the others will understand. They’d say that it was okay that I had received someone else’s body and extended my life. I think they’d say, ‘thank you for living.’ If my father had gotten in the same condition, I’d wish that he would live on, no matter by what means. I don’t dislike that method. I only want to live up till the end staying myself. I prefer to live, even with my average face, even with my worn out body, up until the end, totally staying myself.”
“You prefer? Hmph, you have an interesting way of putting it.”
Ruka liked that way of speaking. It fit better than ‘good or evil.’
If it wasn’t a question of good and evil, then that left her own tastes. She preferred a way different from Ruka’s.
“Even if you use up your life?”
Shuurei smiled painfully, pulling at the ends of her hair.
“Because, up till the last, I will stay wholly myself. It’s what I received from the beginning. What is mine I’ll take good care of it. So, Ruka-hime, I will not open this coffin.”
“Then, will you live out your remaining days in the Hyou clan?”
“No.”
“Then, will you obediently cede your body to me, a step before you leave this world? Because, of course, my preferred way of living is to live, having received your body. I, more than you, can make use of that body more than sufficiently. It’s a solution of mutual interest.”
“—No. I won’t give it to you.”
Shuurei quietly, but confidently, answered. On that alone, she was certain.
“Riou-kun got angry and me and told me to think of myself first. Definitely, wouldn’t it be cruel that after he has brought me, dying here, given me medicine, and searched with all of his might to find a method, to easily give in to you?”
He had said ‘please protect yourself.’
“Please think about what will become of you, and then make your choice.”
At that time, she had only vaguely understood and nodded her head.
Up until now, when Shuurei had made an important decision, she had not really thought about herself. ‘However, even if you choose the same path in the end, rather than choosing without thinking of yourself, consider yourself and then choose, please,’ perhaps it was because she had wanted to say that, that she had passed her time in the Hyou clan, she suddenly concluded
‘Because if you think about it and choose, then we won’t have any complaints’
That was, even if the result was the same, truly a great difference.
She had realized that by not thinking of herself, and only of the other person, that she had continued to make mistakes.
“….It seems like my body was at home in this quiet, mysterious palace in the sky, so I liked it. When I heard that I could live if I always stayed in the Hyou clan, I thought that would be fine. Rather honestly…. When I came here, I was in a state of confusion, and even I didn’t know the meaning of it. …. I didn’t want to go back to Kiyou. I had a feeling that I had made a horrible mistake, but I didn’t know what this mistake was, so if I returned like this, I wouldn’t i continue to roll down the hill of my mistakes? That was why.”
That was why.
“….When I heard that I wouldn’t need to return, I was relieved. Also, when I heard that this was a place of refuge, where I would be protected from all authority. There was the problem of my body, but as long as I was here, and didn’t return to the court, although it wasn’t the best, at least I would avoid the worst case scenario, wouldn’t I? I thought.”
Ruka’s eyebrows jumped. …She had hit on it.
Shuurei closed her eyes, and took a long, long breath.
“But, no matter what, I ended up thinking about my work.”
“Isn’t that a good thing.”
“I’ve had a mountain of time to think slowly. —Ruka-hime, I will ask you some things, as a censor.”
Shuurei fixed her gaze straight on Ruka.
“….Is there some connection between the Hyou clan and the Jyasenkyou?”
“……..”
“Was the Hyou clan involved in the assassination of the Undersecretary of the Military?”
“………”
“Is there some connection between the Hyou clan, and the fact that Li Kouyuu once fell into a coma?”
“…..”
“–Did you order an assassination on the king at Nine Colors Cove.”
For the first time, Ruka smiled, the ends of her lips curling up. However, she did not answer.
“There are people who heard you say to kill the king. This suspicion of rebellion, which is one of the ten great crimes, is a serious matter.”
Shuurei’s face had become that of an official’s. Ruka smiled amusedly, looking down on her. One wouldn’t think that this was the little girl who had wept with that wretched face.
“I had thought that it would be good to stay here forever, passing the time carefree, but unfortunately, I must return, remaining myself. Though, after I have done what I must do here.”
“Oho? What’s that?”
“This is a sealed territory outside of imperial authority. As long as someone does not leave here, they will be in a place that the ‘outside’ can not reach, I have heard. —-However, the ten great crimes are different. I think you know this.”
Ruka chuckled in her throat.
“That’s right. It would be a beneficial plan to dispose of you without letting you return.”
“But, up till now, you haven’t possessed me or killed me. Why is it that you have let ‘me’ remain ‘myself,’ and let me wander around as I please?”
Ruka had gone silent, and looked down upon Shuurei. With a quiet gaze.
Shuurei gazed without fear into those unearthly, strong eyes.
“It’s because if ‘I’ were to disappear now, you would have a problem—is it not? Actually, not me as ‘Kou Shuurei,’ but me as a ‘censor.’”
“….So, what have you figured out?”
“Regarding that earlier incident, the way you tried to possess my body then, wasn’t directly connected with it, was it? For you to revolt against the king and then try to take over my body, is totally meaningless. Moreover, it was far too much of a half-measure. But, what if there was ’someone’ at court with whom you were cooperating, and at that time, out of mutual interest, you joined forces, and so to an onlooker, it seemed a strange way of obtaining me?”
Jin had said, the ‘old lady of the Hyou clan.’ At Nine Colors Cove, he had used the words ‘my master.’ However, no matter how much one thought about it, those were two separate people. The one behind Jin was a separate person. With an important enough post to tell Uu Uu-sama to send Jin to the Hyou clan.
“….There is another person besides you. Once ‘that person’ knew that I was at the Hyou clan, there was a possibility that I would return to court and report on the ‘one of the Ten Evils.’ If it were one of the Ten Evils, then even a high official could be executed, no question about it. If I chose to spend the rest of my life here, then that ’someone’ could leave me be. The same if you possessed me. But, if the possibility that I would work as myself and return occurred, then that person would be inconvenienced. They sent someone to see what would happen.”
“Probably because this is an area outside imperial authority. If someone were to kill you here, there would be no problem.”
“–That’s right. At the same time, if someone were to kill you here, it would not be a crime either.”
Shuurei looked up at Ruka.
“That person wants to only avoid the situation where I remain a censor, and hear the name of that ’someone’ at court, and return. Then, killing both me and you would be the fastest way to do things. Especially, now that there has been an embargo and locusts, the Censorate cannot send anyone out. Also, for some reason, you have sent out the people of this house I think that something must have happened so that you had to send them all away. There are few people who can protect you. That was why you allowed me to stay as myself and left me free. Because the possibility that I could protect you would only exist if I were a ‘censor.’”
Since all means of contact had been sealed off before Shuurei had come—Then that meant that Ruka had thought there was a danger of assassination before that. If there were a person who wished to assassinate Ruka, then she must have thought that ’someone’ would come whether Shuurei came or did not come.
Shuurei, who had innocently come at such a time, could turn into one of Ruka’s pawns.
Ruka smiled.
“Then, what will you do?”
“…..How you left me alone, only interfering with me once, was deliberate.”
If, once she had gotten her hands on Shuurei, she waited to make direct contact with Shuurei, then ’someone’ would come in. In that by itself did Ruka gain sometime.
It would buy time for Shuurei to notice that something was strange. Even if she didn’t, Ruka probably wouldn’t mind. From the beginning, she had not expected Shuurei to arrive. If Ruka had decided that Shuurei was of no use when she arrived, she might have possessed her by force then.
‘What a clever person,’ thought Shuurei, making a face as though she had bit down on something bitter.
Definitely, something had happened in the Hyou clan. She didn’t know what that was, but since the magicians and priestesses had been sent out, then probably Ruka’s forces were extremely few. There was no one who could protect her. Therefore, of all things, Ruka was trying to make Shuurei, who she had tried to possess, protect her.
Because if Ruka were gone, then Shuurei could no longer return to the ‘outside.’
There was also the matter of the locusts. Many things had happened at the same time.
Ki Kouki’s words stirred once again in the depths of her memory.
“Until you return, you are under my command.”
Yes. It was ridiculous to say that her work was over. Until she came before that person once more, Shuurei was a censor. She was a censor. She had things to do. Things she must do.

“–I will not give you my body. But, actually I have some attachment to the idea that it might be good also if I could persuade you, and staying myself, do some useful work in the Hyou clan. On that note, I’m still lost withing myself about it.”
“Hmph. How honest.”
Ruka’s ‘original body’ was guarded under high security somewhere, and no one knew where it was. If her ‘original body’ died, then Ruka would also die. If there really was someone who wished to dispose of Ruka, they would definitely go there.
“—First, I shall go to meet you. As a censor, and also for my own sake.”

Ruka smiled bewitchingly.
“Also, that one of the Ten Evils is rebellion against the current king. After you have protected me, we do not know whether it will be one of the Ten Evils.”

Notes:

Commentary:
See, I told you Riou did something stupid without realizing it. Now he’s all like ‘eeep, I pulled my scary aunt’s fur! D:’ Also, why is Riou angry at Shuuei for thinking that Shusui might be a ghost? A ghost! How dare he! She’s turned into a mouse! Riou is doing a great job creating the impression that the Hyou clan is normal. So I wonder… is Riou really going to try that method he thought of?

Ok, so Ruka fears being assassinated by the ’someone’ she worked with, but why is this someone trying to kill Ruka? Because they fear that she will tell on them to Shuurei, however, that fear of assassination preceded Shuurei coming, and neither Ruka nor that someone was sure that Shuurei would come? Therefore, without Shuurei coming, why is there a motivation to kill Ruka? And also, what is Ruka’s motivation for telling on the ’someone’? Since Ruka opposes Ryuuki being king, what is her motivation to tell this to Ryuuki, especially since she would also incriminate herself?

Well, since rebellion against the king is a capital crime, are we going to see some executions?

****
After Shuurei had finished hearing about what had happened at Nine Colors Cove, she simply nodded once, instead of saying something. It was as if she was checking to see how the pieces fit together.
Shuuei and Riou exchanged glances.
“Shuurei-dono, could it be that just with that, you knew what’s happened in the Hyou clan?”
“Eh? No, how could I? It’s around the same as you, General Ran, I know that ’something’s happened in the Hyou clan.’ Only….. I probably understand why Ruka-san leaves me alone.”
“Eh?!”
Suddenly, Shuurei gave Shuuei a strange, probing look. It was as if that up till now, there had been a mystery which she had only noticed for the first time now.
“….By the way, General Ran, it’s really late for me to say this, but is it okay for you not to return?”
“That is pretty late…. If you tell me to go back, I will. Up until then, I’ll stay here.”
It hadn’t been the case from the beginning that Shuuei had come here because he had been ordered to do something. He was worried about the king, but he thought that he would see how Shuurei was doing, and until things calmed down, he would stay with her. Especially, now that he knew that Hyou Ruka was after Shuurei’s body, he couldn’t leave her here and go back. Also, there was the matter of Jin.
“Also, right now, things are such that even if I wanted to go back, I can’t.”
Shuuei flinched a bit at Shuurei’s inscrutable eyes. She was searching for something from Shuuei.
“…. But, General ran, it can’t be that you came here without knowing how to get back.”
“No, I tried asking. Uu Uu-sama said that I could get someone here to open the way for me.”
“….Someone here? But Riou-kun said that even if we wanted to go back, we couldn’t. So you say that Uu Uu-sama sent you here, and told you to have someone here open the way back.”
The color of Shuurei’s eyes grew deeper. It was as if she had hooked something, and was now reeling it in full force. Shuuei was astonished.
(Hey, wait a sec! What, with only this?)
Shuuei had aimlessly revealed this, but he had intended to take care with the details in his conversation. He definitely hadn’t intended to speak unguardedly, but when he though back on it, it should have been a very normal conversation.
(Would it have been better for me to say ‘nah, I don’t know how to get back, but I came anyway.’??!)
No, it wouldn’t. That definitely would have been far more suspicious. Shuurei would have understood how hard it was for Shuuei to be away from Ryuuki, considering his condition now. Shuuei had come because he knew that there were at least two ways of returning, either Jin’s ‘connections’ or ‘if someone of the Hyou clan opens the way, you can return.’ If he had been told there were none, he had been prepared to search for them and then come, even if he had to ask Ryuuren.
He hadn’t intended to fail in carrying the thread of the conversation. However…
“…General Ran, could it be that something has happened back there? Something big?”
Riou looked at Shuuei with a shocked expression on his face.
Shuuei put a hand to his forehead. How had this been fished out from ‘Uu Uu-sama said to get someone here to open the way.’? It was natural for someone to ask ‘what happened?’ Because, even if he said ‘no, nothing really,’ Shuurei had noticed something, so could he say that?
….He hadn’t intended to say ‘there might be a plague of locusts.’ Especially since he had seen with his own eyes how hard Shuurei had worked herself. It had been Shuuei and the others who had relied all the time on Shuurei, and finally backed her into resigning. If he talked about the locusts now, and Shuurei decided to leave, not worrying about her own life, then they really would have killed her. “After this, you shouldn’t say that ‘really, Shuurei-chan was necessary,’ even if they split open your mouth.”
Just as Jyuusan-hime had said, he no longer had the right to say that. That was why he had come here very carefully, so as not to hint at anything. However, if he lied now, Shuurei would see through it. Since he had been found out, he could only proceed honestly.
“…How’d you draw that out? That. Please tell me, so I can learn from this.”
Shuurei’s eyes went round. She had thought that he might reply ‘why?’ or ‘nothing really.’ She had a sense that she could clearly see the instant that something had changed within Shuuei regarding Shuurei.
“Although Riou, who’s a ‘person from here,’ can’t return even if he wants to, Uu Uu-sama said ‘have someone from there open it for you.’ That means if we ask them, they’ll open it, but then he wouldn’t say ‘we can’t return even if we wish to.’ In other words, unless we ask someone who even Riou-kun finds it difficult to ask, we can’t return….. There are a limited number of people who Riou-kun, the son of the head of the clan, would find it difficult to ask.”
Shuuei stared at Shuurei….. Since when had she been able to come out with these marvelous deductions in such a brief moment? If that was the ability she had accumulated in the Censorate, then that was excellence that would put other officials to shame.
“I see that it’s because it’s been closed off from the inside that we have to ask someone from here to open it. That’s only natural. But, couldn’t it mean that we should have the person who closed it open it?”
“…..”
“This is only based on what I’ve heard, but the probability that it’s Ruka-san is high. I think it means that unless Ruka-san, or someone of the same level of power opens it, we cannot return.”
“…..Even if that’s so, why does it mean ‘did something happen back there?”?”
“Since Riou-kun is here, now Uu Uu-sama is the acting head of the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals.”
Shuuei’s expression changed. This was because he had sensed that Shuurei was reeling in a fish that was swimming at a level deeper than he had expected.
Riou, rather than Shuuei, answered.
“……Yes, right now, definitely Uu Uu is acting as the head of the Ministry in my place.”
“General Ran, was Uu Uu-sama at leisure?”
“….No, it seemed that he was hard-pressed to make some time to see me, because of both his body and his work. From before, Uu Uu had been overdoing it. He was also elderly. Riou wanted to return quickly, so he was irritated he couldn’t return.
“Despite that, he took time out of his schedule to meet with you. General Ran…. uh, now your rank has dropped quite a bit.”
“Yeah. I’m at the lowest of those doing odd jobs, and I don’t have a written appointment from the king…. In other words, it’s strange that Uu Uu-sama, the busy acting head of the Ministry would deliberately meet with, and send off, an underling with unclear goals who hadn’t been ordered to do anything?”
Both Shuuei and Shuurei took on cautious expressions. So as not to let the hooked prey escape.
“…Did Uu Uu-sama say ‘have them open it.’?”
“No. What he actually said was this: ‘Please return after making all of the tightly shut doors of the Hyou clan open, from that side,’ and by whatever means.”
While he said this, Shuuei combed through his bangs with a stern expression.
“Really? Certainly, now that I’ve listened to it, it seems it could be taken as a request from the acting chief of the Ministry. No, saying ‘by whatever means,’ makes it nearly an order.”
He remembered that since the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals distanced itself from political matters, it was a rule that they could not say things directly.
What Shuuei knew was only about the grasshoppers. Even if Uu Uu had already known about the grasshoppers, he didn’t think that the Hyou clan, in charge of religious matters, could do anything about it. Even if they could do something using some mysterious spell, Riou had said that now, all of the magicians and priestesses above the middle rank had been sent out.
(….What does this mean?)
There was a sound.
When he turned around, Riou’s face was deathly pale.
“….Hey, what did Uu Uu say?”
Shuuei hadn’t said anything excessive.
“He said: ‘Please return after making all of the tightly shut doors of the Hyou clan open, from that side.’”
Both AShuuei and Shuurei knew that Riou was thinking about something so hard he was getting dizzy.
Almost groaning, Riou asked for confirmation.
“….make all of the doors open, he said?”
“Yes, that’s what I heard.”
“After we disappeared, did something happen? Some kind of disaster?”
Shuuei was shocked.
“….When I came here, it hadn’t happened yet. I heard that it seemed it would happen.”
“What?”
Shuuei breathed in slightly. It couldn’t be helped any more.
“A plague of locusts.”
The instant she understood his meaning, Shuurei’s eyes widened. Locusts.
Riou flung the documents he was holding on the floor.
“—Tell me about it quickly, you fool!”
His shouting was loud enough to make someone wonder if the whole palace was shaking.
Somewhere, the mouse was squeaking.
****
“…..This time it’s locusts.”
Kan Hishou, who was the Secretary of Public Works, narrowed his brows. He flashed a glance to the seat next to him. His second in command Ouyou Gyoku was expressionless. Expressionless. Due to their long acquaintance, Hishou knew that it was because he was suppressing the many feelings swirling about inside of him. That came as no surprise. Heki Province was Ouyou Gyoku’s homeland, as he was a member of the Ouyou clan, which served the Heki clan.
Kan Hishou’s clan was in both Haku and Koku Provinces, which were located in the freezing north, so it was difficult for the locusts to break out there, as they could in the central plains and in the south, so there would be little direct damage from the locusts. However, there would be a mountain of indirect effects. The two northern provinces, where every year people died from the cold and hunger, especially depended on Kou Province and Shi Province, which were rich in food supplies. However, if there was a plague of locusts, they would eat up all of the crops which were there. In the end, there were many cases where, because the food supplies didn’t come, the two northern provinces were the ones who suffered the most from the great famine caused by the locusts. Especially when midwinter came, without there being any food supplies.
Soon, that winter would come.
“The affected areas are as follows. The source of the outbreak is mostly the Tenzan River banks in Heki Province, and it is thought that they will gradually invade Kou Province and Shi Province. It’s probably safe to think that the crops of Heki Province will be mostly destroyed.”
Ran Shunshin, looking at the documents on the state of the locusts, raised his eyebrows.
“…The places of the outbreaks and damage seem to vary widely. Especially, there seem to be few incursions into Shi Province. It seems that they haven’t yet become a large swarm, as was expected. Is the lessening of the damage due to that…?”
Ryou Anju, while looking quickly at the documents, tilted his head a bit.
“….Hm? When I look at this, aren’t the places where the damage has been suppressed to the minimal amount mostly where Ou Ki-sama in the past was posted and patrolled?”
At those words, the high officials’ eyes widened.
The Undersecretary of Civil Administration, You Shuu, narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. Of course, the changes in the major positions in the provincial administration were all, without exception, carved in You Shuu’s head. Especially, the demotions and promotions of the high officials.
“….Certainly, that does seem to be so. Ou Ki-dono, could it be that when you were posted in those places and patrolling them, you gave lectures on countermeasures?”
“That was my duty. It was only to be expected.”
The second Ou Ki calmly let drop those words, every single one of the high officials looked at the king. Ryuuki was trying with all of his might not to look down. Up til now, he had never felt anything this cold. It was a veritable bed of nails, but he also knew that they were legitimate denunciations and criticisms. To endure that, he was with all of his might mustering whatever courage he could find. It was even more heavy because he knew he was paying for what he had done.
Anju continued on, whether he knew this or not, in a voice without any trace of malice.
“Locusts… The character is ‘insect’ and ‘emperor.’ It is said that long ago, there was a great ruler, who, when there was an outbreak of locusts, ate them himself and prayed, and then the locusts were suppressed. Certainly, from ancient times, it has been said that The one with the power to suppress the locusts is the true king, and so that character was made. Your majesty must also try his best.”
At Ryou Anju’s words, he could feel the atmosphere in the place cool.
Ou Ki rubbed at his temples. He darted a look of irritation at his second in command.
“Ryou Anju, don’t say foolish things. Can locusts be suppressed by eating them and praying?”
“Ah well, that’s right. Because they do say that during the reign of a wise lord, there won’t be any locusts plagues.”
The high officials exchanged glances, and began to quietly whisper as if they were remembering something.
“….Speaking of that, it says that in the Book of Changes…. From the disorder of the king comes the disorder of the world, and there are outbreaks of locusts. Certainly, during the reign of the previous king, there were no outbreaks…”
“From the time of his coronation, it’s been around four years…. Come to think of it, there was also an epidemic in Sa Province. Although, shouldn’t there be no connection between an epidemic and governing?”
“The former Undersecretary of the Military died suspiciously all of a sudden…”
“He angered the Kou clan and the number of officials decreased, there was an embargo, now there’s an outbreak of locusts, which hasn’t happened in decades…”
“Recently the frequency of earthquakes has been odd…. What about that…”
In a second, there fell a bottomless silence. A cold silence, like an eternal void. Ryuuki sensed that cold sweat was gushing from his forehead. He was dizzy, as if something was crushing him, and he sensed that his vision was blurring. Like a fish out of water, he couldn’t breathe well.
“—-Now we will open discussion on the locust plague. Immediate countermeasures will be prioritized. Those who wish to break in with useless interruptions at a time like this are invited to withdraw immediately.”
Yuushun smacked them down with a strong tone.
Since it was the first time he had done this since he took office as prime minister, everyone was shocked.
Ou Ki alone did not change expression, and rubbed at his temple.
“….That’s correct. Historically, the Censorate has taken charge of countermeasures against locusts—”
Yuushun gently interrupted Ou Ki.
“First let us have his majesty’s thoughts.”
Ryuuki slowly raised his face. Undersecretary of Finance Kei shivered. His face was deathly pale, to the point where he could see that out of his side vision. After reading the documents, anyone would immediately understand the reason why the Finance Department’s budget for the countermeasures against locusts had been left shorn as it had been during the war between the princes, and not revived. Ryuuki was up to his neck in wordless criticisms from all four sides, and his mind was in turmoil. If he made a decision and said something foolish—no, rather what would happen if he couldn’t say anything? — Undersecretary Kei felt uneasy. Should he help him?
(Our….thoughts?)
Probably, Ryuuki didn’t know what was being said to him. Long ago, when his mother would beat him, if he curled up into a ball so he couldn’t see anything, stayed totally silent, and endured it, it would eventually end. If he waited, his brother would come and save him. However, now no one would come. No one would tell him anything. Riou was not there either.
(Yuushun…what did he say should be done about this matter…?)
He hadn’t asked him. Yuushun hadn’t told Ryuuki anything about what should be done.
What could he say? He didn’t know a thing, so….what?
Yuushun prompted him, his feather fan in his hand, his eyelashes lowered.
“My lord, what you think best is?”
The one with the power to suppress the locusts is the true king. Ryuuki had also read that in the books. Then.
(We..)
Going and suppressing them. But, was that the best idea?
To Ryuuki that might be the best course of action. But.
What about for those other than Ryuuki? For the people of Heki and Kou Province, what that good?
Making a fist, Ryuuki looked at that person, though he felt a heaviness as though he were dragging lead.
“Ou Ki-dono.”
Ou Ki slightly raised one brow, as if being called by him were unexpected.
“—We would like to give you all authority to deal with the locusts. What do you think?”
Kouki and Anju both, unusually, showed some real surprise. Son Ryouou was also a little surprised.
Despite Anju deliberately saying “The one with the power to suppress the locusts is the true king,” he was giving the exercise of that power to Ou Ki. And moreover, right now the king was surrounded. Ou Ki himself, without the slightest flinch, took in Ryuuki’s gaze straight on.
For awhile, there was a leaden silence.
“—So be it. If that is your order, I shall carry it out at once. However, there is one thing. I wish to borrow the right to command the military. Those are my conditions. What do you think of this?”
—The authority to command the army.

He had said this so dispassionately, that it took awhile for the impact to spread.
If Ou Ki, who as head of the Chancellery was at the Council of State level, said he wished to receive the right to command the army, then it meant that he was saying ‘give me the authority to command the entire army.
Characteristically, Kan Hishou opened his mouth.
“….Wait a second. One army, okay, but you don’t need the right to command the entire army. Don’t you have Son Ryouou, the Secretary of the Military, at your beck and call? No matter what, that’s too much authority.”
“I am the Chancellor, and so I have the authority to make that request. Also, I do not intend to mobilize the entire army at once. It’s because we don’t have time to spare for sending requests to Kiyou when it’s necessary. Unlike humans, locusts won’t wait dutifully for the reply to arrive.”
Secretary Kou’s brows also drew together under his mask.
“….Aren’t there few examples of the central army moving to the provinces, except when there’s a war? However, if they’re going out to exterminate the locusts…. If the army is necessary, I think it would be normal to borrow the armies in the provinces and towns.”
“Is there a law that says the army must not be sent out to exterminate the locusts? Secretary Rai.”
“There is not. Therefore, I won’t mind if that’s done. Locusts are the worst of all natural disasters. While waiting for a reply, two or three villages may be eaten up. Once they arrive, they won’t fly off right away, normally. Of course, if the army is sent out, I would like you to send it with many supplies. If there aren’t enough, the food supplies of the affected areas will be eaten up by the central army instead of the grasshoppers…….As long as you avoid such a ridiculous state of affairs, I have no complaints whatsoever.”
Kouki made an irritated face, but Ou Ki and Son Ryouou only lightly nodded, and did not get angry.
Up until King Senka had become king, such things were everyday occurrences.
“That is only natural. I asked to borrow the army so that a vast quantity of supplies could be sent to each place at once at the fastest speed. Thankfully, due to the Kou clan’s recent embargo, there are many unused food supplies and charcoal supplies from various places left in the government warehouses. Please allow me to use them. —Your majesty, prime minister, what do you think of this?”
To give Ou Ki the authority to command the military.
It was as if it was unclear which one of them was king.
Ryuuki, in the midst of his blinking field of vision, finally….dazedly nodded.

“….We see. We will give to Ou Ki-dono…the authority over the military.”
He could sense that Yuushun was smiling.

Notes: Just as Gyokukan earlier borrows her name from Yang Guei-fei, Hien-hime is named after another famous historical beauty.

Handicap games in go: I’m not entirely sure what Yuushun means by this, but a handicap game in go is when, if there’s a big difference in skill between opponents, the stronger player will voluntarily start out at a disadvantage. (Similar to how it is in golf)

Yes, actually, there was an emperor of china who ate locusts. See here

I also found an interesting article about ancient Chinese methods of pest control.

Commentary: 0____o Yuushun and Kouki are weirdly….. cute in this scene. Kouki’s stock rises again! He’s even able to put up with Yuushun’s whining. (Note that unlike normally, Yuushun actually makes dismayed facial expressions; also, he changes the honorific he uses for Ou Ki)

People in the Japanese fandom were all like “Lol, does Kouki believe in Santa Claus too?” On the other hand though, so many weird things happen in Saiunkou that it doesn’t seem crazy to think that “Hourin” is also magical.

Up till now, it’s seemed that Jin’s master is Ou Ki, but if that’s so, it really does seem odd that Kouki and (apparently) Yuushun are unaware of whatever’s going on at the Hyou clan.

Shuuei, like Riou, withholds information from Shuurei out of concern for her, and see how it backfires?

Anyway, the Council of State is pretty intense. However, Ryuuki probably made the right decision. On the other hand, it’s uncertain whether this will be enough to save him.

However, once I finish the entire thing, I may consolidate it into an HTML file and put that up. I also need to edit the translation for minor typos and other errors, as well as re-thinking some of my translation decisions. So you should consider all the translations to be rough drafts.

Riou, who was carrying a mountain of books and medicinal herbs with Shuuei, and walking in the corridors, frowned.
“It’s too quiet….”
“Is it that old lady of the Hyou clan?”
Shuuei listened again. He had wondered if it was dangerous to leave Jin along with Shuurei, but Jin had said “right now, it’s alright.” He was a man of his word. He could say ‘right now.’ It was a fact that, as he had thought, that it was better than letting him roam freely around 24/7.
“That may be so. My aunt could, right after Kou Shuurei came here, appear directly in front of her, and with a loud laugh, say that she was possessing her, and then do so unopposed. I didn’t think that she would do things by halves like this.”
“And so then?”
“…..the way things are now, my aunt can only do things by halves….?”
“That might be so. Judging from how all means of contact have been completely sealed off, maybe something strange has happened in the Hyou clan. How long as it been really quiet?”
He was worried about Shuurei, but he was also worried about Shusui. He had asked Riou about her, but he did not know where she was. He had gone searching around for her when he entrusted Shuurei to Jin and Riou, but he was not familiar with the area, and also, the construction of it was different from the ‘outside’ (the outside world). Since it was of a rather ancient layout, that alone made him get very lost. It was far too wide, and he couldn’t even figure out at all where he should be wandering around. He would have tried to ask someone, but there was hardly anyone around.
“….I heard that all of the magicians and priestesses above the middle ranks had been sent away. When I looked around, the people are really mostly ‘powerless,’ and even then there’s too few of them. When I ask people, no one knows what’s going on. That’s why they help take care of Kou Shuurei. They probably think she’s a normal ‘refugee.’…”
“Your dad?”
Dad. Riou thought about trying to call his father than next time. It didn’t suit him at all.
“He said ‘I have no interest in that’.”
“…….It’s amazing that he’s the head of the clan. But, since she tried to manipulate Shuurei’s body once, she probably wants to do it. Is it possible to make Ruka-dono give up on Shuurei’s body?”
Riou’s eyes widened.
“To make….my aunt give up on Kou Shuurei’s body?”
He had never considered such a thing. That other people could change his aunt’s will, was something that up till now he had never even considered. From the beginning, Riou thought that the only thing he could do was to try stop-gap measures to prevent his aunt from taking over Kou Shuurei’s body. However, that couldn’t couldn’t continue forever. Riou was ‘powerless,’ so it was natural he could take no measures to cross swords with his aunt.
A way to make Ruka give up on Kou Shuurei’s body.
….There was one.
And it came falling from the heavens with a shock like lightning striking. Although, it was maybe different from ‘making her give up.’ There was a way. Although it wasn’t easy.
—He should kill Ruka.
If he did that, then certainly, he could guarantee the safety of Shuurei’s body. However—kill his aunt? That thought came with self-hatred and guild at himself for having thought of such a thing, but it spread through Riou’s brain. It wasn’t only for Shuurei’s sake, but for something else as well. This clan was strange. He thought that, the stagnation which had piled up over the long years and months, had caused, as if it were a human body, something to become warped, and sealed, quietly, releasing the sweet smell of corruption, it was rotting to death, beginning at the edges. His father Riou was also odd, and it could be said that only in the way he didn’t do anything was he harmless. But, Ruka—
Ruka.
Near him, he heard a sigh. Riou started, as if his base thoughts had been seen through. Suddenly, Shuuei got closer, and patted Riou’s head as if to attempt to calm him down.
“I think it’s better to stop with that solution, if it makes you make that strange face. Please forget about it.”
“…….”
Riou opened his mouth as if to gasp, but nothing came out.
Maybe that was so…..but.
Riou did not turn his face towards Shuuei, because he did not want him to see his expression.

******
Again, several days had passed without anything happening—-one evening, Shuurei woke up. The light of the blue moon filled the room. It was a mystical color, almost as if a ’saaaaaan’ sound could be heard. It was like the bottom of the lakes in Nine Colors Cove. She realized with a start that on her cheeks there were the cold traces of tears.
Shuurei sniffled, and wiped the remaining tears on her sleeve. Although she may have cried for some reason while asleep, she was now used to it. It was as if the various emotions sunken within her up till that point were now slowly melting and washing away. Even though this was a time she was passing not thinking about anything. Certainly, somewhere within Shuurei that had been cut into tiny pieces had been eased. It was a deep period of rest, which she had not had up till now. As Jin had said, it seemed that more than her body, a far deeper place was completely tired out.
….She could see in the corner of her field of vision that Jin was leaving the room. Jin moved like a large beast, his footsteps making no sound. It was only simply by chance that she had seen him leaving in the middle of the night. Shuurei suddenly got up. She thought a bit, and took a step, still barefoot. Even if she thought a bit, actually that was not much different from not thinking at all. She felt for some reason that it would be better to follow him. She had heard from Shuuei that now the Hyou clan was a little strange, but she was astonished that it had gone in one ear and right out the other. She had become used to not using her head, so when she tried to use it, it seemed she got tired easily. It was frightening.
Maybe the reason she was pursuing him was because there was the cut end of something within her. She thought that Jin was the “key” to something. Now, in a corner of her unused head, some ‘key’ sparkled faintly. Thinking of nothing, she stuck to him and followed.　Somehow he had probably noticed her, and if he shook her off along the way, that couldn’t be helped, she thought. But, why did Jin worry her? Could it be that he had gone out like this every night?
(…..Huh? That’s weird. He hasn’t got “Bakuya.”)
As she had expected, after she had followed him for awhile, Jin turned around. As if he were saying ‘well, well.’
“….if you’re going to follow me, then get next to me. It bothers me.”
“Is it okay for me to come with you?”
“Sure. Cause if something bad happens, I can lose you right away.”
That was true.
“Then, I think I’ll go and see what this bad thing is when you give me the slip.”
The eye that wasn’t covered by the eyepatch flashed with a bit of amusement.
“Haven’t you gotten back a bit of your energy? Well, shall we prepare for a walk at night?”

(This is like that time at Nine Colors Cove….)
At that time, she remembered she had walked with Jin up to the shrine on Treasure Mirror Mountain. While walking with Jin, Shuurei looked around her. It had hurt to move her body, and Riou and Shuuei had faintly disapproved, so this was the first ‘excursion’ she had made. The corridors were lit with lamps placed at intervals, so the palace rose into view with a mysterious elegance. It was as if it continued endlessly. There was no sign of any human presence, and she felt as though she were lost in another world. Shuurei looked up, far away. She could see some gigantic things lined up, which were black in the moonlight.
“Mountains….?”
“Yes. Seeing them in the morning is an amazing sight. Riou said that they’re covered in snow all year long. This great mountain range can’t be compared in altitude to Ran Province’s Crouching Dragon mountain range. At this time, it’s snow covered mountain peaks, as far as you can see.”
“Snow covered mountains?! But, it’s not that cold? It’s around the same as autumn at Kiyou.”
“It looks like that in the Hyou clan domains, it’s regulated so that people can live here. The high priestess is amazing. Certainly, without magic, it’s impossible to come and go from here. I tried going out, but this isn’t a place where people can live. Even I’d die in three days. This place isn’t one that was separated by magic from the outside world, but someplace originally like that.”
Shuurei felt that her back had become slightly cold. The Crouching Dragon mountain range in Ran Province was of an outstandingly high altitude. Despite this, this was a great mountain range which that couldn’t compare to….? A place which all exits and entrances were sealed off?
“……where is this place….in this country?”
“If you think about it for awhile, you’ll figure it about. Anyway, even if you knew, there would be no point. What I think is far more mysterious is that you haven’t furiously said ‘I’m going to see Ruka!’ and gone flying off.”
Shuurei couldn’t speak. She heard the sounds of some unknown insect chirping.
“Well, it’s because if you met Ruka, you’d have to say something. Whether you’ll stay in the Hyou clan or not, or what will become of your body. But you’re so lost that you don’t know what to say when you meet her.”
All of Jin’s words were correct. It felt like when Tantan had spoken to her, but she also felt that Jin was calm, as though he knew enough to predict how Shuurei would reply.
Actually, more than lost, she had mostly stopped thinking. Although she had tried to moved, she didn’t move. She continued to think that she must consider things, but she passed the time vacantly and blankly. Maybe it was because this wasn’t about her duties, but about her own personal matters, that she had neglected to think. Come to think of it, she felt that when it had become troublesome to think of matters relating to herself, she’d set them aside. But this time—
“You don’t want to think about it? Probably, you simply don’t want to give the logical answer.”
Shuurei raised her head in surprise. Jin’s opened eye looked down on Shuurei.
“You don’t want to follow the “best” answer that logically flew into your head. It may be the “best,” but whether it is the “right” answer to you, you don’t know. It’s unexpectedly easy to make a mistake.”
She had always thought this, but Jin was really, unlike his outer appearance, an extremely thoughtful person. Although it was a casual conversation, if she thought about it afterwards, she realized that there were many meanings contained within it.
“Well, even if you can’t work your head, you should consider it somewhere in your heart.”
While walking under the light of the blue moon, Shuurei looked at her own two hands. Her body.
At Jin’s words, she felt as though the emptiness in her head, and for only a second, unnecessary things had disappeared.
If it was something that she had to decide with her heart and not her head… Then if she said that was alright…
“….I’ll give out one answer. But it may not be “the best.”
Jin’s eye narrowed, and he gave a brief ‘hmph,’ of response. He appeared to be smiling a bit. Like he already knew what kind of answer she was going ti give.
“But, on the rest….I still don’t know, so I can’t go and see her.”
At that time, there was a strangely unpleasant sound, like the wings of insects buzzing.
Jin stood still in an unnatural manner. There was an empty pause as though the darkness had grown thicker. The sound of the insects had stopped at once.
“—-That’s good.”
There was a hoarse voice which came from Jin’s mouth, but was not Jin’s voice.
“….Eh?”
Shuurei’s eyes went into points, and she let out a foolish voice.
There was the cry of a mouse. When she looked at her feet, the white mouse was squeaking. In that second, Jin transformed into someone who was not Jin. And at that moment, there came one by one, soundlessly, like shadows, black-clothed, blade-wielding people, who gathered around him. Shuurei’s head, which had been vacant since she had been brought here, cleared completely at once. At that time, she felt as though she could even hear the noise of something snapping. All the hair stood up on her body. What was this? Shuurei yelled out rather foolishly:
“What?! Whaaaat?!”
“Shuurei-dono!”

At a speed faster than that of the human body, the blade of one of the black-clothed figures flashed at Shuurei’s throad. Shuuei parried it and made it fly just in time. Then Riou rushed in to protect Shuurei’s back. In his hand, he grasped a slender sword. It was the first time she had seen him do this, and his movements were clean and practiced.
“You! By whose orders did you do this?!”
Although they did not appear to be disturbed by Riou’s shouting, she noticed that they appeared to be slightly irritated. Even so, perhaps because they felt themselves to be at a disadvantage, the black clothed people did not cross swords with them, but cleanly vanished into the darkness.
When Shuurei looked down at her feet, the white mouse had again disappeared off to somewhere.

****
“Wha?! I went out of the room alone?!”
When Shuurei had returned to the “Room of Tranquility,” she was again astonished. She had gone out alone?
“That can’t be! I saw that Jin was going out, so I followed him—- hey, it was just a couple of minutes ago I was walking with Jin!”
Shuuei and Riou looked at each other. Jin?
“No, Jin didn’t leave this room from the beginning. Shuurei-dono, was alone, right?”
“….Shuurei-dono, Riou-kun said that he was invited to go somewhere by the form of the person he was bothered by the most, so does that mean that something about Jin bothers you?”
Shuurei rubbed her temple. “Something” was sparkling in the middle of the mud.
“Yes….Was it that when I was in a daze, that something, in my unconscious, was faintly pulling me? …. Is the Jin-san who came here with you the real one?”
“Yes, he was definitely the real one. ….But now, for some reason, he’s not here.”
“You don’t know the reason he came here?”
“Yeah, it looks bad to make excuses, but getting that guy to say something is an incredibly difficult feat….. I tried several times, but he didn’t take the bait at all. He’s really careful and cautious. Other than the ridiculous statement ‘I came here asked to do something by someone,’ there was nothing.”
Shuuei looked up at the ceiling, but Shuurei realized that something in her head had been caught on the fishhook. She was absorbed in repeating it. It was as if she thought about unnecessary things, it would get away.
“……Jin-san came here, asked by someone, to do something…”
“Shuurei-dono?”
She had had strange encounters with Jin at strange times. First was in the jail, and at the assassination of the Undersecretary of the Military, he was with Shusui….
Shuurei wanted to cut her head open at that moment and die there. Just as Jin had said, really, from the time she had come here, her eyes had been blind even though they were open, and she only thought of passing the time with her head as vacant as a flowerpot. Well, it had been very good in a way, though. —Shusui.
“Where is Shusui? She’s always been a person of the Hyou clan—right?”
Riou looked a the carpet, but the white mouse wasn’t there.
“….Yes. She was always trying to help you and the king. You should believe in Shusui. Now, she has probably been imprisoned somewhere in this house—I think. Ran Shuuei and I have searched here and there, but we haven’t found her yet. Maybe she’s locked up someplace ordinary people can’t search. However, it’s certain that she’s alive.”
Shuuei was surprised at his last words. Considering Riou’s personality, he probably wasn’t lying. There were many things he wanted to ask about in detail, but Shuuei understood that now was not the time to do that.
Shusui had been captured. Shuurei bit her lower lip. The things she had to do had increased by one. Because the reason she had been captured probably had to do with Shuurei and the king.
“….General Ran, I have something to ask you.”
“What?”
“Were you there in the shrine in Nine Colors Cove after I had fainted?”
Shuuei was confused by this sudden change in subject. Nine Colors Cove?
“I was in there. Sorry, though, I wasn’t near you, but at the king’s side, though.”
“Yes. That’s natural. Rather, that helps me. Then, I’d like to ask you about that time, accurately, and in detail.”
She said this with the face of an official.

Notes: Probably, the Hyou clan’s palace is situated in the Banri mountains, which are previously stated to be impassable, but that the first king (the brother of the founder of the Hyou clan) passed over somehow.

Commentary:
Well, yet another incident of ambiguous significance. BTW, I can’t believe no one ever told Shuurei what happened at Nine Colors Cove. Oh well, somehow I am unsurprised. Yuushun is only the most conspicuous culprit in the “not telling people important things” crowd.

Wow, Shuurei finally remembers that Jin is an INCREDIBLY SUSPICIOUS PERSON. Omg, you mean Jin came to the Hyou clan’s palace told to do something by someone? No, I thought he just went there because he needed a vacation. Jin’s lord, whoever he is though, is a lucky dude, though. Jin’s not only a great warrior, he’s very cautious and clever.

Sensing that Shuurei had awakened, Shuuei, Jin, and Riou looked at the bed. Riou shivered a bit, but Shuurei, who had gotten with sleepy eyes, looked around the room, noticed Shuuei, Jin, and Riou, and looked at them—and tilted her head. Putting a hand to her temple, she shook her head two or three times. When she had figured out that it wasn’t a dream by slapping her own cheek, there was silence for awhile. Then she looked at the three of them in order one more time, and a half smile appeared on her face.
“….Um, I have no idea what happened, so just one thing. I had only though I would take a rest after I was tired after finishing my work at the province border, so what in the world happened?…”
Where was this place, what time was it now, why was she here, and why were Shuuei, Jin, and Riou making that kind of mysterious face at her? All of those questions that she was breaking into now, were wrapped into that one exact, simple, clear-cut question.
Everyone there thought that was natural.

*****

When Riou knew that it was not Ruka but Shuurei, he was relieved. If she possessed her, then “Shuurei” would be gone. It seemed it wasn’t full-on stealing the body, but a spell on the level of possession.
“Before that, how’s your condition?”
“Eh? Condition? I feel like I’ve had a lot of strange dreams….Ah! Amazing.”
Having been questioned by Riou, Shuurei tried moving her arms and head. Her body was light, as though she had sprouted wings. The heaviness of her head, as though she were dragging something made out of lead, the unpleasant fatigue, as if she were wrapped in spider’s silk which refused to disappear, all were gone. Although she might have slept too much,and she had muscle pain, it was totally different form how she had been on the trip to Kou Province. It was like she had returned to how she was before. Then, Shuurei remembered the trip to Kou Province. Her heart then sank a bit. Although she didn’t know why.
“….Riou-kun, did I properly finish my task as imperial messenger?”
Rioiu’s eyebrows moved towards each other.
“Yes. After you finished it all, you started to die. How dutiful. Since Suou and Ensei have carried on the other work, how about forgetting work for awhile and convalescing?”
She had started to die. At those words, she felt the agony she had felt in the carriage reawaken. Really, at that time she had felt as though she could even hear herself dying. At the same time, she understood the circumstances a bit. It seemed that she had collapsed and then begun to die. Certainly, considering the circumstances at that time, it was possible.
“Our clan….might be able to do something to help you.”
Before, when she had been asked if her health had been strange, Riou-kun had said if something happened, she should come. Even in Kiyou, thanks to Riou-kun and Uu Uu-sama, her body had become much better. Come to think of it, her condition at that time resembled that on her trip to Kou Province a bit. Although it wasn’t as bad. Like that time, she had gotten back to normal immediately. Our clan. Forget about your work, and get better ,he had said.
“Could it be that this is Riou-kun’s house? After I collapsed, you brought me here?”
Riou made a strange face. ….His house. Certainly, that was so, but her way of saying it gave him an incredible feeling of discomfort. It was pathetic that ‘Hyou clan,’ which had a ring of it being someone else’s affair fit better for him.
“….Yeah, my house. The Hyou clan.”
My house. What was that, this violent discomfort.
Although Riou did not know why this didn’t show on his face, Shuurei thanked him.
“? But why is General Ran here? Then, you over there. Who in the world are you?”
She looked at Jin confusedly. She was always running into this person in strange places.
“It’s been awhile, little lady. Hmph. Who am I, you say? Actually, that’s a philosophical question. I’ll be able to answer after about a hundred years.”
“….You have no intention of answering, I see. …. But, General Ran, why are you here?”
Although he wasn’t a general anymore, that way of talking to him fit. Jin froze, wondering what Shuuei’s first words would be, and what expression he would make. However, Shuuei approached her with unhesitant footsteps, and bent over her a little to see her face a bit. Shuurei was keeping up appearances with her usual face, but she was grasping the edge of the blanket. He could see in that a bit of confusion, and a drop of anxiety and tension. What would he say to her? He felt that probably, that was what was fluttering in the depths of her unconscious. Yes, what would he say to her?
It wasn’t that he had thought to do that, but maybe it had become the same as the smile he had shown to Jyuusan-hime.
“In place of the king, I came to see your face. I heard you had collapsed.”
Shuurei made a confused face. To see her face?
“….Eh? Um, only that?”
“Only that. It’s still an important duty.” On Shuurei’s face, while she considered what that meant, many feelings appeared and disappeared. Shuuei was very subdued, and looked at her narrowly. At last, Shuurei smiled a bit, with a tearful, but relieved face.
“Really?….”
Shuuei thought that her relief stemmed from not being asked something. That is, ‘when will you return?’ Shuurei pulled a bit at the ends of her hair. She sighed.
“Then, Riou-kun, how is my body, really?”
That was something she needed to ask, sooner or later.

“Your body has gotten better. But, you’ll only be like this while you’re in the Hyou clan’s palace.”
Riou had made some medicinal broth, and gave it to Shuurei. He was relieved that she had broached the topic for him, but at the same time, he felt some dislike of himself because it had to be done for him. While sipping the broth, Shuurei turned her face towards him. Riou chose his words and carefully relayed the truth. He did not want to lie.
“….Your body has become very weak. It’s been that way ever since Kiyou. The reason your body is better here is because the pure atmosphere here suits you. As long as you are in the Hyou clan’s house, there will be no problems. This atmosphere lessens the burden on your weakened body. It’s like a cane. If it’s there, your body becomes freer and you can walk. This house has mountains more of beneficial herbs than the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals.”
“You said I can rest here. For how long?”
“….I’ll say this straight. If you don’t want to die, forever.”
There were tree beats of silence, and Shuurei’s eyes widened. So did Jin and Shuuei’s.
“….’if you don’t want to die,’ you say.”
“I’m not hiding anything when I say this. It’s because if I didn’t say this from the beginning, it looks like you’d go flying out of here on your own. —If you leave here, it probably will not be long before you die.”
Riou was speaking honestly. This time, if he regretted not saying it, he could not redeem the situation.
In the Hyou clan there were medical magicians and famous doctors. However, Shuurei…
Shuurei’s case… was the will of heaven.
Actually, she should have exhausted her remaining life long ago. “Bara-hime” had made the mercilessly flowing away of her life go very slowly. The speed at which the sand was flowing had slowed.
Because of that, Shuurei, unlike To Eigetsu, still had a living body. And her life was still flowing. If it were to completely stop, that would be by definition “death.” Eigetsu had been the only one in his village not to catch the plague, and and no matter how much blood he shed, he did not die, because he was already dead. Had “Yougetsu” not controlled it, his body would not have grown either.
Bara-hime, an immortal with vast power, maybe could have done the same thing. Waited until her daughter had completely died, and then made her a walking corpse. It would be as though a “Kou Shuurei” who did not grow, die, or become sick had been made.
….However, Bara-hime had chosen not to stop this, but to slow it. “Life” rather than “death.” Even if slowly, she would certainly walk to death, and like ordinary humans, her life would have a limit to it. Why that was, Riou did not know. But, he had a sense he understood a tiny bit.
That was why, now that the seal had started to loosen, the speed of the flow had once again returned back to how it was before.
No one could add to the amount of life she had been given. Even the Hyou clan.
If they could, then elite magicians wouldn’t use up their lives, and then die young one after the other. ….Yes, no one could unnaturally extend their lives.
But, it wasn’t that nothing at all could be done.
“I don’t think that the instant you leave the Hyou clan, you’ll revert to the condition you were in on the journey to Kou Province. In this past year, you’ve continued to use your body and spirit to an abnormal extent, and you haven’t slept properly. Even a large man would die from that overwork. This happened because you drove yourself to such a terrible state of exhaustion.:
Shuuei slightly lowered his eyes.
“If it’s the same as how when someone may be able to walk with a cane, but a lost leg can’t be grown again, then if you lose the ‘cane’ of the Hyou clan, then you won’t be able to walk. If you overdo it, you’ll get worse at once. I said ‘it won’t be long,’ but how long it is, I don’t know either. The only thing I can say for sure is, if you leave, your body will quickly worsen. It’ll be very bad.”
Shuurei was in a strange mood. Although this was about her, she felt as if she were hearing about someone else….. Shouldn’t she have realized that something was strange about her body, faintly? …. Probably, she had. She had a faint memory, far in the past, of feeling as if something was flowing little by little from her. She thought that the sandglass her mother had stopped had now once again flowing.
“Now, I’m researching whether there aren’t any other methods. You may want to return, so I won’t say you shouldn’t. You’ve got a family and important people, so that’s natural. But this once, I’d like you to think of your body more than that. Right now, you’re in a state where even if you want to go back, you can’t, but even if that weren’t so, please think about what will become of you after you leave this house, and then choose.”
While speaking, Riou had realized something. He had spoken sincerely, but probably that was because he wished that she would make an effort to protect herself. He had wanted to tell her to put herself first. That was because the most important thing for raising the chances of her living was her own will.
When he looked at Shuurei, she nodded ambiguously, with a look on her face as though she both understood and didn’t.
“….what did you mean when you said ‘even if you want to return, you can’t.’?”
“Ah. This sky palace is a hidden palace, and so from the beginning, it’s been made remote from the outside work, but there are several means of going to and from it. Those have now all been for some reason completely cut off. Even if you try to return, you can’t, and even if you want to know something, there is no way of knowing it. Even if that were not so, the sense of time here and “outside” are a little different—”
Even if she tried to return, she couldn’t. She could hear an echo of ‘you don’t need to return’ there.
She didn’t need to return.
“Your father has probably been told that you’re here, I think. When the means of contact come back, you’ll be able to contact him directly. Anyway, your body is still not back to normal, so for awhile sleep and don’t think of anything …….although, since there’s nothing, it’s boring here.”
Riou was troubled over whether he should talk about his aunt Ruka. But, if even if he told her to watch out—
“Tell her. It would be better to tell her.”
Jin spoke as though he had read his mind.
“Even though you told her about her body, why can’t you talk about what Ruka’s trying to do? Do you think that it’ll end without you talking about it?”
….That was right. He really knew what the reason he didn’t want to say it was. It was because if he talked about his aunt, he would have to talk about another truth.
“If she’s in the Hyou clan’s palace, sooner or later, the little lady will know. Tell it to her properly. It’ll probably be necessary for her to know. Shuuei and I saw Ruka at Nine Colors Cove. It’ll be better than if she hears it from someone else. No matter how much I think it’s strange that she herself doesn’t know.”
Shuurei’s eyes went round. It seemed that this was about something besides her body.
“Riou-kun?”
Riou was silent for around three beats after Jin’s words, and he violently combed through his bangs.
“I said, I know. Kou Shuurei, I brought you to this Hyou clan, and maybe the worst case scenario hasn’t changed. —My aunt wants your body. Actually, she wants to possess you and make you hers.”
Shuurei’s eyes went into points. She didn’t understand the meaning of what had been said to her at all.
“What? My body? Possess?”
“Ren of the Jyasenkyou—you must have seen how Eigetsu’s master, even though he should have been dead, moved and talked. She’s trying to do something like that with you alive.”
Shuurei tried to make her head roll that around. Certainly, there had been a big commotion afterwards, regarding Eigetsu’s master. It had been put aside as ‘a kyonshi came out!!,’ but for Riou to say that the Hyou clan had been involved in that was akin to a surrender. She recalled that Riou had talked to Eigetsu’s master, and then unnaturally appeared and disappeared. However….
“Why me? Is there something good about me?”
Riou was silent…. Of course, it was because there was a slight chance that by this she might be able to obtain his father, her younger brother, Riou’s heart. However, Riou was unable to speak of that. And honestly, he had begun to doubt now that this was the sole reason for which Ruka wanted Shuurei’s body. There was no evidence for this, just a doubt which had come up from somewhere even he didn’t know of. Right now, he knew that Ruka’s partiality towards his father was abnormal, and that she wanted the body of Bara-hime.
However, that strange feeling of incongruity hadn’t vanished.
Riou began to speak, as if trying to put himself in order.
“My aunt Ruka has reigned as the high priestess of the Hyou clan for around eighty years.”
That astounding power was said to have even excelled that of the previous head of the clan, the ‘miracle child.’
Ruka had with that power imprisoned her father, the ‘miracle child,’ and coldly swung a blade smeared with the blood of her clan. Literally. She was known as the empress of bloodshed, not only by her own clan, but by the world.
“But, the greater the magician, the shorter their life. Using power for the magician is the same as using their life, so Uu Uu of the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals is a rare exception. Although, by nature, our clan, by the blood of our ancestors, and through the purity of the lands of the Hyou clan, tend to have longer life and more sturdiness than people ‘outside.’ If they watch for using it too much, even if they use spells, they can live around sixty years, just like the people of ‘outside.’ If they overuse their powers, their lifespan shortens. But, my aunt has continued to use her enormous power, even by the standards of our clan, and has lived over eighty years. It’s abnormal. However, it’s not a miracle. She has used that method, and added to her life.”
Shuuei felt as though he were listening to a ghost story. He had a bad feeling about this.
“….I don’t want to ask, but I will. There’s a way?”
“It’s as you’re thinking. She possesses the bodies of the daughters of our clan.”
….Shuuei felt cold sweat break out on him.
“Even if she uses magic, what will be used up is the life force of the girl she’s possessing. When she uses her up, she has prepared another priestess.”
Used up. Wrinkles formed above Shuuei’s nose. Should he say that it disgusted him?
“….not a corpse, but….living women.”
“Yes. Life is exchanged for magic, so a corpse would be impossible. For a long time, she’s done that, used up the bodies of the daughters of the clan, and maintained long life and great magic.”
“But, don’t the young priestesses who are possessed resist? Are they brainwashed?”
Riou slowly shook his head at Jin’s question.
“….No. From the beginning, in the Hyou clan, there have been born children who from their birth cannot speak and have no sign of consciousness. I have heard that if they grow, they sleep and cease to wake up, though they live and breath. It seems that those children….were at one time born in vast quantities in the Hyou clan.”
He had heard that since they remained like infants despite having grown up, they were called “white children.”
During the era of the previous clan head, the “miracle child,” an abnormally large number of magicians had been born, but around the same number of “white children” had been born, it seems. He didn’t know about the details…..but it wasn’t difficult to suppose that it was possibly the result of the abnormal behavior of the insane “miracle child.”
Now they were hardly ever born, so Riou had not seen one with his own eyes. However, he had heard that they were still somewhere in the palace.
“They have no consciousness, so they don’t resist, and are easy to possess. Actually, I don’t know how many priestesses have been used up like this. Doing this, my aunt has continued to live for a long time.”
“Then, this time it’s Shuurei-dono? Why this time is it not someone from the clan, but Shuurei?”
“And her life force is weak. I don’t want to say it, but even if she possesses her, won’t she not last too long?”
Shuurei nodded. Although she was weakened, she was to be taken over?
“That would be because that was ‘outside.’ In the Hyou clan, it is quiet, so you should be able to live, actually, less…….than normal, but some tens of years. My aunt doesn’t leave this palace in the sky, so that won’t be a problem. ”
The pure atmosphere and medicinal herbs would ease her body. Most importantly, in the sealed lands of the Hyou clan, the loosened lid of Bara-hime’s seal would return, and the life that was flowing away like a torrent would once again slow terribly. Some decades. Shuuei couldn’t speak. That was a lot. There was no way he could ask her to return.
Another thought had occurred to Riou. Because Bara-hime was inside her, possibly Ruka could, by use of spells, use her as an inexhaustible supply of power. In that case, she wouldn’t need to use up Shuurei’s life. If that was so, then it was possible that his aunt’s reason for wanting her, apart from his father, was something like this.
“Ruka-san……what about her? About her original body. Has she become a ghost?”
“No. The soul and the body are linked. If the body dies, then the soul also dies.”
That was true of Ren of the Jyasenkyou. He had possessed the corpse of Ka Shin, and although that didn’t seem to die, when the head of Ren’s original body was cut off, Ren also died.
“If the body they were born with dies, then the soul also dies. It’s the same with my aunt. That’s why my aunt’s ‘true body’ is still living, and is guarded somewhere in this shrine.”
“Hmph.”
Shuuei noted that there was something strange in Jin’s voice…. Like he was thinking of something else.
(….Could Jin’s goal in coming here be…..)
Maybe it was not about Shuurei.
Shuurei muttered.
“Why was that?”
“Eh? No, you said why…”
“Mmm. That isn’t it. Why did that person—”
That person.
Riou was froze at those words. She shouldn’t have ever met her.
(As I thought, did she come without me knowing about it?)
Shuurei cut off of her words, and while pulling at the ends of her hair for awhile as if turning some thoughts over in her head, nodded several times.
“…In other words, if she has my body, then Ruka-san can live.”
Riou and Shuuei were both outraged.
“—-Hey!! Don’t mess around!”
“Shuurei-dono, even I would get angry.”
Shuuei’s innards especially froze. Maybe this was something they shouldn’t have let Shuurei hear.
—if she has my body, then Ruka-san can live.
(Would that kind of thought normally come to an eighteen year old girl?!)
Jin alone, seeing Shuurei’s expression, hit both Shuuei and Riou on the back of the head.
“Calm down. The little lady was probably only confirming the truth. Shuuei, didn’t you say that you wouldn’t interfere with what she had decided?”
“That’s a different matter. This is my personal opinion, so it’s okay. She’s the same age as my little sister. If Jyuusan-hime said that, I’d whack her and be angry. Even though Shuurei-dono’s dying, what’s with giving her body to an old……lady of over eighty and dying? That’s totally strange.”
Perhaps it was because he was so angry, that his level of speech had crumbled.
At the name ‘Jyuusan-hime,’ Jin flinched as though stabbed unexpectedlly.
“….well, uh.. it’s not only that, that I wanted to say.”
While messing with his bangs as if to hide his expression, he looked at Shuurei.
“There’s another you want to ask, so what about drawing that out? Little lady.”
“…..Yes.”
“I’ll ask. You answer. —-Hey, Riou, then isn’t the opposite also a possibility?”
Riou made a startled face. When he saw that, Jin saw why he could not talk about Ruka. He was afraid that they would realize that. However, it was important.
“I said the ‘opposite,’ but it could be a bit different? In other words, Ruka, as a result of doing the Hyou clan’s work, and using up more of her life than necessary, was going towards an early death and so she possessed young priestesses, and extended her life. Am I right?”
Shuuei gave a start. Jin had said it in a rather easy to understand way, so he had immediately realized it.
“….Now Shuurei-dono is in a similar condition? Then, Shuurei-dono could, perhaps…”
“If she does the same thing Ruka did, would the little lady be able to live “outside” normally? If she can live some decades here, then she can leave her “real body” in the Hyou clan. Then, borrow some other body.”
“……”
“You talked like Ruka was the only one who had used this life extension method, so it’s impossible for anyone who’s not a high level magic user to do it—–in other words, she can only ask Ruka? ”
“…….”
“The reason you can’t say it isn’t because it can’t be done—–but because there’s no other way, right?”
In the room, there were numerous books and scrolls chaotically scattered around, in heaps like mountains. He couldn’t say it, because he couldn’t present alternative methods. Because that was the only way.
Only the same method Ruka had chosen.
After a long, long silence, Riou nodded.
“Ah, it is. It’s like you say.”
For some reason, Riou could not see what kind of face Shuurei was making at this moment.

Notes:
Commentary: Kudos to Jin for making Riou tell some of the truth. But hasn’t anyone thought that someone should explain to Shuurei that there is an Immortal living in her? Hmmmmmm?

Anyway, this part is exposition after exposition. In the latter half of the chapter, something will actually happen, but it will be sort of annoyingly of unclear significance. XD

*****

Seated on her throne, Ruka opened her eyes.

—One of the parts of her that had flown off had now been forcibly shot back to her. The priestess who was watching her widened her eyes a bit. She was one of the few people serving Ruka now. All of the other priestesses and magicians, everyone who could even slightly use magic, had been sent out. This girl had been left behind because she was ‘powerless.’
“Ruka-sama, now was….”
“Something bothersome has entered.”
“Kanshou” and “Bakuya.” Although they were empty, just by existing, they were could operate more powerfully than a half-hearted magic user. That was to be expected of something forged by a person of the Hyou clan. One could say it was ironic.
“Well then…. This is because I had not thought that the girl would come now. For the time being, I will do with having confirmed her face and condition. It’s irritating, but right now I do not have much time to bother with that girl. ….My hands are full with other things. If I get distracted by other things, that will be the end.”
Ruka let out an elderly sigh. Even one blink left her terribly exhausted. However, the fingers running through her bangs, her body, were those of a young woman, the body of a priestess of their clan. That body’s period of use would soon end.
“…..Shusui….how is she?”
For a second, the eyes of the priestess were dyed in the color of jealousy. Although she should have been a ‘powerless’ “Assassin Doll, Shusui had run away and then magical powers had appeared within her. After having escaped for twenty years, she had come back, and then escaped from jail several times, and did not obey Ruka. That alone was hard to forgive, but what was even more hateful was that Ruka, whom the priestess revered, had not yet killed Shusui. Despite how much she rebelled against her, Ruka-sama overlooked this—the reality of even reporting sometimes like this, made her more jealous than anything.
“….I have heard that she is as ever. She is quieter than before, but at this time, the brain-washing probably hasn’t completely taken hold.”
For awhile, Ruka was silent. It was a strange silence.
“She hasn’t fallen yet? … That was the ‘prison of time.’ How much time has passed in ‘outside’ time?”
The prison of time was a special jail upon which a spell which would cause the prisoner’s sense of time to go wrong had been cast. It was hardly every used.
“She sometimes plots to escape, so now she is on the bottom-most level. The levels move around, so it is difficult to calculate, but it’s around…. in all, around a thousand hours.”
“….a thousand.”
Converting it, that had meant that she had continued to resist for about a year.
“Really, so it will be around a year?”
Ruka repeated this again. There wasn’t especially much emotion in it, but one could also interpret it in that manner. The priestess felt anguish well up in her throat, as the matter of Shusui had caused too much of Ruka’s precious time to be taken up. What value did a girl who showed not an ounce of reverence to Ruka have? Although, as Ruka had long wished, Riou-sama had brought Bara-hime’s daughter, she had said that she had not time to spare for that, and since in that mutter was the unmistakable truth, it was too much.
“It seems there are some unexpected trespassers, what shall we do?”
“Let them be. Both are normal people. There is no time to deal with them.”
“But, what if like the time the “Black Wolf”–”
“The twin swords are empty. They cannot pull off a move like destroying spells or barriers. As for martial arts, now in the Hyou clan there is no one left who can cross blades with them. Those two are among the greatest in the nation. As long as they don’t start killing members of the Hyou clan, leave them be. Also, one of them is an acquaintance….”
The priestess finally relaxed her brows. If that person was someone who Ruka sometimes aided, then he wasn’t an enemy.
In contrast to the priestess, Ruka took a bit of time to consider the “intruders.” Never mind about Ran Shuuei.
(…Shiba Jin….in Nine Colors Cove, he lent a hand, but….now, this time, why did he come?)
Actually, rather than Shiba Jin, it was his ‘lord’s’ goal. Although at times this person collaborated with Ruka on matters of mutual benefit, they weren’t really allies. Ruka had her goals, and the person over there had their goals. Both of them acknowledged this. There were times when they didn’t agree as well.
Anyway, now there were only two reasons why one would come to the Hyou clan. A matter having to do with Kou Shuurei—-or a matter having to do with Hyou Ruka. Which one was it? Whichever one it was, certainly, Ruka was currently not free enough to come out for them. If they came, they could come themselves.
Her temple hurt. Perhaps it was because she was continuing to use multiple spells, and come to think of it, she realized that actually, it had been a long time since she had used not only magic, but the entirety of her brain. She could even find it nostalgic. There were now few people who could oppose Ruka to that extent. Yes, Senka had died. After that, there would only be a bit more.
“It won’t matter if I leave Shusui as she is. Are there other reports for me?”
“…there are not.”
Although it wasn’t true that there were none, the priestess answered that. If Ruka regularly used her ‘eye,’ she could have grasped the conditions ‘outside’ by herself, but now she did not have enough power left over. She had something she had to concentrate on with all of her nerves, and that was why she had sent nearly all of the magicians of the Hyou clan away. Although all of the passages had been completely sealed, point by point reports had been coming in from the temples and the magicians. Right now it was her duty to relay the information from the ‘outside,’ so if she did not pass this on, it was not something which should be passed on to Ruka.
That should be good enough, the priestess nodded. Yes, she should only pass on what was important. For a long time, Ruka’s burden had only be increasing, and she didn’t want to bother her by reporting any more unnecessary things. She couldn’t even make a part of her soul fly off to Bara-hime’s daughter in one of the few moments of free time she had. Although Ruka could use multiple spells at one time, now she was that exhausted using such a small spell. Seeing that was hard.
She did not think now that it was necessary to tell Ruka anything which as not related to the work of the Hyou clan.
The priestess was courteously bowing her head, but she took some time to steal a glance at Ruka. Now, her external appearance was of an average looking priestess, hardly comparable to her figure when she separated her soul. However, even that had an attractiveness which one could not help looking at countless times, and even being at her side caused her heart to leap slightly.
It was only very recently that she had gotten close enough to see her face. Since Ruka had sent away all of the high level magicians and priestesses, even someone ‘powerless’ like her was allowed to come near, and to report matters to her. That brought about some small joy to her heart. Although she knew that Ruka was involved in something serious, she even thought that she wouldn’t mind if this were to be prolonged a bit more.
“I see. You may leave.”
At Ruka’s voice, the priestess, who had come back to herself, was flustered and then politely made a bow, and left. For awhile, Ruka, tiredly resting her face on her hand, watched the back of the young priestess leaving.
(It’s been awhile.)
That priestess had looked at her with such a gaze.
Awe and longing. Absolute admiration and reverence, like adoration.
For a long, long time, she had forgotten it. It had been decades. Since when had she no longer felt it? And with that, had she stopped looking properly at the faces of her clan, at their hearts?
…since when?
“My princess”
Suddenly, a familiar, twilight-colored voice echoed within her. Ruka’s heart leaped.
Even though she had come to no longer think of that voice, those words. Her temple hurt. She shook her head, not because of the pain, but to clear that voice from her head.
“Hmph…..those who betray me, are unnecessary….”
Everyone had thrown away the Hyou clan, and had left Ruka. Her insane house, her twisted clan. Uu Uu, Eiki, whom she had raised as her successor, Shusui……her brother, everyone had cast off the Hyou clan and Ruka, and chosen other things.
Ruka was the only one left.
If everyone had run away, what would become of the Hyou clan? There were people who could only live within the clan. Whatever anyone said, by no matter what twisted methods, Ruka had to protect them.
Yes, that was–
Her temple hurt again. That was—-what?
(This body….can no longer be preserved)
Suddenly, she remembered how Kou Shuurei had looked up at her, tears running down her cheeks. … Kou Shuurei. Since she had become aware of her existence at the time of the Sa clan disturbance, when she saw a chance, she had tried to get her hands on her. At first, she had only seen her as “Bara-hime’s daughter,” but sometime she had become “Kou Shuurei.”
She had seen that girl much better than her younger brother, who was only interested in “Bara-hime.” What she had said to the “Black Wolf” and Nine Colors Cove had not been a lie. It was true that she had wanted that girl’s body, but the truth was that the other half of her had thought that perhaps she should do something to help her. Which she chose to do would be up to Ruka’s whims when she was brought to the Hyou clan, and in the end, perhaps as the “Black Wolf” had feared, she would take her body. Certainly, this girl had become one of the few people who could slightly move Ruka’s heart.
Her way of living only for something more important than herself, protecting it though her own life was worn away, the way she didn’t show weakness to anyone, and however much she persevered, in the end, she was always alone.
She resembled her far too much.
However, that too, had already come to an end.
“….foolish girl.” The part of that girl which was the most shining, the most dignified, her most noble part–which up till now, no matter who had denied her, she had protected, that girl had ceded it without a fight. For that foolish king. What she had ceded was her pride. What made her herself. All that she had strenuously amassed, the source of the light which had made Kou Shuurei shine, until it had been enough to catch Ruka’s eye. The king should of loved her especially for that, but he had foolishly crushed that with his own hands. Perhaps it was more happy that Kou Shuurei’s life would run out before she understood the truth about “what” she had lost for ever. For both the king, and for that girl. She had even thought that when Riou had brought her here now, that that was heaven’s will. There was a possibility that she might die, “Bara-hime” would appear, and Riou would become foolish again, but if she lived, she would become a precious ‘body’ for Ruka.
But her hands were full with other matters. So much so that it was only today that some slight time had opened up. However, she could not directly move her body, she had unexpectedly been able to see the eyes of the girl when awake up close—it could be said. She had heard her words, even if only a few.
Seeing Ruka, who had appeared before her, that girl had whispered, squeezing out tears, a single wish.
“……..li”
Asking her this, of all things. She had not thought that she would wish for that.
(…however.)
She had returned and reflected, and she had changed her mind, just slightly.
Perhaps it would be best to try one or two things.
Ruka’s intention to possess that girl’s body had not changed. When she had entered it only a little, she understood. That body was the most ’suitable.’ In all meanings of the word. By whatever means, it could not be preserved.
However, there was only one means by which that girl could “extend her life.”
(Should I give her a chance to choose?…)
No matter how much Riou searched, in the end there would be only one way of extending that girl’s life.
The choice Ruka herself had chosen in the past.
—–Maybe Ruka also wanted to see whether that girl would choose it or not.
And, there was another thing.
“….Really, at this time, she came to the Hyou clan. Is this simply coincidence, or an fate?”
Ruka’s lips relaxed in amusement. She had reaching out her hands for her. She had forcibly entered her and woken her up. Soon it would be time for her to awaken.
“So, Kou Shuurei. Present yourself for an audience with me. How much have you realized? And what do you still not yet realize? Whichever it is, when you come to me, you will be most useful to me.”

Notes: Yes, it was directly stated in the text that Riou has black hair. Yes, I know he certainly doesn’t look that way in the illustrations. The novels also claim that Shuurei is not a beautiful girl, but really, looking at the illustrations I see pretty much no diff between her and the rest of the female cast. This is why I tell people you really can’t really take the illustrations too seriously.

Commentary: Well, I guess score one for Shuuei this round, after almost smooshing Shuurei and Riou, though. BTW, we still have no idea what Ruka is up to.

Hmm, parallels between Ruka and Shuurei. Although, I think Ruka is doing a lot of projecting there. I’ll talk about Ruka later more at the end of the book, but I got to say, Ruka really misinterprets Uu Uu (and Shusui, though I don’t know what she thinks of Riou Jr.)