by Fuyumi Ono
"I can understand why you would advise leaving them be. But you don't know how much Risai suffered to get to Kinpa Palace. How can you tell me to turn away someone who has gone to such lengths to seek my aid?"
"You misunderstand. You are the Empress of Kei. Not the Tai King."
"But--"
Shouryuu held up his hand. "Some among the refugees say that the Royal Tai was assassinated, and Taiki with him. And also they say the assassin was General Ryuu of the Zui Provincial Guard."
"Nonsense."
"I do not believe the Royal Tai or Taiki are dead, and I do not put much stock in common rumors. Still, you need to keep in mind that not a few of the refugees have offered up the name General Ryuu as the leader of the rebels."
Chapter 17
That same day, Risai's doctor allowed her to move to separate accommodations. She still could not stand under her own power and had to be transported by palanquin. With Koshou leading the way, she was borne to room facing a garden in one of the manor houses adjacent the Inner Palace.
As she was placed on the ottoman, a child ran out from the nearby bedroom. "Welcome home! We've straightened everything up for you. I made sure it was all done myself!"
"Is that so?" Koshou laughed, resting his hand on the child's shoulder. "This here's Keikei. Think of him as my kid brother. Keikei, this lady's going to be living with us. Maybe I'll get her to look after you. She's a general from Tai. Her name is Lady Risai."
The boy looked at Risai with an unclouded smile. "Did you get hurt badly? Does it hurt?"
"I'm doing fine. I must apologize for placing such a burden on you, Keikei-dono."
"Oh, you don't need to call me stuff like that. You can treat me like your butler." The boy looked up at Koshou. "Ah," he said, "Some people from the Ministry of Summer were here. They left the kijuu in the stables. Can I take care of him?"
"If Risai says it's okay. That's Risai's kijuu."
"Wow," said Kaikai, appealing to Risai with a look of wonder and expectation on his face.
"Kijuu?" queried Risai, turning to Koshou. "Hien?"
"Yeah, your kijuu's doing fine. I wanted you to see for yourself, but the Minister of Heaven was dead-set against my bringing him into the palace."
"I wish there were some way of conveying my thanks."
"Naw, nothing to thank me for. But aside from that, do you think it'd be okay for Keikei to take care of him? He hasn't ever looked after a kijuu before. You'd have to spell out the particulars for him."
"But of course," Risai said, and Keikei reacted with a quiet yelp of triumph.
"In the meantime, would our guest like a cup of tea?" suggested Koshou.
Keikei leapt to his feet. "Oh, I forgot," he said, his clear voice echoing off the walls as he ran out of the room.
"I don't mean to pry," said Risai, "but is the child yours?"
"Ah, no. Not related in the slightest. All his relatives got killed and Youko took him under her wing."
"Youko--you mean, the Royal Kei?"
"Yep. Though the way things turned out, she doesn't really have the time to look after him, so she asked me to."
"So this is your house, I take it?"
"Hmm, hard to say whose it is."
Risai blinked.
"Probably best to call it the Taishi's residence, I think. We're taking up a corner at the back of the Taishi's offices, living here thanks to Enho's good graces. Or perhaps I should say he's letting us occupy a few of his bedrooms."
"Then Koshou and the Taishi are related?"
"Ah, no, not at all."
"I'm sorry to keep asking, but I'm just wondering--"
Risai was puzzling over this when Keikei bounded back into the room, carrying the tea set. "Hey, Koshou. Youko's coming."
"Youko is?"
"Yeah. She says she wants to talk to Risai. She asked if it was okay for her to come in."
"Yes, please."
Koshou and Keikei nodded and withdrew. After they left, five people came into the room. The Royal Kei at the lead. Keiki and the Chousai, whom she'd met the other day. And then a man she'd never seen before, and a golden-haired child."
"This is the Royal En of the Kingdom of En and the En Taiho."
Startled, Risai looked back and forth between the king and his chief retainer. "But why have Your Majesties--?"
"I had heard that they had a connection with the Royal Tai and Tai Taiho. Now, Risai, would you mind picking up where you left off yesterday? We would like to hear your honest assessment of the current conditions of things in Tai."
Risai pressed her hand against her chest. "Tai is in a terrible condition. The worst thing about it is the absence of His Highness and the Taiho."
The Empress's green eyes looked at her closely. "Among the Tai refugees, there are some who say the Royal Tai and Taiho were assassinated. And the assassin was a general of the Zui Provincial Guard."
Risai eyes widened in shock. "That's not right! They're mistaken!"
"We just need confirm the truth. Don't get upset."
Risai tried to rise to her feet. Youko pushed her down. "No, it's not right. I know where you're coming from. I was labeled a traitor and chased for a long time myself. But that is what's being said."
"I understand." Risai looked up and saw the concern in her eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief. Whether from the stress or the relief, a strong, numbing sense of malaise washed over her.
"Countless orders were issued for my capture on the grounds that I committed regicide, or that somebody behind the scenes manipulated me into doing so. But all of them were wrong."
Risai grasped the jewel hanging against the chest in her hand.
At the same time Gyousou set out for Bun Province, Risai and her soldiers and the rest of the Imperial Army left took up their stations around Kouki. There were countless other tasks to tend to besides the defense of the capital. They had to take over the duties of that portion of the soldiers heading for Bun Province as well.
In the midst of everything, a rumor began circulating around the Imperial Palace. Working herself to exhaustion on a daily basis, Risai was perhaps the last person to hear it for herself. From early morning until late at night, she had been tending to business in Kouki, picking up the slack left by the missing soldiers.
Returning exhausted to her quarters in the evening, she found Kaei waiting for her with an anxious expression on her face. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting long," Risai said apprehensively, entering the parlor. A servant had told her that Kaei had been awaiting her return.
Spring was still in the offing and the main hall was cold and dark, so the servants hadn't left her there. Sitting there all alone, Kaei struck her as all the more dispirited and disheartened.
"You should have sent a messenger. I would have returned earlier," Risai said.
Kaei started a bit and laughed. "Oh, don't worry about it. I know how busy you are. I'm sorry to intrude."
The housekeeper had apparently sensed the need and set out something for her to eat and drink, but it didn't look like Kaei had touched any of it. Her tense appearance and the look on her face when their eyes met told Risai that she had not come here bearing glad tidings.
"Risai, have you heard the strange rumors circulating about?"
"Rumors?"
"Yes. I'm not well connected with military matters, so I'm not sure how to react, but--" She looked closely at Risai's face. "There are some who say that His Highness's expedition to Tetsui in Bun Province is a bridge too far."
"A bridge too far?"
Kaei nodded, nervously folding her hands together. "Tetsui is a region with which His Highness shares a deep connection. It seems hard to believe that His Highness would go there himself to suppress a mere rebellion. He went there expressly because it is Tetsui, or so some people are saying."
"I suppose that may be so. But neither Ganchou, Asen, Eishou, nor any of the generals of the Palace Guard, expressed any dissatisfaction about the suppression of this local rebellion. In f
act, His Highness first sent Eishou. The rebellion grew, and confirming that things were growing too hot for him to handle alone, he concluded that others should be dispatched, but it was not necessary for him to go. And yet he went so far as to divide Asen's army, and set off with those men under his command. I think it highly likely that he did so because the objective was Tetsui."
As she spoke, as if she was testing the explanation out on herself, Risai had the feeling as well that this might be a bridge too far. Because the objective was Tetsui, she couldn't recall any objections to his leading troops to the front. But hearing it put into words, the explanation did have an odd smell about it.
Kaei nodded as if to indicate she found the explanation convincing. Her countenance remained dark. "We anticipated that people taking advantage of the mayhem in the wake of the winter hunt might cause trouble. The rebels in Bun Province were chief among them. We were not surprised that the upheavals occurred first in Bun Province. However, that the rebellion should have broken out in Tetsui, of all places, strikes me as perhaps a bit too obvious."
"When you put it that way, it does seem strange. There was Bun Province and Tetsui in the middle of it, and so nobody thought was it odd that His Highness should go there. That naturally made Tetsui the logical bait to lure out His Highness."
Person or persons unknown had intentionally drawn out His Highness. Risai looked at the anxious Kaei, that one thought occupying her mind. "I have a hard time believing that this could be part of an act of high treason against His Highness."
"Wouldn't you think so? But there are people who say everything's the opposite of what it seems."
"The opposite? What would the opposite be?"
"I'm not sure that I can explain it well enough--" Kaei fell silent as she searched for the right words. "Let's say there were people who harm against His Highness. It would be difficult to get to him while in the Imperial Palace. But if he could be drawn away from the Imperial Palace, to a place ravaged by war and chaos, they would have on their hands an unprecedented opportunity. Therefore, the traitors have sown disorder and lured out His Highness. Still, if this chaos simply sprang out of nowhere, His Highness would surely be suspicious. Just because violence breaks out somewhere doesn't mean that His Highness will attend to it personally. So they exploited the rebels in Bun Province. Disorder arising there would look like more of the same. Except that Tetsui is in Bun. Knowing that Tetsui and His Highness share a strong bond together, if something were to happen in Tetsui, then His Highness would want to go there to help. Those planning a coup d'etat would be sure to take advantage of Bun Province and Tetsui."
"That does seem a strong possibility."
"But taking the contrary point of view, it was always highly likely that if something happened in Tetsui, His Highness would journey there. In other words, under such circumstances, it would be perfectly natural for His Highness to leave the palace."
"I really don't--" I really don't understand, Risai was about to say when Kaei interrupted her.
"To sum up, I have to wonder if His Highness had this in mind all along. He needed some reason to leave the Imperial Palace. By which I mean, the Imperial Court just having been put in order, he had no good reason to vacate the premises. So perhaps he was the one using Tetsui to some advantage."
"I understand that it'd hardly be unnatural for His Highness to depart for Tetsui in order to counter dangers there. But as you have pointed out, why would he choose to do so at this time? Why would it be necessary for him to leave his home base practically empty?"
"Perhaps a continuation of the winter hunt," Kaei said in a low voice.
"That can't be," Risai laughed. "This time His Highness is definitely putting down a rebellion. With the palace left empty, those with treachery on their minds might start something. But I haven't heard of any plans like that."
"I agree. That's why I'm left to conclude that this is a kind of test. In the worst case scenario, a way to test our mettle."
"That's impossible!" said Risai, raising her voice. "I can't even imagine--"
Risai didn't harbor even the faintest of second thoughts about Gyousou. She didn't want any behavior of hers to be taken as harboring second thoughts. She'd come a long way under Gyousou's personal tutelage, and had forged a strong connection with Taiki.
Kaei shrank back a bit, her face tense. "I want to believe that too. But I'm just saying, look at the people left behind--"
"The people left behind?"
"Ganchou-dono and Asen-dono of the Palace Guard. You and Gashin-dono of the Zui Provincial Guard. Of these, Ganchou and Gashin served under the command of His Highness. During the reign of King Kyou, Asen-dono was a General of the Palace Guard of the Right while you were a general in the Jou Provincial Guard. Two generals who were under his command and two generals who were not. His Highness divided Asen's army and took half with him to Bun Province. In short, Asen's fighting strength has been halved."
"Those are mere suspicions."
"The Ministry of Summer is more deeply involved with the subjugation of the chaos than anything else. The Ministry of Winter is responsible for arming the troops. Haboku-dono is the Daishiba of the Ministry of Summer. Rousan-dono is the Daishikuu of the Ministry of Winter. Naturally, both of them were His Highness's subordinates when he was general. With His Highness gone from the palace, the Taiho is left behind by himself. But close by are Vice Minister Seirai of the Provincial Government and Kaihaku-dono of the Ministry of Heaven. And they were once His Highness's subordinates too. The only ones who weren't are myself, from the Ministry of Fall, Chou'un-dono from the Ministry of Spring, and Senkaku-dono from the Ministry of Earth. When it comes to the subjugation of the chaos, we have been mostly kept out of the loop. We haven't been filled in on the details. Apparently there is no need for us to know--"
"The Chousai is here. It's not possible that the troops could be mobilized without the participation of the Chousai, and he wasn't one of Gyousou's previous subordinates. He was the Province Lord of Sui." Risai shook her head. "I think your suspicions are getting the better of you. His Highness was originally a general, so the first people to place their trust in him belonged to his army. That also means that those with the closest ties to him are going to have military backgrounds. Go back to the roots and it all makes sense, doesn't it? The people involved with putting down the rebellion are his subordinates. The people who aren't are newcomers. This doesn't strike me as some kind of stratagem, but simply the result of matching the right people to the right job. I think that's a better way to approach it."
"I suppose so." Kaei uneasily touched her fingers to her forehead. "When people tell me about these rumors, they make me shiver. To be honest, I feel like I'm all alone on this."
"Kaei."
"No, I don't mean to suggest any sympathies for the devil. It's just that I'm unaccustomed to the way His Highness thinks. Everything happening all at once has left me at loose ends. I feel this sense of estrangement. Helpless and forlorn, I end up coming here and crying on your shoulder."
Risai nodded.
"I now concur. Things have been proceeding at a rapid clip. But not more rapidly than necessary. My anxieties have abated as well. I have reasons enough to trust in His Highness's actions. I once had qualms of my own, which may have been obvious to other people. They could well have been taken in a negative light, but I probably would have shrugged off such reactions as inevitable. Being misunderstood like that is to be expected."
"Yes, but--"
"Chou'un-dono of the Ministry of Spring is of a like mind. Previously he was vocally quite critical of His Highness, and I know that Chousai Eichuu as well had doubts of his own. Asen and Ganchou, as well as yourself, have been the subject of unsavory rumors."
"Rumors about--me?"
"Yes," said Kaei, her blue lips trembling. "While serving in the Palace Guard during the reign of King Kyou, Asen-dono and His Highness were known as the two jewels in the crown. One became the King and the other became h
is retainer. There should be nothing remarkable about that, but--"
"I don't believe it. And I am similarly implicated?"
"Yes. I find such rumors most distasteful, but you and His Highness went on the Shousan together. People say that you begrudge the fact that he was chosen instead of yourself. Ganchou-dono was originally one of General Gyousou's commanders, though he earned his fame in the Palace Guard. When a position opened up in the Palace Guard, Ganchou supposedly expected that it would be given to him. His Highness was chosen at a remarkably young age. Ganchou served under General Gyousou for a long time. But turn over that rock and people are saying that in reality Ganchou holds it against him."
"This is crazy! With that kind of distrust swirling around, anybody's past could be turned against him."
"I think so too. This is all nothing more than bitterness."
"It's more than that. The Taiho chose His Highness right before my eyes. I've never harbored a moment of regret. Those who say I must be angry about it would themselves be furious and unforgiving if such a honor was snatched away from before their eyes, so they insist that I must be as well. They are convinced that everybody else must be just as despicable as they are. People like that--"
Risai interrupted herself in the middle of the sentence. At the end of the day, this amounted to nothing more than judging people by one's own standards. A kind of commiseration that said that whatever one person found hurtful must be hurtful to all. That people judged others by the same standards as themselves was an unassailable fact of nature. Push come to shove, it wasn't a problem somebody else could fix.
"Sorry. It's just that there's nothing odd about people like that. We all look at others the same way. I think Asen or Ganchou would agree. His Highness has shown Asen nothing but respect, and he treats Ganchou the same as family. Not exactly an older brother, but an older friend in whom he has great faith. Ganchou in turn seems to take pride in His Highness's accomplishments."
"Yes, indeed."
"I don't think His Highness leaving the palace unoccupied is some way of punishing us. In the first place, he left the Taiho behind as well. If he really intended to continue the winter hunt, there's no way he would leave the Taiho to his own devices."
