CH 4.4

“——That is roughly how it went.”

Jusetsu let out a breath. When she looked up, she found Koushun staring intently at her. His expression was still unreadable. She could tell by his slightly widened eyes and parted lips that he was somewhat shocked.

“…Is everything you just told me the truth?” Koushun quietly asked.

“If you do not believe me, so be it. I know nothing else.”

Koushun fell silent and dropped his gaze. The Flame Emperor had inherited the throne from the Ran clan, and both the capital and imperial palace were kept as they were in the Ran dynasty. It was only because it was more convenient that way, but that was why he was able to obtain the throne. Because he hadn’t gotten rid of the Raven Consort—the Winter King.

“You mean to say that I’m emperor because the Winter King is here?” Koushun spoke again. “Are you—” He stumbled over his words, as though hesitating. “Are the Raven Consorts truly fine with that? Having their king titles taken away, and being confined here.”

Jusetsu glared at Koushun.

“What do you want us to do? Name ourselves the Winter King again? Even though it could turn into a needless war?”

“So you will remain silent and live out your life here? You have neither the duty nor obligation to do so. Can you quit—”

“If I could quit, I would have done it a long time ago!” Jusetsu shouted. “Who want to be the Raven Consort? But the claws of Wulian Niangniang are deep within me. She is the one who chooses the Raven Consort—the Winter King. The golden bird only notifies people of this. The Winter King restrains that god here, and we are one in body and soul, so to speak. Therefore, the Winter King cannot leave this place. I cannot take a single step outside this palace. It would be a betrayal towards Niangniang.”

Koushun’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“The life of the Raven Consort is in the hands of Wulian Niangniang. If we betray her, she will merely take our life. There is nothing we can do.”

Koushun’s eyebrows furrowed further in response to Jusetsu’s reply. There is nothing we can do, Jusetsu repeated as though spitting out blood.

“…Wulian Niangniang only escapes from here at night, when it is dark and moonless, to roam around as a night-wandering god. She must have dug her claw into me on that night.”

“That night?”

“The night of the day when my mother ran away with me.”

That night, Jusetsu wandered around until sunset, and, exhausted, fell asleep by the gate. It was a moonless night. On such a night, one must not stay outside in the dark. She was sure that on that night, she was chosen by Wulian Niangniang. On a whim.

“I cannot escape from this place. In order to keep the secret and not to gather people under her command, the Raven Consort must not let others get close to her. That is what I learned from Reijou. I must have pride as the Winter King and maintain silence in order to not bring about unwanted misfortune. I must not covet, I must not wish for anything, for this will lead to disaster. Do you understand? How it feels to be trapped here because of the Ran clan—because of your own ancestors, and to exist for the bloodline of the emperor who killed your entire family? Do you know how difficult it is to live while holding your breath in this body, knowing that you would be killed if you are ex—”

Jusetsu bit her lip. Her voice was trembling. If there was anyone who could answer her, she wanted them to tell her. Why must she live here? Why, of all places, here? She couldn’t wish for anything, she couldn’t truly communicate with anyone, and she couldn’t escape. Why!

“Do you understand? Say it again with your mouth. Say that you pity me, as though this has nothing to do with you!”

Jusetsu gripped the tea cup and slammed it against the wall. The thin ceramic cup broke easily, making a sound like the shattering of ice.

Breathing hard, Jusetsu glared at Koushun. She knew that she must not cry. She didn’t want to be pitied. She didn’t want her heart and mind to be guessed with such worthless feelings. What kind of feelings Jusetsu had lived with until now and what kind of feelings she had to live with from now on—she didn’t want them to be summarized with the word “pity.”

Koushun’s face was pale, and his lips were pressed together. It seemed that he couldn’t find the words to say.

Probably hearing the sound of the tea cup breaking, Jiujiu peeked out from the back of the room. She looked surprised to see the pieces scattered on the floor and approached them. She crouched down and began to collect them. Jusetsu called out to her.

“Jiujiu, leave them be. I will pick them up later. You will get hurt.”

“No, but—”

Jusetsu jerked back at that voice. It wasn’t Jiujiu’s usual voice.

It was a voice with a strange quality, as though it was one voice split into two or two voices combined together.

——Double voice. Something that occurred when someone was possessed by a ghost.

“Jiu-”

“Don’t move, Raven Consort.”

Jiujiu—no, the ghost possessing Jiujiu stood up with one of the shattered fragments in hand. Jusetsu, who was about to step forward, stopped. The sharp point of the fragment was pressed against Jiujiu’s slender throat.

“―Hyougetsu!”

Jusetsu spat out in anguish. Jiujiu’s lips were twitching open. The ghost seemed to be trying to laugh.

“Correct. You catch on quickly.”

The split voice sounded teasing.

“There is no ghost who would so easily come up with such a low thing as using the life of a possessed person as a shield. You lowlife.”

“Is that so? Those types were common when I was a shaman.”

“Leave Jiujiu right now.”

“I’m the one making the demands here, Raven Consort.”

Whenever Jusetsu tried to move her hand, the shard would dig deeper into Jiujiu’s neck. Jusetsu had no choice but to bite her lip and remain still.

“Is it the request you talked about before?”

“That’s right.”

“Are you planning the restoration of the Ran clan? Or a curse killing of the emperor?”

Koushun glanced at Jusetsu. She wasn’t looking at him.

“Of course not,” Jiujiu—no, Hyougetsu smiled sardonically. “I have no interest in such things. There is just—there is just someone I want you to save.”

Hyougetsu changed his tone and his eyes half-closed, as though he was in dire need.

“Raven Consort. Jusetsu. Listen to me.”

With an earnest voice, Hyougetsu increased the pressure of his hand. The tip of the shard was pressing hard against Jiujiu’s neck. Jusetsu couldn’t breathe.

“I told you before that I will listen to you. So remove yourself from Jiujiu.”

Panic crept into Jusetsu’s voice. She couldn’t let him hurt Jiujiu. Jiujiu shouldn’t have had anything to do with Jusetsu in the first place. If Jusetsu hadn’t named her as her attendant, she wouldn’t have been here. She was an ordinary girl with a kind heart. That was why—

“Jusetsu, I—”

Hyougetsu took a step forward and appealed to Jusetsu. At that moment, the tip of the shard cut a line across Jiujiu’s skin. Red blood oozed out.

The moment she saw that, something stirred from the innermost depths of Jusetsu’s heart. Goosebumps formed on her flesh.

“Get away from Jiujiu!”

Hair stood up from her fingertips. It was as if a hot wind was blowing over her skin. Even though she was staying still, her hair ornaments were swaying and making sounds. Gradually, the swaying became more and more violent, until finally the hair sticks and ornaments flew off. Her hair, which had been tied up, was untied and fell down her back. Her hair fluttered and became disheveled, like clothes becoming swept up by the wind. Not even a hint of wind was blowing. Jusetsu felt her heart becoming boiling hot and freezing cold at the same time. Feeling like she was no longer herself, she pointed at Hyougetsu and opened her mouth.

“Do you not understand that I am asking you to get away from her? This is my command!”

A gust of wind rose. The curtains turned over and the table moved. The wind swelled and became a wave that slammed into Hyougetsu—Jiujiu’s body. As soon as her legs lifted up in the air, she collapsed and fell down on the spot as though a thread had been cut. A scream that wasn’t hers could be heard faintly. At that moment, the storm vanished and ceased. The covering on the table gently fell to the floor.

A young man was standing beside the fallen Jiujiu. He was stunned. ―It was Hyougetsu.

“To think that you could tear me away by sheer force—”

Before Hyougetsu could finish his sentence, Jusetsu turned her hand to him. Heat gathered in the palm of her hand, and the air shimmered and began to form petals. Pink petals were formed one by one, creating a peony. The petals glowed faintly.

“If you cannot cross over to paradise, I shall send you there myself.”

Hyougetsu backed away as if in shock. Jusetsu couldn’t hold back the torrent of heat that swirled in her chest. The fierce flames felt like they were going to burst in her body. She couldn’t hear what Hyougetsu was saying. She felt as if she was telling herself to stop from somewhere far away, but her body was being controlled by the heat and didn’t obey her voice. She took a step towards Hyougetsu. There was panic in his eyes. Not caring about that, Jusetsu held up her hand. The peony flower was about to turn into a pale red flame. She tried to stop herself, but she couldn’t. The torrent in her own body was swallowing her up. She was no longer herself—.

Everything was about to be swept away by the tremendous heat.

“Jusetsu.”

Koushun grabbed her arm. Jusetsu gasped.

Everything came into focus. She felt that the moment her name was called.

Koushun’s voice shook Jusetsu’s heart like ripples, reaching all the way to her core. It was as if the curtains covering her body had been removed, and she felt as if light had suddenly burst into her body. She wondered what it was. She blinked repeatedly.

The heat that had been raging for so long cooled down like a receding wave. The thing that had taken control of her body disappeared. Jusetsu looked up. Koushun’s face stood out clearly against their surroundings.

——She didn’t know why. Whenever she heard her name coming from Koushun’s mouth, it always sounded different compared to others.

It made her feel strange. She couldn’t resist it.

The peony disappeared from Jusetsu’s palm. She exhaled deeply and the tension released from her shoulders. Her body was quite stiff and tense. What had she been so nervous about?

Koushun released Jusetsu’s arm. When she lowered her arm, Hyougetsu, whose face had stiffened, let out a faint sigh of relief.

“Sei.”

Koushun called out to Ei Sei, who was watching the situation with bated breath. Ei Sei’s fluttered as if he was coming to his senses and, as usual, he understood his master’s intention without him needing to say a word. He went to Jiujiu and picked her up. “She is merely unconscious,” he reported.

“Lay her down over there.”

Jusetsu pointed to the bed behind the curtains. Ei Sei nodded and carried Jiujiu over there. She followed him with her eyes, and then looked at Hyougetsu. He braced himself.

“…What is your request? Let me hear it.”

Even after she told him that, he was still wary and didn’t open his mouth, perhaps out of fear that he was about to be forcibly sent to paradise.

“You said there is someone you want me to save. Who is it?”

Hyougetsu was silent, as if hesitating. Jusetsu looked at his face and pondered for a moment.

“Shall I take a guess? Is it Princess Meiju?”

Hyougetsu looked as if he swallowed something bitter. It seemed that she was correct.

“Princess Meiju…do you mean the second princess?”

Koushun said as he stared into the air like he was searching his memory. Yes, Jusetsu nodded.

“Hyougetsu, she is your aunt, yes?”

“…She and my father had different mothers. She was also younger than me in age,” Finally, Hyougetsu spoke. His voice was low.

“Many of the stories about you take place in the inner palace.”

——Stories about how he turned disrespectful eunuchs into goldfish in the inner palace’s pond, or he found a lost item for the princess…

Jusetsu recalled the anecdotes Koushun told her.

“That was why I thought you might have had a close relationship with Princess Meiju. Then, I learned that you planned to be adopted by your shaman master and leave the imperial family. How strange. What was the reason for receiving your master’s family name, which you had no need to inherit? Or, to put it the other way, why abandon your family name of Ran—”

Hyougetsu’s gaze wandered about as though he was hesitating over how to answer. Jusetsu looked over at Koushun. It seemed that he hadn’t caught on.

“You may not be interested in this, but in this world, there exist laws that ban marriage between family members and laws that ban marriage between people of different social standings.”

People from the same family couldn’t marry each other, and prostitutes could be paid for by customers to get out of their bondage and become mistresses, but never a legal wife. Such were the rules.

“Those didn’t exist in the past,” Hyougetsu said. “If you read history books and romances, in old dynasties, as long as they had different mothers, you would find many sisters who married their older brothers, and nieces who married their uncles. It only became forbidden starting in the Ran dynasty.”

“In other words,” Koushun stroked his chin. “You wanted to marry someone from your clan, so you attempted to discard your family name and leave the Ran clan. Am I correct?”

Hyougetsu was silent.

“Is that person Princess Meiju, by any chance?”

Koushun looked at Jusetsu when Hyougetsu didn’t answer.

“The emperor and the other ghosts of the imperial family appeared in the Flame Emperor’s bedchamber and were fought by Reijou. If Hyougetsu’s beloved was among them, there would be no reason for him to still be here. If that is not the case, then why would he ask me to save her?”

Then there was only one person, Princess Meiju.

“I see,” Koushun said, but he expressionlessly tilted his head. “Why after all this time?”

Hyougetsu had been possessing a third-rate shaman in Reki Province for a long time. Why would he ask Jusetsu to help him now?

“…I was in the inner palace,” Hyougetsu answered in a murmur. “I wandered around as a ghost and found myself there. I searched for Meiju. Because I heard that she had committed suicide in the inner palace.”

Hyougetsu let out a sigh. It was a clear sigh, filled with sadness.

“We were about to hold the wedding soon. My grandfather—the emperor had given me permission to leave the clan. I had just presented her with my proposal gift. Meiju had been delighted. Everything disappeared.”

After he was killed, Hyougetsu wandered around in the completely trampled and ruined inner palace, searching for Meiju. Searching for her body. The cobblestones were stained with blood, and the bodies of attendants and palace ladies were strewn haphazardly in the courtyards. The smell of smoke was thick in the air, as if some palace had burned down. That was the kind of place I was wandering in, Hyougetsu said.

“I couldn’t find Meiju’s body. It must have been carried away afterwards. But—there was a ghost under the willow tree. Meiju’s ghost.”

Hyougetsu dropped his gaze. His downcast eyes were shadowed.

“She was standing there in her appearance during her final moments, bleeding from her neck. It seemed that she had died under that willow tree. My voice didn’t reach her. Something was occupying her mind, and she couldn’t hear me. That’s why, I couldn’t send her to paradise, nor could I travel with her. I decided to turn to my master to see what could be done. However, the Flame Emperor had either arrested or banished all the shamans, and those who worked for the Ran clan were executed. My master had apparently escaped, which was why I couldn’t track him down. I decided to leave the capital and search for a shaman who could save Meiju.”

“Did it not occur to you to turn to the previous Raven Consort, as you did this time?”

At Koushun’s words, Hyougetsu glanced at Jusetsu.

“The Raven Consort exorcised the ghosts of the emperor and the other imperial family members. Exorcising is different from saving. It is driving them away to paradise without question. It is also said that the soul is annihilated. That’s why I couldn’t ask her. If I thoughtlessly approached her, I might end up getting exorcised.”

Just like earlier, he said. That was why he always took caution to use someone else as a pawn when he came face to face with Jusetsu.

“Even so, I occasionally returned to the inner palace to check on Meiju. I thought that the Raven Consort would not try to exorcise her ghost, which was helped by the willow flowers to only appear for a short time and never took revenge on anyone, but…Meiju would never react to my voice.”

Every time he returned to Meiju, he would call out to her, hoping that this time she would hear him. Every time he would be disappointed and leave the inner palace to find a way to save her. Jusetsu felt her heart becoming worn down, just imagining that endless cycle.

“Shamans were not easy to find, because the powerful ones hid themselves well. So, the first person I possessed was not a shaman, but a priestess. She was a woman who passionately believed in the gods, and she was powerful. Thinking that this woman would be able to do it, I possessed her and tried to summon Meiju’s ghost, but it didn’t work. As expected, Meiju didn’t respond to my calls. After that, I tried to possess several other people, but it was all the same. The only time I could work on Meiju was the season when the willow flowers bloomed. Spring came and went again and again without anything being done.”

Hyougetsu closed his eyes. Perhaps he was recalling the willow branches dancing in the wind after the willow flowers finished blooming. It was a signal that he would have to say goodbye to Meiju for another year.

“After several springs, I decided to look for my master. He was the greatest shaman of his time. I thought that if I couldn’t find him, I would have him find me. So, I fixed my gaze on a third-rate shaman who was a good talker. Sure enough, he was good at attracting attention, and he even created the Moon Truth Sect. But, he was a little too showy. Before I could be found by my master, the government took notice of him.”

Hyougetsu laughed sardonically. Jusetsu and Koushun both knew what happened after that.

“But, perhaps it was thanks to this, when I returned to the inner palace, I learned that the Raven Consort had been replaced. Furthermore, it seemed that she was a member of the Ran clan. I thought that I might be able to negotiate with her if I played my cards right.”

How stupid I was, Hyougetsu lowered his eyes. When he cast down his eyes, it was like clouds passing over the moon and hiding it. Just as his name implied, he was as beautiful as the cold moon.

“…If you had not used a palace lady as a shield, I would have listened to you calmly,” Jusetsu said.

“As if I would go before the Raven Consort completely defenseless. I won’t forget how the previous Raven Consort exorcised my grandfather and the others all at the same time.”

Jusetsu was at a loss as to how to answer. Brushing her hair out of her face with a hand, she looked out the latticed window.

“The sun has already set,” she murmured, and then turned towards the doors. Before she walked out, she turned to Koushun and the others.

“Come with me.”

Hyougetsu looked puzzled, but Jusetsu left the palace without minding that. The sky was divided into light pink and moon white. The melting evening sun was sitting on the branches of the laurel trees. She walked swiftly to the south of the inner palace. Towards Meiju. As she walked, Jusetsu recalled the folding screen she had seen in the Gyokou Hall treasure room. The one depicting Hyougetsu and Meiju. Hyougetsu was as beautiful as cold quartz, while Meiju had the mellow beauty of a jade.

“Hyougetsu.”

Jusetsu called out to him behind her. Koushun and Ei Sei were walking right behind Jusetsu, but Hyougetsu was following a little further behind. He left no footsteps or shadow, which gave off a strange feeling.

“Do you know Princess Meiju had a quartz comb?”

“A white quartz comb?”

“Yes.”

“I know. It was my gift. A token of my proposal.”

“——I see.”

When Hyougetsu said that he had given Meiju a proposal gift, Jusetsu had thought, Perhaps…

“Do you know that it has gone missing?”

“Missing?” Hyougetsu’s face changed. “Was it looted?”

“That may be so, but I suspect it was not.”

Passing by Enou Palace, the peach grove with willow trees came into view. The sky was gradually darkening, and their surroundings were turning a deep indigo color. At the same time, the moon, swollen and apricot seed-shaped, was beginning to shine faintly. Approaching the willow tree, Jusetsu stopped. Hyougetsu let out a breath. It was a painful, choking sigh.

Under the blossoming willow tree, Meiju’s figure emerged. Contrary to the growing darkness, her figure seemed to glow with a white light. Jusetsu gazed at her hanging head.

“Princess Meiju slit her own throat under that willow tree. ——Do you have any idea why it was this willow tree?”

Hyougetsu answered.

“Whenever I visited the inner palace, this was where we met. I also proposed to her here.”

——Is that why?

Did she intend to die while holding her memories with Hyougetsu in her mind?

“Then, it would be hard to believe that she would have tried to die without her precious quartz comb.”

It was her proposal gift. If she chose this place to die, it was only logical that she would choose it as her adornment in her final moments.

However, Jusetsu pointed at Meiju’s head.

“She died without putting it in her hair.”

The form of a ghost was not necessarily their appearance when they died. Hyougetsu was a good example. Sometimes, they appeared in the form that left a strong impression in the deceased person’s mind. If Meiju’s ghost wasn’t wearing that comb, it was either because that was what she looked like when she died, or because that appearance left a strong impression in her mind. ——Why? Either way, if it was the other way around, they would know. If she was wearing her treasured comb.

“She must have thought when she died, the comb should not be on her body. Because it would be looted.”

Ah, Koushun let out a faint sound that was neither an utterance nor a sigh.

“Both Princess Meiju’s gemstone and the blade she used to kill herself are kept in the treasure room of Gyokou Hall. That was how it was done.”

Jusetsu had criticized Koushun keeping jewelry torn off from corpses before.

“It might fall into the hands of the Flame Emperor, who had killed Hyougetsu. I don’t believe she wanted that to happen, no matter what.”

“Then…” Hyougetsu looked at Meiju. “Where’s the comb?”

Jusetsu approached her step by step.

“With the army closing in, there would have been no time to hide it somewhere. She came here, where she had chosen to die, and most likely—”

Jusetsu crouched down in front of Princess Meiju. She placed her hand on the ground at her feet. The earth was cool.

“Buried it here.”

Taking a piece of wood from her pocket, Jusetsu began digging with it. She had no other tools to use. “Sei,” Koushun said, and Ei Sei reluctantly approached Jusetsu. He took out a dagger from his pocket and gouged out the dirt greatly in one go. Jusetsu wondered if he always carried such a dangerous thing around.

“She would not have buried it very deeply.”

After digging for a while, they hit the willow’s roots. They were still thin. Jusetsu stopped her hand. The roots were entangled around—or rather, protecting—a comb. It was covered in dirt, but it was a white quartz comb. Jusetsu hurriedly dug it out and wiped the dirt away from it.

“Use this,” Koushun held out his handkerchief. When she wiped the comb clean with it, the form of a beautiful comb in the shape of waves and peonies emerged. It was a comb that possessed the clear moon-like beauty of Hyougetsu as well as the gentle beauty of Meiju.

“I would guess that she could not leave this place because this comb weighed on her mind. Her whole mind was preoccupied with it.”

For that reason, even the voice of Hyougetsu, who gave her that comb, didn’t reach her. What an irony.

Jusetsu held up the comb in front of Meiju. Heat gathered in her other hand. Light red petals swelled out and formed the shape of a peony. When she breathed on it, the petals scattered and turned into smoke, enveloping the comb. As though noticing it, Meiju, whose head had been hanging down, looked forward for the first time. A light red smoke surrounded her. The comb glistened in the moonlight. Meiju’s vacant eyes slowly came into focus. On the other side of the comb, Hyougetsu was there. Meiju’s eyes widened.

“―Meiju.”

Hyougetsu called out her name and stepped forward. Meiju blinked. As the wind passed through, her expression changed dramatically. Her eyes sparkled as she blinked again, and light bounced off her smooth cheeks drew soft lines. Her silver hair was tied up, and the wound in her throat and blood disappeared. Her bloodstained clothes were replaced with a splendid upper garment embroidered with gold and silver threads and a skirt printed with patterns of waves. The princess in all her radiance was standing there.

Hyougetsu stroked Meiju’s hair. Upon doing that, the quartz comb appeared in her hair. Without making a sound, Meiju smiled. Hyougetsu took her into his arms. He was also smiling faintly. He seemed to whisper something into Meiju’s ear, but Jusetsu couldn’t make out what he said.

The two figures faded in the moonlight. The flowering willow branches swayed. Hidden among the drooping flowers, the lovers disappeared without a sound.

A faint breeze shook the willow trees. Jusetsu silently gazed at the willow blossoms illuminated by the moonlight. No one said a word.

“…We’ll bury that comb in their tomb.”

After a while, quietly, as though slowly waking up from a dream, Koushun spoke.

The tomb of the Ran clan was tucked away in a corner of the Forbidden Garden at the edge of the imperial palace. The original family mausoleum was destroyed, but the Flame Emperor didn’t want the people to pray for them, so they were buried in the Forbidden Garden instead of outside the imperial palace.

“That would be good.”

The comb was originally supposed to be with Meiju in death.

“It would be better for me not to touch it. It should be in the care of the Ran clan.”

Saying that, Koushun flipped his sleeves. Jusetsu looked down at the quartz comb. The moonlight softly enveloped the quartz like dew.