CH 2.3

The days during this season were long. Past the first watch of the night (7 pm to 9pm), when the sky was gradually becoming a deeper blue, a messenger from Enou Palace arrived. The attendant seemed to be in quite a hurry, as she was running. It was rare for a consort’s attendant to run. Jusetsu judged that since an attendant was sent and not a low-ranking palace lady or eunuch, there was some urgent news that needed to be kept confidential.

“Could we please request your presence at Enou Palace?” The attendant pleaded after a hurried bow.

“Did something occur?”

“That’s…”

The attendant coughed and drank the water provided to her by Jiujiu. Deciding that it would be quicker to go to Enou Palace rather than hearing the explanation, Jusetsu headed there. Today she was still dressed in black. Under the evening sky, her clothes looked all the darker. Turning over her silk shawl with a pattern of scattered stars, Jusetsu hastened towards her destination.

“Finding a lost item?”

Jusetsu asked the attendant, who was talking to her as they ran on the path to Enou Palace.

“Yes. It was an item a merchant presented the other day…”

Jusetsu lost interest. “That is all? I assumed that it would be something more valuable.”

But the attendant’s face remained pale.

“It is valuable. Those items are in the custody of Enou Palace, but as they are gifts, they belong to His Majesty.”

“They don’t belong to Kajou?”

“They were granted by His Majesty to Niangniang. If they were lost, the palace ladies and attendants who moved them must take responsibility.”

“By responsibility——”

Did that mean the death penalty? That was why the attendant was so pale.

Also, the attendant added. “One of the palace ladies disappeared.”

“——Does that mean that palace lady took the item and ran away?”

“We don’t know. The other palace ladies say that she wasn’t the kind of person who would do such a thing. But…” The attendant shook her head in bafflement. “They say that recently, there are times when she would be acting strange.”

“What do you mean by strange?”

“They say that there are times when she was like a different person…”

——I heard this somewhere before, she thought.

“…Like she became someone else?”

“Yes.”

——What could this mean?

When they reached Enou Palace, they were met with a flurried atmosphere. Palace ladies were going this way and that. Were they searching for the missing item, or were they searching for the palace lady? Kajou came out of the palace and greeted Jusetsu.

“What is the missing item?”

“It’s a pot. A copper pot with a seal.”

“A seal…?”

“A paper seal. According to the catalog, it is a pitch-pot—” It was a pot used for a game where one threw arrows into the pot. “And it seems that there is nothing inside, but I thought that I would open it after confirming it with His Majesty.”

“And the missing palace lady?”

“She is from the Palace Sewing Bureau. While we were in the middle of searching for the pot after we realized it was missing, we discovered that she had gone missing as well.”

Jusetsu looked around.

“Lead me to that palace lady’s room.”

The building where the palace ladies lived was on the outskirts of Enou Palace, and several people lived in one room. When they entered the room of the missing palace lady, Jusetsu stood in front of her bed. There was a box next to her pillow, and when she opened it, she found that it contained combs, scissors, and handkerchiefs. It seemed to be a box of personal belongings. There were clothes hanging from the partition screen next to it. There was no difference from the other palace ladies. Jusetsu stared at the bed, and then narrowed her eyes slightly. ——There is a faint hint of a ghost. It was vague, coiling about the bed like thin smoke. The ghost was here not too long ago.

Jusetsu pondered for a moment. And then, she pinched several strands of hair that had fallen onto the pillow and turned around to the palace ladies who were peeking into the room.

“What is the name of the missing palace lady?”

They looked at each other, but then looked behind them and immediately moved aside. Kajou entered the room.

“Her name is You Senjou.”

Jusetsu nodded lightly and had an inkstick and inkstone prepared for her. She took out a small wooden doll from her pocket and wrote “You Senjou” on it with a brush. She then wound the strands of hair around the doll and placed it on top of the pillow. She pulled out the peony in her hair and blew on it. The flower petals scattered like glass breaking, and they fell onto the doll as they glittered.

Upon that, the doll began to shake faintly. It swelled out and twisted in shape. The coiled hair became buried inside, and the doll turned soft and black like candy. Gradually, it began to take the shape of a bird, sprouting wings and a beak. When its candy-like body was covered in feathers, it trembled wildly. Its dark eyes lit up and its wings moved up and down. A raven was now standing there.

The raven flicked its wings a few times as if to check the feel of them, and then took off. It moved fast, flying out of the room and causing the palace ladies to let out little cries. Jusetsu slipped between them and told Kajou and the others, “Stay here,” and followed the bird.

Jusetsu chased the bird, running next to the roses and leaving Enou Palace. She couldn’t chase after it if it left the palace, but it probably hadn’t reached that far yet. Running on gravel, she passed through a grove of aspen trees and by a pond. The raven was heading towards the western side of the inner palace. After a while, it circled one spot and then descended. It was an area of dense old pine trees. Jusetsu went towards that spot.

Jusetsu stepped into the pine grove and came to a stop when she spotted the raven. It was perched on a girl’s hand. She was wearing the uniform of the Palace Sewing Bureau. ——She was most likely the missing palace lady. Her arm was wrapped around a copper pot.

“You Senjou?”

When Jusetsu asked who she was, the girl, expression unchanging, opened her mouth.

“Well, who knows? I don’t even know her name.”

There was a strange quality to her voice, like it was one voice split into two or two voices overlapping with each other. Jusetsu happened to know what this was.

Double voice—when a single voice sounded like it was split in two. That occurred when a person’s soul became unstable. Because they were being possessed by a ghost.

When Reijou was alive, she had encountered someone like that. As expected, with a voice like that, she was possessed by an ill-natured ghost. This person seemed to have become completely different. It was just as she had been told. And she had heard about a case like this recently. The case of Father Moonlight.

“Who are you?”

Jusetsu braced herself, and the other person laughed a little. Jusetsu glanced at the pot. A paper was stretched over the pot’s opening, and there were strange characters written on it.

“Do you have any connection to Father Moonlight?”

The other person raised their eyebrow.

“Oh? Why do you think so?”

“You tamed my raven. That is something no ordinary person can do. And the characters on that pot. That reads ‘ferrule,’1 most likely written in the script used by shamans. You are a shaman. ——They say that Father Moonlight sometimes seemed like a different person. He must have been possessed by a ghost. But I heard that he was skilled at illusion and transformation arts. If he was that skilled, then he would not have been possessed. In that case, it was the ghost possessing him who was the excellent shaman. Just like you.”

“I see,” they laughed again. The next moment, they quickly struck the raven with their hand. There was a dry sound like cracking wood, and the bird disappeared in a black haze. Jusetsu bit her lip. Although it was a simply made familiar bird, it was no ordinary shaman who could easily defeat Jusetsu’s arts.

“Who are you?”

There were not so many ghosts who were excellent shamans and were willing to possess and manipulate people. This ghost had possessed Father Moonlight, and it was now possessing the palace lady.

“I am Hyougetsu.”

Surprisingly, the other party readily gave out their name. However——

“It’s Ran Hyougetsu, Raven Consort.”

“Ran——”

Jusetsu gasped. ——Did he say Ran?

That was the family name of the previous imperial family.

“I am the same as you. Isn’t that right, Raven Consort?”

Jusetsu peered cautiously into the palace lady’s face, but she had become only a vessel for the ghost, so she couldn’t read the ghost’s true meaning in her expression at all.

“…I am called Ryuu. I am not of the Ran clan.”

That was the false family name Reijou had given her.

“I have no interest in false names. Your blood calls to me, telling me that you are my kin. ——You survived well. And in a place like this.” There was a longing in the ghost’s voice. “When I discovered you, I was shocked. I never would have expected a member of the Ran clan to become the Raven Consort. I thought we were all hunted down and destroyed a long time ago.”

Their voice was sad, as though sinking into a dark abyss.

“I was also caught and lost my head. When I returned to the capital, I still feel a chill in my blood. Even though I no longer have a body.”

Then why did you come here? Just when she thought that, the other party stared at her face intently, and then a small smile appeared on their face.

“But, it is a quirk of fate that I found a member of the Ran clan here. I invited you here because I wanted to talk to you.”

Oh, Jusetsu thought. Was that why he stole the pot, left hints of his presence in the palace lady’s room, and made me chase him.

“I was a man of the imperial family, but I was also a shaman. I don’t know if you know this, but in the time of the previous dynasty, there were many shamans in the palace. But the current dynasty despises shamans and chased them out of the palace entirely. That is why there are many shamans in the rural regions. The man called Father Moonlight was also one of that number. Well, his skill in the art was entirely in the domain of fraud, though.”

Jusetsu had heard from Reijou that there used to be many shamans in the palace a long time ago. They didn’t hold official ranks, but they were personally favored by the emperor, the imperial family, and high-ranking officials, and they could even freely enter and exit the inner palace. However, this Hyougetsu person, who claimed to be a member of the imperial family as well as a shaman, was probably an unusual case.

“Even so, that shaman wannabe was amusing. When I possessed him, he spread it around as him having a god descend upon him. Even now, I still don’t know if that was also a deception or if he really believed that. That man made quite a lot of money with that. He ripped off all he could from the rich to the poor, and stored the money in a pot which he buried in the ground. It is still buried there. Shall I tell you the location?”

Jusetsu answered with a scowl. Hyougetsu snorted, as if he wasn’t amused, and continued.

“If you can read these characters, then you know what this pot is, correct?”

Hyougetsu raised the pot up high. Jusetsu stared at it intently. “Ferrule” meant seal——for souls.

“…Whose soul is sealed within?”

“It’s certainly not Father Moonlight,” Hyougetsu stroked the pot. “I heard that your lot wants to summon the soul of a man who died in the Reki Province riot.”

Jusetsu’s brows knitted together further. “Are you saying——”

“Souls that have died far away from their hometowns get lost on their way to their destination. At that time, there were a number of souls drifting about in the air. I gathered them and sealed them into this pot. I was going to use them as servants.”2 Hyougetsu looked at Jusetsu’s face. “But now I have an unexpected and different way to use them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll give you Ou Genyuu’s soul. In return—I have a request for you,” Hyougetsu said, retracting the faint smile he had on until now.

“Request…?”

“That is why I came here. To this inner palace——”

He was in the form of the palace lady and had her voice, but Hyougetsu’s air took on an earnest heat. Jusetsu was bewildered by his straightforward fervor.

“What is your request? What exactly was your goal in coming here?”

“I’ll tell you if you listen to me. And if you say you can’t do it…”

Hyougetsu removed the knife from the ornament on his sash and pushed it against his neck—or rather, the palace lady’s neck.

“I will kill this person.”

Jusetsu reflexively tried to run forward, but had to stop because Hyougetsu pressed the blade more forcefully against the palace lady’s neck.

“After I kill this person, I will escape. Ou Genyuu’s soul won’t return either. What will you do? There’s no time to hesitate. I will escape if others arrive.”

Jusetsu looked around. Kajou and the others must have obeyed her order of “Stay here,” as she could sense no one else around them or hear running footsteps right now.

“Most likely, there is no one coming here. Therefore, there is no need to rush. Put away that blade.”

Hyougetsu wordlessly kept the blade at the palace lady’s neck.

“There is no need to threaten. I will listen to you. What is your request?”

“I——”

The palace lady’s expression suddenly slackened. Jusetsu felt like she could see Hyougetsu’s wavering heart beyond that. The knife left the palace lady’s neck for just a second. Jusetsu was about to move forward when she heard a sharp sound of something cutting through the wind.

The knife dropped from the palace lady’s hand with a dull sound. A stone fell next to the knife. That stone had hit her hand. Jusetsu swiftly pulled out a peony from her hair, crushed it, and threw it at the palace lady. The pale pink petals scattered for an instant before hanging in the air like thin smoke and coiling around the pot the palace lady was holding. When Jusetsu turned over her hand, the paper seal tore soundlessly, and the pot split down the middle into two halves.

The branches of the pine trees shook and rustled. Lights resembling fireworks flickered between the pot shards and burst forth in the next instant. There was a sound like lightning splitting the air, and then the palace lady’s body collapsed to the ground. Jusetsu covered her face with her sleeve and approached the broken pot.

The pot and paper were cleanly split open as if done with a knife. Jusetsu looked up at the sky. Faint beads of light were flittering about like fireflies between the trees. There were about four of them.

“Ou Shou.”

Jusetsu called towards the lights and stretched out her hand. Upon that, one of the wandering lights glided down to her. It settled down onto her palm, and she gently cupped it with both hands. In her hands, the light transformed into the form of a light amber comb. Jusetsu tucked it into her hair.

“Lady Raven Consort.”

Jusetsu turned around at the voice. Nearby, there was a young eunuch with beautiful almond eyes on his knee.

“Was that you, Onkei?”

He was her personal guard eunuch. He was the one who hit the palace lady’s hand with a stone. How long had he been there? She hadn’t sensed him at all.

Jusetsu turned back. The palace lady was lying at the roots of the pine trees. She seemed to be unconscious.

“What is her condition?”

“She has only lost consciousness. Her hand might become swollen, though.”

Jusetsu nodded and looked around. In the shade of a tree a little further away, there was a young man standing there. There was a sensual allure to his fair face and almond eyes, but his face was clouded with melancholy. He was dressed in silk robes embroidered with a luan3, and his long hair, which was tied, was swept over his shoulder. His hair was a magnificent silver that looked like collected moonlight.

“…I made a blunder. Raven Consort, I admit my defeat this time. I shall call again.”

His voice was also somber. It reminded her of the autumn night air, cold and perfectly clear.

“Wait. Your request——”

“Raven Consort, why are you contented with being enclosed within the inner palace? You could have everything if you but wish for it.”

Hyougetsu said, and then he turned around. His silver hair swayed and he was gone in the next moment, as though erased.

Jusetsu was about to step towards Hyougetsu, but she quickly turned around and looked down at Onkei. He had the same posture and expression as before, and his eyes were downcast.

“Did you hear those words just now?”

“What are they?”

Jusetsu stared at Onkei’s face for a while, but eventually shifted her gaze.

“I am returning to Enou Palace.”

She ordered Onkei to carry the palace lady’s body before turning on her heel.

At Enou Palace, Kajou had been anxiously waiting, but she ran over when she saw Jusetsu and Onkei carrying the palace lady.

“She is——”

“She has only lost consciousness. She had been possessed by a ghost. Look after her.”

An attendant led Onkei to the palace ladies’ dorm. Jusetsu prompted Kajou and entered the palace.

Jusetsu took out the comb from her hair.

“This is Ou Genyuu’s soul.”

Kajou’s eyes widened, and Jusetsu held out the comb to her on her palm. The comb’s form melted away and it became a faint light that resembled the glow of a firefly.

Kajou gingerly stretched out her hand. The firefly glow gently flew up and landed in her hand. Kajou held her breath. She stared at the light intently.

“…It’s warm,” Kajou cupped the light in her palms. “Like cooled boiled water, never hot…”

Her murmurs turned quiet and disappeared. Kajou hugged the light to her chest.

Not all souls became ghosts. Some souls, no matter what kind of death they suffered, went to paradise without any trouble, while others became ghosts, eternally unable to leave this place. The souls sealed in the pot didn’t become ghosts and went to paradise. Genyuu would have been one of them too, but Jusetsu kept him here for a while.

“Ah——” The light left Kajou’s hands and floated up into the air. “Wait, just a little longer——”

The light flew around Kajou, who called out. A wind was whipping up, and the dangling hair ornaments in her hair made faint sounds as they brushed against each other. The light became like smoke and stroked her hair and cheek along with the wind. The flower flute hanging at her hip swayed. It made a high, chirping sound.

The sound trailed in the air for a long time, and the flower flute sounded twice, and then three times. It was a warm, bright, and cheerful tone, as though it was singing.

At long last, the wind tinged with a faint light parted from Kajou and danced up high. The door of the palace opened by itself and the wind flew out. Kajou chased after it. The wind flew into the sky and drifted west—drifting towards the sea.

“Genyuu…!”

Kajou’s voice, which spilled out of her mouth, seemed to also be blown up towards the wind.

Even when she could no longer see the faint glimmer of brilliance left by the wind, she didn’t move from where she stood.

“He will return to you again. When spring arrives.”

When Jusetsu told her that, Kajou nodded silently. And then, she covered her face and sank down on the spot.

Later, Kajou came to Yamei Palace, bringing along a set of silk garments.

“Here is my gratitude for the soul invocation.”

The attendant placed a tray on the table. Jusetsu took the silk garments on the tray in her hand. A purple outer robe with a pattern of waves and birds wax-dyed into the fabric, and a silk under-dress in goose yellow and woven pearl-circle patterns.4 A pink shawl made of silk so fine that it seemed like it would dissipate if you touched it——

“Wow, how beautiful…!”

Jiujiu, who was standing at the side, seemed to have let out a cry without thinking, and immediately covered her mouth.

“Everything was made at my palace. The under-dress was sewn by the Palace Sewing Bureau girl who you saved.”

Jusetsu pushed the tray back.

“I have no need for such things.”

“I think it would be more convenient to have clothing other than black. For traveling incognito, I believe these suit the Raven Consort more than dressing like a palace lady.”

Kajou said, albeit gently, and pushed the tray back to Jusetsu. Bewildered, Jusetsu looked between Kajou and the clothing. “Lady Raven Consort, if you have no need for them, then all you have to do is to dispose of them. Though, the palace ladies had taken great care to dye and sew everything…” Jusetsu had to give in after she was told that. It wasn’t something she should be that obstinate about.

“Very well. I shall accept it.”

“I’m so pleased to hear that. The palace ladies will be glad as well. Please come and visit us as Enou Palace in these clothes.”

“I―”

“I shall prepare cakes when you come visit. Steamed buns with white sugar kneaded into them, fuliubing,5 and, aah, baozi with lotus seed paste. I have heard that you like them.”

“…”

The Raven Consort was not someone who enjoyed tea and chatted with other consorts during the daytime. The Raven Consort lived in solitude at night. However——

“We will always be waiting for you.”

Kajou smiled refreshingly. Jusetsu suddenly thought that if she had an older sister, she might be someone like this.

Gentle steam rose from the tea Jiujiu poured, and a bowl of honeyed apricots prepared by Kougyou was placed beside it.

Just as the snow that remained stubbornly into spring slowly succumbed to the sunlight, a warmth crept into Jusetsu’s chest. It was a sweet, melting warmth, terribly difficult to reject—and it was poison.

That night, Koushun visited. Jusetsu was the one who called him, saying that she had a request.

“What is your request?”

She thought he might say something sarcastic, but that was the only thing he said.

“I wish to learn about Ran Hyougetsu,” Jusetsu straightforwardly answered.

“Aah…” Koushun spoke after taking a sip of tea. “I don’t know much about him myself.”

“I believe he was the son of the emperor’s youngest son. In other words, the emperor’s grandson. The youngest son wasn’t a member of the central government, and his son Hyougetsu was also a nonconformist who was apprenticed to a shaman. But it was said that he had uncommon talent as a shaman. He had his head cut off the same day the emperor and his father were executed. That is all I know.”

“Do you know any more details?”

In the end, Jusetsu didn’t know why Hyougetsu was so fixated on the inner palace, or what his request was. Those things weighed on her mind.

“I can’t say for sure, but if we check the records, perhaps…” Koushun looked at Ei Sei. He bowed his head, even as he looked somewhat displeased with the fact that Koushun was following Jusetsu’s request.

“I believe that man will visit me again.”

“I see.” That was all Koushun said in response. Jusetsu peered cautiously into his face. She couldn’t read any emotion from his inexpressive face. ——Did he not receive a report from Onkei? Did Onkei not tell him because he did not understand, or did he truly not hear Hyougetsu’s words at that time?

Koushun opened his mouth.

“Why did Ran Hyougetsu possess Father Moonlight?”

Jusetsu looked away from Koushun and reached for her teacup.

“I know not as well. However, he seemed to have had some reason to come to the inner palace. ‘Tis most likely that he possessed someone in Reki Province and had them bring the pot of souls here…”

“The person he possessed was most likely a sea merchant who offered goods to the inner palace. It was the merchant who brought the goods that I recently bequeathed to Enou Palace. He is based in Reki Province. His consciousness has been vague and indistinct for these past few months, and it seems that he thought he was just tired.”

He was most likely being possessed during that time. After the pot was brought to the inner palace, Hyougetsu switched to the palace lady.

“…What exactly does he wish to do, coming all this way here…?” Jusetsu murmured. Koushun stared at her as she did so. Noticing his gaze, she looked up.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” Koushun said and stood up. It seemed that he was already intending to leave.

“Are you going to visit Kajou?”

“No…” Koushun said vaguely and fumbled around in his pocket. He took out something wrapped in a silk handkerchief and placed it on the table. He unfolded the bundle himself. The object that was wrapped was an ivory comb. It was in the shape of the surging sea and a bird, perhaps a nightingale.

“What is this?”

“I heard that you received clothing from Kajou. I think this would go well with it.”

“I have no need for it.”

“If you don’t want it, you can just throw it away,” Koushun said, and then turned to leave.

“Did you learn those words from Kajou?”

Koushun left the palace without answering. Jusetsu gritted her teeth. ——Once you show weakness, you can no longer escape. I knew I should have pushed those clothes back at her.

If physical objects remained, the connections remained as well. Jusetsu would surely go to Enou Palace if she was invited by Kajou. Even if Koushun visited, she could no longer drive him out as she had done the first time.

Jusetsu bit her lip. She approached the cupboard and took out a black accessory box. Opening the lid, she looked at the amber fish placed inside. She had received it from Koushun. Jusetsu furrowed her brow and stared at it, then closed the lid again and put it back inside the cabinet along with the wrapped comb.

Should she give it to Jiujiu before long? Would that also create another connection?

She didn’t know. How could she go back to being alone again?

——I wish to live alone in the night, without sentiment, without self.

“Sei.”

As they walked down the walkway, Koushun quietly called out to Ei Sei.

“Tomorrow afternoon will do. Summon the Winter Minister to Koutou Academy.”

“The Winter Minister…Your Majesty?” Ei Sei’s voice had a tone of bewilderment.

The Winter Minister was the head of the Department of Divinities. He resided in an old, abandoned-looking palace south of the imperial palace—at least, that was supposed to be the case.

“The current Winter Minister is Setsu Gyoei, huh.”

“It has been Lord Setsu for a long time now. Since the position of Winter Minister is a sinecure, there are no applicants for it, and though the same person has served in the office for many years, we have not heard any complaints.”

“I see. ―Tell him that I want to ask him about the Raven Consort.”

“Yes…”

Ei Sei respectfully obeyed, but couldn’t hide the puzzlement in his eyes.

Yeah baby Hyougetsu’s heeeeeere

Footnotes

A ferrule is a stopper, basically. The Japanese is 封嘴 which literally means 'shut up” in Chinese lol.The term here is tsukaibe which means “low-ranked bureaucrat”, in charge of miscellaneous business.A luan is a bird in East Asian mythology, looks a bit like a peacock. The Ran clan’s family name (鸞) is literally the character for luan in Japanese.連珠文 or renjumon is a type of design where circles meant to resemble pearls are arranged in a line or circle and contain a design within the circle.I have no idea what this is but apparently it’s some kind of ancient Japanese sweet? Here’s the original Japanese: 浮餾餅.