Never in
his life had Crown Prince – now Emperor – Kunihiko ever been so sorely
unprepared to face a tragedy.
He’d gone numb all the way home from
Nikko. His mind was reeling and was
still set on the last gesture he ever got from his father that morning…
“Kuni-chan.”
Kunihiko had been on his way out of
the door when his father gently gripped his elbow. He turned and saw a profound sorrow in his father’s eyes. He’d never seen the Emperor so glum; he was
always such a cheerful man.
“What’s wrong, Father?”, the young
man asked him.
“Well…” Tenderly, Junichi embraced his only son. “I want you to be very careful while you’re
in Nikko, son. That’s a very hostile
place where we’re concerned.”
“You know I’ll be careful”, Kunihiko
managed a rueful, albeit puzzled smile.
“It’s not like I can’t defend myself, Father.”
“And it isn’t like Murasaki will let
you defend yourself”, Junichi chuckled.
“That girl will probably send all your opponents to their graves even
before you’ve seen `em!” He lay a hand
on his son’s shoulder and sighed.
“Kunihiko, about that girl…”
“If you think I’ll cheat on her, you’ve got another think coming.” Kunihiko’s face grew set and he folded his arms at his chest. “I may never say it out loud, but I love her.” Sheepishly, he turned away with his cheeks stained a pale crimson. “But you don’t have to tell her I said that!”
A loud, feigned cough echoed outside
the door.
“I don’t have to”, Junichi grinned
wryly. “She heard you.” The Emperor looked somewhat wan. “Murasaki will be a good Empress, Kuni. I have no doubts about that. Your mother has always been content to
advise; your wife will be your co-ruler.”
“She’s still terribly young,
though”, Kunihiko was quick to remind his father. “Sixteen last September.”
Rubbing the side of his head, he added, “But she’s been acting like a
wife: cooks my meals, helps me with my laundry, writes my scripts, replies to
my professional correspondence, kills all my enemies.” He opened the door and called to her, “Be
out in a bit, Murasaki-chan!”
Junichi watched as Murasaki chided
her master with a grim expression on her face and her tone was gently
admonitory. She pointed to her watch
and began nattering like a hornet about appointments. She didn’t nag; she commanded. The young woman could be such a loudmouth if
she hadn’t been a ningyō. She was a
great help to his son – both at home and at work. He had also seen that she had compassion and a maternal bent to
her personality. He had no doubts that
Japan would be in the best of hands if anything – God forbid! – ever happened
to him and Naoko.
He motioned for Murasaki to enter
and he placed an arm on each of their shoulders.
“You kids make a great team”, he
praised them. “I’ve no doubt that I can
someday go to my rest and not worry about a thing.”
“You talk like a man who’s going to
die, sire”, Murasaki grinned.
Kunihiko, however, had caught a note
of sorrow in his father’s voice. “But
not for a long time”, he was quick to say.
He wasn’t exactly superstitious, but being quick to stave things off by
saying something probably helped. “A very
long time.”
“We’ll see.” Affectionately, Junichi messed up his son’s
blond-streaked hair. It was a gesture that
caught at the young man’s heart; his father hadn’t done that since his
grandfather died. “In the meantime,
promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise”, Kunihiko assured his
father with a dimpled smile.
“Murasaki.”
“Yes, sire?”
“See to it that Kuni has no problems
from here on out.”
“I can but try, sire. Thank you for your confidence.”
The Emperor saw them out, planting an unusually affectionate kiss on his son’s forehead in passing. The last time Kunihiko turned to look, he saw tears in his father’s eyes…
“Hey,
that’s all right.”
The young Emperor had broken down
and was sobbing uncontrollably in his ningyō’s arms. The strain was really too much for him to handle.
“He was all right this morning!”, he
cried.
“Hush, now…” Murasaki gently smoothed his hair as he wept
into the warm space between her neck and shoulder. “You can cry, dear. I
don’t think your father would be ashamed of those tears.” Her voice was softly mellow and even
caressing. “You’d better cry now; your
mother and sister will need to lean on you back at the Palace.”
“Oh, Murasaki! I wasn’t able to say goodbye!”
“Darling, he used to say the same of
your grandfather. None of us is ever
really ready when the time comes.” She
dabbed at his face with a handkerchief.
“Shh…” She pressed a finger to
his lips. “Everything’s going to be
okay, Kuni-chan.”
Kuni-chan… Normally, she called him Kuni-sama. It showed how dear he’d become to her.
“We’re approaching the Palace”,
Maria warned them from the front seat.
“You’d better straighten up, cousin.
Your mom’s bound to be in hysterics.”
Kunihiko sat up and took the
handkerchief from Murasaki, mopping the tears from his face as best as he
could. He took a deep, ragged breath
and composed himself. Maria was right;
if anyone would be made more desolate than he was by his father’s demise, it
would have to be his mother if not his sister.
“How’s Rei?”, he asked Mitsuru and
Masami who were in the back.
“Her condition’s stable, Majesty”,
Mitsuru replied, wincing painfully as Masami bundled his head with
bandages. “The first bullet caught her
in the shoulder. The second got your
father even as he was turning to help Rei off the floor.”
“I take it they used a silencer?”,
Murasaki asked grimly.
“Seems like it”, Masami agreed. “The only sound we heard at first was the
crashing of glass. The Saracens burst
in afterwards.” He sat back and
grumbled. “Thought they could gloat
over His Majesty’s corpse, did they?
Well, we gave them something to think about!”
“Yeah”, Mitsuru nodded angrily. “A few bashed skulls, several cracked
spines, some few casualties, and we even defenestrated one or two.”
“Three”, Masami corrected him.
“That last one didn’t count, Masami;
he jumped voluntarily before either you or Yōji could get to him.”
“Did you get the guy who fired the
shots?”, Kunihiko demanded intently.
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“Don’t hedge with me, Masami.”
“I’m not hedging, Majesty. We got him.” With a shrug, he added, “His corpse, anyway. He blew his brain out after killing your
father.”
Kunihiko winced. “Damn!”, he swore. He looked at the two witnesses accusingly. “I suppose you also slaughtered everyone
else?”
“Not everyone, Majesty.” Masami handed him a small data-disk
viewer. “We caught a few. You might probably be interested in the fact
that some of them were hired felons – not ultra-patriots.”
“Felons?”
“Yes, sire. Wanted criminals – the sort who have to be
extradited to either China or Hong Kong.”
The Palace
was still in horrendous disarray when the new Emperor arrived.
People bowed deeply as he passed
them on his way to his family’s personal apartments. They were afraid; though he was a normally cheerful person, the
expression on Kunihiko’s face clearly stated that he was going to get to the
bottom of the case – and woe unto those who had stirred up the trouble!
Things were going to take a radical
change in the Palace now that Kunihiko was going to be in charge. He was a man who saluted tradition in the
best way that he could but was not afraid of including innovations that would
advance the causes he believed in further for the good of both the nation and
the rest of the world. When he was
younger, people shrugged him off for being a harmless, albeit useless,
eccentric. But when he proved himself
to be his father’s equal in the capacity of serving as a great leader, people
began to sit up and take notice – and bother his candy-colored wardrobe
and the highlights in his hair! Those
who knew him very well admitted that he was a very good friend but would never
abuse his friendship just to help others get along in the world. With that said, it would also be good to
note that he would make a very dangerous enemy, indeed.
His father’s oldest retainers – the
ones who had also served his grandfather – were weeping. Much as his own heart had been rent by the
incident, the young ruler went out of his way to console them.
“Vengeance!”, one cried in a
passion. “Vengeance, milord!”
“All in good time”, the young
emperor assured the old graybeard. “But, for now, we must pay our respects.”
Those who had accompanied him
stopped when they arrived at the door of the Imperial apartments. This was the time for the new emperor to
mourn alone with his family; the world would not intrude at this point. As Kunihiko pushed back the shoji
that divided the apartments from the rest of the Palace, Murasaki turned to
leave with her brothers and Maria.
However, a gentle tap on her shoulder restrained her.
“Where are you going?”, Kunihiko
asked her.
Murasaki bowed deeply, going on her
knees to press her forehead to the floor as custom demanded. “You and your family need some time alone,
master”, she replied. “We shall stand watch
out here until you send for us.”
“You are part of my family, dearest
one.” Gently, Kunihiko helped his
ningyō to her feet. “I thought I made
that perfectly clear on the day of your investiture.” Without his usual blush and blunder, he kissed her and led her
inside the apartments. Before closing
the shoji, he turned to Mamoru.
“Mamo-san, I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Your Majesty, you have but to ask”,
Mamoru assured him.
“Will you and Cousin Maria join my
Council of Advisors? I know it would be
an unprecedented thing, considering that I will retain your father and the other
Grand Dukes. But I would like people of
my generation to join me.”
“Oh, Kuni!” Maria tenderly kissed her cousin’s cheek. “It would be an honor to serve you.” She studied his face tentatively. “I take it you would ask me to return to full service as a ningyō.”
“If it’s okay with Mamo-san…” Kunihiko eyed his incipient
cousin-in-law/brother-in-law inquisitively.
The latter nodded his assent. “In
which case, I would ask you to serve me as ningyō. The guys said that Rei’s shoulder got blown out and that’s
probably going to drop her in the sidelines for a while. I’m going to need all the help I can get at
this point.”
“You can count on us.” Mamoru squeezed his friend’s hands
reassuringly.
“And we’ll help any which way we
can”, Masami chimed in with Mitsuru inclining his head in agreement. “I’ll ask someone to help me with the
interrogations while Mitsu here can still pretend to be you to lure away
potential troublemakers.”
Kunihiko rested a hand on Mitsuru’s
shoulder. He noted that the boy was
growing taller and would soon be at least a couple of inches taller than he
was. For a kagemusha, that
simply wouldn’t do. Sooner or later,
their enemies would come to realize that both Mitsuru and Fumihiko were taller
– and then what would they do?
“It’s brave of you to keep putting
yourself in high-profile situations where I’m supposed to be, Mitsuru”, he told
the boy. “But I guess now’s the time
that I have to face things myself.”
“But you’ve always faced the
important stuff yourself, sire”, Mitsuru protested mildly.
“Yes, but I cannot be a true emperor
while letting someone else pose for me where I’m supposed to be seen. I can’t go on hiding in the shadows forever,
Mitsuru. You all know that.”
“You may as well put a sign that
says ‘Come and get me!’ around your neck, sire.”
“We can’t let you do that, Kuni!”,
Maria exclaimed, her eyes widening as she made the connection. “Not now, not at this point in time…!”
“I have to, whether I like it or
not.” Kunihiko made up his mind that he
would have to face the perpetrators himself if need be. It was the best way to avenge his father
though the latter would’ve called upon him to forgive them. “In the meantime, Mamo-san, you must call
for a meeting of the Imperial Council.”
“How soon do you want it to be,
sire?”, Mamoru asked.
“Tell them to be in the main council
room as soon as they can. Murasaki and
I will join you as soon as we’ve finished speaking to my mother.” This was the part he dreaded the most. “Now, will you please excuse me? My mother needs me right now.”
He’d been
expecting her to be in hysterics when he entered the room.
To his surprise, he found her clad
in mourning kimono in her favorite armchair.
She looked the same as always: a woman in her fifties who looked much
younger, much prettier than her peers.
Only her eyes betrayed her sorrow and desolation. He could tell that she felt as though she’d
betrayed the oath she’d made to his father when they were both sixteen. She’d sworn to defend him even if it meant
losing her own life. She’d been
attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new children’s library near Chuo
Park when the emperor was killed.
Murasaki was kneeling beside her
chair, silently patting her hand to console her. The empress dowager, meanwhile, was maternally smoothing her
bobbed hair.
Something seemed to catch at
Kunihiko’s throat and the tears were beginning to sting his eyes. But he told himself that he wouldn’t cry –
he couldn’t cry, not in front of his mother.
“Mamma…”
The empress dowager looked up, the
tears beginning to course down those flawless cheeks. She would’ve risen if her son hadn’t motioned for her to stay
where she was. He stood behind her
chair and hugged her tighter than he’d ever done in his life. He didn’t want her to feel left out the way
his grandmother had when his grandfather was assassinated a mere ten years
before. Already dying of ovarian
cancer, it did not take long for the Empress Nagisa to follow her beloved
husband to the grave. Kunihiko wanted
his mother to stay on and see the family he and Murasaki would raise
someday. He still wanted her to be
there and see him lead the nation to further glory.
“I’ve lost your father!”, she
sobbed. “And we very nearly lost
Rei! My God, why wasn’t I here? Why couldn’t it have happened while I was
here, while I was around to give myself up if need be to keep your father
safe? Why, Kuni-chan? Why?”
“We did everything that we could to
protect him, Mamma”, Kunihiko assured her.
“Now we have to do everything that we can to make sure that whoever it
was doesn’t strike a third time.”
Naoko looked up at him sharply.
“Abbot Sakurazaki told us something that Father probably would’ve wanted
to hear.”
“About your grandfather’s
assassination?” Naoko’s voice was scarcely
more than a stunned whisper.
“And more, Mamma.” Murasaki looked up at her incipient
mother-in-law, grateful that her beloved’s family accepted her as one of
them. “I wouldn’t start hurling
accusations as yet, but I’d confront Princess Satsuki as soon as possible if I
were you.”
“Satsuki!” Naoko suddenly stopped crying, her sorrow replaced by an anger
born of a realization she should’ve made years ago. “Jun-chan and Satsuki quarreled over the succession ten years ago
before Emperor Shūji died.” She
motioned for them to pull up a couple of chairs beside hers. When they were properly seated, she went
on. “Satsuki wanted to become empress”,
she continued.
“So we were told in Nikko”, Kunihiko
agreed. “But surely…”
“You don’t know your aunt that well,
dear. I do.” The empress dowager’s gentle face grew hard
as she remembered her sister-in-law’s seeming treachery. “It’s something she probably would do. Murasaki’s right, though; I wouldn’t start
accusing anyone just yet – evidence or no evidence. Your father would’ve frowned.”
As an after thought, she added, “Though, having known him as well as I
have, he’d probably start asking people to put up a stake in front of the
Palace and bringing in kindling.”
“Kindling?” Murasaki raised an eyebrow at that.
“Junichi always accused his sister
of being a witch”, Naoko replied. “He
always said that, if he ever caught her plotting treason, he himself would tie
her to a stake and burn her like one.
And, my God! I’m beginning to
wonder why he never caught her and got it all done and over with!”
“Before we try to answer that
question”, Kunihiko broke in, “how’s Rei?”
“She’s in her room, heavily sedated,
dear. The bullet got lodged in her
right shoulder. They’ve dug it out, but
she won’t be able to pick up any fights for a week or so. Possibly longer.” With a wry smile, she added that the surveillance cats were with
her to keep her company. “Oh, and
Masahiro’s been popping in every other hour to check on her”, Naoko said rather
slyly. “It’s a pity, really, Junichi’s
gone. He would’ve teased that brother
of yours till he couldn’t show his face in here anymore, Murasaki!”
“Would he?” Despite their sorrow, the two women
laughed. Murasaki couldn’t imagine her
volatile incipient sister-in-law going for her milksop older brother! It was bound to be a match made in hell for
them both.
While his mother and ningyō-fiancee
spoke of his security, Kunihiko excused himself to visit his sister. He found her in her room with Masahiro
Fujiwara close by in a chair, holding her hand with a dismal expression on his
already pallid face. Nearby, the cats
were all napping save for old Zeus who looked mournful as he sat at the
windowsill. He’d been the old emperor’s
personal pet and he took the loss of his master harder than most.
Masahiro was startled by Kunihiko’s
silent arrival and would’ve risen if the young emperor did not wave aside the
formality. Rei slept soundly, the sort
of slumber that only such elixirs of Morpheus could induce in one so traumatized
by the day’s events. The whole world
would come crashing down on her ears when she awakened. Her older brother stood by her bedside for a
while, his heart broken by the knowledge that she’d been hurt in their father’s
defense and was yet unable to save his life.
She was a pesky little sister as she was, but he also knew her to be a
brave and trustworthy ningyō.
“How bad was the damage?”, he asked
Masahiro in hushed tones.
“Bad enough.” Masahiro handed him the doctors’
findings. “The impact practically
shattered her right shoulder blade.
They had to replace it with a titanium plate as soon as they
could.” Glumly, he remarked that a
number of her nerve endings in the shoulder had also been severed; recovery
would come slowly. Since Rei was a
Palace ningyō, she had not been trained to be an ambidextrous fighter like the
others since hers was a rather ceremonial position. “She won’t like the fact that she won’t be in your personal
interim guard for the time being, Majesty.”
“I think you and your brothers can
skip the formalities where I’m concerned, Masahiro”, Kunihiko smiled, patting
him on the shoulder. “Your sister’s
marrying into my family and my sister’s marrying into yours.” The vivid crimson stain on Masahiro’s face
betrayed him and the young emperor had to laugh. “Chill, ol’ buddy; Rei’s had a crush on you since we were
kids. Of course, I never realized you’d
end up taking her seriously, but you’ll make a good brother-in-law.” He also noticed that Masahiro hadn’t let go
of his sister’s hand. “The way you’re
watching over her, I’d say you’ve found a lifetime devotion.”
“I was afraid to ask your father”,
Masahiro blurted out shamefacedly. “I
was half-expecting him to laugh at me.”
He drew himself up bravely.
“Murasaki may accuse me of being a regular milksop, but I’m no lazybones
where Rei’s concerned.”
“Sō desu ka…”
Kunihiko took his leave of Masahiro,
bidding him to take best care of his sister.
In passing, he picked up Old Zeus from the windowsill and carried him
out of the room. The old surveillance cat mewed pitifully on the way.
“I know how you feel, old pal”,
Kunihiko murmured soothingly as he stroked the old cat’s fur. He’d seen his father brush Old Zeus when he
dropped in to say goodbye that morning.
Old Zeus and Hera had been his babysitters when he was small and had
almost been like second parents to him.
The old tom never said much even then, but was quick to cast nuggets of
advice or wisdom in his way whenever it was appropriate. Zeus would take it harder than the other
cats for Junichi had taken care of him since he was a kitten so long ago.
“Your papa was a good man”, Old Zeus
rumbled sadly as they went out. “I’d
have given up all nine of my lives to save his, but it was not to be.”
“Given the chance, I’d have done the
same thing, Zeus.”
“It was that woman’s fault!”, Zeus
hissed in anger.
“That woman?” This came as a surprise to Kunihiko. “You don’t mean my mother, do you?”
“Of course not!” Zeus looked up at him in consternation. “Your mother’s almost goddess-like, little
boy.” The old cat looked very grim as
the two of them stopped at the door of the living room. “It’s that blasted sister of your father’s;
that whore, Satsuki.”
“Zeus! What a thing to say!”
Suddenly, something finally made sense to the young emperor. “Hold it!”, he exclaimed. “The abbot of Jinjaodo said something about
that when we came to visit this morning.
But how…” He put Zeus down on
the floor and knelt to look him in the eye.
“You seem to know something that I don’t given that you’ve been the
chief of the surveillance cats for ages.
I want you to join me when I address the Imperial Council this evening.”
Zeus lifted a paw to his head in
mock-salute. “No problem, little boy”,
he grinned in feline fashion.
Kunihiko’s
appearance at the main conference room of the Palace that evening came as a
shock to all present, save Murasaki.
It was Murasaki who suggested that
her master wear a sober hakama instead of his usual candy-colored shirt and
similarly colored tie. Though the young
emperor adamantly refused to dye his hair a solid black, an aura of regal
authority came over him, as if his father’s spirit had possessed him and taken
over his entire being. Yet, Kunihiko
seemed to be a step ahead of all his predecessors in the sense that he
commanded attention just by entering the room.
None of Japan’s emperors had ever mustered such charisma.
Pale and silent, he entered the room
and took his place at the head of the conference table, motioning to the others
to be seated. Murasaki took the place
to his right, raising more than a few eyebrows. Yet, none of the members of the Imperial Council of Advisors was
surprised; they had since accepted the fact that the young ningyō would become
empress when the proper time came. In
fact, her official title at this point was Princess-Regent as she would take
over her master’s duties in the forty days of mourning following the death of
the previous ruler.
“Put yourselves at ease, gentlemen”,
Kunihiko told the tense group around the table. “We all did what we could to prevent this incident, but the
perpetrators beat us to it.
“What I want us to do now, at this
particular point in time, is to maintain some semblance of normalcy and
stability.” He regarded them all
seriously, knowing well that some of those on the council had been serving
since the time of his grandfather’s rule.
In his heart, the young emperor feared that he would be unable to win
them over. “Our people must be assured
that we are doing everything that we can to keep anyone with motives for
destabilizing the nation from doing so.
Business must be kept running, international relations must stay smooth,
children should be able to go to and from school safely, and the general peace
must be kept at all costs.
“I know that I’m not my father or
even my grandfather.” He looked at
himself with a self-deprecating grin. “Physically
speaking, that’s more than blatantly obvious.”
More seriously, though, “However, like those before me, I am bound by
both blood and duty to oversee the safety, security, and success of our
nation. To safeguard the success
attained by those who came before me and to protect our people from any kind of
harm – that is what I have been called upon to do.
“With that said, I have but one
favor to ask of you all: will you aid me in performing my duty? Given today’s perilous circumstances, I know
that I will be putting your own lives at risk if I asked you all to stay. However, you are all family men with your
own duties, responsibilities, and ties beyond the confines of the Imperial
Compound. I do not wish to be the
reason why wives should become widows and children orphans even as I have been
orphaned myself.” He turned to the
elderly members of the Council. “At the
same time, I would not endanger those of you who have served my family and our
people long and faithfully. It has come
to my attention that some of you are now suffering from maladies that come with
old age, the sort that not even the most advanced technologies in the field of
geriatric medicine could cure. Much as
I know that it will pain you to be put aside, I have great respect for you all
and would not inconvenience you any more than is humanly necessary.” He rose to his feet, palms set firmly down
on the surface of the conference table.
“Thus, I ask each and every one of you if you would voluntarily enter my
service even as the Princess-Regent here has done.” His voice was calm and clear and his gaze to each member of the
council direct and cool. “I assure you,
gentlemen: I will not hold it against you if you refuse to join my
council.”
The oldest members of the Council
broke down weeping, touched by his concern for their health and
well-being. One by one, they rose and
took their leave of their fellow Council members. One by one, they came to the Emperor and the Princess-Regent,
exchanging bows, handshakes, and wishes of gratitude, goodwill and, perhaps, a
more fortunate fate than that of the preceding rulers. When they had gone, Kunihiko sat down and
saw that the ones who remained were actually the most active members of the
Council: the four Grand Dukes and their respective eldest sons. Yoshiyuki and Mamoru Fujiwara. Hiroyuki and Yōji Urushihara. Yasuhiro and Nozomu Taira. Kenichi and Akira Minamoto. The first took charge of the armed forces
and national security, the second handled matters of investigation and
intelligence. The third and fourth were
respectively in charge of national politics and governance and international
corporate affairs. Each of the Noble
Clans’ respective home offices were staffed with exceptionally competent people
who had assured the smooth running of Japan and all its affairs since the time
of the Emperor Osamu. Kunihiko had no
doubts that his government would be in the best of hands.
“I’m glad that none of you have run
out on me”, he said with a faint, grateful smile.
“Why would we do that?”, his uncle
Yasuhiro demanded intently. “You think
we are cowards who would flee at the first sight of danger?”
“Now, Uncle…” Kunihiko held up a hand to placate his
uncle. “I was just happy that none of
you are traitors to me.” His gaze
suddenly narrowed. “Or will any of you
correct me on that score?”
Akira looked at his father
nervously. When Kenichi nodded, the
pallid youth spoke up, “The House of Minamoto has not turned against you, your
Majesty.” Yet, Akira’s face looked
disturbed. “But we should warn you: even
a Noble Clan like ours is vulnerable to the infection of treachery.”
“I like hearing that boy talk”,
Yoshiyuki murmured to Kenichi. “So
poetic!”
“He ought to sound like that”,
Kenichi grinned somewhat wryly. “He is
a Theater major, after all.”
“Sō desu ka?”
“Hai, sō desu.”
“What do you mean, Akira?” Kunihiko’s interest was piqued; Murasaki
leaned forward intently.
“It’s my sister Maruka, your
Majesty.” There was anguish written all
over Akira’s face even as his father miserably bowed his head in shame. “She has never been truly loyal to the
Yamato Clan at all. Her loyalties have
always been to the cause of Princess Satsuki Ang!”
Murasaki gasped in horror. Kunihiko blanched even as the others began
to voice out their surprise. A single
move of the emperor’s hand silenced them as all eyes were riveted to young
Akira Minamoto.
“But how could you know this?”, he
asked the trembling youth, his voice simply dripping with thinly veiled
anger. “From what I know, Maruka hasn’t
communicated with any of us since Murasaki and Midori’s investiture!”
“We just know, your Majesty”,
Akira insisted. “The assassin who
killed your father and injured Princess Rei was none other than Kotono Kamiya –
Maruka’s most favored handmaiden.”
Chapter
Seven: Emperor Kunihiko
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