Rattling and clinking, bones were placed one by one into a ceramic jar. The bones, small enough to rest in the palms of both hands, could only fit in tiny fragments.
A bundle of white hair, like a decorative tassel, was tucked in alongside, and the whole thing was wrapped in silk cloth.
The bones of a woman whose name nobody even knew would never dream of being honored in a distant foreign land. She would never have imagined being seen off by throngs of people as a requiem was played.
Touching the black sash that served as only a token of mourning, Maomao quietly slipped away.
After that, the shrine maiden died just as planned. The examination was attended not only by Maomao but by the old man as well. If a different court physician had been present, Maomao would have had to give the shrine maiden a drug that would make her truly die, if only for a moment.
(Because with the old man, she couldn't pull off the deception.)
It was harsh to threaten her like that, but the old man was the sort of person who inevitably went soft when human lives were at stake. She had made him a half-accomplice.
And then, as for the real shrine maiden...
"Is this place to your liking, Shrine Maiden?"
The one asking was Jinshi. He wasn't sure what to call her now that she was no longer the shrine maiden, but in the end, he continued to address her as such.
Since she was no longer the shrine maiden, the rule barring men was no longer in effect.
"Yes. It's very peaceful here."
Layers upon layers of curtains hung about the room. It had been specially prepared so that direct sunlight would never fall upon the shrine maiden.
"Good. I was thinking of replacing the furnishings if they didn't suit you."
The one who called out from behind Jinshi was a beautiful person dressed in men's clothing. Needless to say—
Ada.
It had become, for all intents and purposes, a hiding place for someone who could no longer appear in public.
The lord still occasionally visited the detached palace where Ada lived. Even if Ada was no longer a consort, her wits were far sharper than those of any half-witted court official. Or perhaps he had simply reverted to being nothing more than a drinking companion.
There were more than enough reasons to shelter the shrine maiden in such a place.
The shrine maiden did not want to bring dishonor to the position of shrine maidens within the Kingdom of Sa'ou. Therefore, she had intended to lose her life outside the country and eliminate the evidence of her physical existence.
Defection was presumably not an option. It would bring the shrine maiden's dignity to the ground.
Perhaps the reason the shrine maiden had chosen death was that she believed there was nothing left for her to do.
(That wasn't true.)
Did she even realize the value of someone who had sat at the pinnacle of a neighboring kingdom for so long? That kind of person remained useful even after stepping down from the public stage.
Just how valuable is information accumulated over several decades?
For a shrine maiden, betraying a country she had lived in for so long would be a grievous act, but it seemed she was in no position to worry about that now.
"Will you honor the terms of the exchange?"
"Yes. There are two hostages, are there not?"
The two she referred to were Bai Niangniang and Ailin, captured as criminals. Considering their crimes, they could well be beheaded at any moment.
"Furthermore, I would ask for your assistance in ensuring the king does not take part in the war."
Quite the bold request.
"If you can offer something of equal value in return."
Jinshi let a shrewd smile play across his lips as well. It probably did not register with the shrine maiden, a being who had transcended gender, but even in that dim room, her presence was annoyingly radiant.
In politics, there was no such thing as clean or dirty—as long as it meant governing well, negotiations like these were hardly uncommon.
As Jinshi headed for the door, Maomao followed close behind.
"Oh, wait a moment."
Called back by the shrine maiden, she turned around. The shrine maiden was holding some kind of scroll.
"Take this."
The scroll was handed not to Jinshi, but to Maomao. Wondering what it could be, she unrolled it. It was simply parchment rolled up, with several sheets layered on top of one another. Inside were remarkably crude sketches.
"A child's drawings?"
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
"Yes."
The shrine maiden confirmed it, but Maomao's eyes widened as she recalled whether there had been any children at that detached palace.
(There should have been one.)
There had been one mute child the attendant had been looking after—a girl named Jazgul, for whom the three of them had struggled to find a guardian.
(Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen her at the detached palace.)
Even if these were Jazgul's drawings, Maomao stared at them wondering what meaning they could possibly hold, and found herself tilting her head in puzzlement.
The drawings, rendered in dye, depicted two people wearing white garments. They were probably young women. And one of them had something like a bandage wound around her hand.
"Is that... me?"
"Yes."
If the drawing depicted Maomao and Yao, then she supposed she should accept it. But when she had met Jazuguru, En'en had been there too. Besides, she shouldn't have been wearing the apprentice physician's outfit at that time.
"Hm?" She tilted her head and noticed numbers written on the back of the parchment. They appeared to be a date, but they weren't in any numbering system she recognized.
"Um, this is..."
"This was drawn by Jazuguru before departing Sao."
"Before departing?"
No, that couldn't be right. It was before she had even met Maomao's group. What sort of joke was she telling?
The priestess let a rare, playful expression cross her face.
"I told you so, didn't I? Even without me, the next priestess would carry on just fine. That day—the day Jazuguru got lost—that child, quite uncharacteristically, threw a little fit and went outside. It must have been to meet all of you."
"N-no, that's not..."
Maomao only believed things backed by solid evidence. Convinced the priestess must be joking, she turned the parchment over. On the second page was a drawing of a figure who appeared to be a priestess, an excessively glittering figure, a slender figure, and a picture identical to the sketch Maomao had made earlier.
The exact lineup of everyone present here and now.
"Please look at the other one carefully later as well."
"..."
She didn't know what to say. She simply stood there in a daze.
"Let me tell you one thing. I experienced something similar in my own past. The priestesses of Sao are said to sacrifice one thing in exchange for a different power. I lost my color, and Jazuguru lost her voice. From the moment they discovered their true nature, those things had already vanished, though."
Jinshi returned to find Maomao standing there, dumbstruck.
"Hey, what are you doing? Let's go."
"Y-yes."
Maomao hurried after him. Jinshi walked ahead with a puzzled look—had he not heard any of that?
(What in the world was that priestess about?)
There had to be some logic to it. But she couldn't figure it out. No, wait—what if the priestess had simply happened to draw those pictures and then tailored the story to fit? Mulling this over, she climbed into the carriage.
Once inside, she opened the last parchment and could do nothing but tilt her head in confusion once more.
"What is this?"
"Who knows?"
There was a single line there, and a drawing that had been scribbled over until it was completely black.