Climbing over the wall,
Suzume
landed nimbly in front of Maomao.
"My, my, so this is how things have turned out."
"You figured it out pretty well, didn't you?"
Maomao
looked around. She didn't think she'd been speaking particularly loudly, but could her voice have reached those nearby?
"I can't imagine you, Maomao, would leave your work unattended just to take a break. Especially not with fairly important documents just lying there."
Suzume was pinching a wooden owl figurine between her fingers.
"I heard that the Owl's
eldest
brother
had come to the main residence,
but no one
has been spotted for about two hours now. And there's been a strange atmosphere lingering around both the main residence and the office."
She was frighteningly sharp. Why did Suzume have to be so competent?
Still, even with her head swimming from anemia, she had to give Suzume credit—that was quite the deduction about the Owl's eldest brother.
"My goodness, what a state you're in, Maomao. At this rate, I'll have to prepare a bath for you."
"Forget about that—take care of the injured person and this child first."
Maomao pointed at Xiao Hong, who was still unconscious.
"Yes, yes."
Suzume climbed over the wall and came through, then opened the hidden door. Several men emerged from inside. Their faces were familiar—Maomao had seen them working at the main residence.
The men picked up Xiao Hong,
and were about to carry the Owl.
"Come now, Maomao. Please put on this coat."
To keep her from standing out covered in blood, Suzaku draped his own coat over her shoulders. His manner was as composed as ever, but—
(What is it?)
Something felt off.
It was nothing major. She just noticed that Suzaku was walking a little brisker than usual. Suzaku might be serving as Maomao's escort, but who would be his greatest concern here? She would have thought it was the injured Owl.
"..."
"What's the matter? You've stopped."
"Suzaku."
Maomao glanced back. Owl was being carried by two men.
Alarm bells rang in her mind.
(She absolutely should not bring this up.)
She should just pretend she'd noticed nothing at all and go enjoy a nice leisurely soak in the hot springs. That would be the wisest course.
But—
(It was possible the assassination attempt had come from the capital.)
(Though it was hard to imagine this was part of Jinshi's scheme.)
Maomao opened her mouth.
"Suzaku."
"What is it, Maomao?"
Suzaku smiled cheerfully as always.
"Where are you planning to take Owl?"
"...My, my, Maomao."
Suzaku's arm around Maomao's shoulder tightened.
"You've put me in a tough spot. You always do have sharp instincts, even at a time like this."
The faintly visible sliver of Suzaku's eyes did not look amused at all.
(I wonder where this place is?)
Maomao stared at the candle flame in a windowless room. Half a day ago, Suzaku had brought her here, and Xiao Hong lay sleeping beside her. The room consisted of two adjoining chambers, and in the next room over, Chishō was asleep.
A hidden passage between the main residence and the government office. If Maomao had entered through one opening, there had to be an exit. From there, she had been led outside and, just as Suzaku instructed, she followed along. She was loaded into a carriage with a blindfold on and taken to an unfamiliar place.
A guard stood outside the sealed room. Suzaku had asked Maomao to "please behave yourself," then gone off somewhere and not returned. However, she had arranged a change of clothes and provided meals. All things considered, her treatment was not rough.
(I feel like this has happened before.)
Maomao drank some tart wine to wash it all down, thinking she had been snatched away yet again. Suzaku knew Maomao's tastes well. Dried fish had been set out as a snack to go with the alcohol.
Furthermore, there were buckets, bandages, pain relief herbs, and medicinal plants to prevent infection all laid out. With Chishō in the next room, this was surely a message to treat him.
(She's got everything figured out.)
Maomao lost even the will to escape. Suzaku was so thoroughly prepared that she had probably anticipated all of Maomao's plans. Even if Maomao wanted to flee, she wouldn't be able to.
(What on earth is she trying to do?)
Maomao sighed and looked at Xiao Hong, who had been brought along with her. The girl had woken from her unconsciousness, cried herself into a frenzy, and then fallen back asleep. She had been screaming and sobbing just a while ago, so Maomao's ears still hurt. She had no choice but to drink her wine in earnest, though she at least felt calm enough to sort through the information.
First, she would set aside Suzaku's intentions for now. There was too much going on, and it was all getting tangled up.
(First of all, where am I?)
Once things had quieted down, Maomao closed her eyes. Though the room was sealed shut, she could hear sounds from outside—the hum of a crowd and voices chatting.
(A city street. At least, it doesn't seem like a detached house far from everything.)
How long had she been in the carriage? It wasn't terribly long, but it wasn't short either. Still, it had been enough time to travel well beyond the western capital. Unless Suzaku had gone out of her way to confuse Maomao with unnecessary detours, they had likely moved to a nearby town. Above all, if there were higher priorities than obfuscation, Suzaku wouldn't have bothered with detours.
(It looked like abducting Chishō was the goal.)
Seeing the bandages and medicinal herbs she had left behind, Maomao didn't get the sense that Suzaku intended to kill Chishō. But then why bring Maomao along too?
The only other things in the room were, strangely, well-worn books. They had unfamiliar patterns drawn on them.
(I've seen these before.)
Wondering where she had seen them, Maomao opened one. It was written in the language of the Li—a kind of instructional text. It contained teachings on morality and the words of great figures.
(A scripture, then.)
A book recording religious teachings. If religion was involved, that explained why the patterns looked familiar.
The chapel where Suzaku had once taught Maomao a strange foreign language had similar designs.
So was this scripture Suzaku's personal possession?
(No, she doesn't exactly strike me as a devout person.)
It looked more like she was nibbling on an offering of rice cakes.
Flipping through it, she found it was written in several languages. The front was in the Li language, but toward the back were words from Western lands and scripts she didn't recognize.
*God, are you watching over us?*
Maomao murmured aloud the words Sparrow had told her to commit to memory. Had Sparrow learned this passage from this very scripture?
(Doesn't really matter right now, I suppose.)
Setting the book aside, Maomao picked up a piece of dried fish. She held it over the candle flame to warm it, then bit into it with relish.
(Candles are such a luxury. Though if it were fish oil, the smell would be unbearable... hmm?)
Maomao suddenly pricked up her ears at the noise from outside. Amid the clamor, she strained to make out what was being said. But she couldn't. Well, of course she couldn't.
(It's not the Li language!)
There were foreigners outside.
Then, Maomao flared her nostrils. She couldn't make out what the air outside was like, but she thought she caught a faint scent of the sea.
A town near the western capital where foreigners could be found and that carried the smell of the sea could only be one place—
"The post town to the south?"
"...Correct."
Maomao startled at the voice that suddenly came from behind her.
Standing behind her, clutching her side, was Shiyou.