Ma Liang
was sixteen when his mother,
Tao Mei,
summoned him.
"Remember everything I tell you from this point forward—commit it all to memory."
His mother was the woman who managed the Ma Clan. The Ma Clan existed as protectors of the imperial family, but conversely, that meant men could end up sacrificing their lives in the line of duty. That was why, should anything happen, it was the woman who remained as the intellectual backbone.
Under normal circumstances, this role would fall to the wife of the clan head. His father,
Gaoshun,
would not become the head due to special circumstances, but since no other candidate was suitable, his mother had taken on the responsibility.
What Tao Mei spoke of was one of the named clans—the Si Clan. If the Ma Clan served as the outward shield, then the Si Clan served as the hidden guard.
"When I say the Si Clan, their structure isn't the simple blood-relation kind that ours is."
The Si Clan specialized in intelligence work. However, due to the nature of their role, their names never publicly came to light.
"Even among the Si Clan, there are multiple lineages—think of each as operating under a hereditary system."
"A hereditary system, you say?"
"Well, suppose the Si Clan has ten members. Each of those ten chooses one successor. They almost always choose from within their bloodline, but if there's no suitable candidate, they may take someone from outside. That person becomes the next Si Clan member. Incidentally, those who aren't designated as successors aren't recognized as members of the Si Clan, and in most cases, the techniques are taught only to the chosen successor. They wouldn't even know that their blood relatives were part of the Si Clan."
"Mother, may I ask a question?"
"What is it?"
"In other words, couldn't members of the Si Clan infiltrate other named clans?"
Tao Mei smiled knowingly. Her expression made it clear the answer was correct.
"That's right. It's the most critical point. Because the Si Clan stands as the counterpart to the Ma Clan, only I and a handful of others know about it."
Ma Liang felt a sharp pain in his stomach. A clan specialized in intelligence—yes, that would indeed be well-suited for probing the hearts of vassals.
"May I ask one more question?"
"What is it?"
"My future wife—she isn't part of the Si Clan, is she?"
A few days ago, his older sister
Asami
brought up a marriage meeting.
"I don't know. But you should consider that refusing is not an option."
The timid son could not talk back to his mother, who cut him off so sharply.
A few days later, the woman who arrived via his sister's introduction was someone hard to make sense of.
"Hello,
my name is Suzume.
Please feel free to call me Suzume!"
She arrived brimming with energy. She was the polar opposite of Baryou.
"Suzume. She gets awfully close, but that's just the kind of person she is, so get used to it. Here—Suzume, this is my younger brother Baryou. He does faint from time to time, but if anything happens, call a servant to carry him to his room."
"Understood!"
Suzume gave Asami a quick bow and moved toward Baryou. Baryou scrambled to hide against the wall of the room, but before he knew it, she had gotten behind him.
"Hehehe, trying to run away—that's so
amateurish.
Suzume doesn't dislike that sort of person, you know~"
"Waaah!"
He fainted right away.
Suzume's first impression was that she was someone far too close—an absolute impossibility.
"Hello~! Suzume's here! I made some padded clothes, so please put them on~"
"Yaa~. I brought steamed buns. Oh, you're studying? Please eat them while they're still warm~"
"I prepared a bamboo screen so we can talk more easily~. If we put this between us, can we have a conversation?"
One way or another, Suzume frequently came to visit Baryou. Just when he thought she was being too noisy, she would leave steamed buns on his desk if he was studying for the imperial exams, and just when he thought she was getting too close, she would measure the distance between them.
As a girl, Suzume was noisy but capable.
The steamed buns she brought gradually changed in size and flavor to match Baryou's preferences with each visit.
Cotton-padded garments were sent in sizes perfectly fitted to her body, matched to the season.
The bamboo blinds were, honestly, convenient and a relief.
"Heh heh heh, see, Suzume's useful, aren't I?"
"Were you really going to say that yourself?"
How long had it been since they could talk through the blinds? With no faces to see, conversation came surprisingly easy.
"Marrying me won't come with much, you know? Honestly, my younger brother inherits the house. If we had children, they'd probably be adopted out, but there'd be no benefit to you. My sister would be the one raising them."
"Adopted out? So that means Suzume doesn't have to raise children! Isn't that wonderful!"
"That's what you latch onto?"
Baryou was exasperated. They were talking about having children, but the real question was whether they could even make one in the first place. He imagined it, and his face flushed slightly.
"If Asami raises them, she'll do a proper job of it. Safer and more reliable than me raising them. And Suzume will be a woman who works briskly and efficiently."
She didn't sound like she was putting on a brave face.
He remembered what his mother had told him. If Suzume was of the Snake clan, the children would be raised as heirs. In that case, it would be more appropriate to hand them over to his sister for their education.
Baryou was a weak man. He wasn't strong enough to defy anyone. So whoever his political marriage partner turned out to be, he had no choice but to accept.
"Baryou, am I of some use to you?"
"In my own way."
Baryou had, little by little, grown somewhat accustomed to this strange woman.
"May I extinguish the light? It'll be fine—I won't make any mistakes."
As far as first-night dialogue went, how was that? The talk about the light sounded innocent enough, but everything after that made it clear the roles were reversed.
That said, for Baryou—who was near pathologically mistrustful of people—there was no way to practice for the wedding night elsewhere without risking failure. Moreover, this arrangement came with the deeply unmanly burden of leaving everything entirely to his partner.
"Doesn't that tickle?"
"...Of course it tickles, you idiot."
His wife laughed with a chirping, sparrow-like giggle, just as her name suggested. Baryou could only keep losing.
"You've got lovely, smooth skin. I'm so envious."
For some reason, Suzume's voice had taken on a slow, syrupy quality.
All Baryou could do was close his eyes.
Even after the child was born, Suzume was still Suzume.
"You really do look like a monkey. And everyone keeps saying you look like Baryou, but can they even tell the difference? Anyway, giving birth is exhausting. Next time, Baryou, you're up."
"No way. That's impossible."
Even Baryou had grown accustomed to speaking with Suzume without a screen between them. He was handed the wrinkled-faced newborn from Suzume.
"At least don't be shy around your own child."
"How rude."
That said, cradling a limp, boneless little creature was no easy feat. Growing anxious, he tried to hand the baby back to Suzume, but was refused.
"I don't need it anymore. I'd be troubled if you held it any longer and it started remembering your face."
"Is that any way for a mother to speak?"
"Well, that was the deal from the start, wasn't it?"
Before long, Suzume announced she had work to do and left.
By that point, Baryou was fully convinced that Suzume was a member of the Snake clan.
Members of the Snake clan often didn't even know who else belonged to the same clan. Each served their assigned member of the imperial family and was ranked accordingly. Achieving a higher rank was considered an honor for a Snake clan member, and the same applied to their successors.
Suzume would someday have to choose a successor. Keeping her child at a distance—was that Suzume's own form of parental love? Baryou decided that was what he would believe.
Suzume was always noisy. The only times she was quiet were when she was eating or sleeping. No—was she even really sleeping when she appeared to be?
Now that same Suzume lay on her side on a bed, her entire body wrapped in bandages.
Suzume had gotten into a fight with bandits on her way back to the western capital. That was the injury she had sustained, Baryou had been told.
Ideally, she should have been kept at complete rest without moving, but Suzume's work didn't allow for that. After surgery was completed, she must have been transported by carriage in her battered state.
She had returned to the main residence while the meeting was still in progress. Baryou had only been told about it afterward—just a short while ago.
Seated beside the bed was the apothecary's daughter.
Maomao.
It was her.
*Oh.*
What was he supposed to say? He had hardly ever met her face-to-face. They had mostly only spoken through a screen.
"...Suzume has sustained serious injuries. Please don't push her to do anything."
Even the person in question had scratches all over her face, her features looking utterly wrecked.
She must have desperately treated herself in order to keep Suzume alive.
"..."
Ma Liang simply lowered his head.
He could tell that Suzume had ended up like this because of her work. He didn't know what that work entailed. All he knew was that there was nothing he could do.
He tentatively touched her uninjured left hand. Her fingertips were cold.
"...Mm"
"!"
Suzume's eyelids slowly opened. She must have been sleeping for a while, because her eyes looked puffy and swollen.
"Oh my, if it isn't the Master. You look like you're about to die."
"Coming from you, of all people?"
"Hee hee hee. I made a little mistake after all. I really shouldn't have been so careless with my arrangements."
Hearing Suzume's voice put Ma Liang at ease. At the same time, he couldn't help noticing how weak and faint it still was.
"May I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"I won't be able to move around like I used to. What should I do?"
She had said "I" instead of "Suzume."
"Am I of no further use to you now? Perhaps it would be best if you divorced me?"
The suddenness of the topic left Ma Liang stunned.
"What do you expect me to say to that?"
"My right hand... I probably won't be able to use it."
Not being able to use her right hand. That would cause all sorts of problems in her daily life going forward.
However—
"You're ambidextrous, aren't you, Suzume?"
Ma Liang knew this. She was dexterous enough to use chopsticks with either hand. Whether with her right hand or her left, flags, flowers, and pigeons would materialize from thin air as if out of nowhere.
"A person ten times as dexterous as me, if reduced to one hand, would just be five times as dexterous."
"Oh my, fufufu. You've got me there."
"Don't laugh—it'll echo in your stomach."
Ma Liang panicked.
"Hehehe, pardon me."
"Most of all, that big mouth of yours hasn't changed one bit. Or did you get beaten so hard that all the foreign languages you knew fell right out of your head?"
"No, I probably still remember them."
Suzume said, looking oddly pleased.
"Then there's no need to worry about it."
"Indeed. Then would the ever-useful Suzume be allowed to make one small request?"
"What is it?"
"I'm hungry."
Suzume's stomach let out a tremendous rumble.
"Oh, you..."
When had he started talking so casually with her?
Having to close the distance all over again from scratch for the sake of his new wife was such a pain.
That kind of hassle was something he'd rather keep to himself.
〇●〇
Ma Liang watched Suzume finish her meal before taking his leave. He had seemed eager to help, but Suzume's deft use of chopsticks with her left hand left him with nothing to do. Suzume thought she should have fumbled more with her chopsticks to give him something to worry about, but she had prioritized filling her empty stomach instead.
Eat, then sleep. That was the basics of recuperation, but when a visitor came, there was nothing to be done.
Suzume slowly opened her eyes. Even with her arms torn apart, even with blows that gouged into her belly, her instincts had not yet dulled.
In the dim darkness, a man in his forties stood there.
Lu
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.
"What brings you here? It's unusual for you to come visiting. Did you come to scold your hopeless disciple?"
"Are you slacking off? There's still an accent in your speech."
"Oh my, my. How terribly rude of me."
Què couldn't sit up. Her ribs appeared to be broken, and the area had been set rigidly. Eating meals had been difficult as well, but she bore with it.
"My right hand is probably useless now, isn't it? But my left hand still works."
"If it's only half-baked ability, I don't need it."
"Do I have no more value to you?"
Què twisted her face. Was being merely five times as skilled as Ma Liang not enough?
"So you'll choose a new successor for the master?"
"Do you have any idea how long it takes to find and train someone from scratch?"
"Indeed. Even someone as exceptional as me needed five years."
"I never intended to raise you for close combat in the first place. Your interpretation skills are what His Majesty values above all else."
"That is most appreciated. But not being able to perform opening tricks is rather troublesome, isn't it? Perhaps I should memorize some short stories instead?"
She might indeed have to collect tedious anecdotes, just like Maomao did.
"Am I not going to be disposed of?"
"That's precisely the problem — I can't."
"I'm truly sorry."
"Then go find a more capable successor candidate."
"A more capable one, you say?"
Suddenly, Què
thought of Xiao Hong.
She was a girl with far too much aptitude, but dragging her here would probably prove difficult.
"Well, someday perhaps."
Què gave a grin.
Lu Shilang was the one who had brought Què into the Si Clan. On the surface, he served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Normally, the Si Clan would never rise that high — they occupied an inconspicuous position that allowed for easy maneuvering. However, when Lu Shilang's elder brother died, he was forced to inherit the family headship.
Què had followed Lu Shilang to the capital as well. There, she became acquainted with Ma Mei and married Ma Liang. There was no freedom in that marriage. It involved the machinations of Lu Shilang, the schemes of the Ma Clan, and the consent of both parties.
Què didn't think it was so bad, as long as she had value. Ma Liang wasn't a bad person — she even considered him a good husband.
Normally, she would not have approved of serving a country different from the one she was born in. But Què possessed more talent and aptitude as a member of the Si Clan than her mother ever had. If her value rose, if she was recognized, she would be evaluated in the form of rank.
Her mother had been a member of the Si Clan.
Dispatched as the ruler's eyes to watch over the western lands, she was a member of the Si Clan whose beauty led her to
Yuying
become his wife.
"But she was only that kind of woman."
That was what Lu Shilang — her master — had said in the grandest mansion in the Western Capital, which they had once infiltrated.
"She was nothing more than a decorative wife to be doted on. As the ruler's eyes, she was given no significant role, and her rank was low."
That was why she had been in a hurry to prove herself. She went to Sha'ou under the pretense of work. But nothing was more hopeless than someone with half-baked abilities. She failed, and just as her identity was about to be exposed in Sha'ou, a convenient shipwreck occurred. She decided to lay low in a foreign country until the dust settled.
That was when Què was born.
Què's mother was, in her true nature, close to a con artist. She would love a man wholeheartedly and sincerely as his wife. But once the job was over, she discarded him.
Both Què and Què's father.
The information from her father's business dealings had likely become a gift to smooth her return to Li.
The one who had helped the mother escape at that time was the master of Lu Shilang's own master.
When the mother returned to the Western Capital, she erased all memory of Què and her father. She reunited with her husband and their three children, and went on to bear yet one more.
However, the fact that Yuying eventually went on to destroy the Xu Clan was probably due to the mother's inadequacy. The Si Clan's way was to constrict from within like a snake, slowly tightening until the target could no longer move. The mother had been far too mediocre a member of the Si Clan.
The mother herself knew this. That was why she had sought to choose an exceptional person as her successor.
The three children who already existed had been poisoned by Yuying during the time they were separated from their mother. So she decided to bear one more child.
Hulang
— Yuying's third son.
True to his name, Hulang grew up with ambitions to reshape the Western Capital however he saw fit.
The most practical path within that was to oust his unpredictable eldest brother and assist his more manageable second brother instead.
What would happen if the eldest brother were seated as heir? It was impossible to predict. But with the second brother, stability could be achieved.
Or perhaps it had been a gamble to install someone other than a member of the Yu Clan in the Western Capital.
That thought crossed her mind.
But the eldest brother had already learned the secret of Korō.
"My, my,
Owl
is quite the amusing one, isn't he? To think he'd actually volunteer to join the Snake clan of his own free will."
He certainly didn't look like the type suited for espionage.
His adoption of the codename Owl might have been born of his resolve to join the Snake clan, but as far as Sparrow was concerned, it was only interesting enough to be trivial. Names were the sort of thing you created and threw away whenever your position changed. And yet, this was the Snake clan they were talking about.
As long as Owl was branded as a member of the Snake clan, Mother's ranking would remain low.
"How far do you think Sparrow's ranking will drop?"
"It won't go lower than that woman's."
"That's what I figured."
Sparrow smiled.
Mother had deemed Sparrow worthless. How would it feel to have someone you considered worthless constantly positioned above you?
It no longer mattered to Sparrow. But Father had died without ever knowing the truth.
So this much should be forgiven.
In order to ensure that neither Father nor Sparrow herself would be forgotten, Sparrow had to remain a more valuable existence than Mother at all times.
It was for the sake of this trivial revenge that Sparrow had sworn loyalty to the nation of Li.
"Master, will Sparrow's duties remain unchanged?"
"They should."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"It's a rather opaque line of work, but do you understand its meaning?"
The Master's expression darkened.
"Yes. My primary directive is to 'bring happiness to the Moon Prince.'"
"I don't understand what that means."
Sparrow didn't understand either. If only the instructions had been to find someone or eliminate someone—those would have been much clearer.
Still, he believed that protecting Maomao to the very end, even at the cost of his right hand, had been the right decision.
"Aaah. Maomao. It sure would be nice if you actually listened to Sparrow's warnings for once."
The Master looked at Sparrow with a puzzled expression, but she pretended not to know anything.