His adoptive father had returned from the Western Capital.
It was
for Raban,
both a blessing and a curse.
"Adoptive father, you're reporting to the office starting today. At least try to look sharp on your first day."
Raban watched Ra-han,
bleary-eyed,
eating porridge. Three children were with Ra-han—
Fourth,
,
Fifth,
,
Sixth.
They were a trio of orphans Ra-han had picked up, and they now acted as the mansion's household attendants.
Fourth was diligently spooning food into Ra-han's mouth.
For Ra-han, it was simply laziness when it came to eating, but depending on who was watching, the sight might give rise to suspicions of a certain fondness for young boys. Still, if left to eat on his own, he would never finish—he would carry on just like a toddler—so there was no other choice.
Besides the three children, there was one more—a strange boy none of them recognized. He had not yet come of age, and was a size smaller than the already small-statured Raban.
"Forgive me, but who might you be?"
He had arrived at the mansion yesterday alongside Ra-han. From his features, it was clear he hailed from Junsei Province, but why he had come was anyone's guess.
"Were you picked up by my adoptive father as well?"
Ra-han had a habit of picking up strays from out of nowhere. He may well have simply brought along whatever child caught his eye in the Western Capital. Orphans were fine, but parents would be trouble.
"If you'd like to return to the Western Capital, just say the word. It may be my adoptive father's mess, but since you're one of us now, I'll take responsibility and see you safely back."
For Raban, the head of household's return meant he could deflect some responsibility, but it also meant the cleanup would grow enormously. Sending one child back was easy enough. Compared to that whole business about trying to blow up the Rear Palace, this was something he could handle any day.
"No, I came here on official business. I've been ordered by Lady Tsuki to look after Lord Ra-han, at least for the time being."
Lady Tsuki's orders, I see. Well, I should at least ask for a name, shouldn't I?
He figured he should ask, since he had no idea what intentions his father-in-law had in giving the boy this name.
"Yes, sir. My name is Han Junjie."
"Han Junjie..."
Raban was quick on the uptake. Hearing an unfamiliar name and noticing the boy's actual older brother was nowhere in sight,
he immediately grasped why his brother was absent and an unfamiliar child was present.
Things had been hectic yesterday, so the report hadn't reached him yet, but it would surely come soon enough.
"So that's how it is."
Raban nodded. In his eyes, his brother was the type who was handy enough but perpetually unlucky, always drawing the short straw. He was probably still stranded in some far-off land, working desperately away.
Raban didn't dislike his brother; in fact, he rather wanted to introduce a fine woman to him someday.
"Lord Raban."
No. 3
had come over.
"What is it?"
"My apologies, sir. I found this among your lordship's belongings, so I brought it to you."
The letter No. 3 presented was plain yet carried a noble fragrance. It might have appeared to be from an unknown sender, but Raban recognized the handwriting at once — the calligraphy was flowing and elegant, with just a hint of strength beneath.
It was a letter from Lady Tsuki, delicately and apologetically explaining to Raban why a boy named "Han Junjie" was in his household.
It was more or less what Raban had guessed. Apparently, once his brother returned to the capital, "Han Junjie" would be sent back to the Western Capital, and she was asking Raban to look after the boy until then.
He felt a bit sorry for his brother, but the chance to build up favors with Lady Tsuki was invaluable. He intended to keep accumulating debts until they were too enormous to ever repay.
He would have to write a reply later.
Rahan seemed to have finished his porridge, and No. 4 was wiping his mouth for him. No. 5 and No. 6 brought
some fruit
as refreshments.
"Father-in-law, before you head to the office, I'd like to report on a few things about the current situation."
"Hmm? Isn't everyone else taking care of that?"
"A year away really does rattle things, doesn't it."
Rakun set a shogi board in front of Rakan. Rakan likened his subordinates to shogi pieces, arranging them on the board to illustrate their positions.
At first, Rakun couldn't make sense of it either, but after watching each time, the pattern began to emerge. It wasn't perfect, but he could grasp what Rakan was trying to convey through the board.
"How are the pieces moving?"
"Well, this one goes here, and that one goes there."
Rakun moved the silver general into enemy territory and captured a pawn. But the lance was taken by the bishop.
"The lance, huh. It had good momentum, but it turned out to be a liar."
Rakan did not align himself with any political faction. But even without any intention on his own part, it was inevitable that a Rakan faction would form naturally.
Rakan's subordinates kept a close watch during his absence to prevent rival factions from doing as they pleased. The unwritten rule—touch Rakan and you won't live long—had eroded considerably over the course of a year.
One of Rakan's subordinates had defected to another faction. On the other hand, he seemed to have succeeded in drawing someone from a different faction over.
Before departing for the Western Capital, Rakan had given his subordinates only one order.
"Keep things exactly as they are—make sure nothing changes when I get back."
The result was that the lance was taken and a pawn was captured. His subordinates were probably dreading Rakan's return.
Rakun thought to himself. Asking military officers, who were never skilled at political maneuvering, to maintain the balance of power within the court was an unreasonable request to begin with. So he considered this a perfectly adequate result, but he wasn't sure how Rakan would react.
"Let me take a look at the pawn we picked up, at least."
"Understood."
Rakun picked up a brush. The fifth and sixth officers prepared ink and paper, so he wrote down instructions meant for the deputy. The deputy was a man named
Insou.
He had just been reunited with his wife and daughter after a year, only to be told to report for duty the next day—rather pitiful, all things considered. But being Rakan's deputy meant that things like days off simply didn't exist.
"Is this the court? It's much bigger than the
Government Office
in the Western Capital."
The boy, sharing the same name as his older brother, stepped down from the carriage with sparkling eyes.
Rakun wondered what to do with the boy from the Western Capital. He could have simply assigned him to the third officer or thereabouts, but a problem had arisen.
Squatter, or rather—
Yao
and
Yen Yen
had stuck their noses in. For some reason, they'd begun trying to ingratiate themselves with the boy, Shunketsu.
Sanban and Yao seemed to be incompatible, sparks flying between them. What exactly they were fighting about, Rakun would rather not know.
At any rate, since Rakhan didn't seem to get along badly with the boy, he decided to assign him as a page. If this could lighten Onso's burden, Rakun's own paperwork wouldn't stall either—and that would be a relief—but he wasn't expecting things to go that smoothly.
"Say, Yen Yen, are my bangs out of place?"
"There's no problem at all. You're as beautiful as always."
The voices from behind belonged to the lodgers.
In arranging to send Rakhan off by carriage, the young ladies had decided to ride along as well. One carriage was borrowed, but he couldn't very well make them walk.
"Master Rakun. There's nothing wrong with being kind to women in general, but is there truly a need to fuss this much?"
Sanban whispered softly. Today, too, she had served as his driver. Honestly, it would be more efficient to have her do other work, but Sanban never asked, so there was nothing he could do.
"Sanban, this isn't something you should be interfering with."
"...Understood."
"Then I'll be seeing my adoptive father off."
Starting tomorrow, he intended to hand things over to Onso. Rakun didn't plan to escort Rakhan every single day, either.
"Let's head to the medical office."
It was somewhat of a relief to see Yao and Yen Yen go their separate way.
Since Maomao had returned, he intended to have her go back to the dormitory.
"Well then, Shunketsu. See you later."
"Yes. Please do your best at your work too, Lady Yao, Lady Yen Yen."
"You don't need to be so stiff about it."
Yao was being oddly affectionate. He had thought she was the type who couldn't stand men, but perhaps she was just being kind because he was still a boy before his coming-of-age.
"From now on, you'll be helping your brother and your uncle."
As Yao and Yen Yen turned to leave, Rakun stopped them, saying "wait a moment."
"The two of you seem to be under a bit of a misunderstanding."
"What do you mean?"
Yao tilted her head.
"Well, my surname is indeed 'Han,' but I'm not actually related to Rakhan or any of them by blood."
"But yesterday, Lord Rakhan said, 'Junjie? He's my nephew, then.'"
Yen Yen answered with an unnecessary imitation. Come to think of it, Yen Yen had been making snacks in the middle of the night last night — could she have been trying to win Rakhan over? Ranhan shuddered slightly.
"That's true, but it's fundamentally different. We don't have time now, so I'll explain later."
It was nothing short of a miracle that Rakhan remembered his own brother's name. But he didn't remember his face. As a result, young Junjie may or may not have felt something was a little off, but he'd probably been slotted into the role of "nephew."
Ranhan felt a sudden urge to get his brother married off soon.
"Um, is there something wrong with my name?"
"Hmm, it's complicated, but don't worry about it. More importantly, your adoptive father is starting to doze off again — could you give him a push?"
"Understood."
Ranhan and young Junjie urged the drowsy Rakhan forward.
They were supposed to deliver him to his office and be done with it.
But —
"What's all that noise?"
"What's going on?"
Ranhan and young Junjie exchanged glances.
The adjutant Onso was standing in front of the office.
"Onso. Has something happened?"
"Ranhan. Well, it's — "
Onso turned his gaze toward the office. He seemed to be saying it would be faster to see for themselves.
"…Whoa."
Something deeply unpleasant was hanging there.
A man had hanged himself from the beam of the office.