Maomao
talked about her time in the rear palace. She sat around a stone table and had the servants prepare tea.
She would leave out the finer details, but
she told them about serving
Gyokuyou as her lady, and how through that connection she had met
Risu,
who had been a high-ranking consort at the same time.
"At the garden party, she wore an outfit that completely missed the mood."
U no Genchou made a bitter face. Risu's half-brother averted his gaze while playing with the children.
"Lady Risu had her food swapped for things she couldn't eat."
U no Genchou furrowed his brow. The half-brother was giving sweets to the children.
"She was almost made to drink things she couldn't drink at tea parties."
More than U no Genchou or his half-brother, Maomao found herself worrying about the person sitting beside them.
Bassen
was grinding his teeth so hard the sound could be heard, his eyes bloodshot.
(Is he going to be alright?)
Maomao worried, but she kept a tight grip on the sash behind her to prevent
Asami,
who was sitting next to Bassen, from rushing forward. Asami's husband was also staring intently at Bassen.
Maomao also touched on what had happened after leaving the rear palace.
She assumed he would remember well enough — being attacked by bandits on the road, since Bassen himself had come to rescue her.
"Lady Risu was thought to be in danger of having her life targeted by her own father."
U no Genchou was pressing his hand to his forehead. He appeared to be trembling slightly.
"But in her letters to me, Risu wrote that she was performing her duties properly as a high-ranking consort..."
"She must have been trying not to worry her grandfather."
U no Genchou was keeping his emotions well in check. He seemed angry at himself—for failing to notice sooner, for having left her alone until she had no choice but to become a nun. Yet Maomao sensed that some of that simmering anger was also directed at his half-brother, who had been standing beside him.
There was no point in punishing the attendants who had bullied Risu now. No, when Risu had left the rear palace, they had surely already been dealt with. Disgraced and forced out of the rear palace, they must have been living in shame.
And so, Maomao pondered.
What should she do from here?
She had at least made the right call by bringing up Risu and sitting down at the same table as U no Genchou. But what else could she possibly talk about?
If she handed the conversation over to Asami from here, that would be a satisfactory job done on Maomao's part. But Asami's eyes said, "You can push a little further, right?"
That's way too much to ask.
Then again, Maomao had quite the reputation for accepting outrageous requests.
"Risu's letter stated that she was fulfilling her duties as a high-ranking consort, didn't it?"
"That's right."
"...Risu, she's been pushing herself too hard."
Maomao deliberately said it in a hushed voice.
"What do you mean, pushing herself?"
"A consort's duties in the rear palace—it goes without saying, but..."
Maomao glanced briefly at Maosen. At first he didn't seem to understand, but after blinking a few times, he finally caught on. His face flushed once more—this time with a different kind of red than the anger from before. Mixed with the embarrassment was a trace of frustration.
A consort's duty is to bear children with the Emperor.
Empress Gyokuyou,
Rifa—
they had fulfilled their duties.
Shisui,
no—
Rouran,
had at least gone through the motions.
Risu was the only one who had never spent a night with the Emperor.
"Lady Risu must have been like a daughter to His Majesty as well. She was never once chosen as a consort."
Maomao showed a strong reaction. Glancing sideways at Asami, she noticed the woman smirking with satisfaction, her lips twitching. Baten wore an expression caught between disappointment and relief.
"Otherwise, she would never have been allowed to leave the Rear Palace."
Basically, once a woman became a consort of the Emperor, even a single night together meant spending the rest of her life in the Rear Palace. There were special exceptions—
Ada
—who, despite being one such exception, ended up living in the Emperor's detached palace nonetheless.
"So that was indeed the case."
U no Genchou was convinced.
"Yes."
Maomao let out a breath.
"I've heard that many consorts who left the Rear Palace without ever being chosen as consorts have gone on to marry again."
She might have been ridiculed as "sent back," but it was a different matter when the partner was the Emperor. Many women—whether daughters of officials or merchants—were drawn to the secret garden called the Rear Palace. Above all, once chosen as a consort, one's appearance and family lineage were as good as certified.
"If it weren't in the form of entering religious life, Lady Risu would have had no shortage of suitors."
"Even though her remaining years are few, wanting to see her great-grandchildren—isn't that just being selfish?"
(Good!)
Maomao glanced at Asami, signaling that there was nothing more to add. Asami looked satisfied, her eyes gleaming like a hawk's.
"May I ask a question?"
Asami raised her hand.
"What is it?"
"Is Lady Risu's religious life without end?"
"His Majesty apparently told Risu to rest and recuperate for a while."
"For a while?"
"For a while."
"In other words, if His Majesty commands it, Lady Risu can return from her place of religious retreat?"
Asami's reaction was as if she had secured a verbal promise.
"Would Lady Risu not return to the Rabbit clan and take a husband? She is the only direct heir, isn't she?"
"That's right. She is the only grandchild born from my one and only daughter."
Risu's half-brother averted his eyes. Maomao thought this young man was also a victim. Being of indirect blood, being the illegitimate child of a marriage where the husband married into the family — that was why he carried himself so meekly. Being brought to this gathering, too, struck her as a form of public admonishment in its own way.
"But I cannot let Risu end up like her sister. I've already decided the next heir will be this child. I will absolutely not subject her to an unhappy marriage."
The former head of the Rabbit clan stroked the head of the child eating sweets. It was the child the half-brother had been looking after all along.
Call it insidious if you will.
But what Risu's father had done to her was far more cruel.
Though not the direct cause, it was fortunate that the half-brother's admonishment ended at something of this degree. More than anything, the half-brother seemed accustomed to humiliation. There are times when having no pride makes life easier, and this young man was a textbook case.
"Then would there be no objection if our Horse clan were to bring forth a marriage proposal for Lady Risu?"
Asami finally steered the conversation to the main topic.
Maoken was biting his lip so hard it had turned purple.
"The Horse clan proposing a marriage?"
"Yes. If she is to inherit the main house, you would need to take a husband from a branch family's males, wouldn't you? But if she is not inheriting, then I would very much like to arrange a meeting with someone from our clan."
"Oh."
The former head glanced briefly at Maoken. He seemed to have immediately deduce who the prospective groom was.
"I once wished to forge ties with the Horse clan. But—"
But?
"Even if my clan were to form a connection with yours, there would be no point. The Rabbit clan no longer holds the power it once did. With other families it might be one thing, but there is nothing the Horse clan stands to gain. I have no desire to swallow whole a proposal that offers no advantage whatsoever."
"You were just speaking with the Dragon clan earlier, weren't you? Has that dispute not been settled?"
How much did Asami actually know — or was she simply pressing her luck? Either way, Maomao sent a silent plea to the former head of the Rabbit clan: I haven't told her anything.
"There were various matters with the Dragon clan, but that is none of your concern."
"Quite so. However, regarding Lady Risu — if we expressed our wish to arrange a marriage regardless of family standing, would you at least hear us out?"
"You mean Risu herself?"
The former head of the Rabbit clan regarded Asami and Maoken as if appraising their worth. He likely regretted having once pawned his daughter off on a worthless husband.
"If I were to marry Risu off somewhere, I had been considering a few candidates—"
"Could you include someone from the Horse clan among those candidates?"
Asami pressed in boldly. Her approach was so forward it risked being taken as rude, but for the former head of the Rabbit clan, it was not a bad proposal—no, it was an attractive one.
However, the former head of the Rabbit clan did not agree.
"Right now, I cannot marry her off to any household. I don't know where the enemy lies. Our clan has been weakened by my own miscalculation. But there are things happening that cannot be explained by that alone. It's as if we're being punished for having left Risu to wither all this time."
"What kind of things?"
"Ha ha ha, you want me to lay out my clan's shame any further? Well, fine. Gaoshun's daughter has good instincts—you'll understand soon enough. It seems I've drawn the ire of a new faction in the military."
The former head of the Rabbit clan said only that much.
(A new faction in the military.)
It was something she felt she had heard about somewhere recently.