Accompanied song: Screw (Hey! Say! BEST)

In all Mirai’s life, only two things could render her speechless till the point that she did not know how to react properly. First, her wedding news, and the second one was the thing she just heard from her father about Ryosuke. She had to press her hands to to prevent her gasps.

“You lie.”

She heard Ryosuke muttered and brushed her father’s hands off from his shoulders.

Her father straightened his back. “I have predicted you will deny it.”

“Because it doesn’t make sense,” Ryosuke countered fast. “How could I be the only child? Then how about Aniki? Do you want to say that he is not my fa… that my brother is illegitimate child?”

Her father kept silent while staring at Ryosuke. For a moment they were holding each other’s gaze. Beside her, she felt Yuto shifted in his stance and when she looked at him, she saw his fist clenched.

Does Yuto have known about it?

“Ryosuke is getting really angry,” she heard Yuri whispered and she turned to him. He met her eyes and said in his whisper, “I know his gestures.”

“How if I say yes?” her father’s voice pulled them back to the center of the room.

“What?”

“Yes, that Keito is not your father’s child and yes, he is an illegitimate child.”

Ryosuke folded his arms, a usual defensive pose. “You just insult your king and accuse Dowager Yumi for committed adultery, General. You could have been beheaded because of that.”

“I know.” Her father used a matter-of-fact tone

Ryosuke went silent all of a sudden. He seemed to mull over his decision whether he would believe the explanation. She recalled her father’s words the night before.

“If he can’t cope with it, what will happen?”

“It… the truth will not only destroy Ryosuke…  but also Hakumei.”

Was it the truth her father meant? Ryosuke was the only heir for Hakumei’s throne? Was that why his condition affected the kingdom? Her role as his remedy… what should she do then?

Suddenly Ryosuke stood up and all of eyes focused on him.

“I’ve heard enough of it.” Ryosuke said before he turned around and started advancing toward the door.

She saw Yuto quickly strode forward and blocked the way. Ryosuke halted, a bit surprised by Yuto’s action, and looked up to the taller man.

“You knew about all of it, didn’t you?” Ryosuke asked Yuto.

Yuto seemed guilty when answering, “Yes, but only recently.”

A short silence engulfed them.

“Tell me that it’s not true, Yuto,” Ryosuke eventually spoke though his voice was barely heard from her place.

“I’m sorry, Ryosuke, but that’s the truth.”

Another silence stretched out.

Ryosuke took a time before continuing, his fists clenched so tightly that it turned white, his shoulders tensed and when he spoke, his voice was strained.

“If that’s true, then why should he hide it? Why should he make it so complicated? If the queen committed adultery, shouldn’t it be the perfect reason to bring the Okamoto down and he would not have to worry about them threatening the throne? Why should he make Mother go through her last days alone? Why should he form this chain instead of protecting me by himself? Why should he push me away and take Keito to his side instead? Why…? Tell me why…”

Her tears flowed unbidden. It was painful hearing all Ryosuke’s questions. Her conversation with King Shohei and all Ryosuke’s loner behaviors replayed: how he stared longingly to the night sky, how he crouched down before his mother’s grave, how he could not shed tears in his father’s funeral, how he refused to fall in love. After knowing the truth, it became more painful to remember.

She felt a squeeze on her shoulder and she turned to her side.

“Pull yourself,” Yuri muttered to her.

She nodded and wiped her tears off from her cheeks. When she returned her gaze to the front, she saw her father kept staring at Ryosuke’s back with wistful eyes.

“I’ll explain it all to you, Ryosuke,” her father said.

“I will not listen to any other lies,” Ryosuke answered with his back faced her father.

“Would you at least listen till the end?” her father pleaded.

“I said I won’t listen to you.”

“Not even when I want to tell you about your mother?”

Just after hearing those words, Ryosuke turned around and faced her father once more.

“Mother… did she know about it?”

**********

Ryosuke still could not even bring himself to believe that he was the only child of his father, yet another possible truth had been forced into his mind. Did his mother know all along about what General Shida explained?

“Yes, Lady Umi knew, because Shohei had made her his private counselor. He told her almost everything.” He heard General Shida answered with the word he had been worried to hear.

Mother knew…

“In fact,” General Shida continued, “She was the one who persuaded Shohei not to leak out the affair to public. If not because of her, Shohei would have executed Queen Yumi and the others.”

…and she let it?

“Why?” He eventually asked.

“Because she thought it was better to lose the right to claim the throne than let you, your father, and Hakumei suffered.”

General Shida walked around the desk to stand before him.

“If Shohei pronounced the adultery act as treachery that time, Okamoto would not stay still and let their heads beheaded. They would have rebelled right away. The battle with Takaki Family had left Hakumei with so many wounds, and if the confrontation with Okamoto sprouted another one… it would only make our people drowned into another pool of bloods.”

General Shida gave him a softer gaze before continuing, “Okamoto had a strong financial and their troops once were the best men in Royal Army. Sure, if we ignited battle with them, it could last for a long time just like with Takaki Family. And even when you rose to the throne, bloods might still be pouring. Your mother did not want you reigned in that circumstance. Thus she and Shohei agreed to let the case hidden and gave the throne to Keito. That way they thought they could spare you and the others’ from agony.”

General Shida went silent for long that he thought the explanation had finished, but then he added.

“Moreover,” General Shida somehow seemed reluctant to speak. “Your mother did not want Shohei to bear the b