Ryosuke was lifting Ainosuke to the saddle of Yuri’s stallion when Mirai handed the picnic basket to Umika who had mounted Ryosuke’s stallion. Those stallions were bought when Hakumei’s squad arrived at Ryuusei and had been Ryosuke’s transportation ever since.

“Enjoy your day with your uncle, Ainosuke,” Ryosuke said while ruffling Ainosuke’s hair briefly.

Ainosuke pouted, reluctant to go because he and Mirai did not go. Noticing this, Ryosuke added, “You promise Father that you’ll be a good boy, remember?”

Ainosuke nodded. “Yes, Father.”

Ryosuke turned to Yuri, “You should enjoy today, too, Chii.”

Yuri forced a smile, “I’ll try.”

After they left, he followed Mirai returned to the house. He noticed she had been rather quiet and he knew that she was anticipating their talk. She took a seat beside the dining table and he chose to sit across her.

She poured him a cup of warm tea, putting it before him and saying, “A warm tea in the morning can make us relax.”

Seeing her sipped her own tea, he followed.

“Is it alright if we talk now?” he asked after that.

She straightened her back, “Yes.”

He took out a small black pouch from his pants pocket then held it out to her. He had kept the thing for more than five years.

“What is this?” she asked while taking the pouch.

“Why don’t you look at it by yourself?”

She opened the pouch’s tie and shook the thing off the pouch. A small clang was heard as the thing fell onto the table. It was a golden ring with an oval flat head. The head surface was craved in certain pattern.

 “A ring?” she wondered, bringing the ring closer to her eyes.

Observing her expression, he answered, “That is the seal ring which was owned by Hakumei’s queen.”

She scrutinized the ring, trying to recognize it, “It’s not Queen Nami’s. Was it Dowager Yumi’s?”

“No,” he replied. “That’s yours.”

 “Mine?” She widened her eyes.

He stretched a hand to take the ring from her. After getting the ring, he took her left hand and tried to slip the ring on one of her fingers. The ring was fit in her middle finger. He leaned away and straightened his back after accomplishing his action.

 “The ring,” he said while noticing her confused look, “I had it made for you after my coronation.”

“Then… it means… you are a king?”

“Was.”

“Was?”

Instead of answering directly, he leaned a bit forward, propping on his elbows and asking, “Do you remember what I said back then in your chamber in Nakayama castle, when I had quarrel with Yuto?”

She took a moment to recall her memories, “Was it the one when you wondered why you’re different from ordinary people?”

“Yes,” he replied. “You knew since the beginning I didn’t want to be a king, didn’t you?”

She nodded.

“I dreamed of a world where everyone can stand as equal and no more disputes among the houses. To realize it, I worked together with Takaki Family. In short, we won the battle over Okamoto, and I claimed the throne. During my reign, I had many laws amended, and people were put in trials for their crimes. I used my power to create a certain condition in which people could not stand against me, or at least not strong enough to cause a big dispute, because my goal had high risks.”

He paused to give her time to absorb it.

“What’s your goal?” She eventually asked.

“It was to abolish nobility from Hakumei, including the royalty, so that everyone will have fair chance to compete with each other for achievement.”

“Abolish… nobility and royalty?”

“Yes, and the goal had been realized.”

Her eyes widened, “That means… now… there is no nobility anymore?”

He nodded. “No more nobility and royalty. Hakumei is no longer a kingdom, but a nation-state led by a prime minister.”

He saw her took a deep breath and clenched her fists, anxiety obviously glinted in her eyes, “Then… how about you?  And what happened to my family?”

He needed time to form a reply thus she added, “It was impossible the nobles did not give any resistance… so… what was the price of the change, Ryosuke?”

“About me… I am no longer a royal. I’m a commoner,” he answered. “And I can’t use the surname Yamada because in Hakumei, Yamada Ryosuke had died two years ago. Thus, it was possible I’ll use Tanaka or maybe Satou or any name but Yamada as my surname from now on. And also, my current appearance is a way to evade people recognizing me as the former king.”

“Wh-what do you mean Yamada Ryosuke had died?”

“Something happened that led Yuya and the others had to falsify my death. And since there was no heir for the throne, it became the reason we used to end the royalty, and along with that, we abolished the nobility.”

“Why should your death be falsified? Was that ‘something’ had threatened your life?”

He knew she was smart enough to analyze the implicit meaning of his information. He took seconds to look at her worried face before answering, “Yes. Our initial plan was that I would step down after abolishing nobility, establishing the parliament and the prime minister, but the plan had to be altered when a case happened before we reached that stage. Some people did not like my policies, and they schemed a neat plan to kill me with poison. I suffered a coma for five weeks because of that.”

She gasped and clamped both her hands to . Her eyes were wide and had started b with tears.

He had been resolute not to hide the truth from her, but he did not want it to bring a big hurtful impact on her, thus he quickly continued, diverting her thought from his past incident, “And about your family… Shida Family is noble no more. You’re a commoner, too, now. Half of Shida’s wealth had been impounded to be used in the recovery program because first, it was what Father donated, and second, part of it was proven had been gained from fraud.”

“Fraud?”

He nodded, “It’s not only Shida, but we found out the similar cases in almost every of the clan; some were tax evasion, falsified report, or just simply stealing. In Shida, two of your uncles and three of your elder cousins had been sentenced with five to ten years penalty.”

He paused again to observe her reaction. There was surprise, disbelief, and… fear. He sighed inwardly. He had expected those reactions.

“…there is more, I assume?” she managed to speak despite her growing anxiety. She was a lot calmer than he had expected, though. He reminded himself that she indeed had changed, had matured. He wished her to be able to brace the next explanation he would give after this.

“Five more of Shida Family members have been exiled because they broke various laws, from abusing their power, to indirectly causing death of a person. Five of your uncles and two of your aunts had been executed because they attempted to murder me.”

She gaped in horror, “My family… attempted to kill you?”

“Yes, the case that had caused me fell into coma… they were involved in that.”

“Wh-who were they?”

He mentioned several names, and she could not hold her tears from falling. He had expected this because he knew some of the family members were close to the main branch of Shida Family from which he assumed Mirai was quite close with them.

After a time of silence, she asked, “How about Father? What did he do?”

He subtly drew a breath, a bit tense, “Father… General Shida had died in a mission.”

With hands clamping and tears streaming down her cheeks, she stared at him in disbelief. Her body trembled a little as she bit down her cry. After a moment, she collected herself, and asked, “Father… had died, too?”

“Yes,” guilt arose in him, “Father had deliberately broken my order and delivered an attack to one of Chinen Family branch. Father lost his life for protecting me, and I just knew the truth about a year ago.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Father was gone in the second year of my reign, more than three years ago. But that time I was told that he was ambushed in his patrol. I ordered an investigation over the case, but I got nothing. When I was freed from the throne, I carried out another investigation with Yuya’s help and found out that Father was not ambushed, but he initiated a direct assault by himself instead, without my consent.”

“Wh-why… why should Father do that? ... without your consent?”

“Just as I said before, it was to protect me, to free me from the burden of killing Chii’s family. I failed to notice his move because I was busy with other matters… I’m sorry, Mirai.”

She went silent, her gaze down casted, but he could see her tears keep falling on her hands she placed on the table. He waited for her reaction, her outburst anger or hard cry, but she did not do any of that. The silence was getting unbearable, and he was just about to speak when suddenly she stood up. Her chair made a screech against the hard floor. He looked up, but she avoided his eyes and sprang to their chamber instead. He had to use all his effort to refrain from grabbing her arm and pulling her into his embrace. The door was slammed close. He could only stare at the direction of the room. Now what?

**********

Mirai was struggling with her own feeling. Leaning against the door in her chamber, she mulled over the circumstance. Was it why Ryosuke was worried she would not accept him? Was it why she felt an unexplainable fear before? Her tears kept streaming down, and her chest tightened as she stifled down her cry. She wiped her face with the sleeve of her blouse briskly. The ring in her middle finger had her inhaled a deep breath. Crossing the room, she walked towards her drawer. She knew what to do and she had no choice but to do that.

She took out a dagger from her drawer. She composed herself as she looked at it. It was not the usual dagger she brought for her defense. The dagger was given by her father before he departed from Matsudera back then, and she still remembered clearly what he told her.

“Mirai, living as a warrior’s wife is not easy, but living as a king’s wife is the most difficult. You should prepare yourself from now on.”

“What should I do, Father?”

“Stick on your role, be Ryosuke’s remedy, be it for his soul, heart or body. This course will demand so many sacrifices, but no matter what happen, do not ever stray even a step from Ryosuke’s side. Be strong. Don’t expect anything from him; don’t demand any attention from him, and never bother him with your troubles. Give him any comfort he needs, cushion his pains, but don’t let yours reaches him. Those are the least you can do.”

She absorbed her father’s words.

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