Volume 5, Chapter 19: Consort Riishus Decision, Basens Resolve (Volume End) (1/2)

The total sum of people captured amounted to seven. The numbers included three of Consort Riishu’s maids.

The three maids had served Consort Riishu prior to entering the inner palace. And the rest of the maids, even if they weren’t present here, will also be kept under surveillance just in case. The head maid was the only person who remained by Consort Riishu’s side.

Basen clenched his fists.

Despite being a high ranking consort, Consort Riishu was only able to trust one subordinate.

And it was the unmistakable truth that it was those maids who had guided the hoodlums in.

The consort, trembling in spite of it all, kept her eyes on the apprehended maids.

“Here ya go, in the end, wasn’t it Master who needed more?” Rihaku, who had ended the incident without any injury, returned the medicine Basen had given him just then. “That lass made this, right? It looks like she added painkillers too.”

The self-inflicted injury on his hand was wrapped in bandages.

Basen scooped up the remaining medicine with his finger, and when he tried to apply it on the cut on his cheek, stopped. He recalled the sensation of the towel on his cheek, and felt that he would erase that.

“What’s wrong?” Rihaku asked.

“No, nothing at all.” Basen rubbed the medicine on his finger onto his paper handkerchief and returned the medicine to his breast pocket.

Then he looked at the apprehended men.

“What is their motive?” Basen looked at Rihaku with a sharp gaze.

“Can I not say it?” the other man asked.

“Not like you can hide it now.”

“You have a point.”

After saying that, Rihaku pointed to the cargo carriage the hoodlums had been going for. “Just take a glimpse. Don’t make a sound and do anything else. Can you come back after that?”

“…”

“Can you come back?”

With those emphasised words, Basen could only nod.

Before the cargo carriage, he could see the figure of the maidservant who had collapsed not long ago. She looked like she was cut, the bandages around her limbs looked painful, but her life didn’t seem to be in danger. She dipped her head at Basen.

What was there exactly?

He peered in from the carriage canopy. The inside of the canopy was also covered by a curtain. He flipped it and looked inside.

There was something like looked like some cage. It was large enough to fit a beast. There was a fur rug spread out beneath it.

It was a cage, and yet there was a rug; a somewhat mismatched impression. What kind of beast could be inside that?

That moment.

“My? Are you here to save me?”

He heard a woman’s voice. Drab and delicate, a voice that invited a protective instinct.

He saw pure white threads. That spilt from the cage.

A pair of red specks, like ground tomato, shone amid the darkness.

“It’s fairly cramped here. Can you take me out to somewhere more spacious?”

When he saw the light that seemed to suck him in, Basen closed the curtain.

“Is that how it is?” Basen had an inexplicable feeling. There was a young woman. She was shut up inside a beast’s cage.

It would probably be a maddening scene if it were the usual Basen.

However. The was a reason for that inhumane act.

The reason Consort Riishu was purposely heading to the villa, the curious escorts deployed, the motives of the robbers–that was all right there.

“Lady Pai.”

The woman who stirred up trouble in the capital was there.

“Thank you for saving us.”

Thanking him once again, was not Consort Riishu but a messenger maid.

The consort’s face was veiled. She was entering the villa quietly. The flowers of the inner palace rarely expose their bare face to outside men.

There was a modest palace in the villa. The servants who came for her were also dressed humbly.

In contrast to that, the fortified defence of the palace was strong. Basen found a number of familiar faces among the military officials.

The consort’s escorts in this kind of place and all–it might be taken as a demotion by onlookers. And yet, no one looked dissatisfied at all.

That’s right. The consort’s escorts were all a cover. They were all assigned to a greater duty.

When he saw the consort’s back, he wanted to run to stop her. The moment he had inadvertently reached out, he felt something heavy prop onto his shoulder.

“You can’t sympathise. It’s an order that’s been handed down,” Rihaku said.

“What are you talking about?” Basen dropped his hand, feigning ignorance.

“Jinshi-sama told me. That there’s nothing to criticise about your skill, but you do get a little emotional.”

“…am I that undependable?”

Does Jinshi find this man more reliable than Basen who had been serving him ever since childhood?–the seeds of resentment sprouted in his heart.

“It’s not that you’re undependable, I think. My point being that right person at the right place thing, this is more-or-less a relation of seniority. Please take that as me playing that part.”

Though he was speaking casually, the man called Rihaku didn’t have any discomfort. His mind was a lot more flexible than Basen who was known to be a straight-laced person.

“That consort will be entering this palace for the ritual now, but there’s no telling when she will be returning, it seems.”

“…the ritual was just in name, wasn’t it?” Basen said.

“Yeah, I think it might be more appropriate to call this place a nunnery instead.”

It was for this reason Lady Pai was brought to this place alongside the consort.

He felt resentful. It must have been the emperor’s decree to lock the two maidens who were a bother in the capital in the same place.