Volume 7, Chapter 19: Intruder (1/2)

Ah Duo’s palace had the usual feel to it.

“Ah Duo-sama. Please read a book.”

The children gathered around Ah Duo. The scene of them asking her to read a book under the gazebo resembled a western painting.

While it was hard for him to call out to her, Ah Duo seemed to have registered his presence. She gently closed the book and stood, soothing the children.

“Ehh, done already?”

“Haha. It’s already time for dinner. I’ll read before bedtime, so brush your teeth properly beforehand.”

After petting the children’s heads, the beauty in barbarian robes approached Jinshi. She was a youthful person to begin with, but he felt she had aged backwards since moving to the villa.

“Prince of the Moon, it’s been a while.” Ah Duo greeted him like an official, on one knee, hands atop each other. It seemed reverent, but she was probably sticking out her tongue while facing down–Jinshi smiled wryly.

“You haven’t changed.”

Jinshi gently motioned with his hand. Taking that as a sign, Ah Duo, who had stuck out her tongue as expected, raised her face.

For Jinshi, as someone who is often held at arm’s length by others, Ah Duo was one of the few people who treated him as an equal.

He had come whilst leaving behind Basen who was also naggy about escorts.

Although he didn’t bring it up specifically, Basen’s expression didn’t look good.

In that case, Basen should probably take heed of Maamei’s advice exactly because she was his own sister, but he can’t do that at all, being a weak man considering his physical strength. Once he gets married, he would, most definitely, be more henpecked than Gaoshun.

“Well, it also depends on who it is,” Jinshi said.

“What was that?” Ah Duo asked.

“No, nothing.”

He was shown into the palace. A sweet fragrance permeated the air.

“What’s this?”

There were wine bottles on the table. From the smell, they seemed to be considerably high in alcohol content.

“This is…” He found himself checking once again.

“His majesty gave me Suiren’s pastries. However, I’m more pleased with the alcohol used in it. I’ve specially set aside some for you.”

The guard stayed outside. Only Jinshi and Ah Duo were in the room. Ah Duo’s speech turned even more casual.

“…” He remembered the previous occasion he drank wine with Ah Duo. Was it the night before she left the inner palace? He was summoned and made to drink so much, and in the end, he was told, “Meeting breakup”, and chased out of the palace.

Aside from the wine, there was also a Go board on the table.

Ah Duo picked up a Go stone and fiddled with it. “Didn’t you have an interesting match the other day?”

“Has it become a topic of discussion?” Jinshi averted his eyes. He only had an unpleasant premonition. Their positions suddenly reversed, and Jinshi’s language became polite.

Given the many years of banter in the inner palace between them, this was closer to their natural way of speaking.

The two of them were alone, so their conversation continued down this path.

“Yeah. When I heard that the weirdo tactician was driven to a wall, I found myself laughing. What trick did you use?”

She should’ve already come up with the correct answer, as she was sloshing the wine bottle around.

“I wonder. I lost in the end,” he said.

A loss is a loss.

Winning against Rakan using whatever moves possible. To Jinshi, a win’s a win.

“However, it seemed you had been going well,” Ah Duo said.

“Yeah. I was confident. Who would have thought a comeback was possible even though he was hanging by a thread?”

Even so, he didn’t relax his guard. He had thought of every possible move to prepare for the rematch, but he was completely overthrown.

‘Don’t see your opponent as human’

It was just as the Grandmaster of Go had said.

That’s why, Jinshi had tried to win by combining several moves to bind him as a stopgap measure.

As if Ah Duo had anticipated that, she poured the amber-hued wine into glass containers. A mellow fragrance instantly filled the room.

“Well then, he was an opponent you went to great lengths to defeat. What were you thinking of doing once you defeated him?” Ah Duo asked.

“…well, what I was thinking of doing?” Jinshi responded with a question.

Amused, Ah Duo had Jinshi hold onto the wine she had poured for herself.

“Regardless of how it’s done, if I were to defeat Rakan-dono, there’ll be fewer of the fools who see my appearance as my only redeeming feature, right?” Jinshi said.

“You have so much confidence in solely your appearance as usual. Doesn’t it sound sarcastic now?” Ah Duo replied.

“In that regard, shall I thank my mother who gave birth to me?”

Jinshi’s outward appearance was a weapon, occasionally to the point of annoyance.

“….’

Ah Duo was silent. He checked through the glass—could she be surprised by the extent of his confidence in his appearance?

“Ah Duo-dono?”

Beyond the amber-hued liquid, was a woman with a bitter expression. For an instant, she looked different from the usual tough beauty in male-garb.

“Are you feeling a little out of it?” he asked.

“No, it’s nothing. This is quite strong.” Ah Duo set down the glass of wine. Her bitter expression was gone, instead, there was the dignified look that gave the impression of a young official.

“You needn’t defeat the weirdo tactician. Even if you don’t become more reputable, from the Shi Clan incident, no one would think that you were the weak, shut-in imperial brother,” she said.

“The Shi Clan incident wasn’t my achievement.”

He was shouldering it instead. For the vixen who was no longer around.

Wine had been passed to him, but he had yet to taste it. He had to broach the main topic before that.