“Wh-What?!”
In the main hall of the Kujou Clan estate.
Kujou Takayuki’s aged face was livid with rage, and his hand slammed a precious teacup onto the desk with a sharp *crack*, fracturing the porcelain.
He glared intently at the direct-report shinobi kneeling in the shadows, his voice warped with shock.
“You are telling me Sara entered Lu Heng’s room and never came out?!” Kujou Takayuki asked in utter disbelief.
“Yes… Your subordinate kept watch in the shadows of the side palace all night.”
The shinobi’s tone carried a strange, indescribable quality, his head bowed extremely low.
“The lights in the side palace were never extinguished until dawn. In the middle of the night, Lord Lu Heng even summoned attendants and ordered premium meals for two. And… and…”
“And what?! Spit it out!” Kujou Takayuki bellowed impatiently.
“And… and…” Cold sweat dripped from the shinobi’s chin.
“During the first half of the night, your subordinate only heard the guards gossiping. They said they heard the General angrily shouting ‘Lecher!’ and ‘Deceiver!’ inside the room, while Lu Heng cried out, ‘I haven’t even held a girl’s hand before!’ The guards were also saying things like ‘a sacred bond’ and ‘ah, youth is so beautiful…'”
“???” Kujou Takayuki was completely dumbfounded by this.
“But when the shifts rotated in the middle of the night, your subordinate heard the next batch of guards whispering that the situation had changed… They said the General had conducted a late-night raid to personally ‘inspect’ whether Lu Heng was innocent, to prevent him from being a libertine wreaking havoc in the Tenshukaku.”
“But before dawn…”
The shinobi closed his eyes, his voice sounding increasingly bewildered.
“The latest rumor your subordinate heard has evolved into—the General was completely won over by Lord Lu Heng’s ‘pure feelings for the Shogun with zero stray thoughts’! Because of their mutual resonance in absolute loyalty to the Ogosho, the two of them bypassed the hand-holding stage entirely and spent the whole night engaged in a ‘pure and passionate collision of youth’ inside the room!”
“Enough!!!”
Kujou Takayuki shook violently with rage, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood.
What in the absolute hell was all this?!
Reason told him this was impossible.
Sara hadn’t even met Lu Heng yesterday.
Furthermore, when she set out, the murderous intent she harbored to “purge the court” for the sake of the Shogun was absolutely genuine!
Could there really be someone in Inazuma who, in just a few short hours and using nothing but his tongue, could win over his cold, iron-willed adoptive daughter?
Forcing her to sit peacefully in a room with him to talk of romance and not even return home?
What a joke!
It would be more believable to say Lu Heng was some thousand-year-old monster who had brainwashed Kujou Sara with magic!
“Get out and keep investigating! I want to know exactly what they said! If you can’t find out, commit seppuku to atone for your failure!”
Kujou Takayuki flipped the desk in front of him in a towering rage.
As the trembling shinobi withdrew in terror, the scheming clan head slowly slumped back into his chair, an extremely sinister light flashing in his cloudy eyes.
Although he would never believe that Kujou Sara would betray the Kujou Clan, his paranoid political instincts told him that this sharpest pawn of the Kujou Clan was slipping from his grasp.
“It seems… I must dispatch Sara to the Yashiori Island front lines as soon as possible. I absolutely cannot let her ruin my grand designs!”
Meanwhile, in the side palace of the Tenshukaku.
*Click.*
Filled with energy, Lu Heng kicked the door shut with his foot.
Looking up, he saw Kujou Sara sitting at the desk.
Her usually razor-sharp, upright posture was now slightly slouched, and her entire being exuded the resentful aura of someone thoroughly drained.
Lu Heng’s jaunty steps came to a sudden halt.
He adjusted his posture, wiped the capitalist grin off his face, and switched to an expression of heartfelt emotion and solemnity, as if they were comrades sharing trials.
He stepped forward quickly, his tone carrying three parts admiration, three parts sympathy, and four parts perfectly measured self-reproach.
“Ah! Lady Sara! How did you… You’ve worked so hard! I never expected that for the Ogosho’s eternal cause, you would actually stay up all night cross-referencing documents without eating or sleeping! In all of Inazuma, who else could match your diligence? Quick, put down your brush. I’ve brought you a premium, nourishing breakfast!”
Hearing his voice, Kujou Sara’s body stiffened slightly.
She slowly lifted her head.
On her usually stern, shrewd, and aloofly beautiful face, there was now a pair of dark circles under her eyes.
Having processed documents at high intensity all night, her gaze was somewhat vacant.
Instead of her usual sharp and oppressive aura as the General of the Tenryou Commission, she looked rather dazed and cute.
“Lady Sara! You’ve worked so hard. I didn’t expect you to stay up all night for the Shogun’s great cause… Such diligence! Please, have some breakfast. I’ve brought some food for you.”
Lu Heng clenched his back teeth, forcing down the grin that threatened to break out, and considerately took the writing brush Sara had been clutching all night.
He then gently pushed the beautiful lacquered wooden food box toward her.
Before the lid was even lifted, the rich, sweet aroma of broth and the warm scent of tea wafted through the cracks, instantly clearing out the smell of paper and ink that had accumulated overnight.
“…Thank you.”
Kujou Sara’s voice was a bit hoarse.
Under Lu Heng’s eager gaze, she stiffly opened the food box.
In an instant, even the Kujou General, who lived an ascetic life year-round, could not help but let a hint of softness flicker in her golden eyes.
The box was neatly divided into several exquisite compartments.
In the center lay a piece of sea salt salmon grilled to perfection.
The slightly charred skin glistened with tempting fats, elegantly garnished with a delicate pink Sakura Bloom petal.
Beside it sat four golden, plump pieces of Broth-Soaked Egg Roll, with crunchy Pickled Lavender Melon and shredded seaweed tucked into the corner.
She held herself to extremely strict standards on ordinary days.
She ate whatever rations the Tenryou Commission soldiers ate.
When had she ever had such a sophisticated—even somewhat decadent, in her eyes—set meal?
But at this moment, her exhausted body voiced its most honest desire.
Kujou Sara quietly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
“Eat first. Get some rest once you’re full. The work will always be there, there’s no rush.”
Lu Heng sat down leisurely to the side and picked up the reports Sara had stayed up all night to draft.
“Tsk, tsk… As expected of the General! Look at this logic, this rigorous information classification! Lady Sara, your talent for administrative affairs is truly a treasure of Inazuma!”
Hearing the trumpet-like praise in her ear, Kujou Sara merely replied indifferently:
“Spare me your sweet talk. You have not cleared your suspicion yet, and I will be keeping an eye on you.”
Although she remained highly vigilant against this man in her heart, she couldn’t deny that…
in the face of the warm broth and exquisite salmon, her attitude toward him had softened slightly.
A moment later, Sara elegantly wiped her mouth.
“Let’s take a quick nap for half an hour, then head to the main hall to see the Ogosho, shall we?” Lu Heng patted the other cloth bag, smiling like a fox that had just stolen a chicken.
Kujou Sara narrowed her golden eyes, staring at the cloth bag.
“What is in that bag? Wait… there is a faint, sweet aroma of rice. Is it pastries?”
“Smart!”
Lu Heng raised an eyebrow.
“This is my secret weapon for the Shogun later.”
Kujou Sara frowned and said solemnly, “Absurd! The Ogosho dwells high above the mortal realm. Why would she care for mundane, worldly sweets?”
“You wouldn’t understand this, Lady Sara,” Lu Heng tossed his head back confidently, speaking with absolute certainty.
“Whether human or god, sweet treats trigger dopamine… ah, I mean, they put you in a good mood. Trust me, the Ogosho absolutely won’t be able to refuse this.”
Half an hour later.
After being gently woken by Lu Heng’s obsequious calls, Kujou Sara—who had finished her meditation on the tatami mat and washed up—fully restored her imposing demeanor as General.
The two walked with steady steps, side by side through the long corridor, though their postures were entirely different.
Lu Heng swaggered ahead, beaming with pride, while Kujou Sara deliberately lagged half a step behind, her hand never leaving her hilt, following him with the guarded posture of someone escorting an extremely dangerous criminal.
For some reason, the Okuzumeshu samurai along the way all looked at them with smiles on their faces.
With this contrasting formation, the two officially crossed the threshold of the Tenshukaku’s heavy, solemn main hall doors.
Inside, the hall was silent and grand.
Just like their last meeting, the ruler of Inazuma—the Raiden Shogun—sat quietly upon the highest throne.
Her perfect back was held straight, her purple garments seeming to flow with the dark light of lightning, her entire being exuding an unearthly elegance and divine majesty.
As if sensing movement at the door, her long, butterfly-wing eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Then, those frost-cold purple eyes, devoid of any human emotion, slowly rose, locking precisely onto the newcomers.
Yet, in the next second, even the deity’s gaze paused for a brief moment.
When she saw the refreshed Lu Heng carrying the pastry bag, and…
Kujou Sara, who bore dark circles under her eyes, looking solemn yet harboring a hint of fatigue.
On the high platform, although no ripple could be seen on the deity’s eternally indifferent countenance.
But in the depths of the Plane of Euthymia, unreachable by mortals, Raiden Ei herself stared at her most capable general standing alongside her newly appointed Sobayonin.
Her gaze lingered for a moment longer on the bag of sweets in Lu Heng’s hand, and she could not help but fall into deep thought.
Then, she slowly tilted her head.