Leaving the clan…
Did she truly have to walk away from this land?
The words that left Yoriichi’s lips struck straight into Rin’s heart.
It felt as if a large window had suddenly been slammed open inside a room that had long suffocated her, forcing her to see a new path toward the future.
Yes, she could also choose to run away from this place, couldn’t she?
She didn’t have to accept the rotten fate her father had drawn for her.
She didn’t have to submit to that political marriage with the disgusting old man.
If that path was wide open, why shouldn’t she leave together?
To repay the debt of being born and raised in the luxury of the Tsugikuni clan, one didn’t have to remain locked inside this castle forever.
She could pack her things, step out into the outside world alongside Yoriichi, and return once they had grown up to repay that debt with real achievements.
That would be far more honorable than letting her body be sold to an old man who already smelled of the grave—an act that would slowly but surely crush whatever remained of her life.
Moreover, if she and Yoriichi left this residence, Michikatsu’s position would automatically return to being the sole heir without interference.
Their eldest brother’s grand dream of becoming the greatest samurai wouldn’t turn to ashes.
Their father wouldn’t have to be torn between his twin sons, and all three of them could chase their own destinies without anyone being sacrificed.
That way, both their father and the three siblings would have the bright future they longed for.
Wouldn’t this be completely faithful to their mother’s final wish?
Rin’s chest thundered violently.
Her heartbeat quickened as the crazy plan took shape in her mind.
She didn’t know what dangers awaited outside, nor did she have any guarantee that life would improve after running away.
But none of that uncertainty mattered anymore.
Compared to crawling onto an old, dying man’s marriage bed, Rin far preferred this wild, daring, and unpredictable future.
Bursting courage pushed Rin to speak immediately.
Staring at Yoriichi’s silhouette as the boy prepared to turn away, she tightened her grip on his hakama.
“In that case, Big Brother Yoriichi… then I’ll also—”
“Rin.”
Almost at the same moment Rin’s unfinished sentence hung in the air, Yoriichi’s footsteps suddenly stopped on the wooden corridor floor.
As if he had just remembered something crucial, the boy turned back to face his sibling.
A very gentle, faint smile appeared on his usually flat, board-like face.
“Big Brother Michikatsu… I’m entrusting him to you.”
Every muscle in Rin’s face froze instantly.
Under Yoriichi’s warm, hopeful gaze, the wave of courage she had painstakingly gathered suddenly collapsed, receding as fast as a retreating tide.
She answered in a hoarse voice that sounded foreign even to her own ears.
“Yes… don’t worry, Big Brother Yoriichi.”
“Rin, you too… take care of yourself.”
Rin stood frozen in place.
It turned out that even Yoriichi, who had chosen to embrace his own freedom that night, still wanted her to remain trapped inside the Tsugikuni clan to watch over their eldest brother.
*You are a daughter of the Tsugikuni clan…*
Their mother’s final words echoed powerfully in her head, spinning like a mantra that locked her legs in place.
Watching Yoriichi’s back slowly melt into the darkness of the night at the end of the corridor, Rin’s knees suddenly lost all strength.
Her small body collapsed, sitting weakly on the cold wooden floor.
The stiff smile still lingered on her face while tears streamed down her cheeks in complete silence.
***
On the same night their mother drew her last breath, Yoriichi also left the Tsugikuni clan residence forever.
The boy took no valuable possessions and caused no disturbance that might wake the servants.
He simply slung a small cloth bag over his shoulder and walked quietly through the thick night mist.
In a single night, their father lost both his wife to death and his second son who had run away from home.
The successive blows of fate seemed to slap the man back to his senses.
Amid deep grief, he immediately dispatched a group of mounted soldiers to the remote temple, hoping to bring Yoriichi back.
The action was no longer driven by political ambition to secure an heir, nor was it mere regret from a father who wanted to embrace his own flesh and blood again.
But regret always came too late.
Yoriichi never set foot in that temple.
Just as he had told Rin, the boy chose his own path through the vast outside world.
Upon hearing the news of Yoriichi’s disappearance, Michikatsu secretly let out a long, deep sigh of relief in his room.
It turned out that on the night of their mother’s death, Yoriichi had visited Michikatsu’s room to say goodbye.
After his brother left, Michikatsu went to their late mother’s room and found a diary neatly hidden behind folded cloth.
Through the notes on those worn pages, a horrifying truth was revealed.
Yoriichi, with his strange eyes that could see through flesh, had known about their mother’s illness for several years.
The boy had even accurately predicted exactly when she would take her final breath.
Yoriichi’s habit since childhood of always staying close to their mother’s left side wasn’t because he was spoiled—it was to support half of her body, which had become completely paralyzed from the cruel disease.
Learning this truth made Michikatsu’s body tremble violently.
Deep envy and hatred burned in his chest with far more terrifying intensity than before.
Why did that monster always get everything—even god-like abilities that surpassed human reason?
Beneath that anger, a faint trace of guilt also hid in the corner of his heart: regret for having hated a brother whose heart was pure and innocent. This chapter was copied from novelping(.)com without permission.
Meanwhile, Rin could only suffer from overwhelming confusion in her own room.
She couldn’t understand why, if Yoriichi had known about their mother’s illness for years, the boy had chosen to stay silent and never share that information with them.
Rin would never understand what truly went on inside the genius Yoriichi’s mind, and perhaps she would never get the chance in her lifetime to ask her brother directly.
Time flowed swiftly, unstoppable by human hands.
In the blink of an eye, twelve years had passed since that dark night when their mother died and Yoriichi disappeared without a trace.
During those twelve years, great waves of change repeatedly struck the internal structure of the Tsugikuni clan.
The first major event was their father’s death.
After Akane’s passing, the powerful man who had spent half his life arguing suddenly fell ill.
He locked himself in his room, tormented by deep depression until his body wasted away and he died several years later.
Even in his final moments as his breath was about to stop, the old man’s lips still murmured Yoriichi’s name full of regret.
Unfortunately, the second son he longed for never showed his face, not even after the soil on their father’s grave had dried.
The man died carrying absolute regret that lingered in the minds of everyone in the residence.
The second event involved their eldest brother, Michikatsu.
After their father’s funeral rites were completed, Michikatsu finally fulfilled his greatest childhood ambition.
He officially ascended as the new head of the family, transforming into a formidable samurai who led the clan’s forces with an iron fist.
Not long after, Michikatsu also entered a political marriage with a noble daughter from a neighboring clan and was blessed with a son as his blood heir.
A great achievement celebrated with grand festivities throughout the clan’s territory.
Finally, fate also brought a strange stroke of luck to Rin’s life.
Exactly one year after their father’s death, before Rin was considered old enough to be sent into the political marriage bed, the old daimyo from the neighboring clan—her intended husband—was suddenly found dead in a pitiful manner one night on the bed of a brothel.
With the prospective groom’s death, the alliance agreement was automatically nullified.
Rin was completely freed from the terrifying fate of becoming the wife of an old man more suited to be her grandfather.
“Rin, why is your face so stiff? Why aren’t you smiling?”
Michikatsu’s deep voice broke the silence in the preparation room, shattering the long reverie that had held Rin’s thoughts captive.
Rin, who was kneeling behind her brother’s back and tightening the shoulder guard straps on the heavy armor, stopped her fingers.
“Big Brother, you’re joking. Haven’t I been smiling the whole time?”
Rin finished tying the silk knot with a firm tug, then stood up.
She walked around her brother’s burly body, stepped forward until they faced each other, and flashed a bright, sweet smile right in front of Michikatsu’s face.
Looking at his younger sister, who had now grown into an adult, Michikatsu paused for a moment.
In his eyes, Rin’s smile looked so captivating, pure, and radiant with flawless innocence that could calm anyone’s heart.
However, Michikatsu never realized one thing.
Something hidden behind his sister’s eyes.
That beautiful smile was nothing more than a false mask that had never once touched the depths of her heart.