Michikatsu had once seen a truly genuine smile on his little sister’s face.
At that time, Rin was still very young.
The five core members of the Tsugikuni clan still lived together in the residence, spending their days without any barriers of hatred.
During those days, his sister was a child who loved to laugh more than anything.
Rin never cared for the stiff rules of noble etiquette.
She much preferred running around the corridors all day, then clinging cutely to Michikatsu and begging to be taken outside the city gates.
Little Rin always muttered strange phrases that adults couldn’t understand.
*Life is something incredibly precious, Big Brother.
So we have to live it happily.*
To Michikatsu, his sister back then was like a little fairy sent into their midst.
Just by standing still and watching her cheerful antics, his chest would fill with warm bursts of joy that calmed his soul.
When they were younger, Michikatsu often puffed out his chest proudly in front of the servants.
Daughters from other clans usually grew up shy, quiet, or appeared dull and awkward when spoken to.
Only Rin Tsugikuni was born intelligent, lively, and bursting with the spirit of life.
She was like a warm lantern that had accidentally fallen from the sky, filling the usually icy and gloomy corners of the Tsugikuni residence with boundless vitality.
However, Michikatsu never knew exactly when all that beauty began to fade.
Rin suddenly stopped laughing like that.
His sister slowly transformed into someone extremely polite, who understood every intricate detail of etiquette, and became exactly like the other noble daughters outside—stiff, obedient, and completely stripped of her soul’s spark.
She was no longer the little fairy who used to tug on his sleeve.
The smile on her face had lost the pure charm of childhood, replaced by a perfect, standard curve of the lips that felt utterly fake. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
When exactly had Rin started wearing this exhausting mask?
“Big Brother, please stop worrying about my affairs.”
Rin’s gentle voice pulled Michikatsu back to the present, yanking his soul out of the shattered memories of the past.
After making sure her brother’s shoulder armor was perfectly secured, Rin stepped back two paces.
She looked straight into Michikatsu’s eyes while maintaining that frozen sweet smile on her face.
“Rather than wasting time thinking about my day, as the head of the family carrying the Tsugikuni clan’s banner, shouldn’t you focus your mind on far more critical matters concerning the territory?”
The head of the family who ruled the entire clan territory…
Ah, that’s right.
Michikatsu now stood at the highest peak of power in this clan—a position that had nearly been taken from him by Yoriichi’s existence.
Yet inside this luxurious armor preparation room, a long-buried memory suddenly resurfaced in Michikatsu’s mind.
The memory of that dark night twelve years ago.
When he stood frozen at the doorway, staring at Yoriichi who had appeared silently under the dim moonlight, while their mother’s corpse lay stiff on the cold tatami near Rin’s feet.
The sharp words Michikatsu wanted to spit out were caught in his throat.
After moistening his dry lips, he could only utter one short sentence in a very low voice.
“It just suddenly crossed my mind…”
Hearing her brother’s vague murmur, Rin’s eyelids twitched faintly for a split second.
The next moment, her beautiful face once again displayed the same smile—gentle, captivating, yet never reaching her eyes.
“This is a decision entirely under your control. As a daughter living under the clan’s leadership, I will obediently accept whatever arrangements you make in the future. You don’t need to ask for my opinion or worry about my feelings.” This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
A perfectly flawless answer—obedient and leaving no room for criticism under feudal rules.
However, for some reason, the corner of Michikatsu’s heart was suddenly struck by an overwhelming sense of disgust upon hearing such clean words come from his own sibling’s lips.
No, it shouldn’t be like this.
These were not the words that should come from the Rin he knew.
His sister should be shouting, or at least showing some trace of refusal on her face.
*Why do you act as if you no longer have a soul…?*
Yet after thousands of inner conflicts swirled in his head, Michikatsu could only let out a long sigh.
He replied softly in a resigned tone.
“I see…”
***
From the high balcony of the stone castle tower, Rin stood motionless, letting the strong wind whip against her kimono.
Her calm eyes watched as Michikatsu rode his warhorse, leading his personal guards out through the outer gate.
This wasn’t the first time Michikatsu had led his troops out of the residence for battle, nor was it the first time Rin stood here to see her brother off.
Everything flowed constantly, repetitively, without the slightest ripple of change.
Therefore, when a person Rin had never imagined would return suddenly appeared in Tsugikuni territory after twelve years of disappearance, she never expected that the moment on the castle tower earlier that day would be the last time she saw Michikatsu leave the city gates as a human.
“Rin, it’s been so long.”
Late that night, after Michikatsu’s army had departed, a haori the color of blazing red fluttered gently in the night wind inside Rin’s quiet room.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni had suddenly appeared there, staring at her with eyes as clear and still as a dead lake.
Moonlight streaming through the gaps in the snow-white wooden window fell across Yoriichi’s broad shoulders, enveloping his silhouette in a layer of magical silver glow.