@shinoki: Sae saw someone and talked to Sayaka (sorry for the confusion
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@cisda: Too many questions, will be answered later
@DC2805: Complexity works
Chapter 4“Father, tell me why you haven’t told me of the crimes.” She commanded.
“The truth is… we cannot expose the truth yet.” He replied as he stroked his thinned-out lightly-colored beard.
“Uncle…”
“He doesn’t know the truth behind the problems we are facing. He has disowned the name but his daughters are still welcomed.” He interrupted.
“Father…”
“Sae, what you saw isn’t true at all. It was an illusion.” He explained. “As for Sayaka, please help her take the merchants back to Tokyo.
Sae hesitantly nodded as she left the king’s presence. Walking over to the Matsuis, she found herself in a weird situation, visiting her uncle at his house. Sayaka followed her out and stood at the gate as she entered the house.
“Uncle.”
“Prince Sae. Is your father still holding you back as a boy?” He asked as she organized his inventory for the week.
“What about Jurina?” Sae quizzed, getting a laugh from him.
“She’ll turn into Rena soon enough but if she feels comfortable in that role, I won’t change her.”
His reply got a smile from Sae as she analyzed the seafood for the townspeople. Sae remembered why her father and uncle fought about succession. When Jurina was born, their mothers developed a weird illness from a long trip to Okinawa. Both blamed each other for the sickness and died a year after. Without their mothers, the kingdom was between two men who were brought in as suitors.
Sae’s father was from another kingdom as Jurina and Rena’s father was from a poor merchant family. Their grandfather had developed a plan to establish the rules but the daughters would become trained as boys. However, Rena was protected because of a loophole in the four hundred year rules. One daughter would be saved if and only if there was more than one daughter based of the king’s ruling.
The decision was delayed for three years when Rena developed the same illness that took down her mother but a spicy elixir saved her life and confirmed her existence as a woman. Jurina was left in training when her grandfather died and thus started the fight. Based on the observations, it favored Sae’s father and it left Matsui to leave the main house. He was angered by the decision but Jurina insisted on training leaving Rena to tend for her father.
“I heard you are leaving them to the merchants from Tokyo.”
He nodded. “I want them leave this wretched area for the riches.”
“I understand.” She said softly. “I want to protect your daughters, let me send you my bodyguard to protect them.”
“Sae… you don’t need to do that. I don’t want to sacrifice a person for their sake.” He fretted.
“I need to do so to save this opportunity.” Sae bowed beyond the ninety degree angle.
He stroked his shaved chin slowly realizing Sae’s plan could potentially ruin his plan to let her daughters escape but to open an opportunity to get at the prince could ruin the king’s plan. He took a moment to consider the decision but hesitantly accept the help of the bodyguard. Sae relayed the message outside and dragged Sayaka over to the house in the forest.
“What is your deal?” Sayaka snarled at the prince.
“We are here to protect our investment. My father wouldn’t care but if I can’t find anyone, it will only put more pressure to find anyone. She is interested in me so I’m taking a chance.” Sae explained.
“Are you out of your mind? Your father will kill me if he finds out.”
“I will go with you because we need to save the kingdom.”
“Your father won’t understand the reasoning but if you feel jealous, you should tell me before going off on a suicide mission.” Sayaka informed her, stopping Sae in her tracks.
She began to breathe a little harder as she saw the house in sight. Sayaka’s words drew a picture of what would happen if she followed through but the image of Tokyo seemed to intrigue her more and paced to the house.
“Hello. Do you want to speak to Yuki?” Mayu answered the door as her partner was in back tying her hair into a ponytail.
“I might as well announce that we will tag along with you guys on your trip to Tokyo.” Sae announced.
“What about Jurina?” Mayu asked with her small bag in hand.
“We cannot allow any more in the group. I am under orders to protect the two courting the Matsuis.” She lied as Sayaka nodded in agreement.
“Mayu let Sae lead us back to Tokyo.” Yukirin cut in as the younger woman relinquished her thoughts.
Sae and Sayaka called the cart over to the town center. Jurina and Rena stood as the merchants were driven out with the prince and her bodyguard. Detective and Koara stood near the station as the cart was leading out to road ahead. She looked at the elder person and flashed a smile to him.
“Four people out of the town. Now we shall continue the investigation.”
“Nishishi, I didn’t quit yet. We shall work around this until I’m come back.” He said with a smirk.
“If there were any problems, you would be back quicker.” She joked as they went their separate ways.
Kanon and Kuumin sat on their porch overlooking the center with juice in their hands. Both smiled at the departure of the merchants but the fear still ran into them about the hooded person. It was a relief to rid of the distraction within the town but the murders were becoming common with the courting of the two sisters.
Sae managed to get onto the dirt road and let the horses charged onto the straight path. Sayaka sat with her back towards Sae as she watched the two merchants glancing at the nature around them. The bodyguard tilted her head up as the mist gently hit the faces of the passengers.
“You guys don’t look like merchants.” She said pointing out the clothing.
“We are starting out on a national tour.” Mayu joked.
“We were promoting Tokyo when we got an offer to leave the city to sell trinkets to the nearby cities.” Yukirin added.
“Trinkets?”
Sae reached into her pocket and handed it over to her bodyguard. She looked at it from different angles and placed it in front of her.
“This is rather cheaply made.”
“This one isn’t. It has a small nugget of gold from America.” Yuki informed the bodyguard as she lifted it up again.
Sayaka saw the yellow piece in the insert and placed it into the pocket as the ride hit a few rocks on the road leading to the turbulence and Sae slowed it down to a trot. Heading into the darkness, Sae pulled up into the nearby inn and parked to the side of it. She grabbed the fodder for the horses and the group walked in realizing the front desk was empty.
“Hello.” Sae called as she knocked the wooden table.
“Gomen.”
“Ah Oshima-san, your father runs this inn?” Sayaka asked as the squirrel-toothed woman’s smile disappeared.
“He passed away a year ago.” She bended forward.
“My condolences.” Sayaka returned the favor. “May we have a room?”
“Sure. Do you like room service?” She inquired as she laid out pictures of three attractive women.
“No thanks.” They said unanimously as Oshima led them to the first room with futons laid out for them.
“Yuko, stay strong and avoid being perverted with the guests.”
The owner laughed as she closed the door to the group. Sae was the first to turn in leaving the three to look at each other with the dim lights creating a romantic hue in the room.
“Why did you guys accept the offer?”
Yukirin pointed to Mayu as she gave her reason and Sayaka curled her lips.
“I guess the legend is true.” She spat to the merchants.
“What legend?”
“The taming of the shrew.” Sayaka pointed out as the two moved in closer.
“What is that?” Yukirin asked.
“Matsui has two daughters and in Shakespeare’s play, “The Taming of the Shrew,” One suitor wanted to date the one daughter but left it up to the suitor to find one for her older daughter to gain his acceptance. Jurina is naïve yet intelligent but Rena is cuter than everyone and is ripe for marriage but…”
“What is it?” Yukirin asked.
“She is cursed with men.” Sayaka stated. “Five suitors, five deaths. All of them slashed.”
“Really? Is that why he wanted a woman?”
Sayaka nodded. “If a woman can survive her, I would say she is the one.”
Yukirin saw the change in Mayu. She knew that fishing Rena in would bring honor to the family but her heart was with a sleeping prince. Yukirin calmly smiled before turning in for the night. Maybe it could work if Mayu could help but with her heart and mind with Jurina, it would be hard for her, Yukirin was now in the bind to win over two people rather than one.
Topic: Shrewd Proposal Chapter 4 5/12/2013 2nd update (Read 3624 times)