Saiunkoku Monogatari Vol 1 - Part 1
There's always a catch to a good deal
Edited by: Ysabet

The temple was well-known for the beautiful sounds of an erhu that could be heard spilling from it at a certain time of the day. It was truly so well-played that many customers would time their visits to nearby restaurants and tea houses to listen to those sounds. But while the townspeople loved the sounds of that instrument, they loved the young lady who played the instrument even more. The only one who didn't know that was the girl herself.

As usual, after the day's lesson had ended, the children pestered Kou Shuurei to play for them. That day, however, instead of a song, the girl played the story of the country Saiunkoku, which was very popular among the children.

Shuurei finished the story as she always did, with the last echoes of the music: " . . . and in that way, the eight enlightened ones vanished. But it's said that they live among the people. So it may be that even now, they are living here among us."

It wasn't until Shuurei smiled and added, "The end," that the children around her, who had been listening intently, let out a long sigh.

"Hey, hey, Shuurei-sensei."

"Hm?"

"Is the Sentoukyuu really still at the palace?"

Shuurei lay the erhu by her side, smiling as she answered. "Yes." She patted the young boy on the head. "It's now called the Sentoushou (Ministry of the Enlightened Ones' Cave) but Seiran says it's still standing in one corner of the imperial palace grounds."

"Have you ever seen it, Shuurei-sensei?" asked a cute, young girl with her hair done up in two buns on her head, her eyes shining brightly as she looked up, with her hands on Shuurei's knees.

Shuurei sighed at that question. "Unfortunately, I haven't. I'd also like to see it, even if it's only once, but it's at the palace. If I could take the National Exams I'd be able to go inside, but only men can take the exam."

"If that's that case, then I'll pass the exam, become a great official, and take you as my wife. That way I can take you to the palace!"

Shuurei smiled at the young boy who'd spoken so confidently. "Really? That would be wonderful. But you'd have to study a lot harder to do that, Ryuushin. You forgot your homework from yesterday, didn't you."

"Ah, that . . ."

The young girl with buns stuck her tongue out at the flustered young boy and clung to Shuurei. "Hmph. It'd be absolutely impossible for you. After all, you never do your homework."

"It'd probably be faster if, rather than becoming an official, you tried out to enter the imperial forces like Seiran and became a military advisor, Ryuushin."

"Ah, you're right. I'm good at fighting. Only fighting."

"But you're really weak when it comes to your Mom or Shuurei-sensei. That's no good, is it?"

"You guys!" The young boy's face turned bright red as he shook his fist. At that moment, there was a knock at the temple's door.

"I'm very sorry. Do you have a moment, my lady?"

Shuurei looked very surprised at the tall figure who entered. "Seiran, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, it's Seiran."

"Seiran, let's play samurai!"

The children quickly crowded around the young man, and Seiran smiled wryly, "Umm, sorry. I'm a bit busy today. Another time."

He rapped a young boy on the head gently when he protested, and faced Shuurei. "My lady, you need to return immediately to the residence. A guest has come."

This time all the children protested.

Shuurei groaned inwardly at the unexpected guest. 'What a thing to do. And here I had a really important "job" scheduled for today. Who's the idiot who came all of a sudden like that?' she thought as she stood. She patted the heads of all the children as they clung on to her hem, lingering wistfully.

"I'm sorry. That's it for today. Don't forget what we covered today, okay? Ryuushin, your homework, too." Shuurei winked at him before heading for the street, accompanied by Seiran. She cocked her head slightly and looked at Seiran curiously. "By the way, Seiran, what're you doing here at this time of day? Isn't today the day you're supposed to be at the imperial court?"

"Yes . . . I am, but I was asked to accompany the guest who's come to the residence . . ."

"You were sent home because of our guest's personal business . . ? What, is it someone of such high standing?"

"Yes, well . . . "

Shuurei started to become suspicious at the ambiguous response. Despite his gentle looks, Seiran was quite the accomplished swordsman. And, despite essentially not having backing from the Kou family--Shuurei's family--he still managed to rise through the ranks with almost unprecedented speed, and had now gained a certain amount of standing as a member of the military. Granted, when seen in terms of the entire court, it wasn't much, but if it was someone who would have influence with Seiran's superiors, then the guest was important to Shuurei.

"I don't know who or why this person is coming to see me, but it's only appropriate to give proper notice for such things, isn't it? Calling all of a sudden like this . . . Thanks to this, my plans have all been ruined. Completely ruined."

Clenching her fist, Shuurei turned and looked up at Seiran. She latched on to him and cried, "What're we going to do, Seira-a-a-n! We're going to be in the red again this month. And here I had a really good job set up, but now it's all gone to waste! I'd really thought we'd be able to buy rice this month, but it's going to be barley again . . . Barley . . ! That lone line that runs down the middle of barley! That line that distinguishes it from rice. It's going to taunt me this month too, saying, 'I'm not rice'. Aaaahh, I can't believe it, I can't believe it! I'm going to resent that guest for the rest of my life!"

"M-my lady, nobody will say such a thing. Barley doesn't talk."

Seiran glanced about, conscious of the various onlookers. Since they were standing in the middle of the road making such a ruckus, it was only natural that the looks of passers-by was rather cold.

"It's all right. I'll take on more side jobs as well. We also need to hurry and fix the roof tiles that were blown away in the typhoon we had recently, otherwise there'll be problems the next time it rains. Buckets aren't that cheap, after all. If you can buy the tiles, I can take care of the repairs, so you'll be up on those costs. I'll also see about getting some replacements for the broken lattices at the palace . . . Hey, please don't cry. I really like your barley meals. They're very nutritious, too."

"Waahhhhh. I'm so sorry, we're always imposing on you so much, Seiran. If only our idiot father was a bit more responsible, things wouldn't be like this."

"Please, don't worry about it."

"We can't even pay you any wages, yet you still stay with us, even though everyone else left. We're probably the only ones having a respectable military officer of the court keep the accounts at a restaurant, writing letters for others or running errands for merchants."

" . . . " Seiran thought that that was probably true.

"You're paid enough that you could easily support yourself, but because you're with us, it's all used up on maintenance costs and the cost of living . . . But please forgive me for not being able to tell you not to worry about us and to find yourself a better household to work for. But--but if you do find a really good job, don't worry about us, okay?"

"My lady," Seiran cut Shuurei off with a wry smile. "You don't have to worry about it. I have no intention of leaving your side until you tell me to leave. I've never thought of it being an imposition in the least. Rather, I'm really happy to finally be able to pay back the debt I owe you."

"Debt . . . "

"Thirteen years ago, you took me into your house without knowing anything about where I came from. I made up my mind to repay that debt for the rest of my life. So there's absolutely no need for you to worry about it."

"Seira-a-an . . . " Shuurei's face fell again. "Ahhh, why are we paid so little?! Even though our social class is so high . . . I hate it---!!"

" . . . " Patting Shuurei on the back, Seiran silently agreed with that comment.

The fact of their status was obvious, since the family name was Kou.

Saiunkoku is divided into eight provinces: Ran (Indigo), Kou (Crimson), Heki (Blue-green), Kou (Yellow), Haku (White), Koku (Black), Sa (Brown), and Shi (Purple). The names of the provinces now remain the same as they were long ago, but around six hundred years earlier, the Emperor at that time had the strange idea of having the powerful, ruling families of each province change their family names. The lord of Ran Province took the family name Ran, the lord of Kou province took the family name Kou, and so on. At the same time, the use of the eight lords' new family names was forbidden to the common people, as bearing the name of one of those eight colours had become an indication of belonging to the high nobility. Since the capital--where the imperial court was located--was in Shi province, and already under the Emperor's care, the Shi family name became (and remains) synonymous with the Imperial family.

During the intervening six hundred years, the governing system changed from the provincial feudal system, with its noble families, to the dispatch system from the central Imperial court. But despite these changes, the seven families--the Shi family now possessing an entirely different level of status, as the Imperial family--were still very strong.

While the road to being a chief advisor--a position previously been held by children of the nobility--was now open to ordinary citizens, and despite some tens of years having passed since officials began to be appointed through the National Exam system, the majority of candidates reaching the final stage of the exam were still from the seven families. When the National Exam system began to be used, the seven families unstintingly used the monies they'd accumulated, and started to promote their people's talents; the natural result was that, one after another, talented individuals came out of the seven families, and so their power increased greatly. Also naturally, as high ranked officials, they were given a considerable amount of money for their salary, and so there was no loss for the seven families.

Kou Shuurei was from one of these families; moreover, she was the princess of the direct line. The Kou family was, along with the Ran family, one of the most distinguished of the seven families. The Emperor's family name, Shi (purple), came from mixing Kou (crimson) and Ran (indigo) together, and so--it was said that at the time of the families' names being changed--the Emperor gave those names to the two most influential families.

'......In truth, her ladyship should be being attended on by many ladies-in-waiting, and living a truly refined lifestyle.'

Any way you look at it, Shuurei shouldn't have been crying over such problems as only being able to eat barley again this month, or being in the red, or wondering what to do because there wasn't any money to replace the roof tiles that were blown away and needed to be replaced, lest the roof leak the next time it rained.

Why was the princess of such a noble-blooded family as the Kous living in such conditions?

It seemed that the eldest child of the Kou household, Shuurei's father Shouka, has always been an affable scholarly type, and so people whispered that he was not suited for being the head of the family. Meanwhile, the next brother in line was almost *too* capable--and so, on his deathbed, Shouka's father decided that it was the younger brother who would be the next head of the family. Since Shouka had long thought that he himself wasn't suited to being the head of the family, he happily accepted this last wish.

However, once the younger brother took over the family, Shouka's position as eldest child became rather awkward. After giving it some thought, it was decided that he, his wife and his child would leave Kou Province. However, since it wouldn't be appropriate to have the eldest child of the Kou family without a home, the Kou family had a residence built in Shi Province, and prepared a position as a high official at the Imperial Court. And thus, Shouka moved to Shi Province--taking Seiran, whom they found collapsed by the roadside during the move into their home--and came to live in the residence he now lives in.

While he did indeed become a high official of the Imperial Court, Shouka's position wasn't particularly important; he was responsible for the care for the treasury (specifically the archives), and many people don't even know that such a position even exists. Because of that, the Department of Finance, which is responsible for the purse strings, would often forget about paying Shouka's salary. Again, since Shouka wasn't the type to complain about that sort of thing, his salary gradually decreased over the years, and it finally resulted in the entire family--Shouka himself, Shuurei, and Seiran--all having to work. Since Shouka was usually squirrelled away, engrossed in the archives, he wasn't of much help, and so it was up to Shuurei and Seiran to earn enough money to support the household.

Seiran, remembering the past, got a far-away look in his eyes.

In the beginning, Shuurei and Seiran were both relatively optimistic. They didn't necessarily want to live in luxury. They figured all they needed to do was earn enough to feed three people. However . . .

They never expected that the costs of maintaining that insanely large residence in livable condition would use over half the earnings. And since the earnings were slowly being decreased, the amount needed to be earned kept increasing. Yet, despite strictly ordering Shouka to make sure that he received his stipulated pay, those words fell on deaf ears. It seemed that once he went to work and locked himself away in the archives, all other thought would vanish from his head.

"My lady . . . My lady always does so much. Doing housework every day, teaching the children at the temple, working almost until sunset . . . No doubt, you were meant to have the day off today. Also, my salary will be going up soon so--"

Shuurei's head snapped up and her face filled with joy. "You mean you're being promoted again? That's wonderful, Seiran! All right, we're going to have a feast tonight."

"Eh? But--"

"It's okay! While we don't have much in the way of ingredients, there are a number of ways to prepare them. This is where I get to show my stuff. Just you watch, you'll be surprised at how much of a feast I'll make."

Seiran laughed softly as he watched Shuurei walk down the street in a very good mood.

He was especially happy at Shuurei's nature and rejoicing, not over his raise, but at his being promoted.

"Advisor Shou of the three chief court advisors!?"

Shuurei was shocked at Seiran's reply when he finally, reluctantly told her who the guest was. She'd almost ended up throwing tea leaves everywhere in surprise as she opened the tea cannister. ---That was close, tea leaves aren't that cheap. However, Seiran's words were that much of a shock for her.

The three chief court advisors. *****

"Wh-why, why would such a person come to visit me?!"

"I don't know"

Seiran too hadn't the slightest idea. He himself, when Advisor Shou told him "I'd like to speak with the Kou house's princess. Please arrange an appointment for me." for an instant, he couldn't understand what the other had just said. For one thing, he didn't connect the word "princess" with Shuurei, and the house Seiran worked for didn't have enough people to have him arrange such an appointment. For one thing, even if one came to visit his princess during the day, she would be out working.

"......You mean that *that* father is currently talking with that person......?"

"......Yes"

"Without offering tea"

"......He couldn't find where the tea set was"

Seiran smiled tiredly and put some sweet bean buns on a plate to accompany the tea.

Plates and chopsticks were strewn all over the kitchen as though a thief had gone through there. However, the tea set itself was neatly left in its place. ......Apparently, he'd tried hard to find the tea set, but that effort didn't bear fruit. It was no use counting on the master's ability regarding household matters.

"......Well, I think I can appreciate that he'd thought to serve tea to a guest at all. Afterall, if you consider how he normally is, it's quite the accomplishment for him.

Shuurei sighed deeply and picked up the tray that now held everything needed for tea.

At that moment, her movements instantly changed. She straightened her back and her walk changed to a gliding step. Seiran as always couldn't help but admire that extremely refined conduct. It wasn't often that one could see such perfect manners even among the ladies-in-waiting of the Imperial Residence.

As a result, Seiran always thought it would be such a waste for time to continue in this manner. Because Shuurei had acquired so much knowledge and been trained so well in etiquette to end her days in town.

When they reached the drawing room, the sound of light laughter could be heard coming from within. Shuurei raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise.

......It seems like they're having a lively conversation even though father supposedly doesn't have the slightest skill at making conversation. I wonder if they have similar interests?

The other possibility was that Shou Taishi was keeping the conversation going. Probably... no, without doubt, it was the latter.

As Shuurei firmed her expression, Seiran entered the room. He knelt, facing the master and the guest, "Lady Shuurei has returned."

"Ah, good," the man who rose with a gentle smile on his face, was this residence's master - Kou Shouka. While being around forty, since he had yet to grow a beard, he looked younger and more like he was in his thirties. "Um... ah... about preparing tea...?"

Seiran couldn't help smiling at the master's hesitant question. "Her ladyship is bringing it. There's also some sweet bean buns that you're so fond of."

Shouka's face brightened at his words.

Seiran almost burst out laughing at the master's open response, but quickly held it back. It would be improper to laugh out loud - right now, Shouka wasn't the only one there.

Managing to regain a serious expression, Seiran slowly opened the door.

Gliding into the room, Shuurei placed the tray she'd been carrying on the table. She then drew back three steps and knelt, "

p19***** p22*****

"--Shuurei-dono, Seiran-dono. ......I apologise for the suddenness, but I have a request for you."

Shuurei and Seiran straightened their backs.

"If you decide to accept -- in gratitude, I intend to pay this much."

Advisor Shou thrust out his wrinkled right hand.

Seiran was surprised at the sudden mention of money. However, Shuurei was different.

"--Five hundred pieces! In gold!"

The look in Shuurei's eyes changed. It was an unbelievable amount. It was enough to feed a family of five comfortably for ten years-- however, it was the right price for repairing, or rather renovating, this insanely large residence, as well as having a bit of every day luxury - in other words, being able to afford rice every day.

"I'll do it!! Whatever it is, just leave it to me!"

Good-bye barley meals. Good-bye race to bring buckets on rainy days. Right now, that was all that was in her head.

"In that case," Advisor Shou didn't ask if she would go back on her word. If she did, it would be a problem.

"For Seiran-dono, you'll temporarily enter the personal guard and will be assigned to the Emperor." It was an impossible leap in position. Seiran questioned what he'd just heard.

Next, Advisor Shou spoke heavily to Shuurei, "---Shuurei-dono, I want you to enter the Imperial Residence and become the Emperor's wife."

Shuurei's face at that instant was something to be seen Seiran later said.