Chapter 18 - Clues

Woohoo! Finally updated this story! Hope you all enjoy! ^^

It's been a while since I put up a traditional picture of Izumi chan so here she is! :3 WHo could imagine such a sweet looking girl could be totally badass, right? >:3

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Izumi pov:

"You're the what?!" Everyone in the hall, including Kanzaki san, Mira san and Haruko, asked in unison. Not only was I receiving shocked states but I was also ruthlessly bombarded with questions.

"How can that be?! You're the Blood Emperor's Empress now?!" Haruko hollered first.

"Oh dear, of all the possible men to marry!" Mira san exclaimed.

"How come none of us heard about this?"

"Good question! Why didn't you send us a letter to tell us about this, Izumi?!"

"Exactly! Do you know how worried we all were when you were taken away by Soutarou sama?" Kanzaki san scolded. "And after more than several months of losing contact with you, you show up with this kind of news? And who are these two with you?!"

Sighing deeply, I put down my chopsticks and swallowed whatever I had in my mouth. "Is it really not possible for me to enjoy Mira san's food without you all throwing so many questions at me?? And to answer your last question, Kanzaki san, this is Haji san - one of the Captain's in the Imperial Army and this is Prince Shichiro, The Blood Emperor's youngest brother."

I looked at everyone, amused at the different looks I was receiving - surprise, worry and anger. Everyone had fallen silent as if something seemed to suddenly dawn upon them. Many of them paled while others took a step back in submissiveness. I raised a brow wondering why they were suddenly acting this way but my question was soon answered when Haruko spoke up in a rather trembling voice.

"A Captain, a Prince and the Empress....am I the only one who just realized the gravity of the situation in this room? That we're in the presence of the highest level of royalty that governs the whole country?"

The atmosphere in the room got thick and tense and it was only seconds before everyone dropped to their knees and bent forward with their foreheads touching the floor in the most respectable bow possible. I was mildly startled by what they were doing and I stood up. I glanced at Prince Shichiro who seemed just a bit uncomfortable as well, but I don't think it was because of the respect he was receiving. I'm sure that's how he was always greeted by commoners but this was the first time he was in such close proximity to them. Haji san was watching everyone amused as he stood next to me, perhaps even with a hint of smugness as well, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Forgive us for being rude, Your Highnesses. We wish that you will see past our uncouth behavior and allow us to serve you as best as we can during your stay here." Kanzaki san said. Everyone had their face down but I noticed Haruko glance up at me showing slight disappointment - as if he had been shunned away by his best friend.

"O-oi, what are you guys doing? Why are you on your knees and what's with all the formal speaking? Stop acting weird and get up." I said with an awkward chuckle.

"What'd I tell you, Sweetheart? The minute they know that you've become the Empress, they're going to put up a barrier and treat you like they're not related to you in any way." Haji san said with a laugh. "And you were so confident that they wouldn't treat you any differently."

I elbowed him in the side, earning a satisfying grunt of pain in response, before walking to Kanzaki san and getting down on my knees next to him. I placed my hand on his shoulders and forced him sit up straight. He did sit up but he still had his head down and his back hunched in a submissive gesture. He didn't meet my eyes either and it made me feel like I had lost my place in this family that had welcomed me when I had nowhere to go in this world. I exhaled deeply before standing up and addressing everyone together.

"Please stand up, you guys. You're my family and I don't like to see you act this way with me. Besides, I'm the Empress only in name." I said and few of them lifted their heads to look at me curiously. "I'm sure you all can guess how absolutely chaotic life at the palace is....with all the mayhem in politics and government and fight for power. I'm more so the Blood Emperor's personal bodyguard and I'm responsible for saving his butt when he's in trouble. All said and done, I want you all to treat me as the same Izumi you took in when I first came to Sei'an."

When I was done speaking, the room was in pin drop silence. Thankfully, the air wasn't as tense anymore.

"You do realise you just said you are responsible for 'saving the Blood Emperor's butt', right?" Haruko pointed, desperately trying to hold back chuckles.

I smirked and nodded. "That's exactly what I said and that's exactly what I do."

My comment seemed to lighten the mood and everyone laughed before standing up. They were still a little hesitant to be completely casual though and kept glancing at Haji san and Prince Shichiro uncomfortably every now and then. Mira san though seemed to be the only person who could understand and take control of the situation well.

"Your Highness, Prince Shichiro, it is an honor for us to be in your presence. We apologize if we were in any way rude to you and we hope that you will have a pleasant stay here." She said and gave a bow to him.

"A-ah! Thank you, Mira san. I will be in your care." Prince Shichiro responded in slight fluster. He was blushing and I could tell that he quite liked the unexpected closeness he was being treated with.

"Haji san, I hope that you will find your visit here pleasant as well. If there is anything at all that you require, please feel free to ask any of us and we will do our best to cater to it."

"Thank you for the hospitality, ma'am. I really appreciate it." Haji san responded honestly.

"And Izumi dear, as much as I do feel I should be more respectful to you now that you are the Empress of Nihon, I am going to do what will make you feel comfortable here." She said gently while finally turning to look me.

"Thanks, Mira san." I said with a smile, now glad that everyone was back to normal. Well, almost anyway.

"And by the way, Izumi, I hope the Blood Emperor at least looks good." Haruko teased. "I'd love to tease you if it's anything otherwise."

"Of course he's good looking. Possible even more than you." I returned his teasing with a smirk. "You didn't think I'd marry an Emperor who's overweight and balding, did you?"

Haruko gave me a look of horror for the comments I made about the Emperor possibly being more handsome than him. Not to be rude, but Ryuusei sama was more handsome in both looks and personality - I would say it was also because of his sternness and domineering aura - but no one needed to know that. Haruko soon laughed along with the others in the room and gave me one of his around-the-shoulder friendly hugs.

"Alright then! Why don't you finish up with your food and take a bath in the hot springs, Izumi?" Mira san suggested. "You look like you could use some time for yourself."

I nodded, happy that she had suggested just what I had been thinking of doing all this time. I sat down and finished up with my meal and headed to the bath house, but not before sparing Haji san a painful punch in the gut when he suggested how lovely it would be if he could bathe with me. Since it was late in the evening, I had the whole bathhouse for myself and Mira san told me that I could soak for as long as I wanted to. Although, I realized that getting into the hot spring wasn't exactly the best idea at the moment because my injury was yet to heal. Getting an open and rather deep wound wet could cause me some unnecessary problems.

I had sufficed with a quick sponge bath - mostly dabbing myself clean with a wet cloth - and washed my hair before getting into a fresh pair of clothes. When Haji san and I were refreshed, we headed back to the common room for some serious discussion.

"Okay, we're all here now so tell us what you want to do, Sweetheart." Haji san said.

I noticed Haruko glare at him because of the nickname he called me. Haji san, being the bratty child he was on the inside, only made Haruko angrier by smirking back. I ignored it since they didn't launch themselves at each other and spoke up.

"There are some people I want to talk to and information I want to get my hands on. I'll be heading into the market for a bit now and I want you and Prince Shichiro to stay here in the dormitory." I said while looking at Haji san. "I don't want to drag Prince Shichiro into anything dangerous and, not to sound rude in any way, I'll be much more efficient without extra people tagging along on this mission."

"Woah woah woah, hold your horses there, Sweetheart." Haji san responded immediately while holding up both hands. "You want to go by yourself? At this hour? It's late evening and it's getting dark so it's not the best time to be snooping around. And do I need to remind you that you were let out of the palace on the condition that I would be with you at all times to protect you?"

"I think you and the Blood Emperor are well aware that I can take care of myself by myself." I pointed.

"Izumi has a point. She did say that she's the one protecting the Blood Emperor." Haruko added.

"Not to burst your fantasy bubble there but you can't take care of yourself, Sweetheart. Have you forgotten what happened just recently?" He asked. "There's no way I'm letting you go by yourself."

"I can take care of myself, I'll have you know, and that's the reason why the Blood Emperor appointed me as his 'personal guard'. If I didn't have to protect the consorts that day, I wouldn't have had the slightest slip up." I said curtly.

"Oh, and you assume I'm going to believe that there will not be another such situation and you won't end up having another 'slip up'? I'm not taking any chances. Especially since I...." He pursed his lips before he could continue what he wanted to say. He inhaled deeply before ruffling his hair and meeting my gaze sternly. "Anyway, I'm not letting you go by yourself and that's final."

I ignored his almost accidental confession mid sentence and huffed annoyed. "Haji san, I don't need your protection! I can handle this by myself and...."

"What are you saying, Captain Haji? What happened to Izumi?" Kanzaki san interrupted with a deep frown.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Kanzaki san. There was just a small fight in the palace and I took care of it." I said while giving Haji san a look so he wouldn't tattle about what really happened.

"A fight in the palace? Was it an attempt to harm the Blood Emperor?" Haruko asked this time, catching on quickly as always. "And why is Captain Haji saying it like something really bad happened?"

"That's because Sweetheart got her butt handed to her by the assassin who broke into the palace. And if it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have got away with just two days of being unconscious."

"What?! Izumi! Why didn't you tell us this? What happened?? Are you alright?!" Mira san asked worried.

"I'm absolutely fine! Haji san, I told you clearly before not to mention this in front of anyone!" I scolded. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this?!"

"Of course he has to tell us about this, Izumi! We are your family!" Kanzaki san scolded in return.

I didn't want this to become a big deal so I decided to deal with it the hard way.

"Look, what happened in the palace was because I was dressed like the Empress and because of all the political tension going around in the Royal Family. Nobody in the Capital knows my identity or what happened in the palace and I'm not planning on doing anything dangerous now. So I can go by myself. Besides I doubt there will be people here strong enough to fight me." I muttered and held up my hand before anyone else could interrupt again. "This is also a test to the Blood Emperor - for me to see if he trusts me as much as he said he does. You will stay here and protect Prince Shichiro, Haji san, while Haruko and I will go to the market. And I am not entertaining any objections."

Haji san knew the full meaning behind my words - Ryuusei sama had told him about our little agreement. Being the one person sent to protect me while outside the palace, so to say, Haji san knew that Ryuusei sama wanted me to be his real Empress, that he was in love with me and I in him, but I was yet to trust him completely because of particular recent events. I could tell very clearly that Haji san was mildly disappointed about it - confirming my doubts that he had developed feelings for me during the time I was in the Elite Guard's barracks - but did a good job of not showing it by continuing to call me Sweetheart and being a good close friend. So more than anyone else here, he understood just how crucial this solo mission of mine was.

"I understand, Izumi. If you want to go by yourself, I'll let you. But I'm still concerned - you are yet to recover from your injuries and you won't be able to fight if someone tries to harm you in any way." Haji san said and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't underestimate me, Haji san. I can still fight well enough to buy some time for an escape, if not completely knock a bunch of idiots to the ground. Besides, Haruko will be with me and he's a really good fighter too."

"As much as I want to believe that, this wimp doesn't give me much confidence." He said while eyeing Haruko.

"What was that, old man?!" Haruko reacted instantly and I put a hand on his chest to stop him from walking up to Haji san to beat the crap out of him.

"No fighting in this matter, Haji san, Haruko. I know Haruko and just how good his fighting skills are. I trust him and that's all that matters. Now since this is decided, let's head out." I said curtly.

"Right now? Where do you want to go? It's already night and nothing in the market is going to be open." Haruko said.

"I haven't forgotten the timings of the shops in the marketplace and the person I need information from is definitely going to be there. Now c'mon." I said, making sure I made it clear that I wasn't going to entertain any more questions.

Everyone was reluctant to send me and Haruko out at this time of the night, especially since they were yet to know just how badly I was injured and also because I hadn't given them enough details on who I was planning to meet. Me being the Empress was shock enough and I'm sure they didn't want anything to happen to me - as family and as someone who the Blood Emperor had high regard for. They didn't know about our mutual feelings though and I decided to spare that shocking news for later.

Finally, after words of caution and care, Mira san and Kanzaki san allowed Haruko and I to leave for my solo mission.

Haruko followed me to the market place where we usually bought food and other supplies for the dormitory and particularly to the shop where I had got some Intel on an interesting person named Lily san. When we made it to the shop, the woman behind the counter who was just about to close perked up. She gave me a beaming smile, her plump cheeks flushing slightly red, and bowed.

"Hello dear! You're just in time for shopping! What can I get for you this evening?" She asked cheerfully and I returned her smile.

"Actually, I'm not here to buy anything, ma'am. I wanted to ask you for a favor." I said and she tilted her head to the side curiously.

"A favor? What can I help you with?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me where Lily san lives." I said and she got a little guarded.

"Lily san? Who's that?" Haruko asked from beside me but I just motioned for him to ask me questions later.

"Hmm....now that I think about it, I recognise you. You're that girl my father kept speaking strange things about....just like he does about Lily san. Why do you want to meet her? Who are you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

I held my hands up in defence, pretending to be casual about this. "I'm just a regular resident of Sei'an, ma'am. I just want to meet Lily san because I've been curious - you know, why your father said the two of us were strange. It's alright if you don't want me to meet her though."

The lady was gullible enough to think that I had no hidden motives to meeting Lily san so she relaxed and shook her head with a smile. "I'm sorry, dear, but things haven't been very peaceful for us ever since one of the Princes arrived at the palace. We've had a lot of shady people going around. And causing trouble....I almost thought that you were one of them. How silly of me to think that such a sweet looking young lady would be like them."

"Shady people have turned up since a Prince came to the Capital?" I asked curiously. So it wasn't just in the palace that things had got tense - Prince Taheji was most likely executing secret plans in the Capital too.

"That's right....things have been falling out of order for us common folk. We're being forceful subdued and threatened so as to stop supporting the Blood Emperor. I can't quite put my finger on it but I think that something terrible is going to happen soon. I just hope we are spared from any bloodshed that might happen in the Royal Family." She said sounding quite anxious.

I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes a bit. What was Prince Taheji plotting now? He had hired an assassin to try and kill me, the Empress, to weaken Ryuusei sama's political and personal stability - well, that's what Ryuusei sama said anyway - and now he was secretly trying to take over Sei'an, not starting from the palace, but from the civilians. He was smart, I have to say, but I doubt it was good enough to actually make overthrowing the Blood Emperor a piece of cake. Neither of us would go down without a fight and as much as I was in the process of testing Ryuusei sama's trust and genuine feelings for me, I knew that I would do whatever it took to protect him and his place on the throne.

I was yet to know about his past but I was sure it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience - it's easy to guess because of the people he is surrounded by now. Nonetheless, I was hoping that he would tell me sometime soon. I wanted to know more about him and sharing his past would also show that I was trusted, right?

"Anyway," The lady continued. "Lily san's house is just down this road. Take a right on the second crossroad and you'll see her house on the left. It's the only house on that street with a lovely garden."

Thanking the lady with a bow, Haruko and I headed down the road she had pointed to. When we reached the corner of the second crossroad, we spotted the house with a garden in front of it and I came to a stop. I took a deep breath while staring at the house for a moment, even clutching my waist pouch in which I had brought along some secret things I thought might be useful, and then looked at Haruko.

"Haruko, I want you to stay here while I go and talk to Lily san." I told him.

"You want to go by yourself? I don't think that's a good idea, Izumi. It's better if I go with you." He insisted but I shook my head.

"No. This is something I have to do alone. Don't worry, I'll be fine." I said and walked away from him without waiting for a response.

When I reached the front door of her house, I took a deep breath before knocking. No one answered for several moments and I assumed that Lily san wasn't home. Cursing under my breath for not being able to get the lead I wanted right now, I turned to leave. However, I heard the click of the door lock and it was opened to reveal a lean middle aged woman with brown hair tied up in a bun and curious brown eyes. She watched me warily for a moment, not opening the door more than necessary.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a silky voice.

"Are you Lily san?" I asked first while turning to face her, wanting to make sure I had come to the right house.

"Yes. Did you need something from me?" She coaxed again.

"Actually, um, I wanted to talk you about something. In private. Would you be willing to let me into your house?"

She frowned slightly, her wariness increasing. "Talk to me in private? Can I know what for?"

I sighed, realizing that this wasn't going to be easy. She probably saw me as a shady person and, well, I couldn't really blame her for that. It was night and someone had come looking for her specifically to talk to her about something privately. Anyone would feel the need to be guarded in such a situation.

"Lily san, I'm not here to hurt you or interrogate you. I know you're seeing me as someone suspicious but I'm just in desperate need of some information." I explained. "Well, you'll be able to help me only if you can recognize this."

I was silent for a moment, darting my eyes around and using my instinct to make sure there want anyone spying on us, before reaching into the pouch at my waist and pulling out my cellphone. I held it out for Lily san to see for less than ten seconds but it was more than enough time for her to recognize it and give me an expression that confirmed it. Her eyes went wide and she paled. When she met my eyes this time, she looked frightened.

"P-Please....just leave me be. I am finally living a life of peace and I don't want any trouble. Please just tell me what I have to do so I will be left alone." She said, her eyes watering and her whole body beginning to tremble.

"Lily san, I already told you, I'm just here for some information. Can I come in so we can talk without getting any unnecessary attention?" I coaxed. She hesitated but nodded and opened the door a little more to let me in.

When we were indoors, I looked around her house and nodded with a light smile. "Your house is cosy, Lily san."

"What is the information you need?" She asked curtly, ignoring my compliment.

"My my, aren't you impatient? You're not even going to ask me my name?" I teased, trying to lighten the mood....in vain.

"I don't care who you are. The sooner you get the information you want, the sooner you'll leave me alone."

I took a moment to think and organize the questions I wanted to ask her. I inhaled deeply and cleared my throat before walking to a small table in the living room of the house to run my fingers of the coarse wooden surface. The air was tense - Lily san was edging for me to say something.

"Lily san....you are from a world that is six hundred years in the future, are you not?" I questioned first.

She didn't answer and her silence was more than enough of an answer. Nodding slowly, I turned to look at her in the eye, now serious and determined to get more answers.

"I am from the future as well - I'm sure you figured that out when I showed you my cell phone. I want to know how you came here, to this world. And when."

Lily san took a deep breath before answering. "I came here several years ago....I actually turned up on Yokobu Shore first, after which I joined up with a traveling Caravan and came to Sei'an. I've lived here ever since."

"Yokobu Shore?" I asked more to myself while narrowing my eyes. "You turned up on Yokobu Shore too? Just like me and....and everything else that I've read about in those books...."

"Everything else? What do you mean? Who....who are you?"

"I'm someone who turned up here unexpectedly, just like you." I answered flatly.

"Then....you're not here to demand money or take me back?"

I raised a brow at her question. Why did she think I was here to take money from her or take her back to the modern world? Well, I wouldn't mind helping her if she wanted to return but I found it silly of her to assume things just like that.

"Now why would you think of something like that?" I mused.

"O-oh....I'm sorry. It's just that...." She trailed off while looking down with distant eyes. "Things haven't been very pleasant for me back home. I was happily married, you know? Nanjiro and I loved each other very much but he changed after our marriage. He would come home every night drunk and he would beat me black and blue. He got into gambling and took loans we couldn't repay. When things got out of hand, he ran away leaving me behind to repay the debts. I had nowhere to run or hide from those men who came everyday to demand their money from me. They even forced me to leave my house....I saw no future for myself so I jumped into the ocean to end my life. But I was washed onto the shore here, in this time, and I got a second chance at life. I thought you were one of the loan sharks who found out what happened to me and came here to take me back. I don't ever want to go back."

"I was expecting a simple one lined answer, not your life history." I said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm not a loan shark and I'm not here to take you back with me. I just need information so I can find a way to get back."

Lily san finally laughed softly, her face reflecting a gentleness that wasn't there before. She was beautiful, I suppose, and her aura was warm. The wrinkles of stress on her face made he look a little weary but anyone could tell from the way she carried herself and the sparkle in her eyes that she was living quite a contented life. She shook her head, still smiling amused, and offered me a seat and some warm tea while we continued our discussion.

"Are you planning to go to Yokobu Shore, dear? You mentioned reading about it earlier." She said while I shipped my hot tea.

"Yeah. I've heard and read a lot of things about that place. I have a feeling that it will give me quite a head's up."

"I don't think going there is a good idea. It's not safe." She said, her voice softening at the end.

"Not safe? What do you mean?" I pressed, narrowing my eyes.

"Well...." She started before inhaling deeply, nervously. "There's some kind of....facility there - a building that's heavily guarded and where I believe most objects and people who unexpectedly appear on Yokobu Shore are taken. I barely managed to escape from that dreadful place after being there for heaven knows how long."

"A heavily guarded building, huh?" I mumbled more to myself. It was probably the multi fortified building I had seen in the map in the Restricted Section of the Imperial Library. I thought it looked shady and I was right.

"What do they do there? Did you happen to meet any other person from the modern era there?" I asked.

"I'm not entirely sure what they do there because I wasn't around long enough to fit d out the details. But whatever they do is very unpleasant - the few other people who were locked up there with me were taken away several times and returned absolutely broken. They couldn't speak, walk or even focus their eyes after what I would assume to be a session of torture. Seeing them terrified me and, with my heart in my mouth, I somehow escaped from there. It was definitely a miracle and I still wonder how I managed such a feat." She answered with a shudder. "And that man....that terrible man with those frightening golden brown eyes - he was there and he was giving out orders that all of us were to be thoroughly interrogated and it didn't matter of we lost our lives in the process."

My lips twitched and I broke out into a smirk. This was getting more and more interesting. I was almost certain that the man Lily san had described was Prince Taheji - after all, he too has golden brown or what I could call hazel eyes. He was poking his nose in more than one matter, it would seem. I suppose anyone would be curious to know about the objects and people who randomly turned up on Yokobu Shore but what exactly was going on in the so called facility there? What information were they trying to get from the poeple of the modern era? How much information had they been able get till now? And finally, what did they want to achieve after getting all that information?

This was something I definitely needed to look into.

"Hey, Lily san? Do you know anyone else like us? Perhaps someone in the Capital that I can talk to and get more information from?" I asked her.

"I'm afraid I don't. This isn't exactly something I can talk about freely with anyone - heaven knows what would happen to me if anyone of this time period finds out that I'm not from around here." She said uncomfortably.

"That's true....anyway, thanks for all the information, Lily san. I'll take my leave now. I'm sorry I disturbed you." I said and walked towards the door.

"Wait!" She called out, making me stop just before I could open the door. When I looked at her, she narrowed her eyes just a bit. "Despite all that we spoke about, I still can't come to trust you completely. Who exactly are you?"

I snorted and broke into laughter. What she said was absolutely funny to me but my laughter only seemed to make her more anxious. I shook my head and put a hand on my hip before deciding to give the poor woman just a little more details about myself and spare her from any worries of getting hurt in any way.

"I'm just your average Barista working at a small cafe. Well, it's more of a part time job actually - something that I do when I have some free time. My name is Izumi." I said and she nodded slowly. She believed me now - after all, there weren't and couldn't be cafes or Baristas in this time.

"Izumi?" She said softly. "I feel like I've heard that name before....just recently, in fact. And I'm pretty sure it was for something important."

I raised a brow. Don't tell me even the civilians knew about a commoner named Izumi becoming the Empress. Then again, it's not all that surprising considering the fact that Ryuusei sama wanted the news to travel far and wide and all the way to Prince Taheji. After all, the more people who knew about this, the more advantageous it was for Prince Taheji if he succeeded in doing some damage.

"I'm sure it isn't anything important. If it was, you'd definitely remember, right?" I said and turned before she could think about it anymore.

"I suppose so..." She said, though still seemed to be trying to remember where she had heard my name.

"Thanks again for all the help. See you around." I said and with that, walked out of her house. It took me just a few moments to meet back with Haruko. He looked worried but sighed in relief when he saw me.

"Thank goodness you're alright! You were taking so long that I thought something happened to you. Besides, we're being watched and I was worried that someone was tailing us to attack you." He whispered while looking up at the rooftops with narrow eyes.

"We are being watched." I responded and frowned at the dark and almost invisible silhouette I saw on the roof of the building on our right. "Let's get out into the open and figure out how to lure them out of hiding."

"Lure them out? You want to fight them?" Haruko asked as we began to walk out of the alley.

"I want to know who's following us and whose side they're on."

"I don't really get what you're saying." He responded flatly.

"It's a long story - I'll tell it to you some other time. For now, let's do what we always did best, shall we?" I asked with a grin and earned an excited smirk in return.

"Count me in. It's been a long time since I've done anything as fun as the stuff we used to do when you lived with us. Let kick some butt!"

I shook my head with an amused smile and looked ahead, my mind formulating the next step on my plan. It was time to step out of the shadows and get things done face to face. And the big point of investigation in mind was Yokobu Shore.

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Well well well! It seems Prince Taheji is causing our Blood Emperor some trouble. He's not being direct anymore and is trying to start a coup without anyone in the palace finding out. But even the slightest detail wont slip away unnoticed by Izumi, will it? And now she's ready to defend the man she loves.

With more clues on Yokobu Shore too, Izumi seems to be coming up with a plan. What will she do now? And what will Ryuusei do about Prince Taheji?? <ore exciting stuff in the next chapter so stay tuned!!!

Hope this chapter was worth the wait!

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