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[concluding chapter 17]
I am going to leave instructions that I not be awakened in the morning. Hiroki found himself stumbling as he walked across the courtyard back to the primary pavilion of the arms master’s mansion. I could sleep for a month.
The guards outside the pavilion had clearly been told to look for him, for two of them came down to meet him as he approached, and then escorted him, one on each side, into the building. “You need not wait to be announced, sir,” one of the guards said. “They are expecting you.”
And probably have been since I left, he thought. Well, if the gods are truly with me it will all be over soon and we can all of us go to bed. He wondered how he was going to explain everything that had happened to Lords Naitō and Matsukata. I’ll wait until we’re on our way home to Kozuke, he decided.
In the audience chamber Hiroki advanced to the centre of the mats and got down on his knees, ignoring the spasm from the injured leg. “My most humble apologies, Lord Miyoshi Takahashi,” he said, touching the mat with his forehead. "I would not have made you wait, were it not important that I investigate the women’s quarters before speaking with you. I thank you for granting me permission to do so.”
Lord Miyoshi had apparently dozed while Hiroki was away, because he snorted briefly and stiffened before saying “Very well,” in a voice with a hint of a croak in it. “I hope you have something useful to show for all of the indulgence you have been granted.”
“I have, my lord. Might I approach?”
Lord Miyoshi nodded, and did the same to the guards standing in the corners of the room behind the dais. Those two men shifted only slightly, appearing to Hiroki not to relax their vigilance in the slightest.
“My Lord Miyoshi,” Hiroki said, settling himself with some difficulty on the mats in front of the dais but just to the arms master’s right, “I am satisfied now that I understand the circumstances surrounding the death of your sister, Lady Miyoshi Tomiko. Further, I am satisfied that I have identified the person who killed her, and the reasons for which the murder was done.
“I would like to begin by apologizing for my clumsiness and inefficiency in dealing with your commission. There were extenuating circumstances” — he paused briefly to look at Hosokawa Katsunata, who stared back at him without expression — “but they do not excuse me.” He lowered his head as a sign of further respect.
“I truly regret that which I must say now,” he said. “I gave you poor advice, my lord, and will never forgive myself for having done so.”
“What poor advice?” Lord Miyoshi snorted again, this time deliberately. “I do not recall ever asking you for advice, much less receiving it.”
“Perhaps I did not do so directly,” Hiroki told him, “but I did urge a course of action upon you, and you took it.”
Hiroki looked around the room and saw mostly confusion on the faces of those in attendance on this interview. With one exception, he noted from the corner of his eye.
“I cannot help but notice,” Hiroki said, “that your secretary is no longer recording my words.”
“Perhaps you aren’t saying anything of real import,” Lord Miyoshi said.
“Or perhaps he doesn’t have to write anything because he knows what I am about to say.” Without changing position Hiroki took a deep breath and pressed down on his diaphragm to deepen his voice.
“My Lord Miyoshi, when you imprisoned your secretary, Kanegawa Akihiro, you correctly identified the murderer of your sister. I did not want this to be true and so I urged you to release him.
“But I am here tonight to formally accuse Kanegawa Akihiro of the murder of Lady Miyoshi Tomiko.”
Next Characters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14
Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17
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