Chained to old wounds

CH128

Morgan

After I gave them an overview of everything the apothecary told me, I sent a guard to go find

Doctor Shang.

I handed the list to Anya, who scanned it carefully. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognized

the names.

“This is a bigger problem than I first thought. Bigger than we could have ever imagined. Some of these people weren’t even on the list of suspects.”

“I imagine that’s because their families are the ones funneling the money and support.”

Maya nodded. “That’s more likely than not. A lot of the king’s harem are noble women. They have their own money. Thrown dowries that are separate from the king’s Treasury.”

Do we have a way to trace that access to the kingdom’s Treasury? Financial records or something?”

“Probably.What do we do?”

“We need a way to expose them. Something they can’t just weasel out of.”

“What if we test the royal children?”

“What?”

“If any of them are not the King’s children, that would be proof they have them in loyal at minimum. We have a lot of grounds to start interrogating them about what other traitorous things they’ve been doing, leveraging it against their families. We could stop the money flow by

force.”

Maya and I exchanged glances. “The test only tells you if the child is of the royal line though.”

“There are other ways to tell lineage. What about the scroll?”

Maya flinched. “I forgot about the scroll….”

What’s the scroll you’re talking about? And why haven’t we talked about it before? It would have cleared up the whole thing with Kai.”

1/4

CH128

“I think that’s why it wasn’t brought up. The king is very merciful. He probabl didn’t want to have to let Ari be exiled.”

Well, if the scroll still existed and we had access to it, I knew for certain that Haruka wasn’t going to be as forgiving as Hayato was being.

“We’ll do it,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “Well test the royal children. Can we do it while they’re gone? Or do we have to wait till they get back?”

“It might be better to do it when they get back, unfortunately, If the king isn’t in on it or doesn’t agree with doing it, he could override it and have it stricken from the official record.”

I didn’t want to chant him doing it out of some misplaced sense of loyalty or love for the kids that weren’t his.

“Good working on these records for their families. I want to at least have most of the money trail together before they get back to make sure that he doesn’t have a chance to have any doubts. I

think it would be the easiest path forward.”

“And what about you?”

I stood and sighed. “I need to go speak to my husband.”

I walked down the hall, figuring out what I was going to say to him. Informing Tsuneo at this point made the most sense. He was the future King, and it was his duty to protect the kingdom. With his father gone on this trip, he was going to have to make a bunch of decisions. He would also be the best person to figure out how best to convince his father that this was the best plan for the kingdom.

I couldn’t help but wonder why everything on this side of the veil was so complicated. Then again, these are the me people who didn’t seem to have any security around Tsuneo’s room before I got here.

I found him in his office looking harried as he poured over documents.

“Tsuneo,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “We need to talk.”

Tsuneo looked up. “What’s wrong? I felt yout

“We’ll get to that. What are you looking at?”

leave the palace. Where’d you go?”

His eyes turned frustrated. “Merchant records.”

“How’s it going?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “What are you looking for?”

2/4

CH128

Tsuneo sighed, his eyes scanning the papers in front of him. “Not good,” he replied, his voice barely a whisper. “I can’t find any other tailors who are capable of making the robes in time.”

“What robes are you looking for?”

“There are ceremonial robes associated with the Convening. They have to be right and the merchants that used to make them are all well… unavailable.”

“We could try reaching out to the neighboring kingdoms or territories,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “They might have tailors who could help us.”

Tsuneo’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Not an option?”

“It’s not that. It’s just not one we would have ever thought of.”

“Well, there’s the easiest answer…”

“Which is?”

“We’ll talk about it.” I reached out, my hand resting gently on his shoulder. “Take a break,” I said, my voice soft. “You’ve been working too hard.”

Tsuneo shook his head. “I can’t. We don’t have much time.”

I smiled, a flicker of amusement playing on my lips. “You’re right,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “But you need to take care of yourself, and I thought you might want something entertaining.”

With that, I gently pushed him away from his desk, guiding him towards a nearby armchair. He sat down, his eyes closing as he leaned back..

I ran my fingers through his hair, my heart filled with a sense of tenderness. He was so tired, so stressed. But I knew he was strong, I knew he could do this.

“Do you have any drawings or paintings of what the robes are meant to look like?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Tsuneo’s eyes opened, his expression one of surprise. “Actually, I do,” he replied, his voice barely a whisper. “There’s a scroll in the royal archives with a few sketches.”

I nodded, my eyes filled with a sense of hope. “Let’s go get it.”

3/4

CH128

We walked slowly through the halls toward where the archives would be, and had a thought. If the archives weren’t completely right, couldn’t we just ask Pyra and Tarofu? They were de there the last time there was a convening, hence the trauma that both of them seemed to have

around it.

He pulled out a small scroll from a pile on a shelf and opened it. The sketches were beautiful, detailed depictions of the robes, showcasing the intricate designs and luxurious fabrics. They were far more regal than the usual robes that everyone wore.

“They’re amazing,” I said, my eyes filled with admiration. “I’m sure we can find someone who can make something like this.”

Tsuneo smiled, his eyes filled with a sense of hope. “I hope so,” he replied, his voice barely a whisper. “For the sake of the kingdom.”

“If all else fails, you can always rehire my family as the royal robemakers.”

He froze, blinked, and looked at me as if the thought had never crossed his mind.

“… You have an incredibly fair point.

I laughed. And took the scroll with me. “I’m charging top dollar, though, so hopefully the coffers can handle it.”

He laughed and we headed back to his office. “It would be just our luck to be too broke at this

point.”