Chapter 6
Deep in a cold jail, Seien exhaled chilly breath. The season was in midwinter, and it was bitterly cold. It was all right with him, but he was worrying about his mother, who was also thrown into jail. She must be in a pretty bad shape.
It was his older brother who came first when he was imprisoned. He was so excited that he kept screaming meaningless words and laughing like a mad man. His mother, the first concubine, came following him, but backed off with a pale face at her son’s insane behavior. She finally realized her son’s crookedness. The jailers pull him out in no time, and after that, no one except people involved came in probably because Ou Ki gave some orders.
… Seien remembered that the first concubine turned to him when she left. Unfortunately Seien was in jail and could not do anything to stop his brother for good. He thought how she could expect that of me now, but did not feel sarcastic. Maybe she knew something was going wrong but could not do anything just like Seien.
Seien stared the red bean bag his father gave him. When he shook it, the red beans inside it made dry sounds. It was said that red beans avert evil..., but Seien could not escape from it.
His father must be terribly disappointed of his son who was so easily taken in.
Thinking about it made him depressed to death.
He repeated what he thought for a million times.
Who brought haphazard concubines together behind the scene without being detected by Seien’s information network, and framed his grandfather as the main culprit of the treason. Who committed the Hyou family.
He thought of Ou Ki’s face, but denied right away. He couldn’t be the one---.
“Do you know who it is? Seien.”
Seien gasped at the voice that rang out suddenly. He looked up disbelievingly to find his father standing with his arms folded on the other side of the bars. He did not sense him approaching not to mention his footsteps, but it felt like all the gloomy darkness was colored by his father’s rule from that moment.
Receiving his father’s glance, Seien turned his back instinctively. He did not even realize he was biting his lips.
He did not care if other people laughing at him. But he did not want his father see him like this. … He was not sure why.
“Why did you come here, father.”
“There is nothing wrong for a parent to come see his child.”
He felt dejected. He completely neglected him until now.
“… It is completely unnatural, father…”
“Is it?”
He was about to say yes, then felt a sense of déjà vu. Seien only remembered his father’s back and profile. Because he was busy, he didn't even see him often. He often went out to somewhere when he felt like it and wasn’t always at the palace.
Yet, he didn't know why, but it didn’t feel unnatural to be stared by his father. Like he was always stared by his father.
‘… It can’t be.’
Even if his son followed after him, he wasn’t a kind who was concerned about his sons. He was not supposed to.
... Seien asked by way of trial.
“… Father, do you know how old I am?”
“No. I am not even interested.”
He gave an immediate answer proudly.
He was this way even for the most basic question as a father and a child. It was just a wishful thinking after all.
“… Then, please go. Please let me keep the last piece of dignity at least. If Director Ou acted, my capital punishment is inevitable. I am prepared for it.”
It had been more than a month since he was thrown in jail. It meant the Ran family had no intention to act. Then, no one else would act, either.
--- Seien was abandoned, and defeated. The emperor raised one eyebrow lightly.
“You are strange. Me being here is the most important thing to you?”
He couldn’t say yes. He did not show that kind of weakness to his father. He didn't want to become a mere child. He wanted them to be an emperor and a prince, not a son.
“Seien, I exile you and the concubine.
The emperor declared. Seien didn't understand what he said. What is it….?
“Don’t be ridiculous! Treason is one of the ten great crimes. Even a prince will be executed without a question. If you make a compromise even once, it will undermine your authority. The aristocrats will take advantage of it far into the future. You are not someone who would do something like that.”
His father being not a parent but an emperor was only thing he longed for.
He did not want a special treatment. He could not endure to be pitied. If his father, who murdered his relatives to become the emperor, reduced the sentence for his son, what would the aristocrats and the bureaucrats think? They might start regarding him becoming weak, underestimating him and taking advantage.
“No. I don’t want it this way.”
Seien grimaced. He didn't want to be a burden for his father this way.
He couldn’t accept it no matter what.
Both the Ran family and the Kou family would keep distance from the imperial court, and the concubines, who lost Seien as the common target, would involve the bureaucrats and devour the imperial palace.
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