He was still convinced that there was something off about Tsujihara Seiko—something that Lord Ozuru seemed to know, but wasn’t willing on outright admitting to. Tsujihara had the same kind of screwed-up air around her as the royal family did, except she must be partially aware of it because she always looked terrified when Sonoru found her alone.
About a year and two months after the first attack, Sonoru had the rude awakening of swords clashing in the middle of the night. He got out of bed and got dressed fairly calmly, picking up a sword on his way out of the bedroom for Prince Kyuru’s guards. As per his duty and given orders, he stayed near the prince’s door the whole time. He could hear the poor kid whimpering on the other side of the door as signs of attack were more obvious.
The rebel forces—the people who believed the royal family had lost the favor of the gods, and thus wanted to kill them—had been attacking minor nobles ever since that first battle. Any families the royals were close to had been attacked, as well as any they were likely to marry into; the Hiroki family saw the rebels a few times, since they were the royal family’s marriage default. The rebels never actually attacked the palace, but Sonoru guessed that was the current state of events.
Sonoru stayed by the door until he saw Tsujihara come up to them. She looked mostly unharmed, except for a few scratches.
“Are the royals safe up here?” Tsujihara asked. She never seemed to look down at her own wounds, instead taking some relief that the guards were relatively safe.
The nearby guards—those for Kyuru, Maenomi, and some of late King Tsunkei’s younger children—checked the rooms of their respective charges for the second time that night. Sonoru opened the door and saw Prince Kyuru hiding in the far corner of the room, likely hearing voices and assuming they weren’t friendly. Sonoru tried to give the boy a little smile, and closed the door again.
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“They’re all here,” one of Maenomi’s guards reported. “A few look like they’re sleeping through it, but—”
“Even children can’t sleep through fighting,” Tsujihara said. She winced and lost her balance, leaving one of the closer guards to try to come closer to help. She took a step back, taking out a little knife and cutting the palm of her right hand; she didn’t glance down at the wound at all. “Check to make sure they’re still breathing. The wives are dead, now; a-and I think there’s more, but…”
She winced again, closing her eyes for a moment and cursing. “Tsujihara,” Sonoru said, “You should probably head somewhere else. Your wounds—”
“It’s not wounds, Masaaki. I’m… I’m fine.”
Tsujihara turned the corner and ran off again before he could try to protest more. Following her request, the guards of the royal children who had apparently been asleep went back in the room. They came back out with bloodied weapons, relaying a story on how they must have been killed before the guards got there. Why only King Tsunkei’s littlest two were killed was a mystery they never solved.
Those remaining guards—four, all told—went out to fight, with their charges dead. Sonoru doubted that they would be allowed to stay at the palace—if they were even left alive—assuming they weren’t just demoted to a normal soldier. In light of that, however, one of the two guards of the remaining children entered their respective charges’ rooms to keep a better eye on them.
Sonoru went inside to watch Prince Kyuru, making a few grim realizations as he watched the prince whimper and hide. It suddenly became…a bit more real to him. This whole time, it felt like there was only a little hint of danger—like the greatest threat the family had was itself, and Sonoru was just watching the chaos unfold. Tsujihara said the wives were killed; it’s fortunate that Lord Ozuru was still alive, but King Tsunkei’s children were orphaned now.
Even for all his talk about how the royal family was messed up, he knew that most families were. Still…who knew the royal family wasn’t nigh invincible? He felt like the silver gods—Bekin, Aimiki, Ginshin—had all left in favor of some other place, possibly in favor of murder of their own descendants. That was a chilling thought.
Maybe the worst part was that none of them were humble enough to step down. Sonoru wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to serve a family that would actively seek out death in the name of glory and honor.