The recovery made by Akio seemed to be in vain as the news of what his little sister made him take a turn for the worse, although the fact that he would live was still definite.

"I cannot believe that Ashita would do this!" Akio could only say.

To him, Ashita was the sweet child who always managed to make him smile and never give him or anyone nearby any trouble. As a child, she would play in the garden while as a young woman, she liked to play on her pipa.

There was never any indication of her being interested in man.

But now she was said to be a loose woman who either seduced or forced the emperor's son to commit adultery with her.

"Not Ashita." He repeated again.

"Beloved, this is not important now. We need to think about what we should do." Ruika pointed out before she admitted. "Although I do not know what we should do."

"Ruika, this is not a treason that equals to what my father did as we would not be officially punished, but it is serious enough for her to be executed." Akio said. "I can't help but to think whether this is my fault. I was the one that sent her there, and now that I think about it, she did not seem that happy to go. At that time, I just thought that she was nervous…"

"It is not as if you had a choice!" Ruika reasoned out.

"If you wish to assign blame then more then one person is to be blamed." Aizuki announced as she entered the room with something clenched in her fist. "Akio, arrange for me to go to the capital. I am going to plead with the emperor."

"What?" Ruika immediately said but her husband indicated for her to let his twin sister continue, as he could see that his sister was not doing this without reason.

Unclenching her first, Aizuki revealed the object she has hidden for the past decade.

It was the crown prince's jade pendant. Even though it was in pieces, they could still make out the object's identity.

"How did you get this?" Akio chocked out. "This is…this…"

"He gave it to me." Aizuki stated in a very mater of fact tone. "He loved me, perhaps he still does. He was going to marry me. Father then had his conspiracy and I asked him to help me. He was unable to so what happened happened."

She could narrate what had hurt her so much without that much pain because there was something even more painful. It was almost as if the old wound was distracted by the pain of her new wound.

"Aizuki…" Akio was finally able to understand why his sister ended up as a nervous wreck, as well as why she had been so vehement when Ashita was chosen.

"I don't matter right now. Ashita is the most important." Aizuki interrupted him. "So let me go to the capital. I am no longer so young as to believe that everything would be solved, but this is a possibility."

"I understand. Go and choose the fastest and strongest men." Akio decided. "But Aizuki…when you see Ashita…when you see Ashita…"

Smiling an unusually gentle smile that he had not seen for such a long time, Aizuki whispered out what he was thinking. "No matter what she did, she is still our precious little sister that we love."

Then she was gone, wasting no time.

Ruika recalled the twins when she had met them for the first time, though they were bickering, they were both bound due to their common love for their little sister.

"Ruika, I know that what Ashita did would have an effect on our children, especially our daughter. But even so…" Akio began.

"I understand." She assured. "Because I would feel the same way if it was our children in that situation. No matter what, they are our children and we will always love them."


What Ruika said applied to Watanabe as well, although an emperor was more limited by what he could do. But due to love for his foster son, Watanabe decided to do something that he probably shouldn't. It was rather risky, as it contradicted the story that people did not really believe.

Upon whispering out his arrival, Shiraishi quickly opened the door for him. This was because he still clung onto the very vain hope that there could be some form of miracle performed by his foster father.

What else could he do?

"Shiraishi…I have thought about this for some time and I have decided that this is necessary." Watanabe stated. "I am going to take you to where she is. I think you two need to talk to each other."

"To see…Ashita?"

The young man has naturally thought about her very constantly, but now that he might be able to see her, he found himself very frightened at what he might see.

"You two need to talk to each other." Watanabe repeated.

"Yes, that is true." He had to admit this.

But even though there was so much to say, he felt that he might end up saying nothing at all. The last time that he saw her…their circumstance had been so different.

"I do want to see her." he said out aloud as he carefully followed his foster father.

It turned out that Ashita was actually in one of the deeper prison and as they made their way down the stairs, Shiraishi almost wonder whether this crime was really so severe that not even the gods would forgive them.

"It isn't that deep." Watanabe said. His voice was not loud, but it seemed so as the whole area was very silent. "It is just that the way this place is constructed make it appear so."

"And Ashita is shut in here?" the air in the place was rather thin in addition to the darkness. It was surprising that people in this place would quickly feel very uncomfortable.

"Unfair as it is, her crime could be labelled as treason." Watanabe pointed out. "That is why she is in this prison."

"It is not as if she is dangerous and would hurt someone and need to be buried underground! This place, how could she manage here? I am already feeling really ill…"

His words were stopped by his foster father, who gently patted him on the shoulder.

"Ashita is a strong girl due to you, Shiraishi." He said. "She was extremely calm when she was escorted here and when she fought for you."

But she was still a young woman who could not remain unafraid when she was alone. Especially when she was in a place where its inhabitant often ended up being executed.

Things would be very different if Watanabe choose to take Shiraishi to see her at a much later date.

"This is the entrance." Watanabe announced. "After this door, you will have to walk through a long corridor. Shiraishi…I will wait for you here."

"Thank you." The young man said as he quickly did so since Watanabe told him that the time he had was limited by the length of the candle.

"Ashita, I probably don't have the right to ask you this after all that I did, but please help the boy to not give up on his life." Watanabe whispered, almost praying.

But how could Ashita help Shiraishi to live if she herself did not know how to do this?


As he made his way through the corridor, Shiraishi suddenly thought of the first few times he used to wonder around when it get dark. Even though he knew that he was safe, there would still be a slight fear of not surviving the night. It was a fear borne due to being completely alone, and that was what he felt even though there were people on either side of his destination.

What worried him was the stillness.

"…Ashita?" he whispered softly.

Shiraishi could only guess that the corridor has ended due to feeling that there was more space, as the candle was barely burning due to the thin air.

However, it was possible to grow use to the dark.

"Ashita, where are you?" he asked as he tried to find the exact cell.

She did not answer him as she was too occupied.

"Ashita…Ashita!"

The reason that he found her was because the sash she was using had been a vey pale one, which made it easier to be seen in the very dim light. What was alarming was that she was not wearing it.

Instead, it was looped around the beam on the ceiling and she was standing in front of it as well as standing on a table.

"Ashita, stop!" he yelled out as he ran to that cell.

"Shira…ishi?" at the very least, she did not pull the noose made from her own sash closer.

"Ashita, please, step down!" he whispered urgently.

He was kneeling in front of the prison and even though the bars were wide enough for his hand to reach in, that was all that he could do. She was too far away for him to grab.

"Isn't this a good solution?" she did not step down as he asked her, but she turned around so that she was facing him. Even though he could not see very well due to the dim light, he could see that her eyes were very vacant. "My suicide will lessen my shame because unlike my father, people would say that this is because I use suicide as a way to redeem myself. And it would be good for you too…you wouldn't have the additional guilt of killing me."

"No!" he yelled out. "Please don't do this! I…I don't want you to die…"

"But I will die no matter what." She pointed out.

"Ashita, please stop!" he implored out again. "You want me to live, don't you? Therefore, you should realise that I want the same thing as well. For me, the worst punishment is your death."

Her body seemed to shudder and she seemed to stumble down before she made her way to him. Her tears probably blurred her vision as she could not find his hand despite being right in front of him.

"I am afraid." She finally admitted when he grabbed her hand. She was weeping so violently that her whole body was shaking. "I am so scared!"

He could not say any words of comfort as he did not know any, but he was determined to not let go of her hand.

"What I did hurt so many people- I cannot face them." She whispered out hoarsely. "And then I learnt about what will happen to you. They want you to kill me, don't they? I cannot have you do that. I am so scared and even though hanging myself would hurt, it would not hurt as much as a public execution."

"It will not hurt, I promise you." Shiraishi said as he gently touched her check with his other hand. "Ashita, if you have to die then let me be the one to kill you because I will make sure that you will not suffer. This is the only consolation that I can have: that your death would be painless.

"Ashita…please don't give up." He continued, fighting back his own tears in order to convince both him and her. "I know that we don't have much hope but there might still be a miracle…however, this would be gone if you end your life now. I know that I have no right to ask you this but please don't give up! I love you so much and I want you to live so much."

The candle was running out and he would probably have to make his way back in the dark, but he could not leave Ashita like this.

"Is this…is this what you want?" Ashita whispered. "If it is then I will do it. Even though this is the hardest path. After all, I own you that much."

"It wasn't your fault!" he said a bit too sharply.

"But it wasn't yours!"

Strangely, this actually made the two of them laugh despite the situation.

"We are both very selfish." He told her softly.

"You are also unlucky." She added before she gave him a strong smile. "For your sake, I will not give up."

Even though Shiraishi still looked rather pale, Watanabe felt that his steps and tone were both much more steady. Most of all, he lost that empty look he had.

"Thank you for letting me see her." Shiraishi said in a rather steady tone. "And I thank you on behalf of Ashita as well. We…we both reached an understanding."

"What happened?" Watanabe asked as he sensed that there was something else.

However, Shiraishi shook his head. He did not feel that it would be right to tell his foster father what happened.

"I am going to ask you another thing, Shiraishi." Watanabe stated, not forcing him to answer his earlier question.

"I know, it is about my friends." Shiraishi said. "I will go and see them."

"They are naturally all very concerned about you, but they choose to believe you no matter what."