Kamisato Ayato fell silent.
Those dark schemes churned in his throat before he finally held them back.
The night was as cool as water, and the scent of blood in the courtyard had yet to dissipate, lingering faintly in the air.
Kamisato Ayato gazed into his younger sister's clear eyes.
His heart felt like it was being pierced by a thousand needles.
He was used to shielding Ayaka behind him, letting her only worry about the elegant music of festivals, the rituals of the tea ceremony, and radiating the brilliance expected of "princess shirasagi."
Those blood-stained, dirty calculations were better left to him, her brother.
But tonight, as he watched the direction King had departed and felt the land beneath his feet still seemingly trembling, Kamisato Ayato knew that some innocence had to be shattered.
This nation had just undergone a purge as drastic as scraping poison from the bone.
The old pillars had collapsed, yet a new order remained far out of reach.
Inazuma's ship had already sailed into turbulent waters; there was no room for any passenger to hide in a safe cabin.
Those with ability must stand on the deck, raise the sails, or even take the helm.
"Ayaka..."
"There are some things that I, as your brother, must do."
"And in the future, they will be things you must do as well."
"Because the Inazuma of today doesn't need a 'princess shirasagi' of wind and flowers, but a 'Kamisato Ayaka' who can truly shoulder the burden, even if it means getting her hands dirty."
Kamisato Ayaka's pupils constricted slightly, and her fingers tightened around her sleeve.
She understood the weight behind her brother's words and saw the almost cold light in his eyes.
"I..."
Kamisato Ayaka wanted to say "I can," but thinking of the bloody scene from just now, her stomach still churned.
"Don't rush, take it one step at a time." Ayato's tone softened, but the content was even more startling. "First, do what I've assigned to you. As for me..."
He paused, casting his gaze deep into Inazuma City.
"I'm going to 'visit' our two 'highly respected' former colleagues—"
"Hiiragi Shinsuke of the Kanjou Commission, and Kujou Takayuki of the Tenryou Commission."
Kamisato Ayaka gasped. "Them? Haven't they already been dismissed and placed under house arrest? Besides, the Almighty Shogun..."
"The Almighty Shogun possesses peerless divine might, but she is unyielding."
Ayato sneered. "Old foxes like Hiiragi Shinsuke and Kujou Takayuki are slippery as eels. They admit guilt on the surface, but who knows how much wealth they've hidden away or how deep they've buried it?"
He took a step closer, lowering his voice, every word sounding like it was forged in ice. "The Inazuma that follows will need money—a lot of money."
"Not just to provide Fontaine with a substantial enough compensation, but also to appease the countless commoners inside and outside the city who have been exploited to the point of destitution."
"Without money, any talk of compensation or appeasement is just empty words."
"And those two old fogies will definitely not hand over the money willingly; they value it more than their own lives."
Ayaka understood, her face turning even paler. "But brother, they've already confessed. They were, after all..."
"After all, they were once the heads of the Commissions? After all, their families are prominent?"
Ayato interrupted her, a cold, humorless smile playing on his lips. "Exactly. That is why the wealth they've hidden is so staggering."
The last trace of warmth vanished from his eyes, replaced only by the coldness and killing intent of a politician.
Ayato adjusted his slightly messy cuffs, a gentle smile returning to his face, though it didn't reach his eyes at all.
"To get a hold of that wealth, I'll have to use some rather... unsavory methods."
Kamisato Ayaka's heart tightened. "Brother, are you going to use interrogation on them?"
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