Laura Rowland - The Shogun's Daughter

The hammering stopped for a moment. In the sudden silence Sano felt shock course through him and Reiko and Masahiro. His heart began to pound.

“You think Yanagisawa planted a smallpox-infested sheet in Tsuruhime’s room?” Reiko sounded astonished, dubious.

“No,” Lady Nobuko said, “he wouldn’t risk infecting himself or getting caught. But he was responsible. That’s why I’m here. I want you to prove he’s guilty.”

Sano remembered that she had good reason for thinking Yanagisawa capable of a crime as evil as murdering his lord’s daughter. She also had good reason to want to get him in trouble. And she wasn’t alone in her wish.

“This is our chance to take Yanagisawa down!” Masahiro exclaimed.

“Evidence that he murdered the shogun’s daughter would be a perfect weapon against him,” Reiko agreed.

“Your wife and son are as intelligent as I’ve heard.” The undistorted side of Lady Nobuko’s mouth smiled. “They realize that our interests coincide, Honorable Chamberlain Sano. Or should I say, ‘Honorable Chief Rebuilding Magistrate’?”

“So you know what happened today,” Sano said, disconcerted.

“Yes. I employ people to keep me informed about what goes on at court. I also know that my husband has installed Yanagisawa’s so-called adopted son as his heir and successor, and that you are far from pleased.”

“That’s right.” Sano was tempted to leap at the opportunity to bring about Yanagisawa’s downfall. Despite his hunger for vengeance, he tried to keep a level head. “But let’s not get carried away before we examine your theory. Why would Yanagisawa want Tsuruhime dead?”

“Yanagisawa has fought an uphill battle to put Yoshisato in line to rule Japan,” Lady Nobuko said. “Too many people aren’t convinced he’s the shogun’s son. Yanagisawa can’t keep down all the dissent forever. The last thing he needs is competition for Yoshisato. My husband isn’t likely to father any more children.” Lady Nobuko evidently knew his character despite the fact that their marriage was a political alliance between clans rather than an intimate union, and Sano knew they rarely even spoke. “If Tsuruhime had lived, she could have borne a son who would have been an undisputed descendant of the shogun.”

No one had ever challenged her pedigree.

“A son of hers would have supplied a rallying point for people who don’t think Yoshisato is a true Tokugawa and don’t want Yanagisawa dominating the government for another term,” Lady Nobuko went on. “Were that the case, what would happen after the shogun dies? Yanagisawa’s opponents would start a war against Yoshisato, on behalf of Tsuruhime’s son, and possibly seize control of the dictatorship. Yanagisawa understood that. He had Tsuruhime killed because she was a potential threat to his future.”

“That’s a strong reason for murder,” Reiko said. Sano had to nod. “And Yanagisawa is ruthless enough to have had Tsuruhime murdered.”

“She enjoyed perfect health all her life,” Lady Nobuko said. “Doesn’t it strike you as odd that she should contract smallpox a few months after Yoshisato made his appearance at court?”

Sano agreed but continued challenging the theory. “It could be a coincidence.”

Reiko nodded reluctantly, but disdain twisted Lady Nobuko’s mouth.

“Are you sure you’re not reading too much into the situation because of what Yanagisawa did to you?” Sano asked. “Might you be snatching at a faint hope of revenge?”

“I was kidnapped and violated.” Lady Nobuko’s face grew pinched with anger at the memory of the suffering she’d endured. “I can’t prove that Yanagisawa ordered it, but I know he did. I’m not imagining things this time, either.”

Sano wondered if Yanagisawa’s actions had pushed her to the point where she would invent a murder and frame Yanagisawa for it. He turned to her lady-in-waiting. “You’re very devoted to Lady Nobuko, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Korika said proudly. “I’ve served her for twenty-eight years.”

“Did you really see a sheet soiled with blood and pus?”

Korika’s broad face fell at his suggestion that she’d made up the whole story. Lady Nobuko said indignantly, “She wouldn’t lie in order to please me.”

“All right,” Sano said, still reserving judgment. “But the sheet wouldn’t necessarily have been Yanagisawa’s doing. Who else might have wanted to kill Tsuruhime?”

“No one,” Lady Nobuko said. “She was a sweet, harmless young woman. No one would have profited from her death except Yanagisawa.”

“There’s Yoshisato,” Masahiro said.

Sano was proud of his son’s astuteness. “With Tsuruhime dead, Yoshisato no longer needs to worry about a son of hers pushing him out of line for the succession.”

“Yoshisato could have been an accomplice in the murder, but Yanagisawa was the instigator,” Lady Nobuko declared.

“Father…” Masahiro seemed hesitant to voice a theory about which he didn’t feel confident. “Even if Yanagisawa did kill Tsuruhime and you prove it, maybe he won’t get in trouble. The shogun said that now that he has Yoshisato, he doesn’t need her anymore. Would he care if she was murdered? Would he punish Yanagisawa for killing her?”

“You’re a clever boy, but you don’t know my husband as well as I do,” Lady Nobuko said. “He doesn’t care about Tsuruhime, but he will not tolerate anyone hurting anyone or anything that belongs to him.” She said to Sano, “Your mother is proof of that.”

Sano’s mother had been accused of killing the shogun’s cousin during Edo’s other famous natural disaster, the Great Fire. The shogun had almost put her to death, even though he’d barely known his cousin, had assumed he’d died in the fire, and hadn’t given him a thought until his remains turned up more than forty years later. Only a fluke of circumstance had saved her life.

“The shogun wouldn’t let Yanagisawa or Yoshisato get away with killing his own daughter,” Sano agreed. “If he were convinced they did it, he would disown Yoshisato and put them both to death.”

“So,” Lady Nobuko said, “are you going to investigate Tsuruhime’s death or not?”

Sano felt as if he’d spent fifteen years trudging over the same terrain of his feud with Yanagisawa, and suddenly he’d happened on a new path. Maybe it would take him to vengeance, triumph, and a future without Yoshisato as shogun and Yanagisawa ruling Japan through him. But the path was as dark and fraught with hazards as a jungle at midnight.

“An investigation could be dangerous if Yanagisawa hears of it,” Sano said.

“I trust you to be discreet,” Lady Nobuko said.

“Other inquiries of mine have become public despite my best efforts. And while you think your spies are good, they’re nothing to Yanagisawa’s. Should he learn that I’m investigating Tsuruhime’s death and he’s a murder suspect, he’ll strike back without mercy.”

Surprise lifted the brow over Lady Nobuko’s good eye. “I thought you were the one man in Japan who’s not afraid to stand up to Yanagisawa.”

Sano frowned at her suggestion that he was a coward, the worst insult anyone could throw at a samurai. “It’s not myself I’m worried about.” He looked at Reiko and Masahiro. His family was more valuable to him than life itself. He would risk his own safety but not theirs.

“I’m not afraid,” Masahiro said with the courage of a boy who’d already fought battles like a man, lived to tell, and thought he was immortal. “I want you to investigate. Don’t you, Mother?”

“Yes,” Reiko said. “This may be the only chance for you both to regain your posts and destroy Yanagisawa. After he’s gone, it should be easy to disqualify Yoshisato and keep him from becoming shogun.” But Sano could tell she was remembering that Yanagisawa had already halved his income and decimated his army today. They were in no shape for a war with Yanagisawa. They didn’t even have adequate troops to guard the estate. Sano saw Reiko’s fear for Masahiro and Akiko. Her hand clasped her pregnant belly.