Chapter 236: Blood and Vengeance
"Daimyo-sama... I am already married... I..."
Raihara Yukihiro didn't care at all. He grabbed her wrist, leaned in, and sniffed her neck greedily.
"What does that matter? In this Asuka Castle, is there anything I cannot do? I told you during the day to wait for me in my bedroom. Why didn't you do as I said?! Why did I have to send someone to fetch you again?!"
The maid trembled in terror. "I... I was afraid to come..."
Yukihiro laughed. "I don't care if you're married or not. I want you. It's that simple. I am the Daimyo."
"Daimyo-sama... please let me go..."
"Yes... that's it... I love seeing you like this... Hahaha!"
Yukihiro pressed forward impatiently, eager to take what he wanted. He needed to release all the frustration and humiliation he had felt in the assembly hall earlier that day.
However, the maid's resistance was stronger than he anticipated. She wasn't one of those dancers willing to be toyed with. He couldn't even understand why a mere maid would resist him so fiercely.
Soon, he realized that with his withered strength, he couldn't actually subdue her.
This enraged him even more. His groping hands turned into fists as he began to beat her.
"You dare resist?! I AM THE DAIMYO!!! I AM THE DAIMYO!!"
The maid covered her face, trying to get up.
Yukihiro grabbed an inkstone from the nearby table and smashed it viciously against her temple.
The maid cried out in pain, then went silent.
Yukihiro stood there, panting heavily, and dropped the inkstone. As the excitement faded, his body began to shake.
He touched the wetness on his face. It was the maid's blood.
Looking at the motionless woman before him, a sudden wave of fear washed over him. He had just become Daimyo... surely killing a mere maid wouldn't be a big deal. But if Jun'en Furuya found out, he would definitely be scolded again.
Thinking of what happened in the assembly hall today, remembering how Furuya commanded the entire court with ease while he sat there uselessly, Yukihiro felt a mix of anger and fear.
Furuya's control over him, and the oppressive pressure he exerted, were even greater now than before Yukihiro became Daimyo.
However, one of the truths of this world is that what you fear most is exactly what will come to pass.
The bedroom door, which should have been absolutely private for the Daimyo, was shoved open from the outside. Jun'en Furuya stormed in like a whirlwind.
Furuya hissed, "What are you doing?!"
During the months the previous Daimyo was in a coma, Furuya had infiltrated Asuka Castle thoroughly. Upon receiving the news, he rushed over immediately, but he was still too late to stop Yukihiro from acting foolishly.
He looked at the motionless maid on the bed, and a surge of rage overcame him. He crossed the room in two steps and slapped Yukihiro across the face.
SMACK!
"Do you know who this maid's husband is?! Her husband is Takero Osawa's youngest son!"
Yukihiro was stunned by the slap, freezing in place.
Furuya roared, "Do you know that by forcibly dragging her up here, the news will spread throughout the entire capital by tomorrow morning?! You just became Daimyo, and you do something this absurd immediately? What will people think of you?! especially since Takero Osawa controls all the samurai in the city and has been supporting me! You..."
Yukihiro finally reacted, shouting back with false bravado, "How was I supposed to know whose wife she is?! She didn't say!"
Furuya pointed at his nose. "Just because you don't know means you can drag random people from the servants' quarters for your pleasure?! Do you think Asuka Castle is a brothel?! How did I spawn such a thing as you?!!"
How did I spawn such a thing as you!!
More than ten years ago, the previous Daimyo had said the exact same words.
Back then, Yukihiro had already become a pariah in the capital's noble circles. Having squandered his fortune but unwilling to give up his debauched lifestyle, he had tried to marry into wealth to fund his spending. But in the vast capital, countless nobles looked at him like a bug.
So, one day, in a drunken stupor, he did something absurd—he asked the previous Daimyo for his own sister's hand in marriage. At that time, the previous Daimyo had also slapped him and pointed at his nose, saying those exact words.
In this moment, the image of the previous Daimyo overlapped perfectly with the Jun'en Furuya standing before him.
Suddenly, the disheveled maid on the bed snapped her eyes open. Having just fainted, her consciousness was still stuck in the struggle with Yukihiro. The moment she woke up, she screamed and bolted for the door like a madwoman.
Yukihiro and Furuya immediately moved to stop her, but they found the woman completely crazed, possessing shocking strength. Between the physically weak Yukihiro and the sixty-something-year-old Furuya, the two of them struggled to hold her down.
They used all their strength to pull her away from the bedroom door. But no matter how Furuya tried to calm her down, the woman seemed deaf to his words, clearly having lost her reason. The three of them grappled and stumbled out onto the balcony.
This was the place where the Daimyo usually overlooked the capital. It was also one of the highest points of Asuka Castle.
Suddenly, during the struggle, the thrashing maid stepped into empty air. Half her body went over the railing, nearly dragging the two men with her. Fearing they would be pulled down too, they instinctively let go.
Just like that, they watched as the despairing, crazed maid fell from the highest point of Asuka Castle.
When the dull thud of a heavy sack hitting the ground drifted up from below, the two men stood panting, neither saying a word.
Yukihiro said numbly, "This... this has nothing to do with me..."
His reward was another slap from Furuya.
"Trash! Garbage! Useless at everything, but an expert at ruining things!"
Furuya looked down. He could vaguely see a dark shape lying motionless on the ground below. Soon, people nearby noticed something was wrong and started gathering around.
He dreaded thinking about how to clean up this mess tonight.
With the Cloud Village completely detached from the Daimyo's influence, the samurai were the most important—and only—force in the Daimyo's hands. And Takero Osawa was the leader of the samurai, as well as one of Furuya's key supporters.
Once this incident was exposed, how would Takero Osawa react...? What would his other supporters think...?
The speed at which rumors traveled among the servants of Asuka Castle was impossible to stop...
Furuya thought rapidly:
The only plan now is for me to go to Takero Osawa tonight and apologize. After all, she was only his daughter-in-law, not his son... Perhaps if I pay a high enough price... he can suppress this matter...
No matter how he thought about it, it was a headache. He raged internally again: How did I give birth to such a creature?
Behind him, Yukihiro felt the stinging pain of the second slap on his face. His anger had reached a breaking point.
He looked at Furuya, who was leaning half his body over the railing to look down, exposing his back completely.
He doesn't treat me like a Daimyo at all! He humiliates me at will!
He took all the power! I am the dignified Daimyo! Yet I can't command the retainers, and I can't even handle a single maid!
As long as he exists, I can never be the true Daimyo. Everyone will only listen to him!
If I kill him! No one will ever know that I am not of the Raihara bloodline!
He isn't even guarding against me. He despises me that much!!
This is the Daimyo's bedroom. There are only the three of us. No one knows the truth. No one will know the truth...
A look of vicious malice slowly crept onto his face. The humiliation of the two slaps, the long-accumulated resentment...
Suddenly, Yukihiro grabbed Furuya's legs from behind and heaved him forward.
"Yukihiro! What are you doing?!"
Furuya struggled in panic, just like the desperate maid had minutes ago.
"Yukihiro! YUKIHIRO! AHHH!!!"
Yukihiro revealed a savage grin, the maid's blood still smeared on his face, as he watched him fall.
Furuya plummeted like a broken ragdoll, crashing onto the ground below. His blood began to flow, mingling with the blood of the maid beside him.
It was the same color. There was nothing special about it.
Yukihiro licked his lips, tasting the metallic tang of blood, and his smile grew wider and wider.
"I... am the Daimyo!"