Tenshukaku.
"Demoiselle, that's great." Thoma looked at Kamisato Ayaka with some joy, but with the Raiden Shogun present, he could not be too obvious.
"Your Excellency... Kujou Takayuki... he has fallen ill..." Ever since Kujou Sara imprisoned Kujou Takayuki, he had been bedridden, and he seemed to have aged several years since then.
Kujou Sara's heart was filled with sorrow. When had the foster father who taught her to hold a loyal heart toward the Shogun become what he was now?
But Kujou Sara could not fully express her emotions in front of Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei, not to mention that Kujou Sara felt Kujou Takayuki's current state was entirely self-inflicted.
But the Kujou Clan... was completely finished.
"I have arrested all personnel involved in his collusion with the Fatui, and for those who escaped, I have already issued a Wanted Poster," Kujou Sara said with utmost seriousness.
She was now fully following in Raiden Makoto's footsteps, and since Raiden Makoto had entrusted this important task to her, she naturally had to carry it out properly.
"Hmm."
"Take me and Ei to see him. As for Thoma, you take Ayaka back to the Kamisato Estate first."
"Understood."
After watching Kamisato Ayaka and Thoma leave Tenshukaku, Raiden Makoto slowly looked at the somewhat silent Ei.
"Ei, you also need to take a good look. Kujou Takayuki has his faults, but you have faults as well."
"Hmm..."
It was also the first time Kujou Sara had seen the Raiden Shogun express emotion, but she only dared to lower her head and wait for Raiden Makoto's orders. She had witnessed a scene she shouldn't have seen inside Tenshukaku, and she was now terrified that Ei would come after her...
She could only hypnotize herself, telling herself she had seen nothing.
Meanwhile, outside Tenshukaku.
"Thoma, I think I heard something I shouldn't have on Ba Yun Island... Do you think the Shogun will silence me..." Ever since she left Ba Yun Island, she had been agonizing over that question on the road.
She was certain that the sound of the Shogun crying and making a scene that she heard outside the Delusion Factory on Ba Yun Island was a voice she knew all too well.
After Kamisato Ayaka told Thoma everything she had seen and heard on Ba Yun Island, Thoma also fell into silence.
After a long while, he slowly raised his head and said seriously: "It must have been Makoto educating the Shogun... But if you don't say anything, don't they assume you don't know what happened inside?"
"But... but I asked," Kamisato Ayaka realized now that she shouldn't have asked that question at all. Hadn't she exposed that she heard the sounds inside?
So the high-and-mighty Shogun was like that in front of her sister...
"It's over, the Shogun might really silence you," Thoma said with a laugh, "But with Makoto there, what are you afraid of?"
"Besides..."
"Weren't you always trying to set up Makoto with Young Master Ayato?" Thoma remembered that day at the Kamisato Estate, when Kamisato Ayaka told Raiden Makoto that she could treat her as a younger sister. If she was to treat Kamisato Ayaka as a younger sister, wouldn't that be taking advantage of Kamisato Ayato?
"..."
"Who said I wanted to set up Makoto with my brother? Thoma, stop letting your imagination run wild, okay? You can't keep reading those romance novels from Yae Publishing House. I saw you holding a romance novel in the lounge that day, reading it alone and laughing to yourself. Your thinking must be warped," Kamisato Ayaka said with some embarrassment, "Thoma, if you secretly read romance novels again, I will punish you..."
"Huh?"
"Demoiselle, you saw wrong, that definitely wasn't me!"
As for what Kamisato Ayaka was thinking right now, why did she want to set up Makoto with her brother? Putting aside whether they were a good match or not, couldn't it be her and Makoto?
She had also been reading the romance novels recently released by Yae Publishing House, and there seemed to be a love story between two girls in them. That was a path she had never imagined before.
Kamisato Ayaka had a thought in her mind: should she write a novel titled "The Shogun Falls in Love With Me"? And use herself as the prototype for the protagonist in the novel, then test the waters among the people of Inazuma through Yae Publishing House?
...
Tenryou Commission, dungeon.
"Shogun..."
"Lord Kujou Sara."
Although the Shogunate Soldier guarding the dungeon didn't know why there were two Shoguns, Raiden Makoto looked much gentler than Raiden Ei, and much more youthful. He felt that Raiden Makoto must be the Shogun's younger sister.
Compared to the stern-faced Raiden Ei, he preferred the gentle Raiden Makoto. Of course, he only dared to think those things in his mind; he didn't dare say them out loud.
He didn't dare to face the light of the lightning.
"Head of the Kujou Clan... I feel his days are numbered," the Shogunate Soldier sighed, "What exactly did the Head do wrong?"
The Kujou Clan's collusion with the Fatui was something most Shogunate Soldiers were completely unaware of; they were just following orders.
"He colluded with the Fatui and intended to rebel against the Shogunate," Raiden Makoto said indifferently.
That sentence left the Shogunate Soldier in front of them completely stunned. He then knelt on the ground. The Kujou Clan had colluded with the Fatui to rebel against the Shogunate, and they had all been acting on orders from the Kujou Clan. Didn't that mean they were also accomplices, also traitors?
"Shogun... I have always been loyal to you... I have never had the intention to rebel against the Shogunate," the Shogunate Soldier was somewhat panicked. His originally slightly ruddy face turned deathly pale in an instant. He truly believed in the Shogun and could never have harbored a second heart.
"Get up. Those were all Kujou Takayuki's actions; you will not be blamed," Raiden Makoto said with a gentle face. She naturally knew that most of the soldiers below only followed orders and had no idea what was happening above.
Besides, the Vision Hunt Decree was also tacitly approved by the Shogun, so the people below were effectively following orders from the Raiden Shogun.
"Yes!"
"Step back for now."
After the Shogunate Soldier retreated, Raiden Makoto slowly looked at Raiden Ei and said seriously: "Bestowing both favor and power is the way to employ people, understand?"
"You left the Tenryou Commission and the Tenryou Commission to their own devices, which will only make them develop thoughts they shouldn't have."
"There are some things that should be done, and some that shouldn't; you should know that."
"Hmm." Raiden Ei nodded obediently, "Sister, I know... I'm not a Little Child who doesn't understand anything."
"I know."
Kujou Sara realized that the Shogun had completely lost all face in front of her.
The Shogun was truly like a well-behaved, obedient little girl in front of the Great Imperial Palace. She actually developed the thought that "the Shogun is so cute" in her heart.
Subsequently, Kujou Sara hurriedly dispelled that inappropriate thought. She then looked at Raiden Makoto with great respect and said: "Great Imperial Palace... Kujou Takayuki..."
"Go in."
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