“We knew beforehand that Keiki had plotted the attack—”
“Keiki?”
“He set the Mito ronins upon the cortege of the Princess, expecting to rescue her at the last moment, and so gain the favor of Your Highness.”
“Did I not foretell to Your Highness that they would seek to divert the charge of guilt from themselves by some such incredible tale?” murmured the Chief Counsellor. “Keiki Sama did not appear until after the massacre. But this tojin and his fellow-spy followed the cortege in disguise from beyond the outer moat. If they knew beforehand of the intended attack and were innocent of complicity, why did they not warn the cortege?”
To refute such subtleness was beyond me. The best I could do was to assume a bold front.
“As a kinsman of Owari, I do not choose to answer the queries of the partisan of Mito,” I declared.
“Not even to explain why you held off until the ronins had slaughtered the hatamotos, and why the ronins fled before two men when they had slain a score?” interrogated Midzuano.
“Give me a sword and confront me with a Mito partisan in full armor,” I rejoined. “One reason for the fleeing of the ronins will shortly be made apparent.”
“Enough of the ronin attack and of Yuki the ronin,” said the Shogun. “There remains a matter that more nearly concerns my honor. Gengo will repeat his account of the outrageous conduct of the tojin in the palace of the Princess.”
I flushed crimson with rage. The treacherous chamberlain had stolen out during my instruction of Azai, to aid Midzuano in setting this snare for my destruction. I met the gaze of the Shogun with a look as angry as his own, and said with deliberate reproof: “In my land men of noble blood do not publicly discuss matters concerning ladies.”