The Brilliant Royal Divorce Plan Chapter 75
A.N. I'm baaaaaack! whew this story has gotten long, but after these bits of relflection, I promise a large string of events that will put everything in their places. I love your guys for reading this tale of epic length, and I hope you read this chapter closely, and re-read if the meaning of some sentences are a bit deep. If you have any questions, don't hesitate of ask me in a comment, and i will gladly explain what a particular bit infers about a character. These bits become more and more important as the story goes on, and it is important you understand or some actions may seem OOC later on when the character makes important personal decisions~
“You are Taguchi Junnosuke’s one and only priority,” Junno stubbornly bit back.
“Then answer me, who is the priority of the Honshu Emperor?”
Junno fell silent for a while, suddenly engrossed in the fine detail of his sleeve embroidery.
“We will discuss this after Yamada Ryosuke is dead and you’re my empress again,” he finished the conversation.
We both know that will never happen though. What wrong with a little dream? Surely God has not forbidden even the likes of us to dream?
The carriage stopped slowly.
“We’re here,” Ueda whispered, “Welcome home, Your Majesty.”
“WELCOME HOME YOUR MAJESTY!!!!” the most unexpected of sorts came crashing through the blinds of the carriage before the pair could even move out.
Yamada Ryosuke fairly leapt onto the couple’s carriage, oblivious to his status as temporary king and wrapped his arms around Ueda’s neck. “I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!”
Maru and Ryo each managed a confused ‘GEH?!’ at the scene in front of them and Kame was too shocked even for sound. Jin and Tegoshi’s eyes looked like they were about to bulge from their sockets but Ueda just stood still, afraid to move in case the young king stabbed him.
Not that Yamada Ryosuke looked malicious at all - a smiling young boy draped around one’s neck and hailing how much they’d missed you was hardly scary. Of course, if you had been led to think that he was the one after your life for the past few months, utter confusion was unavoidable.
[Emperor’s chambers]
Taguchi Junnosuke sat fiddling with his solid jade teacup, intently focusing on the chrysanthemum patterns engraved in it then meticulously filled with molten gold. Two tea leaves were upright, he noticed, it was supposed to mean something in the book of fortune-telling he read as a child but could no longer remember. To his surprised, the tea had not been poisoned.
“Junno,” Ueda impatiently waved a hand in front of the emperor, “are you done spacing out?”
“I’m deep in thought,” Junno frowned slightly and focused his sights on the teacup once again.
“Yeah right, whatever,” Ryo came sauntering up to the both of them, an apple in hand, “Stop spacing out and go take a bath won’t you?”
“I can’t believe you’re calm enough to take a bath in this… condition?” Ueda shook his head at Ryo.
Junno, however, rose to the occasion. “You’re right!” he grinned at Ryo, who tossed the apple at him gently. “They haven’t killed us yet, so why not take advantage of the current niceness?” The emperor got up from his chair, lazily stretched his arms and skipped to the baths, chomping on his apple.
“The maids in the baths are hot stuff!” Ryo cheekily called out after him, ignoring the jealous protests of Ueda.
“…. You guys are awfully calm,” Ueda remarked after much thought, “shouldn’t we be doing some investigating?”
“Jin has already gone to investigate the palace guard, Kame’s gone to check out the secret service, Maru’s gone to check on the ministers of the court and Tesshi’s gone to check the army,” Ryo lounged back on a cushion and picked up Junno’s cup to take a sip, “any more questions Hime-san?”
“Only one,” Ueda still wasn’t convinced, “how are they able to move about freely?”
“Obviously because Yamada Ryosuke has his own back covered,” Ryo shrugged, “otherwise he wouldn’t dare allow us to walk everywhere in the palace. I kind of respect him… a brat who knows that letting us snoop around is better than keeping us under lock and key is pretty smart.”
“You’d be right. This palace is a giant prison anyway - one that we have to walk into ourselves.”
“Don’t sound so depressed Hime-san,” Ryo joked, “learn a little from our idiot emperor! We were only worried that we’d die before we got to the palace. Now that we’re here and the whole of Kyoto knows we’ve met with the brat, he can’t afford to have us die in his care. So basically we’re safe for the time being!” He grabbed a bunch of grapes and started chomping away, oblivious to Ueda’s incredulous stare.
“If you’re so sure that Yamada Ryosuke had his tracks covered, why are we bothering to investigate?” he questioned.
“To see if we can deduce anything,” Ryo pointed out, “and because the kid obviously wants us to. If all else fails, we can pretend to trust him again after we’ve done the rounds. There’s no use in being forceful in this situation, seeing as the kid knows his stuff.”
“How can you say so?”
Ryo laughed and tossed Junno’s jade cup up in the air a few times. “Hime-san I must admit that you’re very well-read and that you have an incredible talent for fighting, but sometimes you lack a bit of experience. See this cup? This cup was personally given to the Minister of Military Development by Junno straight after his coronation, and there’s only one of its kind in the world. The fact that it’s sitting here in my hand means that the Minister of Military Development had either sided with the enemy, or he’s dead after torture.”
“Why?”
“Simply because all royal gifts are to be kept as heirlooms,” Ryo explained, “any gift from the emperor kept on records can be returned in exchange in to rebuke a death penalty as long as that emperor lives, so there is no way that minister would give this cup up under normal circumstances. In fact, I think he told Tesshi once that he’d hidden it somewhere incredibly safe….”
“So the fact that it’s here means either he’s been tortured, disclosed the cup and died or voluntarily given up,” Ueda sighed, “great.”
“Nice insight,” Ryo nodded, “what Junno was trying to figure out just then was a deeper version of your thoughts. If we assume that the minister had hidden the cup in his own mansion, then the fact that it’s here could tell us that Yamada Ryosuke has control of the army. But… if the minister had kept it in his compartment of the national treasury, all this cup can tell us is that the brat has control of the national funds and not the army There’s a hell of a difference between the two messages, even though Yamada is dying for us to believe the worst one.”
“Don’t tell me that Junno was trying to figure that out before?!” the empress gasped, “how could he think so far ahead?”
“You underestimate him…” Ryo exasperated, “we call him an idiot emperor because he’s impulsive, not because he isn’t capable of being smart! It’s up to him now to choose whether we are to be careful, or call Yamada Ryosuke’s bluff regarding the army. It’s useless for him to be sitting here worrying so I sent him off to the baths, because unless the others get back with useful information to help him make an informed judgement, he might as well be bathing.”
“But one thing we know for sure,” Ueda gritted his teeth, “it’s that Yamada Ryosuke had dug deep enough in the records to know of this story and is using it to play mind games with us. That dirty little-
“No point cursing,” Ryo finished the last of his grapes and winked, “you should take a bath with your husband. He probably really needs you right now in every way.”
[Emperor’s Study]
Yamada Ryosuke set about humming a happy tune as he piled stacks of papers into his arms from the emperor’s desk.
“Ryosuke-sama…” Chinen quickly rushed by and took the pile from his master’s hands, “why are you doing such things by yourself? Just leave it to me! And why are we moving out of the emperor’s study?”
“Because the emperor is back, dummy,” Yamada draped an arm casually around Chinen and did a twirl with his best friend, “he’ll need to use this space, and it’s his in the first place!”
“….” This 180 degree change in attitude was somehow scarier than the evil side. Chinen could almost see the flowers and sparkles around the young king as they scurried about, picking up bits and pieces that didn’t belong in Taguchi Junnosuke’s study. “…Uuuh Ryosuke-sama?” Chinen took a deep breath and asked what had been on his mind since the royal party showed up, “I just saw Akanishi Jin walking about in the gardens before I came… should they really be walking around?”
“Why?” Ryosuke chuckled, “did you think I was so evil that I’d throw the emperor himself into the dungeons? Chinen dear, this entire palace is a prison that they cannot escape.”
“What happened to the takeover plan?” the younger boy asked with quivering hands.
“That will happen, but not by force,” Ryosuke’s eyes shone with a steely glint even though he was beaming, “I have nothing to gain from cornering an injured dog. I’m sure that they will tear themselves to shreds before long. With a little help, of course… hahahahaha let me take these marionettes for one last dance…..”
“I don’t understand…”
“Sometimes I wonder if you really were raised in the Shikoku palace Chinen,” Ryosuke reached out and ruffled Chinen’s hair gently, “but I love you because you’re innocent. Every group has its own special dynamic, and especially in the court, even the deepest of friendships become fragile under scrutiny. After going through Nishikido Ryo’s files, I have found the weakest link in Taguchi Junnosuke’s cabinet of ministers, and in due time, they will rot from the inside out.”
Chinen shivered. I don’t understand how I’ve never seen this side of you, that’s what. I know this isn’t right but I can’t look away, not when you tell me your deepest, darkest secrets and tell me you need me.
“So Nishikido Ryo is the weakest link?” he asked.
“Of course not,” Ryosuke laughed, “he’s too clever. But Tegoshi Yuya, on the other hand… can set forth a brilliant chain reaction like fireworks.”
[Royal Baths]
Squinting to see through the mist and dampness, Ueda removed his shoes and socks at the door of the emperor’s personal indoor onsen, letting his toes be warmed by the slippery wooden floor. The guards let him in without questioning, which adds to the confirmation that Yamada Ryosuke’s men know exactly who they are dealing with and what to do.
He cursed inwardly.
“Tatsuya-sama?” a maid gingerly stopped outside the door, carrying a tray of scented oils and such. She was barely dressed.
Ueda gave her a death glare. “Is His Majesty in here?” he said icily.
“Y-yes Sir….” She kept her eyes low. The palace staff has all been briefed about this particular character, and knew how potent of a weapon he is.
“Good. Now give me the tray, and put on some clothes,” he sniffed, words laced heavily with disapproval at how scantily dressed maids were serving Junno in a BATH.
She sensed the agnostic nature of his words and quickly fell to her knees. “Sir I swear nothing happened!! We are required to wear less clothes because of the location of our services and I would hold no thought of ever-
“I was meaning, if you dress so little, you may find yourself attracting unnecessary attention, from people you wouldn’t want to anger,” Ueda was disgusted at how much of a possessive man he had become, but could not supress the jealously welling up inside his chest, threatening to burst. His speech was still dressed in jealous poison and he wielded no control of it.
“I-I understand…” the maid scurried off, without a doubt to report to her superiors about how cynical the emperor’s lover was.
Ueda mentally patted himself on the back for yet another job well done.
“Is that you Tat-chan?” Junno’s voice came closer and closer with the sound of wet footsteps.
“GAH!!!” Ueda blushed five shades of crimson and hurried to close the door behind him, “WATCH WHERE YOU GO NAKED YOU IDIOT!!!” He tried to stomp a foot on the floor, only to have it slide out from under him.
A yelp later, he found himself nestled in Junno’s long, slender arms and princess-carried to the onsen. “Put me down!! I’m still clothed!!!” he struggled, futile, against the rising warmth in his cheeks
“No.”
“Put me down or I’ll-
“Kiss me.”
“Yes I’ll kiss- WHAAAAT?!?! ARE YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ME?!” Ueda struggled just for show.
“Kiss me?” Junno smiled innocently, “Please?”
“WELL,” the empress decided to play hard-to-get, “only if you stop worrying yourself over that stupid cup. We won’t know anything until the others get back with their research, so I think stressing about it now is a waste of time.”
Junno laughed his crisp, melodic laugh and Ueda’s heart melted slightly. “Ryo’s been informing you again has he?” he chuckled, “worrying and planning is part of my job… a job I haven’t really been taking too seriously until I’m about to be fired. Thanks for thinking of me though Tat-chan.” He brought a hand up to gently caress Ueda’s cheek, and leaned forward to plant a kiss on the pale flesh. “I’m not thinking about the cup anymore… I’m only thinking about you. Do I pass?”
“Pervert,” Ueda muttered before turning his head slightly to the left and locking lips with his love. Maybe it was the heat of the moment or the fact that recent stress had stripped them of their intimate times, both men lost their logic and tumbled to the wet floor, never once losing contact.
Ueda closed his eyes and deepened the kiss, letting Junno’s skilled tongue slide between his lips and prise open is teeth before intertwining with his own. He wished for the moment to never end, but God hardly answers prayers so easily.
Just as Ueda had been ridden of half his clothing, there came a curious sound of tense arguing outside the door.
“Go inside the get them!”
“I’m not going inside to interrupt steamy bath sex!”
“How do you know they’re having sex?!”
“Why don’t you go inside and find out for yourself?!”
“Ryo~~~”
“I’m not going inside!”
Junno gave a grave sigh of exasperation and removed himself from Ueda, whose face sank immediately. “Well, trust Tegoshi and Ryo to loudly discuss our sex life in public,” he started listlessly putting on a change of clothes that had been left on a tray, “we’ll finish this tonight.”
Ueda lay on the floor, watching sideways at Junno complaining to himself and open the door. Eyes half-lidded, he made another wish. Please let us finish this someday….
“Can I help you gentlemen?” the emperor greeted his friends with a poker face. As cheerful as he was, not everyone enjoyed being err, cockblocked.
Tegoshi gave a yelp at Junno’s dishevelled appearance and it didn’t take long for him to figure out what they had disturbed. “Umm… Almost everyone has gathered with their research, apart from Kame,” he pointed in the general direction of Junno’s chambers, “should we go and listen?”
“That’s an awfully good way to say ‘they shouldn’t be banging each other in this terrible political situation’ Tesshi,” Ryo chided, “weren’t you going to give Junno a piece of your mind?”
“My piece of mind obviously isn’t going to work,” Tegoshi poked his lover in the ribs, “I just hope Tatsuya can still walk by tomorrow. We need every functioning person we can get right now!”
“Like an army?” Ryo suggested, “Junno, are you going to wait until I contact Kyushu or are you going to do it?”
“Anybody contacting Kyushu for will answer to my sword!” Junno growled, exerting so much force on the sliding door he was leaning on that it snapped clean off its frame.
Tegoshi gasped and took 2 steps back, eyes wide at the state of the door and their emperor.
Ryo had meant it as a joke, and did not dream that Junno would react so violently to a small, reasonable suggestion. Junno’s eyes were glowing with a fire that neither of them had seen for a long time, and it really reminded the pair that Taguchi Junnosuke was indeed royal. He had his own way of thinking about things, and in times like these, Ryo and Tegoshi could only bow their heads in obedience, and ask no more questions.
[Emperor’s chambers]
Ueda had pretended not to hear the commotion outside the bath and pretended not to notice the broken door on the way out. If Junno wasn’t saying anything, it was probably best not to ask at that tense moment. Silently, he got dressed and followed the rest into Junno’s lavish chambers and took a seat on the tatami.
“Oi oi are you sure we should be talking without checking out the perimeters first?” Tegoshi looked around the seemingly empty rooms, “every nook and cranny could be hiding a spy!”
“I see no problems,” Ryo shrugged, “even if we tried, without Kame we can’t guarantee to spot them anyway. It IS Shikoku’s intelligence we’re talking about…”
“Ryo’s right,” Junno smiled, “by letting us roam free, Yamada knows that we’ll be scouting for information. I’d bet a lot of money that whatever we can dig up, he already knows and wants us to know. So, starting with Maru, what can you tell us about the court?”
“Easily put,” Maru sighed, “we’ve lost all the high ranking officials.”
“The loyal ones or the disloyal ones or the corrupt ones?” Junno asked incredulously.
“All of them,” his advisor replied simply, “I read the archives. Not a single member of the inner cabinet remains alive today, apart from us. Through what the archive documents say, Yamada Ryosuke pitched all three sides into an internal struggle for power and demolished them all within law at the right times. The effort we put into keeping the court on its toes have completely crumbled and now there’s only two sides to the court - Yamada Ryosuke’s followers and the deceased.”
Nakamaru Yuichi looked like he was about to cry. With every word, his face sank a little until even Ueda felt sorry for him.
“So I’m guessing the Minister of Military Development is dead?” Junno looked at Tegoshi with an expectant gaze.
“Very messy,” Tegoshi nodded sadly, “he tried his best to stall for time but Yamada got him. The army has been dispatched to the most random places. Yamada Ryosuke knows what he’s doing… while we were being transported to Kyoto, he’s taken all the elite forces up North to fend off any attacks from Hokkaido and replaced the Kyoto army with Shikoku’s soldiers. It was a clean swap.”
“Is that all?” Junno’s face was still smiling.
“Not really,” Jin pitched in, “the palace guard has been completely replaced as well. Including all the officers. They’re not all from Shikoku but sure as hell they don’t know who I am so they might as well be enemies.”
“Any more bad news?” Tegoshi sent him a withering look.
“I’d say getting all the bad news now is better than finding out the hard way,” Junno’s smile still didn’t fade, “thanks guys. I’ll think of something, I promise!”
Ueda nearly choked on his own saliva.
Not only was Junno completely calm in times like this, he seemed to be able to predict everything and acts like he’s in control!
“Ryo, could you come outside for a moment?” the empress plastered an innocent grin on his face, “we need to talk.”
[Inner chambers]
“You look like you’re about to rape me.” Ryo joked as Ueda led him by the sleeve into Junno’s bedroom, “why so tense?” He settled on the floor, patting the space next to him, beckoning Ueda to join him.
“What’s wrong with Junno?”
“Pardon?”
“What’s wrong with Junno?”
“Nothing’s wrong with Junno,” Ryo stretched lazily, “you just don’t know him well enough.”
Ueda was shocked. “I-
“Don’t get defensive Hime-san,” Ryo didn’t miss a beat, “Just because you love him and you’ve had sex with him doesn’t mean you can fill in the 20 years you weren’t part of. While you were locked up in the Tegoshi mansion, things have happened to Junno that you can’t imagine. He’s orchestrated events that you can’t imagine and he’s made use of his royal blood in ways that you can’t imagine. We may act like a troop of monkeys, but when it comes to the big things, we don’t do anything without Junno’s approval. Do you understand me?” His deep black eyes seemed far away, as if looking back on a past still haunting him.
“…All the cities that Yuya-san slaughtered…”
“IF Junno wanted to stop him, he could have,” Ryo nodded grimly, “But he calmly told Tesshi to do what he wanted. The result of the entire Tegoshi clan gone was one general who controlled the entire military, Tegoshi Yuya, and he happened to be loyal to the emperor. Can you honestly tell me that was an accident, Hime-san? Can you tell me that a new emperor mustering all the military power for himself and stabilizing the most difficult part of the court within a day is an accident?”
“But… when I met Junno, he was…incompetent,” Ueda did not sound sure of himself at all. Scenes in Hokkaido flashed past his vision - the merciless stabbing of Kimura Tatsuya, the decisions Junno made that somehow all led to a good turn of events. But they had been completely irrational. Incompetence and luck were the only two words that came to his mind.
“When you first met Junno,” Ryo explained patiently, “he was in a slump of sorts. I guess the stress of being an emperor got to him and he was forcing himself to be happy. Then when he met you, all his logic was thrown out the window and whenever something is to do with you, he would become an idiot. When you’re in danger of being stolen, he does stupid things like stabbing kings of Hokkaido and leaving his country to a pair of brats. But now that you’re safe, our lovely emperor can focus on the more important things in life - like how to dismember the brats from Shikoku alive then feed them to the palace goldfish. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could snap up Shikoku in the process?” The unmistakable glint in Ryo’s eyes spelt another story to Ueda. He would never say it out loud, but in that one instant, Ueda understood completely.
Leaving Yamada Ryosuke to have his way with Honshu was on purpose. Junno was never worried about leaving him in the palace, he was just worried about how difficult it was going to be getting Honshu back. How convenient, giving an inexperienced young king a bite too big to chew then disposing of him before he poses a real threat… Taguchi Junnosuke, how long have you been planning this in your innocent mind?
How much of this was caused by me, and how much was an elaborate political trick? Have you planned this at all, or is your subconscious’ doing? Who is the true Taguchi Junnosuke - the happy idiot I fell in love with in Osaka, or the man planning bloody murder while staring at a jade cup?
Yamada Ryosuke, I don’t even know what you’re up against anymore, and I’m his LOVER.
A.N. As much as I love writing about fluffiness and stuff, I would like to use this chapter to spell out in black and white what I have been meaning to say about junno's character all along. I've dropped hints here and there over these long chapters, but the closer we get to the end, the more apparent it becomes that Taguchi Junnosuke isn't an emperor for nothing. Ryo is my voice, and he has told Ueda of something taht Ueda himself has been in denial about his entire journey. Once upon a time, Junno was in the dark about who Ueda was.... this time, Ueda is the one left floundering.