Chapter 99
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: A Brief Rest (8)
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Tenshukaku.
The keep where daimyo like Oda Nobunaga or her chief retainers resided—and hers was the very top floor. Naturally, even if he was her husband, bodyguards like Baek Il-yeong, who was still just one retainer, couldn't enter the clan lord's quarters. So Akechi Mitsuhide and the other samurai had no choice but to wait outside, leaving him to climb the stairs alone.
—Bow.
The maids and samurai he passed on the way occasionally bowed their heads in respect, and Il-yeong acknowledged their greetings lightly and familiarly as he reached the topmost floor. Surveying the surroundings upon arrival, he couldn't help but chuckle. The top floor where Oda Nobunaga was supposedly waiting for him was completely empty, not a soul in sight.
'Still the same.'
He knew exactly what this meant, so even as he smiled, he thought to himself... He should probably catch some eels and ginseng soon to build up his stamina. At this rate, he'd die in bed.
—Smooth.
He straightened his clothes one last time and headed to the innermost room where Oda Nobunaga awaited. Soon, with a sliding sound, the door opened—and sure enough.
"You're here."
A faint scent of alcohol tickled his nose, and he caught sight of Oda Nobunaga's unusually flushed face as she waited for him.
—Step.
He strode forward, stepping onto the tatami mats in the room where she sat. Then, responding to her almost soliloquy-like words, he spoke.
"Yes."
He elegantly folded the wide sleeves of his robe and bowed slightly to her.
"Your husband has arrived, Nobunaga."
As one would expect.
Having heard his words, Oda Nobunaga paused mid-pour into her sake cup and unwittingly broke into a broad grin, nodding her head.
"Welcome, my husband. Il-yeong."
*
The two sat familiarly on the tatami mats and began tilting the sake cups placed on the small table between them. As the cups passed silently back and forth and the alcohol started to warm their veins, it was Oda Nobunaga who spoke first.
"I'm sorry."
Il-yeong's hand, which had been pouring sake, froze for a moment at her straightforward apology. By the time he looked up at her, she had already downed it in one gulp. He asked her.
"For what?"
Her answer was concise.
"The marriage."
"Ah."
Only then did Il-yeong realize what she was apologizing for, nodding readily. It was certainly something worth an apology. After all, it had happened without any consultation with him.
So, he silently gazed at her, as if urging her to continue. Nobunaga poured more sake in response to his reaction and went on.
"Owari is in utter chaos right now."
—Hah.
A frustrated sigh escaped her small mouth.
The faint alcohol scent teased his nose, and as Il-yeong pondered whether he should cut her off soon, he listened intently to her words.
"Owari is a small province. But its strategic position is anything but."
To Mino, Owari was a source of unease at their rear. To Imagawa, it was a key stronghold on the road to the capital. Thus, Owari had endured countless battles through the generations.
Perhaps that's why Oda Nobuhide had chosen Nobunaga. In peaceful times, a civil administrator might be needed, but in chaotic eras, a warlord who tread the path of conquest held the advantage.
'In history, too, Owari spilled a lot of blood.'
Il-yeong nodded at her words and tilted his sake cup. And then, she revealed the inside story of the marriage that even he hadn't known.
"The retainers."
Her pale nape flushed red.
At the same time, her fiercely cat-like eyes lowered slightly, revealing prominent canines as she said.
"They told me to get married. A political marriage, no less."
"Pardon?"
It was Il-yeong who was taken aback by her words.
And why not? This was something he hadn't anticipated at all. At his reaction, Nobunaga chuckled and said.
"It's only natural. I'm the weird one."
She wasn't wrong.
Even landless peasants used fields or heirlooms as bait for political marriages—what about a daimyo who controlled an entire province? To them, marriage was a device to strengthen family bonds and power, nothing more than a tool.
But these were chaotic times.
With so many daimyo dying and female warriors succeeding them, marriage was a double-edged sword. It could easily lead to the family being taken over.
It wasn't unreasonable for some retainers to bring it up. They wanted stability for Owari, after all.
The problem was they only thought of clan against clan.
They showed no regard for Oda Nobunaga's own will.
"There must be plenty of families in the running."
Someone like her was a premium commodity.
As expected.
Setting aside Owari's geographic advantages, Oda Nobunaga herself was an alluring woman. Moreover, possessing her meant subjugating her lands as well. She knew it herself, and perhaps for the clan's sake, she should have done it.
If Oda Nobuyuki's faction had gained the upper hand. With surrounding powers closing in, a divided front would spell certain defeat.
"But."
Having explained that far, Oda Nobunaga gazed fondly at Il-yeong, who sat blinking vacantly before her, and continued. Pride gleamed in her golden eyes.
"Thanks to you, I survived."
Such opinions had intensified after Owari split into two. But after Il-yeong's overwhelming victory over Oda Nobuyuki's faction and their surrender, public opinion flipped completely. Unless it was hopeless, those in power never sold their premium assets lightly.
It was like sealing off any pretext.
But once the idea surfaced, she couldn't relax entirely, so Oda Nobunaga had gone through with it decisively.
"I had no choice. Luckily, the Mori understood..."
He mulled over her words.
And soon, Il-yeong realized something.
'Not being honest.'
Ponder it calmly, and it sounded like she'd chosen the lesser evil for political reasons. So, chuckling, Il-yeong said to her.
"Is that really all?"
"...Huh?"
In that instant, their gazes met. But Il-yeong, with a faint smile, pressed her.
"W-Well..."
Nobunaga's face twisted in confusion.
Her eyes widened round, and she bit her lip adorably for some reason. Of course, he knew it wasn't nothing, but from the perspective of the one who'd been "forced" into marriage, he couldn't just let it slide.
So, with his signature sly yet affectionate smile, he said to her. This time, she had no ground to argue even if he teased a bit.
"I'm asking if that's really all."
"Th-That's... Ahem."
At Il-yeong's leisurely yet subtly probing tone, Oda Nobunaga flushed crimson and averted her eyes. Whether from the alcohol or her wildly pounding heart, she couldn't answer easily.
That was when.
—Smooth.
Il-yeong cleared the table slightly and gently gripped the shoulders of his liege, lost in sake and embarrassment. Adjusting for their stark difference in height, he whispered softly.
"I'm hurt. If that's all."
Nobunaga's lovely face reflected in Il-yeong's dark eyes, tinged faintly brown. At the same time, he exerted wordless pressure—playful pressure laced with mischief.
—Twitch.
Her lips parted and closed.
After wriggling like that several times, she swallowed and realized. Il-yeong would tease her endlessly if she didn't answer. So, gripping her sake cup as if to shatter it, she slowly opened her mouth.
"I-It wasn't just that..."
"Then?"
—Glare.
Having said that much, she shot him a look as if it was going too far, but Il-yeong just smiled. As expected, the guilty party was at a disadvantage, leaving Nobunaga no choice but to wave the white flag completely.
Her already flushed cheeks and neck from the alcohol turned fully red, and her silky black hair, now a bit longer than a bob, swayed.
"...Of course."
Her golden eyes, now resolute, fixed on Il-yeong.
"I didn't want to lose you—you. Hirate Hikage... No. Baek Il-yeong!"
In the end, she uttered the embarrassing confession she could scarcely believe came from her own mouth.
"Mm."
Il-yeong, watching her all the while.
He thought.
"Eels and ginseng. What else was there?"
At this rate, he'd die in bed.