In the world of Type-Moon, it all begins with becoming Morgan's husband!

He's right here.

With a whoosh.

The shoji door was pushed open.

Ian and Minamoto no Yorimitsu followed Fujiwara no Tokuko into the room.

The scene before them was somewhat unexpected.

A man who looked to be over fifty years old was sitting at a table, holding a calligraphy brush and writing something.

On the side, there was a birdcage hanging on a shelf, with a canary inside pecking at birdseed.

"This……"

Minamoto no Yorimitsu stared blankly at the scene before him.

After all, this was completely different from what her husband had analyzed.

But before she could figure out the situation, Fujiwara Tokuko spoke up.

"Go, General Yuan."

"Tell me everything you have to report."

"..."

Minamoto no Yorimitsu glanced back at Ian.

After the latter nodded slightly, she no longer hesitated.

Minamoto no Yorimitsu never acted on lies—she did indeed have things to report to Emperor Karaha.

[Minamoto no Yorimitsu approached the Retired Emperor Karaha.]

She recounted the long-standing conflict between the Ping family and their descendants, dating back to their fathers' generation.

Her tone was very sincere and earnest.

You know this isn't a reason she made up on the spot—it's something that actually happened.

However, you know that your focus this time isn't on Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

The person you truly need to observe is the Ubume Dharma Emperor, who is quite different from what you expected.

You looked at him and the scene around him, and suddenly realized something.

[The Great Yin-Yang Master's Talent +++ activated: You have deciphered the Yin-Yang formation within the Emperor's room.]

"I see."

Emperor Wuyu nodded, but his hand holding the brush never stopped.

"General Yuan, I understand your thoughts."

"I will find time to deal with these matters."

Minamoto no Yorimitsu could sense the perfunctoriness in this answer.

Just as she was about to say something more, Ian spoke first.

"understood."

"Thank you for His Majesty's boundless grace."

"His Holiness is very busy, so we will not disturb you any longer and will take our leave now."

After saying this, Ian took Yorimitsu's hand and left.

[You and Minamoto no Yorimitsu have left the room where the Retired Emperor was.]

You have left Heian-gyu.

You have arrived at the streets of Kyoto.

You slowed your pace only after confirming that no one was following you.

"Husband."

"What are you..."

Minamoto no Yorimitsu looked at Ian beside him, his mind filled with images of the hurried journey they had just taken.

to be frank.

She was very confused.

However, Minamoto no Yorimitsu did not stop Ian's actions—she believed that her husband must have had his reasons for doing so.

So it wasn't until now, after slowing down, that she spoke for the first time.

"lady."

Ian held Minamoto no Yorimitsu's hand, and even his breathing became somewhat serious.

"The Dharma King is indeed dead."

"what?"

You explained everything to Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

[Calligraphy that never stops, and a canary that will never leave its cage.]

The Hierophant's soul was frozen at a specific moment in his life.

The sounds he made during his conversation with Minamoto no Yorimitsu were definitely not made voluntarily.

The current Emperor is merely a puppet of death, created to prevent Heian-kyo from descending into chaos.

"This……"

Minamoto no Yorimitsu knew that Ian would never talk nonsense—especially not in front of him.

"Was all of this done by the Empress?"

Ian shook his head, then nodded.

"not quite."

"The Empress must indeed be the one who secretly ordered these things to be done against the French Emperor."

"But the specific caster is someone else."

Ian wasn't making things up.

After all, if the Empress truly understood Yin-Yang arts, she would probably have seen through the "fox corpse" issue at a glance during the previous court discussion.

After all, it was a counterfeit product made by himself using "earth".

If she were an Onmyoji capable of repairing the entire Heian-kyo formation, she couldn't possibly be unaware of these things.

This suggests that there must be another Onmyoji behind Fujiwara no Tokuko.

"What should we do now?"

Minamoto no Yorimitsu looked at the great Onmyoji beside him.

"Should we expose her immediately?"

“No.” Ian shook his head.

"lady."

"I still don't know what's maintaining this formation—after all, using the souls of the dead in this way is no simple matter."

"Even if we wanted to expose all of this, I'm afraid no one would believe us."

"That--"

Minamoto no Yorimitsu looked at her husband.

"Husband, what should we do next?"

"..."

“Raikou.” Ian looked at the streets of Kyoto, his expression somewhat heavy.

"I'm afraid we'll have to think about it some more."

"Let's go back first."

"Many things are not suitable to be said in public."

"……Right."

What Minamoto no Yorimitsu was unaware of was...

[Besides the need to keep it a secret, there's actually another reason why you want to return to the mansion.]

That is Tamamo-no-Mae.

You realize that her capture was not accidental—because another great Onmyoji exists in Heian-kyo.

Furthermore, Fujiwara no Tokuko could not possibly imprison the Retired Emperor's soul there indefinitely.

After all, if this goes on for too long, it will definitely arouse suspicion.

She had to find a way to solve the problem once and for all.

[Then—Tamamo-no-Mae, being a fox demon, would be the perfect scapegoat.]

Because she is a fox spirit, she can shift all the blame onto Tamamo-no-Mae.

Because she was a fox demon, even if there were many suspicious aspects to the Emperor's death, it was all reasonable.

Because she was a fox spirit, she bore sins she shouldn't have, and no one would speak up for her.

This is the reason why Tamamo-no-Mae had to go to court.

She was the perfect sinner, and also a tribute to the Empress Regent.

Ian couldn't even imagine what would have happened to Tamamo-no-Mae if he hadn't appeared.

But he knew—

I must tell this fox demon:

She was never some filth that brought disaster.