ORIGINAL STORY BY NATSU HYUUGA
THIS STORY IS A FICION, AND ALL NAMES OF FIGURES ND ORGANIZATIONS ARE FICTITIOUS.
MOREOVER, THE STORY HAS NO RELATION TO REAL-LIFE INCIDENTS AND EVENTS.
Kitty cat, kitty cat
She cries and cries
Wondering
Where that child is
MINISTER - SCHOLAR
Will you play with me, sir?
How could I say no?
It's my beloved daughter's request.
We'll play by the standard rules for five matches.
Whoever wins three matches first wins.
What should my disadvantage be?
Which piece should I get rid of?
There's no need for that.
She should just accept.
Let's decide what to bet on.
Wow, getting straight to the point!
If I win, you'll become my child, right?
-You promised not to say anything. -Yes, but…
That is fine. But I'm under an employment contract.
So it'll be after my time is up.
An employment contract? He really hired you?
Yes.
But in return, if I win…
Will you buy out a courtesan from the Verdigris House?
I didn't expect you to say that.
I won't say who,
but Grams is looking for a way to get rid of a certain courtesan.
I see, that's how you'll play.
If that's what you want, I'll have to say yes.
That's all you want?
I'll add two more rules, then.
It smells like a strong distilled liquor.
I have a really bad feeling about this.
And what is that?
A little bit of this is medicine.
Three mouthfuls, and it's a strong poison.
I'll pour this liquid into three cups,
and mix it up so you don't know which cup.
After each match, the winner chooses a cup,
and the loser drinks it.
That's the first rule.
Her ideas are so frightening.
And the second rule is, no matter what the reason is,
if you forfeit the match, you lose.
Is that all right?
Yes, that's fine.
Is she trying to throw him off balance?
True, a normal person might flinch at that. However,
her opponent is a Sir General known for being eccentric.
I can't imagine him getting agitated by such a threat.
What is she thinking?
She lost again.
That's her second loss in a row!
She challenged a general known for being a chess master
so I thought she had some skill, but…
It seems she only knows the rules
and has no experience in playing matches.
She already drank two cups.
She seemed to enjoy drinking them, so I can't tell if it's poisoned or not.
May I start the third match?
Sure, of course.
What is she thinking?
We all know how the third match will end.
If the two cups she already drank had poison inside,
it's too dangerous to drink the third cup.
How much of this current situation has Lakan analyzed?
Checkmate.
You got me.
I know you let me win, but it's still a win.
I can't make my daughter take poison, even by accident.
Which will you choose for me?
Choose whatever you'd like.
Does the medicine have any taste?
You'd notice the bad taste right away after one swallow.
Lakan is allowed to lose twice.
If one cup of the two tastes different,
he'll know that his daughter won't take any poison.
He lost deliberately for that purpose.
He really is a shrewd man.
I'll choose this, then.
It tastes bad.
He drank the poison!
Now, the Apothecary won't drink the poison for her third cup.
This also means
that Lakan won't have to keep losing on purpose anymore.
Now, the Apothecary can never win.
If I win, you'll become my child, right?
Also, I feel hot.
What's going on?
I thought the poison wouldn't harm anyone with one cup!
I know you hate him.
-But I didn't think you'd poison him! -It's medicine.
They say sake is the best medicine, after all.
Sake? What do you mean?
Sir Jinshi.
-It looks like he's just drunk. -What?
He's an extreme lightweight.
Now that I think about it,
he's always drinking juice. I've never seen him drink sake.
So what was the liquid you poured in?
It was alcohol. All right, then.
Let's carry this man out,
and have him pick out a flower from the brothel.
Ever since I was born, I couldn't distinguish people as individuals.
It wasn't just confusing my wet nurse as my mother.
I couldn't even distinguish between a man and a woman.
My father got fed up with me, saying that I would be useless,
and started visiting his extramarital lover regularly.
My mother was desperate to get my father back.
That was how I was able to immerse myself in go and chess,
and live freely, despite being the first son
of a noble family.
Don't remember people by their face.
Remember them by their voice,
gestures, and body type.
I'm sure you would enjoy chess.
Only my uncle understood me.
Thanks to my tactless yet talented uncle,
I was able to see people's faces as chess pieces.
When I saw my uncle's face as a Chariot,
I truly understood that he was a talented and intelligent man.
After I grew up, even though I was untalented in the art of war,
I was appointed to be a leader right away because of my background.
Even if I was weak,
I could be successful if I could use my men efficiently.
Playing chess with real people as its pieces
was merely a captivating game to me.
THE VERDIGRIS HOUSE
While I continued to be unbeatable in work and in chess,
I ended up playing against a famous courtesan when I visited a brothel.
Amongst the sea of whites and blacks,
those fingertips had a vibrant glow.
Her name was Fengxian.
An unbeatable courtesan at a brothel, versus an unbeatable military man.
No matter who lost, the audience would be captivated.
She is good for sure.
Even so, she is merely a frog in a well.
I lost?
She dominated me completely.
When was the last time I lost like this?
So this is what a human face looks like.
Her eyes are like a balsam fruit, which could pop
with a single touch, keeping people at a distance…
I won't lose next time.
For several years after that, I only met her to play
go and chess.
Fengxian, who was born at the brothel,
had a personality only shaped by pride.
I do not have a mother.
There was a woman who gave birth to me,
but in the pleasure district, courtesans cannot be mothers.
Talented courtesans,
once they become popular enough, become harder to purchase.
This was also true of Fengxian.
Though her stern attitude was not popular amongst most customers,
there were some with strange tastes who enjoyed that.
Her price kept increasing more and more,
and I could only afford to see her once every three months.
A balsam flower and… What is that?
Wood sorrel.
Also known as Cat's Feet.
It's a fresh medicine that works against poison and insect bites.
Just like the balsam flower,
if you touch its ripened fruit, the seeds burst and fly away.
I see, how interesting.
When can you come next?
In three months' time.
I see.
It was around that time that I heard of Fengxian being bought out.
Her price kept increasing more and more in the bidding war amongst her fans.
Though I had climbed the ranks as a military man,
my step brothers had taken the right to inherit the family title.
I could never compete with those prices.
What if we bet on something today?
If you win, I'll give you anything you'd like.
If I win, I'll take anything I want.
Which board would you like to play with?
That's when a terrible idea crossed my mind.
-You'd like to play go, then? -Yes.
-Meimei. I want to focus on the match. -Yes, ma'am.
Before we realized it, our hands were placed together.
Fengxian spoke no sweet words.
I spoke none, either.
In many ways, we were very similar.
I want to play go.
I had thought I wanted to play chess too.
Kitty cat
She cries and cries wondering
Where that child is
The little birds
That know nothing
Flew higher and higher
Up in the sky…
Three months after that, my talented uncle lost his position.
You became a doctor in the rear palace, and now you're expelled?
You disgrace the family name!
He was talented, but remained tactless.
You were close with him.
Leave this house and study abroad for a while!
-Study abroad? -It's a needed precaution.
-But… -What is it?
No, it's nothing.
I could not betray my father, who was both my parent and a boss.
It was then that Fengxian wrote to me saying she would not be bought out.
I had falsely assumed that I could return
in six months' time.
Back then…
I had not imagined that
it would take me three years to return home.
All these are letters from Fengxian?
Dirt? No, are these branches?
And there's two of them?
No! This is…
Finger slicing…
I had heard that the practice was popular as a curse.
The reason she ended up not being bought out…
The other small finger that was inside that bag…
How could I not realize?
I only had go and chess in mind.
I couldn't even arrive at such a simple answer!
THE VERDIGRIS HOUSE
Where is Fengxian?!
You! Fengxian is not here anymore!
Why are you here after all these years!
You left her for three years!
I bet you don't even care about what happens
when a courtesan loses her value!
If I had thought for a little bit, I would've realized it.
Why her buying out offer was rescinded.
Inside Fengxian's belly was…
What happens to a courtesan
when she dishonors her brothel and her trust and value plummets to the ground?
Like a nighthawk, she receives any customer,
and eventually…
No matter how much I lament, time won't turn back.
Everything happened because
I was so short-sighted. It's all my fault.
This is… The Verdigris House.
Are you awake?
Meimei.
Some person of nobility brought you here.
You look very unwell.
Your face is both red and blue.
I didn't plan on being like this.
I didn't think that the drink was so strong.
Meimei used to be an apprentice to Fengxian.
I used to play with Meimei quite a lot.
When told she had potential, she seemed embarrassed but happy.
Speaking of…
What's wrong?
No, it's nothing.
-Here you are. -Thanks.
So bitter! What is this!
Maomao made that.
Mix, mix, mix.
I see, Maomao made this.
Also, Maomao made this box.
A dried rose?
Even after it has died, you can preserve its form.
Big Sis Meimei.
Excuse me, sir.
PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE
Next Episode, "Jinshi and Maomao."
Subtitle translation by: Yukimi Ohashi e its form.