"Lady Mami," I bowed respectfully.

"Seems like the shogun does not treat her latest favorite wife fairly," she said as she thumbed the petals of the camellia blooms in one of the many vases in the room. "Her room is very dry and uninviting."

I smiled. "This wife thinks the room suits her personality. I believe that less is always more. I do not need extravagant furniture and accessories to prove my place in the shogun's heart."

Mami barked a sarcastic laugh. "As expected of a pauper pretending to be a princess!" Her eyes were mocking me as she continued, "Good taste and style is something you're born with, it can't be learned."

I tried my best not to roll my eyes at her. "Lady Mami, could we stop this verbal chess and move on to the reason of your visit? I still have to see Lady Ayaka. I don't want to waste my time over such frivolities."

"You!"

"What, me?" I pointed at myself. There was something about this woman that I couldn't take seriously. Although she is technically this nation's mother, I couldn't find it in me to give her the respect someone of her status requires.

"Did you know that I could get rid of you in just a snap of my fingers?" her eyes glinted in anger. "Just who do you think you're talking to?"

I walked towards a nearby pillow and sat on it, taking extra care not to wrinkle my kimono. "Fine, I'll give you all the attention in the world. I'm all ears, now tell me why you came here."

"Of all the lies you told me last night, it appears there is some sort if truth in them. You really aren't from this place, your complete disregard of our respective statuses in this palace is enough proof." She started pacing, I just continued to stare at her with a bored expression. She stopped abruptly to look at me. "Where were you last night? I heard you disappeared."

Finally, she revealed the reason for her 'visit.'

"I was somewhere in the palace," I replied vaguely. I returned her gaze without flinching. I was certain I didn't do anything wrong.

"Where exactly did you go?" she sat on the pillow opposite mine. As she bent down, her kimono's collar opened slightly, revealing her creamy skin. I was about to look away when I caught a glimpse of several red bruises on her chest. They looked fresh and only hours old. Her chest was covered in several hickeys! I would recognize those because Tyler used to give me love bites during the first times we had s.e.x, it wasn't until I complained that he stopped giving me those.

My intuition told me that her bruises and what happened last night were connected. I was itching to lay down my cards but decided against it. Instead, I pretended that I didn't see anything and maintained my impa.s.sive stare. "The garden," I replied. "Specifically by the pond where the red pleasure barges are."

Mami was smoothening her kimono when I replied. My eyes didn't miss how her hand froze for a few seconds when she heard where I disappeared to last night.

'Got you!' I said to myself.

"I s-see," she tried to hide her nervousness but she's already been found out.

'So she is one of the exhibitionists last night,' I balled my hands into fists as I continued my inner dialogue. 'She acts all clean and righteous but she's actually one sanctimonious wh.o.r.e.'

"I had a hard time going to bed last night," I told her with a sigh. "I was missing my dearest shogun, you see. I've been so used to sleeping with his strong arms around me that sleep evaded me."

Her face darkened as soon as I mentioned Kaname. She opened her mouth to say something but I wasn't done yet. I was only getting started.

"I got tired of tossing and turning, so I opened one of my windows to let the night air in. I was absorbing the beauty of the garden in the evening when I saw what I initially mistook as fireflies," I toyed with the sleeves of my kimono as I pretended to be swept away by my recollection. "I observed the flying insects for quite some time before realizing that they weren't insects, they were lamps carried by three people in the night."

Mami's eyes widened. Her fingers clutched at the hems of her robe tightly. "I-is that so? It appears that we must tighten the security in the palace even more." She stood up and patted her hair meticulously. "Thanks for letting me know of your observations, Lady Hinata. I must leave and discuss this matter with the palace guards."

'This s.l.u.t actually thanked me and addressed me respectfully? Too bad I still had more to say,' I chuckled inwardly. My inner b.i.t.c.h was on a roll and there's no stopping her. She was dead set on entrapping this monster before her.

"Where are you going, Lady Mami? I still have more to say," I stood up and walked towards her. "Do you not want to know what happened next?"

"Based on what you said and what happened last night, I basically already have a rough guess," she avoided my eyes. She was very guilty.

"Oh?" I folded my arms across my chest. "Care to tell me? I'm intrigued."

I saw Mami grit her blackened teeth. The muscles on her temples pulsated as she tried to calm herself down. "Y-you went out of the palace and followed the fireflies until you reached the pond."

I clapped my hands together in mock excitement. "Exactly! And do you know what I saw when I got there?"