I stood and met his amused eyes. I gave him a smirk, earning me a puzzled look. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"You look surprisingly good as a man," he grabbed my chin and studied my face closely.

"Doesn't she, my lord?" Taneyuki-san interrupted, excitement and admiration evident in his voice. "I am positive she will attract the attention of so many women were she to go out in public."

"Mmm," he nodded then released me. "Too bad she's a woman… My woman."

I heard the distinct emphasis on the words 'my woman' but decided to ignore it. "Please address me as a man when we're outside of your bedroom, my lord," I said. "I also ask the same from you, Taneyuki-san."

"Yes, yes. Pardon me, Jin-san," I heard the old man say behind me.

As for Kaname… He just narrowed his eyes at me and didn't say anything. He gathered the doc.u.ments on his table and filed them together neatly.

"You are to walk beside me," he said while pulling me to his side. "You are not allowed to lag behind."

"Understood," I replied in my best male voice before we went out of the room to the omote.

Between the omote and nakoku was a regular wall and door. Through this door, Kaname's administrative personnel moved between these two sections of the castle. There was not a single woman in sight, which was a let down because I wanted to test my head maid and Taneyuki-san's theory: my current appearance can disarm women.

~~~

Kaname sat in the northernmost part of the room with his legs crossed and his head resting on one hand. Unlike in the other rooms I've been to in the entire castle, the room had a proper chair and not just a cus.h.i.+on for him to sit on. The chair resembled a throne and was placed on a raised wooden platform. I stood on his left while holding his katana. On the floor by his right foot, Taneyuki-san sat on a cus.h.i.+on like a dutiful secretary taking down the minutes of a meeting.

Although his body language exuded a relaxed and bored air, Kaname's eyes were staring sharply at the people before him. The daimyos' heads hung low as he brutally stripped them off of their pride with his verbal las.h.i.+ngs. This was a side of Kaname I have never seen before.

"As the lords of the area, you couldn't even do a simple job. I a.s.signed you to improve the living conditions of the place by supervising the farmers and the peasants but what did you all do?" his voice dripped with restrained anger. "You abused the power I bestowed upon you and took more than what you were supposed to, leaving the working cla.s.s hungry!"

"M-my lord," the man in the middle peeked at Kaname, he was rubbing his hands together as if begging him to calm down. His face reminded me of a typical power-hungry gang leader trying to appease his master. "We will not do it again, please forgive us just this once!"

"'not do it again'? 'Just this once'?" Kaname quoted him mockingly. "You all know my rule, I do not give second chances! When I appointed you lot, I made it clear that I have zero tolerance for scheming and corrupt officials! You thought that because you lived very far I would not know of your behavior! Unfortunately for all of you I have little birds that report to me."

The man in the middle bit his lower lip and squeezed his eyes shut as if Kaname slapped him in the face. The man on his right, upon seeing his colleague's defeated expression, gathered all his courage and spoke.

"Our esteemed leader," he started. "We admit that we were blinded by power. To show our sincerity, we will immediately return what rightfully belongs to the farmers. We will also, from this day onwards, uphold your principle and law with hearts and mind free from corruption and greed."

My lips twitched, the old man sure knows his way with words. I glanced at Kaname briefly. When I saw him gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth, I knew he was restraining himself from lunging towards the feudal lords and beating them into a pulp.

"Oh?" he spoke after a while. "But what about the women whose innocence you forcefully took? How will you compensate for the maidenhood they have lost?"

Upon hearing his question, all three men lifted their heads in shock, a we're-done-for expression on their pale faces. They took turns gulping down their rising panic.

Kaname raised his left hand to me, indicating that he needed his katana. I hurriedly placed it in his hand.

"What will you do?" he got up and tapped the heads of the daimyos with the tip of his katana's saya. "Especially you, Tetsunsan."

The old man who spoke earlier suddenly grabbed the hems of Kaname's trousers. Without thinking, I hurriedly unsheathed his sword and pointed it to the pathetic old man. His eyes bulged, his words stuck in his throat.

"Get your hands off the shogun," I said, my voice cold.

The man named Tetsuna did as was told before giving me a dirty look. It didn't miss Kaname's hawk eyes, earning him a swift kick on his left jaw. The man toppled over, shock and pain etched on his face.

"You vile old man!" he yelled, if looks could kill the man would have died by now. "Do you think I don't know what you did to a farmer's daughter in the town square!?"

"K-kaname-sama, there must be some sort of mistake!" he got back on his knees, his jaw was starting to swell. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Kaname barked a sarcastic laugh. "You don't? Taneyuki-san, read what my informant stated in his report aloud! Do not leave a word behind! We must refresh our guest's memory!"

Taneyuki-san reached for a scroll, unrolled it, and cleared his throat. "At the hour of the snake in the twentieth day of the eleventh month in the western Chugoku region, second feudal lord Tetsuna n.o.bunaga forcefully took the innocence of a foxtailed millet farmer's daughter as punishment for the latter's refusal to turn over more than the stipulated sixty percent share. The young lady, who is later on learned to be only in her fourth year of adolescence, was stripped in the middle of the town square and was made to prostrate herself spread-eagled on a makes.h.i.+ft table made of combined wooden crates. After much begging from the farmer, the second feudal lord ravished the young girl in public. Afterwards, he then ordered his men to ransack the man's home and took all his stored food leaving him hungry and dishonored."