The Will to Reform

"Yao, do not behave rudely in the hall!" The queen had no choice but to speak up and stop her. She looked at Wuyue Yao in some surprise, as though trying to understand what she was thinking.

The Yama Queen's succession had nothing to do with bloodline, but the queen's relationship with the many mikos was no different from that of mothers and daughters, sisters. Chiba had watched Wuyue grow up since childhood and naturally knew what kind of girl she was. She was brave and steadfast, yet not outgoing by nature, and she had scarcely ever made enemies. This was the first time Chiba had seen her act so impulsively.

"Your Majesty, I was merely stating the facts," the miko said calmly.

Yet it was precisely that calm reply that pierced Chiba Oriko's heart.

She had never addressed her so formally before.

For one fleeting moment, the queen suddenly found Wuyue Yao strangely unfamiliar.

The girl she had once known so well seemed to have drifted far away from her.

"Are you... blaming me?" An unprecedented weariness washed over Chiba. "I sent you down a perilous road where death was all but certain, and placed all the hope of saving the kingdom upon your shoulders. I truly have wronged you in this matter."

"Your Majesty, you are overstating it." Minamoto Kyuchi coughed twice. "Wuyue was not the only one who bore a heavy responsibility at the time. Nearly everyone here has fought Dong Sheng Kingdom on the battlefield. It was merely a matter of differing duties."

"Elder Minamoto is right. Wuyue Yao indeed rendered great service, but that is no reason for her to spout nonsense in the hall!"

The assembled ministers echoed their agreement.

"Very well. For the sake of Miko's youth, I can overlook her slip of