Main World.
Spring, Year 26 of Konoha.
Imperial Palace, Consort Xin's Bedchamber.
The snow outside the window had melted completely, and tender green buds sprouted on the branches. Spring sunlight filtered through the thin window gauze, casting faint patterns of light and shadow on the floor. Kushina sat on a cushioned couch by the window, holding a cup of hot tea, her long red hair stirring gently in the breeze. She wore a pale purple kimono without a sash, draped loosely over her body, giving her a languid, casual air.
Mikoto sat opposite her in a black maid's uniform, a white apron tied around her waist. Her hair was pinned up, exposing her slender neck. Her face was expressionless, but something churned in her eyes-not hatred, but confusion. She had been here for several months, from winter into spring, from unfamiliarity to... not familiarity, but "adjustment." She had adjusted to being a maid, to her body being controlled, to those shameful nights. But she did not understand-why treat her this way?
"Kushina," Mikoto said very softly.
"Mm." Kushina set down her teacup and looked at her.
"I... I want to know why Toyotomi Yinglang is treating me this way."
Kushina looked at her in silence for a moment. Then she smiled. There was no mockery in that smile, no sympathy, only a faint, matter-of-fact calm.
"Because your behavior... isn't to his taste."
Mikoto's brow furrowed slightly. She had thought Kushina would say, "He's tormenting you," or, "He's taming you." But "isn't to his taste"-that phrasing was too mild, so mild that she could make no sense of it.
"What do you mean?" There was a trace of confusion in Mikoto's voice.
Kushina lifted her teacup, took a sip, then set it down.
"When you were still the clan leader's wife,