After he parted from Ko, Shin couldn’t bring himself to return to the Saname family residence. Instead, he made his way to Kansa’s house again—he wanted to hear her side of the story.
Kansa appeared understandably unsettled by Shin’s return, especially considering the sun had already set. “Oh… Young master. Is something the matter?”
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
Undeterred by how abnormally dispirited Shin seemed, Kansa ushered him inside.
“What is it that you wanted to ask me, then?” she asked. “Is it true that you’ve been seeing my mother’s ghost…?”
Kansa’s eyes widened a little. “It is,” she said, sounding upset. “Don’t you believe me?”
“Have you been criticizing our father behind his back?” Kansa stayed silent at that, however, and her expression became tense.
Shin continued. “Is it true that you’re the one who’s been telling everybody that Ko is going to inherit our father’s position rather than me?”
All the emotion drained from Kansa’s face. Shin felt like he was looking at a blank wall, unable to gauge how the woman felt from her expression. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were right there, but they were bereft of any sentiments.
A few moments later, Kansa began to smile—or rather, her face distorted into an odd, smile-like expression.
An impenetrable dark gloom appeared behind her eyes. “Well… It’s not as if I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops,” Kansa began. “Even if I didn’t say anything myself, there’d always be somebody spreading rumors about it. People are irresponsible. We love gossip.”
Shin felt his strength drain from his body. It was true—Ko was right.
“Why? Why would you do such a thing?” he asked, his voice shaking.
Kansa remained tight-lipped for a while, before eventually saying in a low voice, “Isn’t it obvious? Because I wanted to make one of Shosen’s sons the head of the family.”
“…What?” Shin didn’t understand what Kansa meant. “But I’m her son too, aren’t I?”
But the moment he said that, the blood drained from his face.
It couldn’t be…
“Surely you must have had a slight suspicion,” she said. “She showed such little affection to you—treated you so cruelly.”
It wasn’t just Shin who was treated that way. His mother didn’t love any of her children—not Ko, not Ryo, not even Banka. She looked at every single one of them as if they were repulsive.
“Poor Shosen. She was informed that her husband had had a baby with another woman the very day she married him,” Kansa remarked.
“Does that mean that I’m the son of a mistress that my father had? I never—”
“If you were the son of a mistress, then it wouldn’t be kept a secret. Such situations are common. In this case, though, the baby’s very existence was concealed and there were very few people who knew of it. After ten months passed, it was announced that a baby had been born and that it was Shosen’s son, but naturally, he couldn’t be shown to the public. He was clearly not a newborn. Instead, the child was brought up inside the family residence and not permitted to leave. People were led to believe it was because he was suffering from poor health… And that child, young master, was you.”
Shin listened to Kansa’s story in complete silence. He didn’t believe it at all.
“Do you think I’m lying to you?” she asked. “That doesn’t bother me. I’ll just tell you what I have to say and be done with it. Why do you think you were kept a secret? There was no question that you were Choyo’s son. In which case, there could only be one explanation—your mother was someone the public would have judged him for fathering a child with. Can you imagine who she might have been?”
Shin paused before answering. “No.”
Kansa seemed to be getting a degree of enjoyment out of this exchange. There was a malicious glint in her eye. Shin had never seen her like this before, just like how Ko’s temperament was a surprise. I’ve been learning a lot of new things today, Shin thought to himself, somewhat detached.
“Those who know the truth have kept their mouths firmly shut, and even I had a hard time getting to the bottom of it all. Still, once I found out the facts, it became obvious why people tried to hide them. Such a disgusting, sinful relationship could never be revealed to the public,” she said.
Shin’s back started to feel unpleasant and sticky—and yet his body was peculiarly cold. Don’t listen to her, his whole body begged. She has to be lying, he could hear his body screaming out to him. You’re better off ignoring her!
“Did you know about your father’s younger sister, Yo? She was the Saname clan’s youngest daughter.”
Kansa paused and licked her lips. It looked disgusting, like a snake flicking its tongue in front of a frog it was about to devour. “The two of them were blood siblings, but they were in love.
Yo died after giving birth to their baby…and that baby is you, young master,” Kansa declared, sounding almost triumphant.
Shin felt his heart freeze over. Nothing could shock him anymore. He gave Kansa an icy look.
“I don’t know why you’re bothering to waste your breath,” he said. “This is ludicrous.”
“Oh. You don’t believe me?” “Why would I?”
Kansa winced. She wants to hurt my feelings, Shin thought. As such, he was trying to reject what she was claiming. It didn’t seem believable to him by any stretch of the imagination. He didn’t want to believe it. It was all so preposterous.
“That’s enough,” Shin said, getting to his feet. “I will never set foot in here again. Farewell.” He headed for the door.