The news that the eldest son of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire was going to marry spread to other countries in just a few days. The speculation about the future mother of the first great country has also made headlines in major newspapers and tabloids, and has attracted attention compared to Princess Rika last summer's "willing to exchange a castle for a Konoha and a flag Kikashi".

I don't know where I heard the rumors.,Most of the speculation is that the princess of the country of flowers, Tsurumi.。 Although they are all from a famous family in a country, Tsurumi is definitely far inferior to Xiude and Rika in terms of family status. However, the princess of the country of flowers is famous for her talent and virtue, and no matter how you look at it, she is the wife candidate of the Xiude Society.

If Hidetoku really wants to marry Tsurumi, I'm afraid Rika will quarrel in the Daimyo's mansion until it is peaceful.

In fact, at this time, the Daimyo's Mansion was indeed in a commotion.

Xiude brought his future wife back to see the family, and thankfully, it wasn't Tsurumi. She is the only daughter of Arashiko, one of the retainers of the Daimyo Mansion, Masao Goto.

Speaking of Goto Masao, he is a retainer of the Daimyo Mansion with a very delicate status. This man was erudite and upright, and he had his own political opinions, and he never deliberately curryed favor with the daimyo, often condemning Nikaido and his ilk as moths of the country, and advocating that the monarch should be diligent in government and love the people, and stay away from courtiers. Probably a loyal and virtuous minister, but unfortunately he is not a favorite of the daimyo. The daimyo was lukewarm to him, and certainly never close, as if he were a dispensable person. However, the strange thing is that in the past twenty years, the retainers of the Daimyo Mansion have been replaced many times, and he has always been there, not replaced, but still not reused.

Goto Arashiko is much more famous than her father, as the first talented girl in the country of fire, she even beat the princess of the country of flowers, Tsurumi, in the talent competition of the noble ladies of various countries. By the way, Rika never participated in the talent competition, and because of this, she was criticized as "the princess of the country of fire has nothing but skin". When the gossip reached the Daimyo's Mansion, Xiude hated Tie Chenggang and reprimanded her for not learning well on weekdays, Rika snorted disapprovingly: "What kind of talent do I have, what does it matter to them?" It's boring. "Xiudeok didn't look at her.

Ahem, it's far away. In short, the woman Goto Arashiko is as talented and virtuous as her father. Thinking about it, how can the person who Xiude will choose to be his wife be an ordinary aristocratic daughter. Hidetoku also said before that he would never marry a woman like his mother Shijimi and sister Rika.

The daimyo is not close to Goto Masao, and Arashiko certainly has no chance to enter and leave the daimyo's mansion. Although Rika hadn't seen her before, she had heard a lot of her deeds, after all, the name of the first talented woman in the Fire Country was second only to the first beauty in the Fire Country.

Arashiko visits the Daimyo's Mansion for the first time as Hidetoku's fiancée, and after meeting the Daimyo couple, she meets Rika in the back garden. Xiude is still in the hall, not knowing what he is discussing with his parents.

"Good day, Rika-sama." Arashi hasn't officially married into the daimyo's mansion yet, and she still has to salute when she sees Rika.

It was winter, and a plum tree bloomed in the garden, and Rika sat on the stone bench in the pavilion, nodding while looking at her, and did not ask her to sit down next to her, but stood up by herself.

Arashi was several years older than Rika, about half a head taller than Rika, but at the moment she was standing in front of the gazebo, and Rika was standing in the gazebo with three steps from the ground, so Rika was looking down at her and talking: "My brother said that he wanted to marry you." ”

"Thank you for your kindness." Lanzi replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Rika asked, and she replied, neither verbose nor hidden.

Both are the first talented girls, and Arashi and Tsurumi have completely different feelings for Rika. Tsurumi has always been proud of himself, but when facing Rika, he has to put on a humble and pandering attitude. And Lanzi has no sense of being tall, nor does she deliberately pretend to be close to Lixiang, and she doesn't even see a trace of flattery from her. She stood upright at the foot of the steps, answering Rika's question without hurry, her expression gentle and flat, and her tone with just the right amount of respect.

Goto Lanzi is a person who knows books and etiquette, understands the overall situation and is measured, and most importantly - very sincere. She will not bend flattery in order to please others, even if the other party is a daimyo, but the respect she carries is more sincere than many people. This may have been inherited from her upright father.

I've heard that there is some kind of wonderful telepathy between families.

Rika suddenly felt that this woman and Xiude might really be a good match.

"Do you like my brother?" Rika asked directly.

Arashiko's tone was still very calm: "I have great respect for Hidetoku-sama. ”

This answer made Rika stunned, staring at her with wide eyes on a blank face, and then wondered for a while: "...... Beloved? ”

Arashi bowed to her in affirmation.

Rika didn't understand what kind of emotion "respect" was.

***

After Arashiko left, the four members of the daimyo family had a brief conversation. Daimyo and Shijimi didn't have any opinions, and Shijimi said, "It's not an interesting person, it's far worse than my cute Rika." Hawkers, forget it, it's indeed the type that Xiude will look at. ”

Xiudeok doesn't want to marry a "cute" wife like her sister Rika.

The daimyo even yawned and said with a bored face, "Marry the daughter of the Goto family...... Later, when Goto Masao came to the Daimyo's Mansion, Hidetoku would meet him. ”

Only Rika hadn't come to her senses from Arashi's words. Hidetoku's handsome face doesn't show a hint of joy because the marriage is approaching, and Rika feels that his expression is almost exactly the same as Arashi's when talking about the upcoming marriage.

Maybe it's the so-called husband and wife relationship - I always feel like there's something wrong.

"Is my brother happy about getting married?" Rika asked, staring straight at him with big eyes.

Xiude thought for a moment and replied truthfully, "It's not about being happy or unhappy, but I have a feeling that I'm about to breathe a sigh of relief." ”

There is a feeling that a responsibility has finally been fulfilled - Su-deok wants to convey this to his sister.

"Does my brother like Lanzi?"

"I have a lot of respect for her." Even the answer to this question is exactly the same as Arashiko.

"But ......" Rika had an indescribable look on her face, as if she was a little entangled, a little sad, and more dazed. Xiude had never seen his sister show such a strange look, and she didn't match her at all, and she couldn't help but wonder what Arashiko said to Rika just now, and the next second she heard Rika's voice full of confusion: "What if my brother meets a girl who likes and likes very much in the future, what should I do?" ”

Xiudeok couldn't answer.

But it's very unlikely, he thought.

For Xiudeok, there are too many things that are more important than the girl he likes, more important than his own marriage.

The moon was sparse that night, and Rika sat in the wooden corridor in her courtyard wearing a thick haori to watch the night sky, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that her brother suddenly said that he was going to get married, and it was too messy - she was not ready for a new family member to join.

"Even if my brother messes around, my father and mother won't stop it!" Rika frowned, pursed her lips and complained with displeasure on her face, and there was a bit of pretentious old-fashioned in her tone, which made people feel funny—she was the least qualified person in the world to say this.

"Lord Daimyo and Mrs. Shijimi usually indulge in your willfulness, so I should occasionally indulge in the willfulness of Lord Hidetoku."

Ryoko's voice with a slight smile sounded behind her, and Rika was stunned and looked back at her in great surprise. The night wind blows on my cheeks, and the plum petals are swept by the wind like snow and fall on the black haori, and the fragrance of the pear is unnoticed.

Ryoko felt speechless, her face changed, and she immediately bowed to Rika, bowed her forehead on the back of her overlapping hands, and said, "It's me who overdistanced, please punish Rika-sama." ”

After waiting for a long time, she didn't hear any reaction from Rika, and Ryoko was a little apprehensive, but she didn't dare to look up. How could she, a little maid, say such rude words? Ryoko was annoyed.

The winter night is cold, and even the night insects don't come out to chirp quietly.

"I know you're different from them, and you don't say a lot of things just to make me hear."

Lixiang's clear and bright voice was like a bead falling on a jade plate in this quiet night, and for a moment, Ryoko wondered if she had heard it wrong.

This sentence is very inexplicable, it is simply a preface and a follow-up, and the mind jumps bigger than the sky that can be seen overhead. Where did "they" come from? Who are you referring to? What are the words of "a lot of words"? These all appeared very suddenly, with neither foreshadowing nor foreshadowing, like a stone flying out of nowhere and suddenly falling into the calm surface of a lake with a thud.

But Liangzi actually understood, I don't know if it's because of the tacit understanding cultivated by growing up together for more than ten years. She couldn't help but look up at Rika, her expression even more surprised than Rika just now.

The corners of Rika's mouth turned upward, and there was a pure smile in her big eyes, so bright that even the stars were eclipsed.

Ryoko suddenly felt that her nose was sour, and her voice was a little choked: "Lord Lixiang...... has changed a lot......" said but shook his head violently, and involuntarily curled the corners of his mouth: "I can't say that it has changed...... Rika-sama ......" She frowned and looked like she was meditating, but she couldn't think of the right words to describe it.

Rika tilted her head to look at her in confusion.

After all, Ryoko failed to express what she meant.

A patrol guard passed by and saluted Rika. The guards did not carry lanterns, and the light of the wall candles in the cloister flickered and was so faint that the faces of the visitors could barely be seen.

The guards said hello and turned to continue patrolling, but Rika stood up at that moment and raised her voice towards the back of the departing figure, "Kakashi! ”

The beads fell into the jade plate and rang three times.

A certain silver-haired ninja who had been following the guards just now but had not made a sound paused, sighed and turned around, and the dead fish eyes melted into the vast night: "Princess, how do you know that it is me in such a dim light?" ”

Rika instantly put the previous things behind her, and a big smile seemed to fly up from her face, and said without hesitation: "I just know." ”

No matter how crowded the crowd or how dark the night, there is always someone who you can recognize at a glance.

What do you say it is? I say that's where the heart belongs.

- From the first volume of the second part of "The Story of Rika and Cassie".