Although I was worried about it, as soon as I returned to my mansion in Kyoto, I was entangled in a lot of affairs. The original estimate was wrong, and Nagano Yoshimasa and Takenaka Hanbei had not only informed me of my arrival, but also sent an executive officer waiting for me with a large number of pending papers.

No way, after all, business comes first! I was buried in a pile of papers except for dinner, and I didn't get it properly until the middle of the night. When I fell asleep and opened my eyes, it was almost noon. hurriedly pulled two mouthfuls of food, and then got ready to get on the carriage and go out.

"Your Highness, you have worked hard!" At Ikeda's door, I met his family, Hisashi Kawahiwa, and greeted me with my journey. This is a very loyal elder with little talent, who grew up watching Ikeda Hengxing.

"Is Ikeda-sama at home?" Although I asked, I didn't have much hope, Ikeda Hengxing is a person who can't stay idle, and usually goes out to hang out at this time, and now it's not busy time, so it's really difficult for him to stay at home honestly. I woke up too late in the morning, but I must see this kid today, so I have to sit here and wait!

"My lord is just at home!" I didn't expect Ikeda Hengxing to not go out, which is really against convention. "Please wait in the living room, Your Highness, I'll go in and see if the lord is up!" Kawayan Kushin replied in a hurry, as if he was extremely pleased with my arrival.

I went into the living room and sat down, Xue standing behind me. I should say that the surroundings have not changed much from the last time I visited, but I clearly felt an unsettling atmosphere.

The windows are as bright and clean as ever, and the flowers and pines in the courtyard are still delicately trimmed. It's just that there are no retainers and servants in the few courtyards that passed, and there is no lively atmosphere in the past, and the few subordinates who occasionally appear are all hurried by with sad faces, as if they are shrouded in a gloomy mist.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" After a while, Kawayan Jiuxin ran out again, an old face full of worry and joy. "My lord, please come to the inner room to meet, please come with me!" After speaking, lead the way.

"Oh!" I groaned unconsciously. This guy didn't come out to greet me, it's really uneducated. I followed him inside, thinking about the words of "Monkey" and Akechi Mitsuhide, and the series of abnormal conditions.

"Please!" Kawaiwa Hisatin opened the door for me and stood on the side.

"Gross!" As soon as I stood in front of the door, I almost threw up, and a strong haze mixed with the smell of wine hit my face, and almost hit me on the head. I reached out and left the door completely open and stood for a moment, waiting for the "poison gas" inside to be almost clear before I lifted my leg and stepped in. Kawayan Hisanobu stood awkwardly to the side, looking at my somewhat rude behavior.

Even though the doors were all open, the room was still dark because the windows were all closed, and it seemed to be a thick fog compared to the strong sunlight outside. Even though a lot of fresh air has been put in, the smell of cloudy wine and damp mildew are still strong. In the corners of the four corners, there are many wine bottles scattered horizontally. If someone who doesn't know breaks in, they will mistakenly think that they have entered a tomb hundreds of years ago.

"Big brother, you're here!" In the shadow of the corner of the room, something that had been thought to be a statue suddenly spoke.

"You?" As soon as I entered, I was so confused by the strange atmosphere in this room that I forgot the original purpose of coming here for a while. It wasn't until I looked closely that I realized that the statue-like "thing" was actually Ikeda Hengxing.

At this moment, Ikeda Hengxing has lost all the vigor of the past, his clothes are crumpled and hooped around his body, and his hair has not been washed for an unknown amount of time, and he is pulling on and pulling on one lock after another. Due to the lack of sunlight and alcoholism for a long time, his face showed a yellowish-white color similar to the teeth of a smoker, his face was covered with dense stubble like freshly cut wheat, and his dim eyes were covered with criss-crossing bloodshots, and the thick eye droppings showed a misty look.

"Bastard!" I thought that he might have some pimples in his heart, and prepared some words of comfort to relieve him, but seeing that he was actually such a ghost in front of me, I couldn't suppress the fire in my heart and suddenly burst out. "You're going to die! Hirohei Ikeda, who forced Takeda Shingen to retreat, could be a walking corpse like you?! Find a mirror and take a good look at yourself, see if you are a human or a ghost now! ”

"People? Ghost? Hey, hey...... Does it matter? He laughed dryly twice and was unmoved by my scolding, seeing that his mental state was completely a dead man, a "dead man" with a dead heart.

"Oh......" I didn't expect him to have reached this level, it seems that it is not a sentence or two that can bring him back to life.

"I ...... I'll pour you a cup of tea! Kawayan Hisanobu turned and walked out the door, looking at his back from behind, it seemed that it was because of his unremitting efforts that he barely managed to maintain the apparent dignity of this mansion.

"What the hell is it for, is it just Princess Ashi?" Now it doesn't even work to drink as a head, so I have to be patient and reason with him, at least find out the reason first. "I know your heart for Princess Ashi, but you can't help her, and you can't help her! Now it's all about taking care of yourself and ...... within what you can."

"What can you do? Hey, hey......" Ikeda rolled his eyelids at me with a hollow smile. "Big brother, you are really calm and objective! You are always calm and objective, but I don't know: if it is now Xianzhi's sister-in-law in this situation, will you still be so ......"

Once again, I couldn't control my emotions, I just felt an evil fire rushing to my head, and I couldn't tolerate him mentioning Xianzhi in this way. Just then, Kawaiwa Hisanobu put a cup of tea in front of him, and I casually picked it up and poured it at Ikeda Hengxing. Tea ran down his cheeks, and although the temperature was not very high, it burned him.

"You...... You! "After a moment of shock, Kawawa Hisatin glared at me, and a samurai could not ignore such an insult to his lord, even though he was a gentle old man.

"Don't get excited!" Just when he pressed the handle of the knife and Ah Xue was already in front of me, Ikeda Hengxing calmly stopped the two sides. He wiped the tea on his face with his hand and said, "I was right! Big brother, you are indeed very calm, the lord was much more excited than you when he came a few days ago! ”

"Princess Ashi...... Is it really that important to you? I felt a deep sympathy after the indignation, and his words about Xianzhi touched me greatly.

He nodded, his hair tousled to make his head look like a kelp roll. "She didn't cry when I saw Princess Ashi, but I would rather she cry out loud, and my heart almost broke when I saw that look! Sometimes I regret that I didn't pull out my knife and kill her, that would be the ultimate relief! But I know...... I can't do it! At this point, he burst into tears.

"I'm going to talk to you alone!" Seeing him like this, something that had been bothering me for a long time finally made up my mind.

"This ......" Kawayan Hisatin hesitated, but in the end Ikeda Hengxing waved his hand at him. I also glanced at Ah Xue, and she nodded knowingly, holding the scabbard in her hand and walked out. The door was closed from the outside, and the "poisonous gas" began to slowly gather again.

"If you really want to relieve Princess Ashi's pain, you should take care of yourself!" I said to Ikeda Hengxing in all my words: "Now Princess Aichi has drowned herself in pain, and she has lost all hope in her life!" The 'monkey' and Shibata coveted her beauty, or coveted this opportunity to enter the body, and they all had ulterior motives for her! The more you should stand up at this time, protect her, and give her hope in life again! ”

"Yes...... But I can't do it! He continued to sob.

"Can't you look like a man?!" With a loud curse, I took out the letter that Kanzo Kato had sent to me in Hokkaido, threw it forward, and threw it in front of Ikeda Tsuneko. "Take it! It will do everything you want, but it will also come with a lot of risk! ”

"What is this?" He stopped his tears, looked at me with blank eyes, and then at the letter.

"This contains the hope of Princess Ashi to live, and it is also your life!" Suddenly I remembered his situation at the moment, and added, "If you are not careful, then there are still my lives and many others in this!" ”

"Oh......" Ikeda pulled out the letter with a trembling hand, the room was too dark for him to see. Moved a few steps closer to a crack in the window and looked through the faint light. This is a letter that has no beginning or end, and the writing is crooked and very childish, and it can probably be guessed from the content that it is a letter of peace, but I don't know why two handwritings are used. "This ......," he said, looking at me again in confusion.

"This is the handwriting of the two sons of Princess Ashi!" My voice was soft, but the effect was like a bombshell.

After a long time, I almost thought he was petrified. "They...... Where are you now? He asked with a smile.

"It has been sent to North Korea, and now it should be in the Andong area!" Seeing that he gradually recovered, I also let go of the heart that had been hanging. “…… Now that they are no longer safe anywhere in Japan, anyone can use them for their own benefit! I can continue to provide them if I want them in the future, but they'd better stay there until the limelight passes. ”

"Big Brother !!" Ikeda came up to me and grabbed my hand with tears in his eyes. "In the future, no matter in the water or fire, the knife mountain oil pot! As long as you say a word, I, Ikeda Hengxing, will never frown! ”

"What are you doing in the Daoshan oil pot? I think of glory and wealth! I pulled out a hand and patted him on the shoulder. Treat Princess Ashi well, and treat yourself well! ”

"Yes!" He jumped up in agreement and ran towards the door.

"Why are you going?"

"Go see Princess Ashi!" He ran and carried the letter in his arms.

"Just like this to see Princess Ashi?"

"This ......," Ikeda Hengxing was stunned for a moment, and after a moment of contemplation, he touched his beard and opened the door. Jiuxin! Go get me hot water, a razor, and a towel, and get me a table to eat! Look at what you're giving me food these days......"

Ha Yan Jiuxin in the courtyard looked at all this in a daze, as if he couldn't believe what was happening in front of him, and tears slowly flowed out of his eyes.

As if he hadn't seen it, Ikeda turned his head and continued to shout, "Yoshinosuke! Tiger Maru! Go and get my saber 'Takenoyo', I didn't care about you little monkey cubs for a few days, you're going to be fine, aren't you! ”

I laughed silently when I heard him bluff back to his old angry bluff.