Outside of the walls, the ferocious demon stared at Lily, its eyes filled with sarcastic reluctance, slowly it retreated back into the demonic smoke, the smoke lingered around the wall. For some reason, it dared not enter the walls.
Lily turned and looked around, the courtyard was vast and in well kept condition. The shrubs were all trimmed into neat oval balls, the ancient pines and flowers had been pruned into ingenious formations, forming a beautiful scenery with the carefully placed rocks.
Lily was a woman with high class tastes, she felt that the standards of this garden were very high.
“Halt! Who goes there!?”
Lily had just let out a breath of relief when from the garden ahead two squads of white armored samurais rushed over surrounding her against the base of the wall, they shone a lantern on her.
Lily looked, seeing they were all normal human samurai. It seems like she had trespassed into some noble’s residence. “My apologies, I was being chased by demons, I had no choice but to enter this lord’s residence to hide. Please allow me to take shelter here for a while.”
“Ridiculous! Do you know where this is?”
“A suspect trespassing with a blade! A capital crime! Capture her!”
The group of guards were determined to capture her.
“Wait!” Lily didn’t want to use force unless she had to, afterall she was the trespasser, “I was undertaking a task for my lord before being chased by demons into here! Please tell me who your lord is!”
Lily was getting the feeling something was wrong. While she was protesting, more and more torches and shouting reached her ears. She could see samurais and onmyoji pouring into the garden, and none were weak. What family had this sort of force?
A black armored middle aged mustached samurai marched up, pointing his ghost patterned tachi at Lily growling, “This is the imperial palace, no matter the reason, entering with a blade is a capital crime! Of course, being chased into here is still a felony, but it is forgivable. Report your lord’s name, whose orders are you following and what are you doing?”
“What? This is the imperial palace?” No wonder the demons dared not enter. The Heian-kyo imperial palace had plenty of defenses they dared not touch.
Lily knew she was in trouble, “I……”
“What?” The black clad samurai questioned, “Did you not say you were under orders? Under whose orders did you dare trespass into the imperial palace! Speak! Do not dare lie, I will have your claims investigated!”
“I…” The fact she was sent to visit Madam Yoruko was a secret. She didn’t know if reporting Lady Ayaka’s name would cause problems.
Lily was too unaware of the political currents in the court, she didn’t know what sort of effect would happen if she mentioned the Chief Advisor’s name.
“Hmph! You won’t speak? Bringing a blade into the imperial palace, I think your goal is an assasination! Capture her!”
Lily looked behind her, behind that tall wall was a monstrous army, if she jumped across she would definitely die unless she used the blood spirit magatama.
“There’s nowhere to run! Surrender!”
Lily considered her options, should she break through this group and then find an exit?
“No, this is the palace. She had been chased by the demon army and had no other choice but to trespass. This could always be cleared up in the future, but if she started a fight here, then that would be rebellion. In the group were experts at the spirit jade stage and above. If they really got into a fight, then there would be casualties. She had methods, but it would be folly to think it was enough to counter the Heian dynasty.
Rather than escape out the wall and face an army of demons, it’s probably safer to stay in the heavenly prison. She wouldn’t be able to escape from the heavenly prison, but at least those demons wouldn’t be able to enter either. She could request rescue from Lady Ayaka at that time.
Lily compared the two in her heart and made a decision.
She flipped her sleeves clear, making the samurai and onmyoji flinch, but she simply untied her blade from her waist and dropped it on the ground. She had secretly replaced Yasutsuna with a grade six samurai blade during her sleeve waving.
As long as her treasures weren’t exposed it would be fine.
Seeing Lily disarm, the black armored samurai ordered, “Detain her!”
An onmyouji cast an incantation, creating an aura shackle chaining her hands, and the rest of the samurai lead her away with spears. The group led her across the courtyard, towards the west side where the heavenly prison was.
Deep in the courtyard, there was a boy in a long white peony kimono. He had been watching the moon in the lake but hid deep in the pavilion and saw the group of samurai leading a female in red through the courtyard.
He hid behind a pillar and looked over. The female in red had a familiar figure.
“Sister samurai!” Prince Narinaga was surprised.
But he was not qualified to interfere with the actions of the palace guards. He was concerned about the situation and approached an onmyouji, “Sir, why was that samurai sister arrested?”
Seeing Prince Narinaga, the onmyouji knelt, answering, “Answering his royal highness, this woman brought a blade into the palace, it is very likely an assassination attempt. She was captured by the imperial guards and sent to the heavenly prison.”
“Sister samurai…assassination? No, not possible.”
“Prince Narinaga? Do you know that woman?”
“Ah, no, no! I don’t.” The situation in the court was chaotic, he didn’t recognize which faction this onmyoji belonged to. If he carelessly recognized Lily, he might cause her harm.”
Though Lily was shackled by the onmyoji, but she felt that she could still easily break free. She quietly and quickly suppressed her aura and spirit power, she didn’t want the guards to discover her true abilities.
She felt that the situation was still controllable, as they marched toward the prison, more and more samurais and onmyouji joined the guards. It looks like they really thought she was an assassin.
