I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Kira had always looked down on Asano. Not only did he not help, he also made Asano look foolish and mocked him for being ungrateful.

When the Emperor's envoys arrived, Asano made a complete fool of himself and became a laughing stock.

Asano knew that Kira had deliberately embarrassed him in front of everyone, so he was furious.

In an attempt to avenge himself, he angrily drew his sword on the last day of the ceremony and wounded Kira.

Asano's act of openly committing violence in the main hall enraged Shogun Tsunayoshi.

Shogun Tsunayoshi immediately ordered Asano to commit seppuku that very day and confiscated the territory of the Ako Domain.

Asano committed seppuku, while Kira was found not guilty—Ishiuchi Kuranosuke, the head of the Ako Domain, and his retainers were very dissatisfied with the verdict.

[Note: *Kera* was a feudal domain official position during the Edo period. The *Kera* was to the domain what the *Rojū* (senior councilor) was to the shogunate. They were responsible for commanding all samurai within the domain and overseeing all affairs within the domain.]

In order to avenge their lord, Oishi Kuranosuke and other retainers of the Ako Domain who were also determined to seek revenge made a pact and swore an oath. They then went to different places to seek survival and wait for the right opportunity.

Oishi Kuranosuke, who was determined to kill Kira, went to great lengths to achieve his goal.

He abandoned his wife and children and went to Gion in Kyoto to patronize geisha. He did this intentionally to make the Kira family believe that he had fallen into depravity.

Oishi was the chief retainer and head of the Ako Domain, so the Kira family, who feared that the Ako Domain retainers would seek revenge, paid the most attention to Oishi's actions.

After learning that Oishi led a dissolute and absurd life every day, the Kira family lowered their guard.

In 1703, Oishi, believing the time was ripe, began to secretly summon comrades scattered throughout the country.

Including Oishi, there were 47 retainers of the Ako clan who were determined to avenge their fallen comrades and went to Edo with the resolve to die.

On December 15, Oishi Kuranosuke personally led the Ako retainers to storm Kira's residence and took Kira's head on the spot.

Subsequently, Oishi and the others surrendered to the shogunate officials and were detained to await judgment.

In 1704, the shogunate ordered them to commit seppuku.

The 47 Ako retainers who stormed Kira's residence and killed Kira are collectively known as the "Forty-Seven Righteous Men of Ako".

This incident, in which personal favoritism was used to avenge the lord, is also known as the "Ako Incident" or the "Genroku Incident".

The "Ako Incident" caused a national uproar.

Oishi Kuranosuke became a model of "loyalty" in one fell swoop, and his name became synonymous with "endurance" and "sleeping on firewood and tasting gall".

Kikuchi Sensui used Tachibana Takayuki as a metaphor for Oishi Uchizosuke...

If, as Kikuchi claims, Tachibana Takayuki deliberately tarnished his own reputation to lower the guard of the Shimizu clan and infiltrate them to gather intelligence... then Tachibana Takayuki's actions are even worse than those of Oishi Kuranosuke.

As if they had agreed beforehand, Sae and Yae turned their heads to the side in unison and glanced at Aoto.

Seeing Qingdeng's calm expression, they seemed relieved and shifted their gaze away from him.

Admittedly, on the surface, Qingdeng appeared calm and composed.

However, in reality, Qing Deng's inner world was not as calm as he appeared...

Although the claim that "Tachibana Takayuki was pretending to be addicted to gambling" has not been strongly confirmed and is purely Kikuchi Chisui's personal conjecture, it is still a theoretical speculation.

Although Tachibana Takayuki was just a "close stranger" to Aoto, Aoto didn't have deep feelings for Tachibana Takayuki.

However, at this moment, Qingdeng's heart was still uncontrollably stirred.

What incredible willpower and conviction it must take to tarnish one's own reputation and take on gambling debts that an ordinary person could never repay in a lifetime, all to solve a case...

“I’ve always believed… no! I’ve always firmly believed that Mr. Tachibana pretended to be addicted to gambling and deliberately spent all his time in the Shimizu clan’s casinos in order to lower the Shimizu clan’s guard and to gather information from them!”

"At that time, I was full of hope..."

"Back then, I wholeheartedly believed that as long as a 'three-times' warrior like Mr. Tachibana was around, one day we would surely be able to clear Aki and Arden's names..."

"However...however...in June of the sixth year of Ansei (1859)...suddenly...I received a piece of news that struck me like a bolt from the blue..."

"Mr. Ju... contracted dysentery... and passed away..."

At this point, Kikuchi Chisui's tone gradually became heavy.

His hands, which were naturally resting on his thighs, slowly tightened and clenched into fists.

"What a coincidence... What a coincidence... What a coincidence!"

“It’s not 1858! The epidemic of dysentery has long passed! How could Mr. Tachibana have contracted dysentery at such a convenient time?!”

"It must be those beasts from the Shimizu clan who discovered that Mr. Tachibana was investigating them, so they sent assassins to silence him!"

"That must be it!"

"That must be it!!"

Kikuchi Chisui's current appearance... could truly be described as madness.

He gritted his teeth like a mad beast, his hard teeth grinding together as if he might pounce on Qingdeng at any moment.

Sage and Yae unconsciously stepped to the side, ready to block Aoto and Kikuchi Chisui with their bodies at any moment.

"Killing Aqi and Arden wasn't enough, now they've killed Mr. Ju too... How despicable... How despicable...!"

With each utterance of "Damn it," Kikuchi's eyes reddened further.

Before long, hot tears rolled down his cheeks and streamed down his nose and face.

"The moment I learned of Mr. Tachibana's passing... I felt like something in my brain had snapped..."

"After that, I don't remember much..."

"I only remember that I seemed to faint on the spot."

"I can't remember when I woke up, or what I did after waking up..."

"I only vaguely remember that I seemed to be drinking all the time, sleeping when I was tired, and stuffing anything edible into my mouth when I was hungry..."

"When I regained my senses and could remember things again, it was already November of the first year of Wanyan (1860)..."

"Heh... In other words, I only 'woke up' recently. Before that, I was living a chaotic life where I didn't even know what I was doing..."

This is probably the body's self-protection mechanism... Qingdeng thought to himself.

When a person suffers great physical or mental harm, the brain will automatically forget or erase the memory of that event in order to forget the pain.

His beloved wife and sister-in-law died tragically; Takayuki Tachibana, whom Kikuchi regarded as his "only hope," also met with misfortune...

To be honest, after suffering such devastating blows one after another, it wouldn't be surprising if Kikuchi went insane or developed a serious mental illness.

"After 'awakening' from that chaotic state... I felt completely empty inside me..."

As Kikuchi spoke, he wore a bizarre expression that was both a smile and a self-mockery.

"Mr. Ju is gone... The injustice done to Aqi and Aden will probably never be cleared up..."

"Just thinking about this makes me feel completely powerless..."

"Heh... this is probably what the ancients meant by 'nothing is more sorrowful than a broken heart'..."

"I no longer have the energy to investigate the real culprit who killed Aqi and Arden... I don't even have the strength to resent the real culprit who killed Mr. Ju, Aqi, and Arden..."

"It's fine no matter what..."

"That's fine then..."

"I give up..."

"Perhaps this is my fate..."

"Perhaps I was a heinous villain in my past life, which is why I've ended up in this state in this life..."

After speaking, Kikuchi leaned against the wall behind him and lowered his head.

He was still breathing, he was still alive, but there was no light in his eyes, and he looked like a walking corpse.

No, I should say... Kikuchi right now is just a walking corpse...

Aoto instinctively wanted to say something to comfort Kikuchi, but after he opened his mouth, he couldn't say anything.

To what extent must human language be exhausted, and to what extent must human eloquence be brought into play, to comfort Kikuchi, who has suffered so much injustice and grief?

Seito's knowledge and life experience seemed so pale and powerless in the face of Kikuchi's tragic fate...

For a moment, silence reigned over the stinking thatched hut.

A heavy silence descended between Aoto and Kikuchi.

And so, in this tranquility—

"...What do you think, Tachibana-kun?"

Kikuchi suddenly threw a nonsensical question at Aoto.

"Ok?"

Aoto cast a questioning look at Kikuchi.

Do you think Aqi and Arden were silenced?

Kikuchi raised his gaze—a faint glimmer of hope flickered in his eyes.

His eyes and his appearance were just like those of a drowning person desperately clutching at a straw.

His tone and manner of speaking made it seem as if he were questioning Qingdeng, or perhaps questioning himself.

"..."

Qingdeng stared straight at Juchi, remaining silent for a long time.

Emotionally speaking, Aoto naturally wanted to say something nice to comfort Kikuchi.

However... from a rational perspective, Aoto really couldn't give Kikuchi an optimistic answer...

Looking back at what Kikuchi just said, it can be seen that the claim that "Aki is innocent and the real culprit who killed Aki and Aden is someone else" is entirely Kikuchi's personal statement.

Tachibana Takayuki only discovered that the Shimizu clan was behind the strange drug, but he didn't find out that Aki and Aden had actually been murdered...

There is simply not enough evidence to prove that Aqi is innocent...

Moreover, there is another point of doubt.

Aqi reported the quack medicine to the authorities, so she suffered retaliation—that makes sense.

But what about Ardennes?

Throughout the entire incident, Arden remained an "outsider."