Through the eastern chamber's window, moonlight filtered in with quiet gentleness. Saya sat upon her bedding, knees drawn close to her chest. (Lord Soichiro's words...) What he had told her in daylight. The truth behind the broken engagement with the principal wife candidate. The secrets hidden within the castle walls. And the way Nobuhiro had called her name. "Saya." That single word echoed through her chest again and again. Saya placed her hand over her heart. Thump, thump—she could hear the beating of her own pulse. (Why am I... like this...) When she thought of Nobuhiro, her chest grew restless. Anxiety and something else entirely mingled together, inseparable. A cold-hearted warlord of the Warring States. A man who opened his heart to no one. Yet he had spoken to her. He had called her by name. However small such a thing might seem to others, to Saya it held profound meaning. She looked out the window. The moon peeked from behind the clouds, its white light illuminat