The Cage of Cold Moonlight: A Modern Woman Reborn in Warring States Discovers the True Face Behind a Ruthless Warlord - In the frozen garden, a moonlit night without flowers

The light vanished. In the next instant, seared onto 朝日奈月's retinas were the white lines of a crosswalk, the shriek of emergency brakes, and a mass of metal bearing down from directly ahead. That was all. She remembered nothing after that. —— The first thing she noticed was the smell. Incense. The thin, sweet smoke of incense. 朝日奈月 opened her eyes. A white wooden ceiling came into view. Wood grain patterns she had never seen before. Cracked plaster walls. The flame of a candle stand wavering. White daylight filtering through shoji screens. For a long time, 奈月 simply stared at the ceiling. (Where... am I?) When she tried to sit up, her joints ached with a dull throb. She looked at her arms. A suit jacket. Navy blue, the one she'd put on this morning. Her stockings and pumps were still on. Her employee ID from Maruse Corporation hung from her neck. She looked around. A Japanese room, perhaps eight tatami mats in size. A simple writing desk. A single candle stand. A kimono of an unfamiliar color hung on a clothing rack. A set of bedding—the very one she was lying on now. Through the southern shoji, there was a hint of green. She pulled out her smartphone. The screen was completely dark. She pressed the power button repeatedly, but nothing happened. It had been fully charged last night. Was the device broken, or— 奈月 stood and gently slid open the southern shoji. What came into view was a small courtyard garden. White sand was spread across it, and a few small purple flowers swayed in the breeze. Hagi, she thought. She knew it only as knowledge, never having seen the real thing before. Beyond it, she could see a stone wall. A stone wall. Moss-covered, thick stone walls. And beyond that—the sharp ridge line of a mountain. (A mountain castle...) 奈月 gripped the edge of the window. Her fingertips were cold. The air was dry, clear, containing something fundamentally different from Tokyo's atmosphere. In the distance, she heard the cry of a bird. Not a crow, not a sparrow—a bird she didn't recognize. This was not the present day. That certainty spread through 奈月 slowly, but unmistakably. —— How long had she stood there? The shoji opened silently. "Have you awakened?" A woman stood in the hallway. Perhaps in her mid-thirties. Her black hair was pulled back tightly, and she wore a mouse-gray kimono with a white apron. Her frame was slender, her posture perfectly straight. Her face bore no expression whatsoever—like white porcelain. Only her eyes moved quietly, measuring 奈月 in their entirety. "Um..." 奈月 opened her mouth. Her voice was hoarse. "Wait, first—is there Wi-Fi—" She stopped mid-sentence. The woman before her hadn't moved an inch. Her expression hadn't changed. The word "Wi-Fi" seemed to strike an invisible stone wall and scatter soundlessly. 奈月 closed her mouth. (Right. Of course. That makes sense.) The woman bowed quietly. "I am called お芳. I have been entrusted with attending to you, Natsuki-sama." "Natsuki... you mean me?" "Yes." お芳 said only that, then entered the room and took the kimono from the clothing rack. Her movements were without hesitation. "I shall assist you in changing." "N-no, I can do it myself—" "This way." There was no emotion in お芳's voice. Yet those few words carried an undeniable weight. 奈月's body understood that she could not resist, and she obeyed quietly. As お芳 dressed her, 奈月 kept glancing at the woman's face. Expressionless, yes—but something lay beneath that surface. Like a stone at the bottom of water. Visible, yet unreachable. "Where... is this place?" As お芳 tied the sash, she answered. "This is 霞月城—the stronghold of the 火村 clan, a samurai house that rules the mountain regions of the eastern provinces." "The 火村 clan?" "A samurai house that commands five eastern provinces. The lord is 火村義政-sama. His name echoes not only among the people of these lands, but throughout the neighboring domains as well." 奈月's hands stilled slightly. "Why am I here?" お芳 finished tying the sash and turned to face 奈月 directly, meeting her eyes. "You have been brought here as a candidate for 義政-sama's concubine." Silence fell. A concubine candidate. 奈月 understood the meaning of those words a beat too late. "A... concubine?" "A woman who serves 義政-sama and receives his favor. However, unlike a formal concubine, a candidate is—a provisional position until 義政-sama acknowledges you. You possess neither the authority nor the obligations of a principal wife, and your treatment is determined entirely by 義政-sama's will. Until you receive his acknowledgment, you shall reside in the inner quarters." "Wait a moment." 奈月 took a step back. Her foot caught in the hem of the kimono, and she stumbled slightly. "This has nothing to do with me. I'm just an office worker from Tokyo—" "Natsuki-sama." お芳's voice remained unchanged. Quiet, low, without emotion. "This castle has laws called the 奥御法度—the inner quarters ordinances." 奈月 fell silent. "The inner quarters are the residential area for women. No man may enter except 義政-sama and the physician who has received permission. Furthermore, it is strictly forbidden for anyone in the inner quarters to venture into the main castle's outer sections without authorization." "What if... someone does?" お芳 paused for just a moment. "Execution by beheading." Execution by beheading. The words rolled slowly through 奈月's mind. She understood their meaning. She understood, but her body couldn't follow. Even as her mind grasped that this was not the modern era, she couldn't feel the weight of "execution" in her gut. How much distance lay between that Tokyo intersection and this white wooden room? お芳 bowed and stepped outside the shoji. "Please wait until the evening meal." The shoji closed soundlessly. —— Left alone, 奈月 sat before the writing desk and clasped her hands in her lap. Outside the southern window, the hagi flowers in the courtyard swayed in the wind. Small purple blossoms moved without pattern, whimsically. 奈月 knew the flower's name because her mother had loved it. Every autumn, she would say, "This is hagi," and point it out. She could never have seen it from the twelfth floor of their apartment, but her mother pointed it out every time they walked through the park. (Mom... where am I?) She didn't even know if she wanted to cry. Fear was there. Certainly there. But it wasn't the kind that would burst forth immediately—it was the type that seeped slowly into her bones. She had no freedom. No romance, no work, no home to return to, no way to contact friends, no ability to buy coffee at a convenience store. Everything that had rested so easily in her hands was gone. She felt resistance to the title "concubine candidate." But even that resistance hung suspended in the air, with nowhere to land. 奈月 suddenly looked up. Beyond the southern window, past the hagi courtyard, she could see the central section of the main castle. Gray roofs, stone walls, a succession of covered walkways. Toward the center courtyard, a dark space opened up. White. Something was white. Squinting, she could make out that something white, like sand, covered the garden. White sand and black stones. A wide courtyard composed of nothing else. Not a single flower. No grass. No trees. Nothing. 奈月 stared at that space for a long time. In this entire霞月城, only the hagi courtyard held flowers. The inner quarters' small garden had proper plants. Yet that central courtyard alone was filled with white and black. (Why is there nothing there?) That question kindled a small flame in her chest. —— Night came. お芳 brought the evening meal. Rice, miso soup, grilled river fish, and simmered mountain vegetables. Simple, but the aromas were real. 奈月 ate it all in silence. Strangely, she had an appetite. お芳 said nothing unnecessary during the meal. When 奈月 said, "This is delicious," she replied simply, "Thank you." Her expression didn't change. But that "thank you" sounded slightly softer. Perhaps it was her imagination. Even in bed, she couldn't sleep. She thought it was natural. Insect sounds came from somewhere. A type she'd never heard in Tokyo—low and clear. Wind ran across the roof in the distance. Staring at the ceiling, 奈月 thought constantly. About ways to return. About understanding her situation. About escape possibilities. But the more she thought, the less she understood. There was too little information. She didn't know what kind of place this castle was, what kind of people lived here, who to trust, anything. Eventually, her thoughts drifted in another direction. She was thinking about that courtyard again. White sand. Black stones. A perfect emptiness with not a single flower. She was certain it hadn't become that way naturally. Someone had created it intentionally and maintained it. There was enough effort and will behind it. Why. Moonlight entered thinly through a gap in the shoji. White, cold light. 奈月 followed it with her eyes from within the bedding. (Just a little...) She stood up. The ordinance was in her mind. But the sensation of "just a little" moved her body. Her Tokyo habits still lived within her. She couldn't feel the weight of the rules in her gut. Barefoot, she slid open the shoji. She stepped onto the covered walkway. The night air was cold enough to sting her skin. She didn't know which way to go. The hallway extended left and right, connecting the inner quarters' buildings like a maze. 奈月 walked toward where the moon was brightest, simply following it. She muffled her footsteps, touched the walls with her hands, turned, and turned again. When she realized it, she had emerged into an open space. Her feet stopped. It was white. The white sand, bathed in moonlight, glowed a pale blue. Black stones were scattered throughout, their contrast with the white sand stark and vivid. No flowers. No grass. No trees. Even the insect sounds didn't reach here. 奈月 couldn't move. It was beautiful. Beautiful and eerie and sad. Something was missing from this garden. Something had been deliberately removed. (Someone erased it.) That certainty fell upon her quietly. This emptiness was a loss. Someone's deep, unspoken loss had taken the form of white sand and black stones—she felt this with a certainty that bordered on instinct. There was a presence in the shadows of the veranda. 奈月's gaze shifted. In the moonlight's shadow, there was a figure. A man in ink-dyed robes. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Black hair that caught a faint reddish tint in the moonlight. Long, disheveled hair. He held a tea bowl quietly in both hands, utterly still. 奈月's lungs contracted. (I'm caught—) She thought she should flee. But her feet wouldn't move. The man turned around. His eyes captured her. Deep crimson eyes. Vertically narrow, like a beast's pupils. A color as if ice had been melted into indifference. A frame nearly 185 centimeters tall. Black hair with reddish streaks fell across his cheeks. His features were finely sculpted, and as cold as sculpture itself. 奈月's instinct screamed. Run. Her feet wouldn't move. The man didn't speak. He simply looked at her. There was no anger in his gaze. No surprise. Nothing. Only a quiet, measuring stare. 奈月 stood frozen, meeting his eyes. In the depths of those eyes, something flickered for just an instant. A small tremor in the depths. Something that had long ago given up on being touched, something that moved only for this moment when 奈月 looked at it. The color of loneliness, she thought. Before she could understand what it was, the man's gaze became still again. 奈月 remained motionless. She was afraid. But her feet still wouldn't move. "Natsuki-sama." A voice came from behind her. 奈月 turned. お芳 stood there. Her expression unchanged as always. But her eyes were tense in a way they had never been before. "Let us return." Her voice was quiet, but her grip on 奈月's arm held strength. As she was pulled back, 奈月 turned to look onc

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Episode 1

Name: The Cage of Cold Moonlight: A Modern Woman Reborn in Warring States Discovers the True Face Behind a Ruthless Warlord
Author: Novelia

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