9 X Dynasty~General Hijiri's Tough Decision

As expected, Kai came to Hijiri Clan's little village in the capital--where Nana's cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents and brothers live.

'This must be hard....Imagine facing the bravest and strongest general of X Dynasty, General Hijiri. I feel that this will turn bad...but I have to do it for my lover's sake.' Kai thought, though he is not afraid to do it. In the name of love.

Though it's really a hard decision for him to take Lady Naomi's suggestion seriously or not, he came for his lover's sake.

They are all sitting at the dining hall, waiting for others to come.

"So...who is he? Why is he here?" Sho, Nana's 25-year-old big brother, asked. He is wearing a short green haori together with his ever present jade pendant in his belt.

"Nao, kids, your little sister have something to tell us. Together with the man beside her." Lady Naomi stated, looking at the couple--expecting that they would tell everything.

Kai breathed in and out; trying to relax under the pressure from the looks of thr trio.

"I....Good day Your Highness, I am K-Kai Suzuki, 23 years old. I... I am Nana's boyfriend for almost 2 y-years now." He replied, bowing in front of Nana's father. The nervousness and pressure from the stare of the trio was still there.

"So you are our little sister's boyfriend? How did you met?" The great 28-year-old Haji questioned, taking a little interest on Kai and his little sister's relationship on him. He is wearing a purple hakama with touches of black and gold lining. His long hair was tied up, bangs hanging down on his sides.

"Y-yes. W-we met at the mountainside, wh-where she always...train."

"So....where do you live and what is your work? Or even your parent's work?" Sho popped the question out of his head.

"I live at the farm near the mountainside. My parents are both farmer. I am h-helping my parents to their job." Kai replied honestly,but he didn't expected that they won't like hus answer.

"When did you--" Sho was about to ask another question when their father cut him off.

"ENOUGH!!" He shouted, irritated from all the questions.

"F-father please don't g-get angry. H-he is telling the t-truth. P-please accept him to be my l-lover." Nana said defensively, she knows what will be the consequences when her father gets irritated.

"First of all, I am not against with Nana to have a relationship." Her 48-year-old father, Nao, started. He is just wearing a plain kimono today since he will be staying in their house for a week.

According to him, the emperor gave him a week of rest as an additional reward for their success from the previous war.

"But how can you give my daughter a better life if your only job is to help your parents?" Nao continued.

"I....." Kai has nothing to reply. It is true, the only job he do is to help his parents at their farm. He can't give Nana a better life if that's his only job.

"Enough from this discussion! You are now dismissed, you can go now." Nao said, annoyed. He started to walk away from the dinning hall.

"And Nana, come my discussion room together with your mother. I have something to tell to both of you." He said, before completely disappearing to the dining hall.

Kai has nothing to do or even say to General Hijiri's words. So he just let the guards to drag him out to the gates. For him, it feels like he lost an unending war. He lost the only hope he have.

How poor he can be.....

Nana's POV

It's now done.....

All this time, I secretly date Kai because I know this will be father's reaction...

But I carelessly met him, as if he will never going back at me. So here we are, going on our separate ways. Guards dragging him out of the gates, while me, being dragged by mom to the discussion room.

I felt like I lost into unending war, I can't do anything....

How unlucky I can be, I can't be with the man who I want to be with. To spend my time and whole life together with him, to grow old with him. That whole love story of us will never come true now!

"I have something to tell for the both of you." Father started. I just keep looking at my lap, I don't want to look up at them. They broke my heart into pieces.

"Naomi, please train Nana to paint, do calligraphy, embroidery and cook. Also, teach her the basic etiquettes in Royal Palace." I heard father speaking about this. What does he mean by this?

Teaching me the rules of the Royal Palace? Why?

"Okay,I--"

"Father why do I need to learn all of this? I only want to learn complicated martial arts!" I kneel, cutting off whatever mother will supposed to say.

"You...! Don't you understand?! You will be entering the Royal Palace for the next three months. The Prince will be selecting his wife. " Father answered emotionless. Am I hearing things right? They want me to enter the Royal Palace and be the trophy wife of the Prince?!

No way! As if I will let that happen!

"Father! Why?!" I asked him as my tears started to stream down on my face, begging him to just let me do whatever I want. If I will enter the palace,then that means my ties and relationship on Kai will be cut off! I don't want this to happen, I don't want to spend the rest of my life into that place...

'I just want to be free and live happily with the man I truely love....'

I ran in my room and locked it. I don't want to be disturbed by anyone.

My heart broke into tiny pieces while ago..Just now, they broke it into thousand pieces...

Naomi's POV

Nana came out of the discussion room, I guess we went too hard on her.

"I told you, this will gonna be bad decision. Why don't you just let her free?!" I asked my husband, frustrated by his decision.

"I already told you! The emperor forced me to do this! And if I don't made that decision....Our whole clan will be....Hmp! I just want to secure our place here at the capital!" He retorted.

I was taken aback by his answer. Yes it is true, the main reason why he is on vacation right now is to decide whether he will let our daugther marry the prince or our little village will be demolished and the whole clan's job will be affected.

So we can't do anything but agree with them. Even Nao don't want this kind of marriage, but he has no choice but to sacrifice his daughter's happiness just to stay at the top and live in the capital forever.

Probably, this was his toughest decision in his whole life..They left him no choice.

'Yeah his decision is greedy for other people...But he just did it for the sake of the whole clan and for Nana to have a better life than us....But her happiness, I don't know if the prince can replace Kai in her heart over the time they will be together or not...'