Closed Doors

We arrived at our family's safe house, which my father had secretly built for us and which only maids who were

Inside the safe house, a pillared hall led to a chamber where our mother and father's belongings awaited us. A flight of stairs led from here to the higher apartments, where the sun shone through open windows, but no light ever entered the lower levels, and I trembled at the thought of entering them. The horses gathered in front of the wooden doors, and the soldiers divided into waving gesture, closing the doors as the enemies were aware of the hideout.

"My Lady," the soldiers cried. They knelt in front of my mother. "What should we do?"

My mother looked the oldest man in the eyes. "Is there any chance of beating them?" she pleaded.

The soldier bowed his head. "I apologize, My Lady."

"Then get out!"

Startled, the men jumped to their feet. "And what about the war?"

"Which war?" my mother demanded angrily. "Nomura has won, and I'll be waiting here to negotiate the terms of my surrender while the people scrape and bow at his feet."

My mother turned to us as the young maid screamed across the courtyard about Amida's approaching warriors. "Inside!" she yelled. "Everyone, please come in!"

We dashed in, one last look back at the soldiers' terrified expressions.

"Shut the doors!" yelled my mother. "Secure them as much as possible!"

"How about our brother?" Hina was concerned and inquired. "He was fighting—"

"He's joined your father! We must leave as soon as possible because it is a suicide. I'm hoping Yuita, Yamato, and the master are still alive "Mother said a prayer. "Kaguya and Reina, please help me close these doors quickly," she said to the two maids.

"Yes, my lady," mother's maid Kaguya and the young maid Reina agreed.

When the doors slammed shut, Reina, the young maid, drew the metal bolt into place. Then there was complete silence. The only sound in the room was the crackling of the torches. Because of my body, I became hungry and began to cry.

Hina approached my bedside and took my arms in hers. "There's nothing to be afraid of," she promised. "Look, everyone's here," she said softly.

"Where is Father?" I yelled, seeing her and her mother's frustration.

"Be quiet!" yelled my mother.

She could have told me but she gently massaged my forearm. "He is on his way."

My cries turned into terrifying high-pitched wails as I realized she was lying. "I'm hungry," I wailed. "I'm starving!"

My mother approached my bed and slapped me across the face, shocking me to silence. I couldn't handle the pressure because of my small body, and my soul kept telling me I was hungry. When my mother slapped me, my mouth trembled as her touch left an imprint on my fragile cheek. Kaguya yanked me from Hina's arms before I could cry again.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. I tried hard to keep him quiet. "Do you see what happens when you're kind?" mother asked.

"You should have slapped him," my sister fumed. "He's a child."

Our mother, on the other hand, is fighting for the kingdom in the absence of a king. What do you suppose she's thinking when she hears him pleading for Father?

I wrapped my arms around my knees and stared at the wood stacks.

"She will not set fire to the palace "explains the young maid

"No," Kaguya replied.

I noticed them and kept an eye on the window. I knew my mother was not going to set them on fire. She only wishes to frighten the Amida army. According to reports, his men have not been paid in over a year. He desperately needs her because his mother was a member of the kingdom family. All of this is required for him."

My sister, on the other hand, remained silent throughout the discussion. She grabbed her hands and shook them repeatedly.

From the stairwell, I could see my mother sitting on a carved wooden couch on the second floor. She looked out at the sea, her kimono fluttering in the breeze.

"She's never mad at you." "You're her son," she explains.

"My mother is upset," I told my sister.

"He's a boy," she said without looking at me. "He's a fool to think he can keep master's share." She was worried about Yuita as she tried to save him, but he resisted his mother's words and joined the men in the attack. Yuita had little combat experience, but he went to fight anyway.

"I used to think Father was the greatest man in the kingdom," Hina said to me as I looked around at everyone's expressions.

My mother shifted. Her eyes were filled with live blood. "Your father and brothers were obsessed with power above all else. Your father is only interested in jousting and sake."

Her voice carried a chilling finality to it. "What else do we have to hope for?" I was curious.

"There is nothing Shinsuke."

"Do you know why the Amida king is following us?" Hina inquired.

I shook

"They believe you were raised by your grandfather, a previous High Noble from your mother's family. He might want to see my husband because she was bought to be crowned." stated Hina

"However, where do you think Father is now?"

I knew she was picturing my brothers and father because of his broad shoulders and stunning smile.

Hina stated, "Yamato was safe with his instructor, waiting for a ship to take him there. I hope the princess recovered well from the battle."

I held my breath as I heard men pounding on the door below us above the crashing waves.

"Is it him?" my mother cried, and I followed her down the stairs.

"No, it's Father," Hina responded, but he threw out his hands to prevent her from approaching. "Mother, he tried to kill himself. He's going to die! "He was ecstatic.

"Master! Ichiro!.." My mother yelled, pressing her face against the metal grille of the door. "Ichiro, what have you done?"

Hina and I couldn't understand what our father was saying because we were both deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafening Our mother expressed her displeasure with the situation with a shake of her head. "I can't," she stated emphatically. If I open this door, any of your soldiers could kidnap us for ransom."

"Please!" Hina sobbed. "He's going to die!"

"However, if she opens the door—" Kaguya started.

"Then open a window!" Reina exclaimed as I demonstrated how to take my father.

My mother had already considered it. She was rushing up the stairs, and the five of us were right on her tail. "Kaguya, the rope!" my mother yelled.

She flung open the window that overlooked the house. The eastern casements below were slammed by waves. I have no idea how long it took my mother to do the unthinkable. Of course, she had the help of Kaguya, Hina, and Reina. The rope was attached to our father's bloodied litter on the ground below, so she dragged him two floors and placed him on the fort's floor.

I leaned against the marble wall, my back to it. Outside, the chirping of gulls had died away, and there had been no more waves, soldiers, or servants.

Nothing but my father and the spot where he'd slashed his own ribs with his own sword remained. I could hear Hina's frantic breathing, but I couldn't see him. The only thing I saw were my mother's bloodied hands from my father's armour.

"Master," she exclaimed. "Ichiro!" exclaimed Ichiro. She pressed her cheek to my father's chest.

With a heavy heart, my father asked, "Do you know what Nomura promised after the Battle?" He promised to keep me as king if I killed the princess and Our son Yuita. But that's not going to happen. It's not going to happen!

She couldn't stop laughing. "And now... what have you done?" mother asks.

His brow furrowed. I'd never seen my father in pain before. He was bigger than any other man in the room, faster and stronger, with a louder laugh and a wider smile. But his tanned good looks had faded, and his hair was wet with sweat.

"They said you were dead," mother exclaimed.

"They did it because I told them to. As a result, you would flee rather than kill yourself; the situation is not yet over "Ichiro stated, The light in his eyes, however, was fading.

"What happened to my children?" he wondered.

Hina led me forward. I don't think I could have crossed the chamber without his help.

My father's attention was drawn to me. He exhaled deeply, "Shinsuke..." "Would you mind bringing your father some sake?"

"There is no drink in the fort, Father," Hina said.

My mother burst into tears as he continued, "Some good sake." "Don't cry," he said gently as he stroked her braids. My mother sobbed, "I am finally becoming an angel," and he was strong enough to take her hand in his.

"I need you to live," she pleaded, but our father had already closed his eyes.

but he didn't seem to get it.

"Husband! " she yelled. "Ichiro! "

"Otou-san"

"Otou-san"

We all cried, and in that moment, I felt more of my father's love than I had in my previous life. I've never loved a father more in my life, and now he's gone. I promised myself that if my brothers were still alive, I would help protect them with my dying breath.

Outside our fort's doors, I could hear soldiers approaching. Their chanting carried across the water, and my mother clutched my father's body to her chest, begging Isis to return him.

"Exactly what is that?" Hina inquired, terrified.

"The garden," said Kaguya quietly. "Amida's soldiers are pleading with God for their lives!" my mother yelled, terrifying me with her rage. I buried his face in Reina's lap as Mother stood.

My father's blood stained her kimono, soaking her chest, arms, and braids. "Downstairs!" she yelled. "If they try to break down the door, we'll set fire to every piece of wood in that chamber!"

We walked away from my father's body, but I checked to make sure he wasn't moving.

conquests."

"He's gone, young Miss." Kaguya said to my sister, who was crying.

"However, suppose—?" Hina inquires, but the maid shakes her head as I observe them while being carried in Reina's arms.

"He is no longer present. And only the gods know what is going on with Yuita." Hina is crying.

My throat was tightening, as if the air I was breathing wasn't enough. My mother handed Kaguya and Miracle wooden sticks at the top of the stairs. "Stay here and watch the windows," she advised. "You know what you're going to do if they force their way in!"

My sister and I walked up to the first floor in my mother's bloody footsteps. Soldiers pounded on the door, pressing their faces against it one by one.

As Hina approached the door, I dug my nails into her arm as our mother instructed. There was a muffled sound of voices as she approached the bars, and then a man on the other side of the door told her to surrender.

She raised her chin, allowing the soldier's sword to peer into her eyes. "I'll give up," she said through the iron bars.

"Stand behind me," my mother said.

"Let's make a treaty, and please make one of my sons your courtsman," she demanded.

We stepped closer to the door to hear the soldier's response.

"Lady, I'm afraid I can't give you that assurance. You can, however, be assured that the Amida kingdom will treat you with both respect and clemency." a voice said

"I don't want clemency!" she exclaimed."Yamato is Ichiro's son, the eldest and legitimate male heir to our next family head. This kingdom ruled for nearly thirty years. What exactly do you have in mind? To be ruled by Amida scums such as yourself? To destroy the Library of Holy Scriptures left to us by our forefathers and commit murder in the streets of the world's greatest city? Do you think the public will be interested?"

"Your people are already bending over backwards to show their kingly respect."

My mother jerked back, as if slapped by the man on the other side of the door.

A man's arm caught Reina around the waist, causing me to fall, and I felt the cold tip of metal at my neck as she moved forward to catch a glimpse of the soldier's face in the window.

"Mother!" I screamed, and before Isabel could defend me, a line of soldiers descended the stairs from the second story. They'd entered through an open window. Two were in charge of the maids, and a third was in charge of everything else.

My mother drew the dagger from her waist, but a broad-shouldered soldier caught her wrist in his hand as another man unlocked the door.

"Give it up!" My mother's voice was a sharp warning, and despite the fact that she lacked the authority to command the soldiers, the man freed her wrist after disarming her. He shared my father's physique, with well-muscled legs and a powerful chest. He could have snapped her arm if he had wanted to. He is in charge.

"Take them to the palace," the man said.

"Do not dare," she yelled, "because the princess is no longer alive, the new emperor wishes to see you before speaking with the people of this fallen empire."

My mother tucked her chin into her chest. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Shigaru, Commander-in-Chief."

While being restrained by the soldier's arm, I looked around the chamber. Shigaru was the defeated general of our father. He was the key to all of Amida's military victories, and he was the man our father feared the most.

His face was round, and despite the fact that I knew he was thirty-one or thirty-two from our father's descriptions, he looked very "Shigaru." My mother gently stroked his name. She spoke in a foreign language to him, and despite being fluent in eight languages, her words were accented.

younger.

"Did you happen to notice this treasure?" She pointed to the floor and the massive silver and gold chests that nearly obscured the rugs. "It might be yours. You can have everything if you want. Why should you give it to the enemy king when you have conquered?

Shigaru, on the other hand, dilated his pupils. "Are you suggesting that I, too, betray the king?" "The kingdom is dead, and your so-called sons are cowards and fools."

"I'm saying that if you were with me, the people would accept you as king." There would be no disagreement. There will be no violence."

My mother's gaze shifted to the man who was holding my arm and chuckled softly.

"You expect me to betray him," he explained. "You might as well ask for the sea to stop meeting the shore.

Shigaru clenched his sword's hilt. "She's desperate and has no idea what she's saying. Sora, stay here with the treasure—"

My mother called him "Sora," with all the venom a single word could muster.

Her veins were boiling when she saw Sora holding me.

"I recognize you," she said as she advanced, and Sora took my hand in his. But there was nowhere for me to go. The fort was surrounded by soldiers. "I stood next to Hina's arms as she carried me as our mother advanced on the man in Armour." Her gaze shifted from his leather cuirass to his double-edged sword. "You've become a traitor."

Sora's teeth were clenched. "If I were you, I would save my speeches for the king."

"So," she insisted, "why isn't he here?" "Where has this great conqueror gone?" "

"Perhaps he's inspecting his new palace," Sora speculated, shaking my mother's confidence.

Shigaru caught her attention.

""I have no other choice," Shigaru explained.

"And how about my husband?"" She pointed him to the top of the stairs, where my father's body lay.

"I assure you, we will properly bury him," Shigaru said, frowning.

"We'll bury with the king and queen and princess," he agreed. "If that's what you're looking for."

"They will accompany you," the commander said.

"But... what about Yuita?" mother inquired.

When I saw Shigaru's expression on Sora's face, I felt a tightening in my chest.

"You can ask him what will happen to him." Shigaru was enraged.