The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

if unsure about what he had just said.
    "Or rather, when push came to shove, he was resolved to consider the possibilities. He never once talked about actually targeting the Late Empress. Yes, when I think back about it now, the one remaining question was how the Baku Marquis would react if the women he was protecting were killed. Listening to your story, I have the feeling that was the one thing he was not willing to do."
    "You think so?"
    "I thought so at the time. Perhaps because regicide is such a drastic step. My lord had every intention of saving his people. But no intention of seizing the throne for himself and calling himself king. I remember thinking at the time that it's not the kind of thing a man can do unless he's got that burning desire in the gut."
    He gave Gekkei a smile. "But you did decide."
    Gekkei was momentarily at a loss for words.
    "If the Province Lord had told me to assassinate the Late Empress, I probably would have saluted and followed orders. But I don't think I could have acted on my own. While I certainly thought that the suffering of the people demanded that something be done, that was a decision better left to the Province Lord. And if he commanded it, I don't think I would have given it a second thought. Nor do I believe I would have worried about it afterwards or blamed myself. Not just because my commanding officer would have born the responsibility. Fact is, I'm not as smart as guys like you. The moral import of what I was doing simply wouldn't have sunken through my thick skull."
    "I don't know if I would—"
    Sei shook his head. "That's what it comes down to. Though I don't think it makes it any less grievous a sin. What I mean to say is, I didn't harbor the specific intent or grasp the enormity of what we were contemplating. But ignorance of the law by itself can constitute just as serious a crime. I could even accept that committing such a sin without comprehending its nature doubles its severity. To resolve yourself with a clear understanding of what the act entailed speaks to the thought you must have given it."
    Sei faced Gekkei and said with a kindly expression. "It says a lot about how much you cared for the people. And that is that kind of person who ought to sit on the throne."
    Gekkei kicked his chair back and stood up. "That's not it."
    "It's not?"
    "I can't see dressing up what we did in such refined motives. I killed the man who bore the Mandate of Heaven. Despite the infirmed state of the Taiho, despite High Highness's apparent lack of a desire to reclaim the Mandate, the possibilities of him doing so were not zero. Yet deciding for myself—sight unseen—that things would only get worse, I assassinated the King."
    Sei glanced at Gekkei, a confused expression on his face.
    "In any other case of high treason, there would be nothing admirable about what I did. The ministers, the generals, and even the Royal Kyou want me to take the throne. And if I do, then I really would have stolen the throne from His Highness. I didn't kill him because I wanted his position. If other methods had availed themselves—"
    Gekkei suddenly stopped speaking. Growing ever more agitated and he spoke, he felt his words becoming twisted and tangled in his head.
    The look on Sei's face didn't change. With a quizzical expression he said, "Was what you did a simple case of high treason? Supposing that it was, weren't you left with no other recourses and forced to act?"
    "Without a doubt," Gekkei groaned, covering his face with hands as he again took his seat. "I'm sorry. I'm not exactly expressing myself coherently."
    "Not at all," Sei answered softly. A long minute later he said to himself, "But of course." When Gekkei raised his head, he gazed at him as if catching in his features the sight of something sad and painful. "You must have really revered the Royal Hou."

Chapter 6
    G ekkei cast his thoughts back four years, back to a time when he couldn't admit to himself how far Chuutatsu had fallen. How can you drag yourself through the mud like this? he'd wanted to scream at him. How can you besmirch the honor of the throne?
    The unvarnished truth was that Chuutatsu was the worst enemy of the people. His laws were excessively harsh and his punishments excessively severe. Gekkei had feared that if things went on unabated, Chuutatsu would surely loose the Mandate of Heaven.
    The Taiho's illness was already undeniable.
    If it had been in Gekkei's power, he would have steered Chuutatsu back to the