Free The Emperor's Woman by I. J. Parker Page A

night. And he hasn’t come home. I think something bad happened to him.”
    Akitada’s jaw sagged. “What?” He took a breath. “Who is Tokuzo?”
    “He runs a brothel in the quarter, sir. He’s an evil man. Even Hanae says so.”
    “Hanae’s also involved, eh? What about Cook and my wife’s maid? Does my entire household carry on a secret life outside my home?”
    Genba flushed and bowed his head. “No, sir. Just me,” he mumbled.
    Akitada stared at him. “What do you mean?” He was astonished by the notion that placid, ordinary Genba had been leading a secret life. Only the big man’s obvious misery stopped him from smiling at the thought.
    “There is … someone, sir.” Genba’ big fists were kneading his huge knees. “A woman, I mean. I … her name’s Ohiro. And … and … .”
    A woman! Genba, in his comfortable middle years—he was in his mid-forties—, had fallen in love. He seemed ashamed to talk about it, though. Akitada cut the stammering short, and said in a hearty tone, “But this is excellent news, Genba. I’m very happy for you. Will you bring your bride here? We’ll have to find you better quarters.”
    Genba’s eyes filled with tears. “Sir, she works in the Willow Quarter.” He looked down.
    “Oh.”
    A painful silence fell in which the big Genba seemed to shrink into himself.
    When they spoke again, it was at the same time, and both stopped again. Genba gave Akitada a look like a beaten dog. Akitada bit his lip. He owed Genba a great deal. Genba had been loyal and would have died for his master many times over.
    “Well,” he said, “we cannot always make our hearts obey our heads. I assume she will give up her profession?”
    “Oh, yes.” Genba’s fists started their kneading again. “We’ve been saving, both of us, to buy her out, but we didn’t have enough and now her owner has been murdered.” He paused. “That’s really how the trouble started, sir. Tora, Saburo, and I went to talk to Tokuzo, but the police were there already, and they wanted to arrest me because one of Tokuzo’s bullies told them I threatened Tokuzo the night before. Tora talked them out of it.”
    Akitada’s brows knitted during this tale. His first reaction was irritation that his retainers seemed to have the extremely bad taste of seeking out disreputable females and hanging about in brothels. And now Saburo seemed to have fallen into the same habit. But he suppressed his anger. Perhaps he would not have done so with Tora (in fact, he had been very blunt when Tora had married Hanae), but Tora was better able to take a tongue lashing. Genba suffered from the conviction that Akitada considered him a big useless, greedy lout and merely tolerated his presence in the household.
    “Tell me about Ohiro,” Akitada suggested. “If she has captured your devotion, she must be remarkable.”
    Genba was so astonished he gaped at his master for a moment. Then his face lit up, and he said fervently, “She’s not like anyone I’ve ever known, sir. She’s sweet and loving and very, very brave. You’d have to be brave to live through the hell that happened to her.” Leaning forward a little, he looked at Akitada earnestly. “Sir, she lost her parents when she was young. Her uncle and his wife took her in. But her uncle started raping her when she was ten, and when his wife found out, she sold Ohiro to Tokuzo. Tokuzo’s raped her regularly and he beats her, but she never complains. And sir, she’s very pretty and could have any man, but she loves me .” This brought the tears to his eyes again. He sniffed. “I love her. I’ve promised to take care of her forever.”
    Akitada gave an inward shudder at the tale. He wanted to point out that nothing is forever, and that such women would say anything to get a man to buy out their contract, and if this Ohiro was really so very pretty, she would leave Genba the moment she had her freedom. He said none of those things, however. He asked, “How much