The traitor of the Hitotsubashi faction... A simple statement, but there are heavy facts behind it.

Tenjoin's father... to be precise, his adoptive father: Shimazu Saibin, the 11th generation lord of the Satsuma Domain, was a die-hard member of the Hitotsubashi faction.

In order to expand Satsuma Domain's influence in the Hitotsubashi faction, enhance the Hitotsubashi faction's chances of winning, and ensure that Hitotsubashi Keiki can successfully inherit the position of shogun, he took Tenjoin, who was from a collateral line of the Shimazu clan, was of the right age and was unmarried.

For the sake of his adopted daughter, he planned to let Tenjoin marry away to Edo as the princess of the Satsuma domain and marry the previous generation of shoguns: the Tokugawa clan.

Shimazu Saibin, an old bastard, didn't even put on any pretense. In March of the sixth year of Kaei's reign (1853), a ceremony was held to establish the father-daughter relationship with Tianzhangin. In August of the same year, the ceremony was carried out in a hurry, as if rushing a duck to the shelves.

Send Tianzhangin to Edo.

From then until now, Tianzhangyuan has never returned to his hometown, nor has he seen his relatives and friends in his hometown again.

Shimazu Qibin's behavior of hurriedly sending Tenzhangin to get married was like writing directly on his forehead: I just treat Tianzhangin as a useful tool, what do you think?

It is reported that the task assigned by Shimazu Saibin to Tenjoin was to encourage Tokugawa Iesada and persuade Tokugawa Iesada and his biological mother, Honjuin, to let them establish a bridge to celebrate their heir to the shogun.

What happened next is known to everyone - after Tenzouin married into the shogunate, she did not act in accordance with Shimazu Saibin's orders.

He went to the hostile camp: the Nanki faction and advocated the appointment of Tokugawa Iemo, who was still called Tokugawa Yoshifuku at that time, as the next shogun.

After Shimazu Saibin died of illness and the Nanki sect won, the Tenjoin was even too lazy to do the work of making eye-catching remarks. It clearly supported Tokugawa Iemo and assisted Tokugawa Iemo wholeheartedly.

There have always been different opinions as to why Tianzhang Yuan wanted to join the Nanji Sect.

The most mainstream view is that Tianzhangin deliberately wanted to take revenge on Shimazu Saibin, who forced her to leave her hometown and marry a useless person, thus ruining her life.

All in all, no matter what the motives of Tenzouin are, in the eyes of the Hitotsubashi faction, Tenzouin's behavior of "turning sides in front of battle" is an unforgivable betrayal.

If we want to understand the stakes involved, it is not difficult to figure out why after Naoki Ii was assassinated and the Hitotsubashi faction regained power, they disliked Tenzōin so much and why they opposed Tenzōin so frequently.

The silent atmosphere in which neither of them spoke lasted for about two minutes.

Two minutes later, Tianzhangyuan let out a sigh of relief, and then restarted Zhu Chuan:

"Sometimes I can't help but think: It would be great if Mr. Jingyi was still here."

"If Elder Jingyi was still here, these stinky things from the Hitotsubashi sect would not be able to behave themselves with their tails between their legs. How could they dare to be so arrogant in front of me?"

"But...looking back and thinking about it carefully, even if Mr. Jing Yi comes back to life, my life may not be better than now.

Qingdeng asked in time:

"Why?"

"Why else?"

Tianzhangyuan smiled bitterly and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't agree with his ideas."

"Elder Ii just wants to restore the glory of the shogunate."

"He only has eyes for the shogunate."

"As long as the shogunate can become strong again, he doesn't care about anything else...the life and death of other vassal states."

"but me……"

Tianzhangyuan bit her red lips lightly, seeming to be hesitating whether to continue.

After a moment, she gave the answer:

"Forget it, let's stop this topic for now. No matter how much I blame myself, it's useless. Anyway, I've long been used to this kind of being made things difficult and laughed at, so I just let the stinky people from the Hitotsubashi faction do what they want.

Bark."

"Well... speaking of being made things difficult and laughed at... Sheng Qing, I suddenly remembered that I haven't thanked you yet."

Qingdeng was stunned for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the distant sky and towards Tianzhang Courtyard.

"Thank you? What are you saying thank you for...um...!"

The remaining words of Qingdeng were stuck in his throat - the scene in front of him was so fragrant that his mind and consciousness were swallowed up in an instant.

Tianzhang Yuan was seen lying on her side on the couch, facing Qingdeng, and her miko uniform became a little messy due to her careless and unruly movements.

The sleeves of the top and the two pants legs of the purple hakama were rolled up greatly, revealing the dazzlingly white forearms and calves.

Her beautiful eyes were half-squinted, and there was a faint, gentle smile on her cheeks.

A strand of black hair from the temples hangs down and sticks to the corner of the lips.

Black hair, fair face, and rosy lips combine to form a magnificent picture that makes people's eyes freeze.

"When I first met you...that is, when Kamo and I disguised ourselves as members of the 'Third Division' to compete with you, I said a lot of bad things about Tianzhangyuan...you stopped me in time. You

Do you remember this?"

Qingdeng thought for a while and quickly recalled: This kind of thing did indeed happen.

At this time, Tianzhangyuan, who was disguised as a member of the third team, said a lot of things about himself.

Qingdeng, who did not know at the time that the person in front of him was Tianzhangyuan himself, felt that what this person said seemed to go too far, so he stopped him with words.

Qingdeng didn't like this kind of bad-mouthing behavior behind someone's back.

In Qingdeng's eyes, it is a very stupid move to casually discuss the rights and wrongs of a person without even seeing him or getting along with that person in person.

"Being ridiculed and ridiculed by others - I have experienced this kind of situation a lot. But it is really rare for someone to come forward to defend me... It would be really unreasonable not to thank you properly.

.”

"Sheng Qing, thank you."

Qingdeng raised his hand and scratched his hair, and smiled awkwardly:

"You're welcome. It's just a trivial matter. There is no need to thank me specifically. You made it so grand, which made me feel at a loss."

"That won't work."

A carp in Tianzhang Court stood up from the couch.

"You speak up for me and defend me in person. I have to show something. At the very least, I have to give you a thank you gift. Hmm... what should I give you..."

Tianzhangyuan raised his chin, looked at the sky, stretched out his right index finger, and supported his right cheek.

"Ah, right!"

Tianzhangyuan lowered his green-white jade finger to hold his head, and met Qingdeng's eyes with a smile. The pair of beauties smiled at themselves so much that they narrowed into a thin thread.

"If I kiss you, consider it as my thank you gift to you!"

"……ha?"

Qingdeng reacted slowly, turning his shock and disbelief into his voice.

He used his eyes and expressions to confirm with Tianzhang Yuan in front of him: I must have heard correctly, right? Did you just say something very explosive in an understatement?

After just one breath, Qingdeng's question received a definite answer.

"I feel a little shy, so I would like to ask you to close your eyes for a while when you come down."

Tianzhangyuan stretched out his right hand and covered Qingdeng's eyes.

Her palm was neither big nor small, just enough to cover Qingdeng's eyes, not even a ray of light could penetrate.

The next moment his vision was "robbed", Qingdeng felt a sweet smell, slowly approaching him.

Even if Qingdeng closed his eyes, he could still feel the shadow of Tianzhang Yuan covering his body.

At this moment, Qingdeng fell into unprecedented tension and panic, and the muscles in his whole body were as stiff as if they were petrified.

What does this woman want to do? Is she really planning to kiss me? Where is she planning to kiss me? I just did such a small thing, as for thanking me so grandly?

Before he could think about it or react, Qingdeng felt his cheeks itching - this was Tianzhangyuan's moist breath hitting his face.

In addition, Qingdeng's skin also began to feel the warm body temperature of Tianzhang Yuan.

Tianzhangyuan's pretty face was very close to his - half a second after Qingdeng's brain confirmed this fact, his lips were enveloped by a soft touch.

Qingdeng's eyes, which were covered by Tianzhangyuan's slap, suddenly opened wide and were filled with disbelief.

He couldn't believe that Tianzhangyuan turned out to be such a passionate and unrestrained woman.

He couldn't believe that his first kiss was lost in such a daze...

However, after just blinking twice, Qingdeng gradually realized that something was wrong.

The feeling coming from the lips is ice-cold, with a powdery substance like flour. It tastes sweet, the same as the mochi I just ate... No! Isn't this mochi?!

At this time, Tianzhangyuan released the slap that blocked Qingdeng's eyes.

Qingteng Dingqing looked forward and found that Tianzhangyuan was holding the mochi he had just taken out from nowhere when he invited Qingteng to come to the pavilion to rest in his left hand, and pressed the mochi hard against Qingteng's lips.

Her red lips were pursed tightly, trying hard not to laugh.

After Qingdeng looked towards her, she seemed to finally be unable to bear it anymore and burst out laughing, showing a malicious smile.

"Let me guess, did you really think I was going to kiss you just now?"

"Your Highness...you sometimes have a really bad character."

After saying this, Qingden seemed to express his protest and said "Ah woo" as he ate the mochi that was close to his lips in one bite.
To be continued...