fictional spring

It was sunset when I first saw that woman.

The drowsy night fell heavily, and the air was filled with sticky darkness, and the lanterns hanging in the corridor reflected a hazy orange fire in the darkness.I was practicing the pipa in my room, when I was resting, I suddenly heard footsteps and whispers coming from the wooden veranda outside the barrier door.

My yard is in the easternmost part of the city. Except for my mother who occasionally comes over on weekdays, most of the rest of the time, only the maid Lizi is by my side to take care of it.

Naturally, I mistook the voice for my mother coming to see me, so I asked Riko to open the barrier door, and was about to get up to meet my mother, but unexpectedly, a very strange figure appeared in my sight.

A young woman dressed as a priestess passed by the door, with beautiful black hair.

The slightly curly long hair hangs down on her shoulders, adding a bit of meandering to her plain.

The outline of the side face is exquisite and beautiful, and the gorgeous eyebrows and eyes shine brightly under the dim firelight, and those warm orange light and shadows fall on her cheeks and facial features in pieces, just like those beautiful Ji Jun in the story.

This is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, except my mother.

But she is the opposite of her mother's beauty.

Hearing the sound of the barrier door opening, the woman who was passing by the door also stopped, and she turned her face slightly to look at me——I realized only then that her eyes were the rare red plum color.

"Muzuki Hime..."

As soon as the maid outside the door saw the barrier door open, she knelt down on the porch in panic, as if she was afraid of disturbing my practice.

"It's okay," I put the pipa in Lizi's hands, "I just thought it was Mother who came."

The maid outside the door still lowered her head after getting up, and explained nervously and softly as if she was afraid of my reproach: "This is the Miko who passed by the city and came to stay overnight."

I sighed inwardly.

Sure enough, everyone doesn't like me.

Even though I have never actually personally ordered anyone to be punished, the servants and maids who have been punished because of me have never been in the minority.

So, it's all because of me...

It's because I, as the daughter of the city lord, have a weak body that can't even do such trivial things as walking freely.

And once something happens to me—even if it's just because I accidentally catch a cold from the wind, the maids around me will be punished by my father.

But this is not right.

My physical condition has nothing to do with them.

I also explained this to my father, telling him that everyone is a good person, and it would be too unfair to be punished for such an irrelevant matter.

However, my father was silent for a long time before raising his face to look at me.

He didn't scold me, he didn't even speak, but looking at his face, and those eyes, I could understand what he was thinking.

——This is not fair to them.

It was actually me who caused all this.

I couldn't confidently persuade my father not to care about these things, and I couldn't help the maids at all, so I could only keep silent and try not to let others get close.

There is nothing wrong with the attitude of the maids carefully keeping away from me in order not to be punished.

It's just that what I'm concerned about is that the priestess's dignified way of nodding towards me doesn't look like an ordinary priestess.

It's more like those indifferent and arrogant Kyoto nobles.

There were guests from Beijing who came to visit, and my father also sent someone to call me to meet in the hall. The nobleman has a handsome appearance and decent manners, but he always unconsciously reveals a bit of superiority in his speech means.

It is the arrogance that comes from the bottom of my heart, thinking that I am more noble.

So when the other party was chanting Waka to hint at me, I just covered my lips with a handkerchief and coughed a few times.

This is not intentional, it is common for the body to suddenly feel unwell, naturally——

Coughing up blood is also common.

When I took it away, it was already stained with a little scarlet blood. I raised my face to look at his face, and saw that the other party restrained his affectionate attitude, straightened his body and moved away the thorn that fell on me. look.

Exactly the same as I expected.

I don't care what that nobleman thinks of me, and I don't care what my reputation will be after that day, but my mother's gaze on me made me move out of her yard and live in the easternmost house alone. In the courtyard.

——This is supposed to be a place for entertaining guests.

So now this lord witch also appeared here.

I nodded, the corners of my lips curled up in a polite manner, and I didn't care why my father and mother arranged for this witch to spend the night in my yard.

After all... it's just those reasons.

Because I was weak and sick since I was a child, I could only sit comfortably in the room, which really cost them too much thought.

I can't remember how many doctors came in and out of the city lord's mansion. I only know that no matter which doctor they are, they will only show a helpless look after seeing me.

Just plain frailty.

That's it.

Because the condition is too simple, there is no special and effective treatment method, and the prescriptions prescribed by doctors are mostly the same, and my father and mother looked at me with more silent and sad eyes.

After all...they only have me as a child.

When I lived with my mother, I often saw her crying, maybe because of my body, or maybe because of my own destiny.

She failed to have any other children besides me.

It doesn't matter if it's a boy or a girl, as long as...

As long as it's a healthy child, nothing else matters.

It is precisely because I can empathize with her feelings that I have to move out of her yard. Every time I see me, it is also pain and torture for her.

Even if she never said it herself.

Even every time she faces me, she will deliberately cover up the sadness, and instead hold me in her arms with a gentle smile, and occasionally hum a soft song.

My mother loves me, I know this very well.

But most of the time, love is not the only thought in people's minds.

Maybe I was silent for too long, after all, I thought she would leave after just nodding and taking care of her, but unexpectedly, that witch walked into my room without thinking .

And the maid who was following her only opened her mouth the moment she raised her foot, and then closed it immediately.

This must be what Father or Mother meant.

Not only pinned my hope of recovery on the doctor, but when I took the medicine but there was no obvious improvement, they also invited the monks in the temple and the priests in the shrine to perform blessing rituals for me, hoping to recover Take this to increase my chances of recovery.

Standing in front of me, Miko-sama, her eyes fell on the pipa in Lizi's hand, and she suddenly said, "When I came in from the courtyard gate, I heard a very beautiful sound of the pipa."

I smiled and watched her sit down in front of me.

"The sound of the pipa must have been played by Mu Yueji."

When she spoke, she withdrew her indifferent and dignified look, and instead showed a shallow smile, which was completely opposite to the smile of the nobleman I saw before—this did not make people feel at all. Uncomfortable smile.

"You're overrated," I replied softly. "It's just poking around."

It is true to say that, although my mother invited a musician who played the pipa to teach me when I was young, but the musician resigned from my mother after listening to the music I played.

I used to think that I had no talent, but my mother denied my guess with her astonishment and surprise.

It's just that the musician thinks... I should hire better musicians.

But this matter has been delayed for a long time because I have not been able to find a suitable candidate, so that I am still practicing alone.

The witch heard the words but did not stop the topic, but continued to ask me: "Does that song have a name?"

My father and mother actually found a lot of music scores for me, but the piece I played just now is not the piece in the score, but...

"Probably there is," I said, "I just don't know it."

It was the melody that flowed from my fingertips when I got the pipa. I don't know when I learned it, nor where I learned it from.

Hearing this, the witch narrowed her eyes, her red plum-colored eyes seemed to be much deeper, she seemed to remember something, and said to me: "I heard this song in Kyoto before."

So, "Do you know what it's called?"

Miko-sama didn't answer me directly, but continued to say to herself: "A long time ago, there was a blind mage named Chanmaru, and he was the only one who knew the secret lute song "Flowing Spring" that no one knew at that time. and Woodpecker."

Her tone was full of nostalgia.

So I asked her, "Do you know Master Chanwan?"

The witch shook her head: "I know another person who can play these two pieces of music besides him."

These two sentences seem to be in conflict.

However, after she finished speaking, she seemed unwilling to say anything more to me, and I even lost my desire to ask her who that person was, so I just said, "Then the song I played just now..."

"It's "Flowing Fountain"."

she says.

"The pipa in your hand is called 'Xuan Xiang'."

I was stunned for a moment, and I couldn't help but be a little surprised. It was clearly the first time I met a shrine maiden, but at this moment, it made me feel somewhat familiar.

It's like... somewhere before, we also met each other.

Especially when she asked me if I could play a piece for her, perhaps because I had never heard such a request before, I couldn't say a word of rejection at all.

But this time, I did not play "Flower" for her.

"It's Woodpecker."

After the song was over, the witch with black hair and red eyes commented on me. The deep and intriguing look in her eyes made me hesitate for no reason.

He even subconsciously asked the question that he hadn't spoken before: "Who is the person you know who can also play these two secret songs?"

Miko-sama stopped talking again, and still stared at me silently. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a little strange. Just when I thought she would not speak again, a low female voice suddenly sounded.

She said: "He is the person I admire in my heart."

I blinked, "Then he must like you too."

Hearing this, the witch raised her eyebrows and eyes, her narrow eyes and the dim light made her look even more glamorous.

The beautiful red lips parted slightly, and the corners of her lips curled up: "That's natural."