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Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 3

Betrayal was a common thing in the Sengoku era, and allies promising to be there for each other in the hour of need only to double cross each other in the very next second was something that happened before, was happening in the present and will keep happening in the future. Moreover, since betrayals were so common, trust no longer existed in this world.

At this moment, Azai Nagamasa was alone and submerged in his personal bath on a mountain in Odani, looking at the scenery of Lake Biwa while hesitating in his heart.

「Should I betray Nobuna, or remain as a loyal little brother to her? 」

Whenever he had to think deeply, he would always stay in the open bath on the mountain for a long time to clear his head, because this was a place where nobody could see him or disturb him.

At first trying to direct the onsen to the mountain was a major pain in the backside, but Nagamasa was used to being alone because of his days as a hostage of the Rokkaku clan.

His father Hisamasa had always been indecisive about their alliance with the Asakura clan of Echizen, which has been acting as the Azai clan’s superiors ever since the time of Nagamasa’s grandfather, Sukemasa. Nagamasa’s father Hisamasa ultimately decided that their tiny droplet of debt towards the Asakura clan should be repaid with the force of a stream, and he thought that Oda Nobuna was just a small and insignificant Daimyo from the countryside, and he looked down on the entire Oda clan because they were supposedly descended not from the Taira clan’s Taira no Chikazane and Taira no Sukemori, but rather from a Shinto priest of the Tsurugi-jinja shrine in Oda no Sho in the Echizen province, so there was no way someone like them could ever compare to the Asakura clan.

However, in the eyes of the young Nagamasa, the gradually weakening Asakura clan has already started to fall from grace, and he believed that there will be a day when they would be annihilated by another clan that would rise to power behind their backs.

That’s why, for the alliance with the Oda clan, a political marriage was a necessity. Not to mention that if it were not for the advantages of taking a wife from the Oda clan as a hostage, his father Hisamasa would not have allowed it in the first place.

(But after thinking carefully, aside from Nobuna-dono, there shouldn’t be any other princesses in the Oda clan… but if that is really the case, then who in the hell is this Oichi?)

Yesterday, a kago carrying princess Oichi in it has arrived at the Omi province. Of course, one could see that she was of elegant and noble descent at a glance.
Although it is said that the clothes fit the wearer, Princess Oichi wasn’t just wearing fabulous clothes. Her every laugh and smile were of the kind that just made one fall in love with her at first sight. Add to that her elegant step and posture, and you’d instantly know that everything about her looked classy and graceful.

Her looks were also extremely similar to Nobuna’s, and with that beauty like the one of a delicate porcelain doll, no one ever doubted her identity as Nobuna’s little sister.

However, there was one problem. She has never spoken a single word ever since she arrived at the Omi province.

On the night of the ceremony of the wedding, Princess Oichi simply sat in a corner of her room shaking, and didn’t say anything. It seemed that she was only a young girl who had never experienced love before…Nagamasa also felt a bit uncomfortable, and tried to use a soft and soothing tone to calm her down by saing:

「People say that I’m a playboy, but for certain reasons I do not get close to women. Therefore, I will not do anything that will tarnish the reputation of the Oda clan’s princess, so please, there is no need for you to feel worried about anything. 」

Actually, Nagamasa has never been in a relationship with any woman before. That is because up till now, despite tricking many women in order to fulfill his own ambition, Nagamasa has never really pushed any of them down to properly consume the relationship.

Compared to the past when he was chased by women screaming ‘please make love to me!’ or other outrageous things like that, the scared reaction of the person in front of him actually made Nagamasa sigh in relief.

However, her reaction of total silence was certainly weird.

Earlier that day, when Nagamasa showed Princess Oichi to his father Hisamasa and his retainers, the only person who spoke was the little kunoichi next to her. Even worse, the little kunoichi seemed to have a serious lisping problem, and halfway through her long speech it was practically impossible to decipher what she was trying to say to everyone.

(Could it be, that compared to that lisping kunoichi, Oichi-dono has an even worse speech impediment?)

Nagamasa has suddenly found himself starting to care about princess Oichi.

He had always thought women were merely tools for fulfilling his own ambition, so why…

At that moment…

*Thump * *Thump* *Splash!*

Foosteps mixed with the sound of water could be heard from behind.

Under normal circumstances, no one would bother to come to this open-air onsen. Nagamasa himself had also given precise orders to his personal guards: that whoever dared to set foot on this onsen was to be killed without mercy. Actually, there had already been two foolish retainers who came in here when Nagamasa was bathing, and said 「Let me wash your back for you, Nagamasa-sama! 」, and both of them ended up being slayed by his blade. Once this example had been set, no retainers dared to go near this place ever again in fear of meeting the exact same fate.

If so, then could it be that the trespasser wasn’t a retainer, but an assassin sent by the enemy to kill him? Did his nemesis Rokkaku Shotei employ Kaga Ranha, or is it perhaps the kunoichi that was with princess Oichi?

In any case, he was too careless. Because he was worried about princess Oichi’s silence, he had unintentionally drifted off with his thoughts and let his guard down .

Nagamasa stood up, and then jumped out of the onsen while turning around. As he jumped, Nagamasa unsheathed his sword, and was just about to strike at the assassin’s shadow….

「Waaaaaah! Stop! It’s me, princess Oichi! 」

… but just as he was about to make a slash, Nagamasa stopped the blade mid-swing, because the owner of the shadow illuminated by the clear moon was not that a ninja, or any other intruder. Instead, it was his newcomer wife, who came here to take a bath with a laid back face while carelessly saying 「Oh wow there’s an open-air onsen here! 」.

That is to say, princess Oichi.

But, her voice… no, not just her voice. Her small, stiff body, there was something fundamentally wrong about it. And that something was…

「A…a man…?! 」

Nagamasa screamed out in a high-pitched voice without even realizing it.

「Ha~ha~ha! Since I’ve been discovered I might as well tell you everything! Actually, there is no Oda Nobuna’s little sister named Oichi. My real name is Tsuda Nobusumi! I’m not my sister’s little sister, but her little brother! Ah, I was really scared last night. It’s not my fault that I was born so pretty. As long as I kept my mouth shut, no one would suspect that I was a man. I was even thinking about what to do if someone was in heat and tried to push me onto the bed…in the worst case scenario, if they really said 「In the Sengoku world, men are fine as well. Who cares if they’re male or female? As long as there’s a hole, that’s a goal! 」 then I would have been screwed for real. Literally. 」

With both hands on his hips, Tsuda Nobusumi had a carefree face while talking, and only discovered something after he had finished speaking.

That Azai Nagamasa in front of him was naked.

(Oh. This is… huh? That delicate skin, that waist which resembles a serpent’s seductive form, and those full… breasts? He’s not looking like a playboy that he was earlier, but rather…!)

「Uwaa? You… this body of yours… you, you… YOU’RE A WOMAAAAAAAAAN?!!!!!!!!!!!!! 」

「You…you saw it all! 」

To kill, or not to kill him, it didn’t matter anymore, because Nagamasa’s sword was dropped onto the ground.

Nagamasa used her hands to quickly cover up her breasts and lower body, and jumped into the onsen with a red face.

That’s right.

This is the biggest secret of Saruyasamaru… no, of Azai Nagamasa.