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Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 4

The secret that had to be kept from anyone else, even if it meant killing any retainers that came to the onsen.

「S-Since it has come to this there’s no way to hide it anymore…t-that’s right. I-I’m actually the heiress of the Azai clan! Damn Oda Nobuna, she actually sent a man disguised as a woman in order to reveal my secret…! 」

「Ah, w-what did you say just now? 」

「I lost again. Oda Nobuna… she is really an enemy I cannot defeat. 」

「Ah, no, Nee-sama just wanted to… 」

「This time I, Azai Nagamasa, honestly admit defeat to Nobuna-dono. 」

Although Azai Nagamasa was still in the onsen after getting embarrassed for being seen, she still bowed down to Nobusumi nonetheless.

「…But Tsuda Nobusumi, how long do you plan on letting me stare at your naked body! And… and the shape of that one particular part of your body is becoming weirder by the second… j-just turn around! Now! 」

「Arara, oh dear. I got excited when I saw Nagamasa-dono’s smooth skin, so it can’t be helped~~ 」

「Y-y-you, do you want me to kill you!? 」

「Oh, but why would you do that? This much should be fine, shouldn’t it~? 」

「What? Why are you coming in? Don’t come here, don ’t come any closer! Uwah, uwaaah! 」

Although Nagamasa was screaming while her face was red, the unfortunate one was the fool Nobusumi. Other than getting into the onsen himself, he really could not think of any other way to hide his (surprisingly) masculine body

「D-d-d-don’t touch me! If you dare to come any closer, I will really kill you! 」

Seeing Nobusumi advance, Nagamasa kept splashing water at him, but it didn’t stop him, as expected. But after seeing Nagamasa in a rattled state, Nobusumi was even more excited in many different ways, to the point where he even got a nosebleed.

「Ah~, what a shock. I thought you were a hunk who would be my rival, but I never thought that you were actually a girl. 」

「I-i-if you don’t stop that disgusting nosebleed I will kill you! I mean it! 」

「Nagamasa-dono. Why did you pretend to be a man? In this chaotic world, it’s hard for the men of big clans to pass on their heritage as it is, and it isn’t all that uncommon for women to become Daimyo and assume the positions of the leaders of their respective clans. I mean, if you want an example, then look no further than Nobuna-nee-sama. 」

Nobusumi kept throwing questions at Nagamasa with a serious face.

「Although I married into the Azai clan under the guise of a woman, we are already husband and wife. As such, I hope to know more about the reason behind you doing what you did. 」

Nagamasa knew that not explaining anything in these circumstances would only make the situation worse, so she prepared herself and then spoke out.

「You should already know that when I was little, I was held hostage by Rokkaku Shotei and was exiled to Kannonji Castle. 」

「Ah. Although I’ve only heard a bit about it, I guess it’s a similar story to our Matsudaira Motoyasu. That kid was also sold to the Oda clan at a young age, and was held hostage by the Imagawa clan, which couldn’t have been an easy life for her. 」

「…But isn’t Imagawa Yoshimoto a female Daimyo? Rokkaku Shotei is a man, and he is the type of guy who not only goes after mature women, but also underage young girls as well. He’s a perverted man who has weird sexual tastes. 」

「Is that so? 」

「Therefore, in order to protect me, my mother raised me as a boy under the name Saruyasamaru. But as I grew older, Rokkaku Shotei almost discovered my true gender. He has tried to assault me during my sleep several times. Although I could have easily cut him down with my sword skills, doing that doing that would also get my mother caught up in all of this, so all I could do was to continue hiding my gender for the sake of protecting my virginity, but that was the limit of what I could do. 」

「What a despicable man. 」

After hearing this, Nobusumi gave one of his rare frowns.

「He dared to do such indecent things to a maiden… he deserves a thousand deaths for his transgressions against you. 」

「W-who are you calling a maiden all of a sudden?! Don’t say that! 」

「Ara, why? Beautiful things are beautiful, and I’m always honest when praising everything that is beautiful. 」

A splash of water hit him on the face, so Nobusumi had no choice but to shut up.

「Anyway, in order to escape from the schemes of the perverted Rokkaku Shotei, I used my looks to attract the females of the Rokkaku clan to my side, and I was finally able to escape from Kannonji Castle back to Odani. 」

Nagamasa bit her pink lips, and said this in a low voice.

「*Cough!* *Cough!* And then you inherited the position of clan leader of the Azai clan. But, why didn’t you take this chance to return to being a woman? 」

「… Because my father opposed such a thing. That’s why I gave up my status as a woman and continued living while posing as a man. As for stuff like a maiden’s happiness, I have also given up on that. 」

「Because that was what Hisamasa-dono wanted you to do? 」

「My father is a stubborn person who disapproves of the so-called female Daimyos, because he thinks that only men are worthy of leading the clans. But, other than me, he had no other successors. Therefore, if I wanted my father to live in hiding and to take up the mantle of a clan leader myself, I had no choice but to live the life of a man. If I wanted to return to being a woman, then I could not inherit the position of clan leader, and we would have to adopt someone from the Asakura clan or Rokkaku clan as the successor…with that, my father forced me to choose between being clan leader or being a woman, and, well, you know what choice I made in the end. 」

「I don’t think anyone would expect a single person to be such an idiot! 」

Nobusumi said with an annoyed look on his face.

「In this era where were are always short of people to wage our wars for us, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman. All that matters is whether you’re a capable warrior or not. 」

「But my father said that in the distant past, only men had the right to inherit the position of a clan leader…. 」

「Is that so? How distant in the past are we talking about, exactly? 」

「It should have been a tradition from a long, long time ago, from the time when the first queen from the Yamato dynasty, Himiko, reigned over the world of the gods, and her brother took up his sword and ruled over the human world. 」

「That’s a bit too ancient of a history if you asked me. 」

「Whatever. Because of that despicable Rokkaku Shotei, I completely detest men… and besides, being a male has its advantages, so I decided to live as a man from now on. 」

「Advantages? 」

「Thankfully, if I meet someone while dressed in male clothing I will be seen as an unmatched handsome young man, and if there’s one thing that women of any age can’t resist, it is handsome men. That’s why most of the women I encounter are under my control. Whether it’s during my escape from Kannonji Castle, or becoming independent from the Rokkaku clan, this face of mine has been very useful for the sake of achieving my goals. 」

「That’s why there have been rumors that you abandon females after you have used them… 」

Nobusumi spoke quietly.

「Because of this, I can’t be together with a woman. Fooling around with women when I have the chance wasn’t my own will anyway. That’s why when the girls that are infatuated with me beg me to push them down, I can do nothing but walk away silently, since there’s nothing else I can do. 」

「Oh. Is that so, hahaha. 」

Looking at the carefree Nobusumi’s laughing face from the side, Nagamasa couldn’t help but think:

(Although from his appearance he looks very unreliable, after hearing about my problems, he could readily accept everything with a smile. Perhaps he might actually be a decent person.)