Saiunkoku Monogatari II Episode 4 – 冬来りなば春遠からじ (If winter comes, can spring be far behind?)

A spine-chilling episode with the mysteries starting to unravel… but then the question as to the what connection the Jasenkyou (the cult), the disease, the Eight Immortals, and the silver-haired bishie Riou just makes things even more complicated. In contrast to this, Reishin once again gives us some entertainment with his “orange” moments. I actually think the “orange” played the main part in this episode, which seems to have bound the different events with regards to Shuurei, Kurou and Reishin. :p

The title of “If winter comes, can spring be far behind”, is most likely referring to the disease in the Sekie village which should be resolved before winter comes, as well as the fact that Shuurei will soon be leaving as this season draws near.

Screenshots

Prelude

The land of Saiunkou was founded by the first Emperor Sougen, together with the help of the “Eight Immortals”. After Sougen’s death, the Eight Immortals disappeared somewhere, and eventually, the “Cave of the Immortals” was built in commemoration of them. According to historical books, when a man worthy of becoming emperor appears, these immortals gather in the cave…

Summary

Yuushun visits Ryuuki, who thanks him for supporting Sa Province throughout the decade. Ryuuki is well-aware of the fact that Yuushun was angry when he ascended to the throne, because of his irresponsibility, but now he’s able to make up for that and has become a great emperor. Yuushun praises him for a job well done, and Ryuuki blushes as he thought Yuushun would still be angry at him. “When that time comes, do prepare yourself for it”, Yuushun kiddingly warns him. Ryuuki tells Yuushun that he wants him to become the prime minister, as dealing with the Chamberlain of Treasury (Kou Kijin) and Civil Administration (Reishin) proves to be extremely difficult. Yuushun agrees that he was indeed able to have such an experience before (considering that he’s already been dealing with these two way back when they still weren’t government officials), and Ryuuki asks him for his advice, making Yuushun laugh at his reaction.

Ryuuki tells Yuushun that he finally realized why the previous emperor kept silent about Sa province’s problems, it was because he was waiting for the next emperor in line to do something for its recovery and growth. And it was for this very reason that the previous emperor Senou asked Yuushun to wait for the next emperor, so that he could serve as the emperor’s support. Ryuuki contemplates on the fact that perhaps his father never thought that he would be one to ascend to the throne, but Yuushun assures him that he’s done a great job. He promises Ryuuki that he will continue to support and aid him until Sa Province regains its stability, even if the time comes when he’ll be going against the Kou clan and the Ran clan, and Ryuuki was deeply moved by these words.

Shuurei is about to leave the house to accompany SaiRin, when her father arrives together with Kurou, who greets her with a gentle smile, much to Shouka’s astonishment. “I never thought this expression of Kurou would be more of a spectacular sight than a national treasure”, says Shouka. Shuurei goes to prepare tea for them or it’ll end up in a disaster if her father does, but Kurou stops her and tells her to do what she has to do. Before Shuurei leaves, Kurou praises her for her hard work, and gives her a bag of mandarin oranges from the Kou clan for a present. Shouka remembers the time when they stayed at the Kou mansion, where Kurou often gives her these oranges. This gets Shouka thinking that perhaps the reason why Reishin hates Kurou is because of this jealousy of not being able to feed Shuurei the same way Kurou does (despite the fact that it was Reishin’s own decision to hide from Shuurei). Shuurei leaves, then Shouka and Kurou goes inside the house for some serious talk.

Kurou and Shouka talks about the marriage proposals for Shuurei, and it seems that Kurou’s worrying about it too much that Shouka advises him to leave the matter to him and Reishin. Kurou tells Shouka that Shuurei is mostly likely not aware of this yet, and Shouka says that it would be unnecessary since the concept of marriages hasn’t crossed Shuurei’s mind yet. Shouka adds that in the end, it will be Shuurei to make that difficult decision with regards to marriage. Kurou doesn’t rely on much people, so Shouka advises Kurou to trust him a little, and that there’s no need to hurry since the Kou clan will be alright. Kurou admits that he must be rushing with regards to Shuurei’s marriage, but reaffirms his belief that having her marry Kouyuu would be the best decision for the Kou clan’s sake. Kurou adds that Kouyuu isn’t stupid so he must already know about this fact, then Shouka realizes that Kurou has already talked to Kouyuu regarding this. Shouka gets worried about this since Kouyuu is quite a serious person, and given Kurou’s personality, telling him about the marriage with Shuurei will most likely put much pressure on him even if Kurou didn’t intend to do so, and [unconsciously] be compelled to agree to this. A sudden thought came into Shouka, that once Shuurei and Kouyuu gets married, Reishin will become her father-in-law. Kurou is stunned for a moment as he didn’t think about it before (then sees this image of Reishin like an evil witch, looking down on Kouyuu and Shuurei), but then hesitantly reassures him that there’s no one else who’ll be able to tolerate Reishin as her “father-in-law” but Shuurei.

Shuurei and Sairin are on their way to the All-Merchant’s Alliance, and meets Ryuuren and Kokujun on the way. Kokujun is looking for some presents for Shunki and Eiki so he tags along with them, while Ryuuren’s reason is because he’s looking for something that’ll “complete his masterpiece”. Shuurei thinks of a way to prevent him from achieving this, since Ryuuren will most do his horrid flute-playing again once he’s able to do so. She gives him an orange to redirect his thoughts, but contrary to what she thought, Ryuuren sees the orange as the “missing piece” for his “masterpiece” and starts playing.

Ryuuren and Kokujun bids them farewell as they have to go someplace else, and both Shuurei and Sairin are thankful to have been able to survive that shock. Sairin proceeds inside the All-Merchant’s guild by herself, and Shuurei says that this negotiation should succeed no matter what. As Sairin comes back however, she only brings with her an envelope they want to give Shuurei. She rushes off to meet Yuushin to inform him about this, leaving no room to even tell Sairin what the letter was about.

Shuurei arrives in the palace and runs into a haggard-looking Hakumei who’s carrying a pile of documents he has to finish for his work. Shuurei worries about his health and he tells her not to worry since this is but a usual scene in the work of the Civil Administration Department – being piled up with tons of work. Shuurei thinks about Kouyuu, who’s pretty much in the same situation as Hakumei (or even worse), and realizes that the Chamberlain (Reishin) must be such as “slave-driver”. Hakumei tells her that the Chamberlain is her relative, and was about to reveal to her that this he is no other than her uncle Reishin, but then someone suddenly throws an orange at Hakumei from behind (as though preventing him from revealing this to Shuurei). Instead of worrying about Hakumei however, Shuurei thinks of the “orange’s welfare” instead, as she thinks it’s such a waste that someone would just be throwing this stuff.

Hakumei wonders who could’ve thrown the orange at him, and declares that he’ll certainly make him pay for what he did. Shuurei comments on Hakumei’s competitiveness, and when he tells her that they must be similar in this aspect, Shuurei begs to disagree since she only wants to strive to become better and better, not necessarily compare herself with people and compete with them. Hakumei changes the topic to Eigetsu (Hakumei calls him ‘little animal’), and Shuurei assures him that he’s doing fine.

Meanwhile in Sa Province, Eigetsu and Ensei are talking about the relation between the cult (they’ve been calling this as the Jasenkyou (teaching of the evil immortals) and the legend of Eight Immortals. It is said that after these Eight Immortals died, they gradually became the “evil immortals”, who inflicts curse on people if they don’t regularly sacrifice something in their behalf. Kourin then brings them another urgent letter from the old man, informing them of seeing a snow fox in the area just before autumn ended. Eigetsu trembles in fear as he hears about this, and tells Ensei to seek the All-Merchant’s assistance to call on a doctor and prepare the necessary medicines, if treatment of the disease would still be possible.

Ensei thinks that there’s still a way to prevent the disease from spreading, and that it’s not contagious. Based from the information they got, Eigetsu deduces that the disease appeared during the end of autumn, would have an incubation period for a few months, then would go insane (outbreak?) once winter comes. To Eigetsu’s knowledge, there would be no cure once it reaches this stage, and worries that they won’t make it in time to cure the people in Sekie village since it’s almost winter. There’s still a chance however, to cure the ones in villages where no snow fox has been seen. Eigetstu adds that the imperial doctor, who is far more knowledgeable than he is, would hold the answer to this. He goes to write Shuurei for her to summon the doctor as soon as possible with the emperor’s permission. As he writes his letter, he asks Yougetsu to give him a little more time, and Kourin looks at him with a worried look on her face.

Back to the palace, Shuurei arrives at the library and sees Yuushun, who’s been “entrusted” by Reishin to give a bag of mandarin oranges to Shuurei, specifically instructing him to tell Shuurei that it’s from a “kind, gentle and splendid person”. As Shuurei asks Yuushun who gave it to her, he simply tells Shuurei that it’s from a “strange, but not really bad kind of person” who wants her to eat these which he’s certain to be “much more scrumptious” Shuurei opens the bag and sees that it’s once again a bag of oranges, and thinks that this day seems to be an “orange fated day”. Shuurei remembers what Hakumei told her about the Civil Administration Chamberlain being her relative, and goes to ask Yuushun about this. Shuurei adds that this person doesn’t seem to do his job and is quite a “hopeless person”. She thinks of Kurou, who she considers a steadfast person compared to her father, and wonders if she could ask Kurou to tell that “relative” to do his job well, but thinks that it might be bothersome for Kurou.

Reishin could no longer bear the harsh words of Shuurei about him, and runs out of the library. Yuushun tells her not to worry about this, since her gentle heart will certainly reach this person someday, and assures her that the staff of the Civil Administration will soon be freed from all their work. Yuushun then asks her the outcome of the negotiation with the All-Merchant’s Alliance, and Shuurei gives him the letter they gave. The All-Merchant’s Alliance completely rejected their plan (and told Yuushun not to even bother going there), but Yuushun doesn’t seem to be a bit worried about this at all, and even tells Shuurei that they’re already the “winner by default” in terms of the negotiation with the Alliance. Since their work in Kou Province is complete, it’s now time to go back to Sa Province. Before Yuushun could explain what he meant to Shuurei, he leaves for something else he has to attend to.

Shuurei goes home and Kurou has prepared a feast for them. Kokujun also joins them for dinner, but Ryuuren wasn’t able to because of something else he needs to. Shouka thinks that there must be something happening for Ryuuren to just suddenly leave someplace else without a word. The next day, the staff of the Civil Administration Department were finally able to rest as their work is finally done. Kouyuu wonders what happened to Reishin that he suddenly had the urge to work. Hakumei then asks him if it’s true that Reishin brought oranges from Kiou (Kou Province), since he thinks that it was Reishin who threw that orange at him the other day. Kouyuu imagines Reishin carrying all these oranges, telling Shuurei that he’s her “kind and gentle” uncle.

As Shuurei searches for Yuushun’s residence to ask him for an explanation regarding what he said about “winning by default” against the All-Merchant’s Alliance, he runs into Riou who sends a chill up her spine, rendering her petrified and unable to move. Riou continues to draw near her, puts his scarf around her and goes to touch her face…

Thoughts

This episode has been filled with spine-chilling events, and is well contrasted with the lighthearted “orangey scenes” throughout the episodes. The Jasenkyou (the cult I previously mentioned) is still such a mystery, and I got even more intrigued when Eigetsu mentioned about the possible relation of this with the Eight Immortals… Not only that, the relation of this Jasenkyou to the disease spreading in the Sekie village still leaves me wondering. It seems that this disease is quite serious that Eigetsu panicked a bit when his earlier presumption was confirmed to be true with the appearance of the snow fox. Given that, we still don’t know the relation of this snow fox, the Jasenkyou, and the disease. And just how did Eigetsu know about this disease…? All is but a mystery…

Regarding the “death” of Eigetsu… it seems that he’s well aware of this, and is most likely the reason why he’s trying to do his best with the little amount of time he has left. With each and every episode, Eigetsu’s life is coming closer to an end… (have to prepare myself for this or it’ll leave me sooo depressed) >_<

I wonder what Yuushun meant about “winning by default” against the All-Merchant’s Alliance. I’m thinking this has something to do with his earlier conversation with the emperor… since he talked to Ryuuki at the start of the episode for the approval on “something”. So, it’s most likely that he was able to an approval from Ryuuki beforehand, so whether or not the Alliance approved of their plan isn’t something to worry about anymore.

Even more spine-chilling was the appearance of Riou, which just makes me even wonder what Shuurei could possibly do against this guy who already leaves her petrified simply with their first encounter. Nothing much has been said about Riou yet, except that she’s related to Shuurei, and possesses supernatural powers… other than that, we don’t know if he has something to do with (once again) the Eight Immortals, Jasenkyou, etc…

As usual, Reishin once again puts the fun in this episode with all these “orangey events”. Shouka’s presumption of Reishin hating Kurou because of the “oranges” is most likely true, since he’s trying to point out the fact that the oranges he gave to Shuurei is far more scrumptious than what Kurou gave her way back when she was little ^^;; Talk about how Reishin bears some “grudge” on something which is actually his fault to begin with (deciding to “hide” from Shuurei, then becoming so jealous over people who get to interact with her normally ^^;;; )

Popularity: 11% [?]

No related posts.