23. Cruel to Be Kind
Part Three: Lady Min
The Education of Sumire Min is a previously unpublished novel by S. Jae-Jones. Chapters will be emailed to paying subscribers every Friday at 5PM EST. If you are not yet a subscriber and would like to read the rest of the book, as well as receive all sorts of behind-the-scenes access—including a Discord server—why not give it a try?
The next morning, the news that the king of Ængland was dead spread through the city like tinder catching a flame, setting minds ablaze with questions, a veritable inferno of possibilities and opportunities. The news was no less shocking to Sumire the second time around, and her surprise and consternation was unfeigned when the town crier had run through the streets, proclaiming to all and sundry that the king of the white devils had died.
This pronouncement was only of passing interest to the majority of Heian's residents, and even then, it was only significant to those who were had been aware that the heir to the British Imperium slumbered not two miles outside the city. A novelty, and a point of gossip and smug superiority for those in the know, who could then turn to the unenlightened masses that they had seen the king of Ængland, that they had had the pleasure and privilege of selling him noodles, an umbrella, a fan, a curio, a souvenir.
It meant somewhat else to Sumire; it meant that nothing would ever be the same. She observed these proceedings from a changed vantage point, from a place of power and influence. How different everything looked, she thought, when circumstances were changed.