27. A Favor Revisited
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The Education of Sumire Min is a previously unpublished novel by S. Jae-Jones.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?
In the end, it hadn’t taken much convincing. Or outrage. Little Snow quietly, and without much protest, agreed to casual infanticide as a necessary measure of deception. She would, when the time came, take a prostitute’s illegitimate child, strangle it, and present to Sumire to give it to the Minister as a stillborn. The callous, indifferent way Little Snow had said yes unnerved her, but she had schooled her own face into a blank mask in response. They would do what was necessary in order to get ahead. It was what bound them together as sisters, in spirit, if not in blood or filial affection.
Little Snow’s cooperation assured, it was now time to secure some further insurance for her child. If ever her stillborn gambit failed, or Little Snow’s loyalty ran out, Sumire knew that she needed the babe out of Nippon, and the only person who would be able to provide her with that sort of resource without her resorting to her Genyosha contacts was the Count.