As predicted, Shiurei doesn’t stay away from the palace for long. It begins with Ryuuki sending her all sorts of ridiculous gifts, like three chunks of ice, a pile of flowers, a pile of boiled eggs, and one straw doll. Shiurei is of course totally freaked out by this. Ryuuki also keeps having dreams of Shiurei, running away with Seiran, which aren’t too good for his sleep, as Ran and Kouyuu find out later. ^^
We also have the introduction of a new character. He seems to have come to the castle for some reason, but permission to enter is refused. Then, Shiurei runs into him, offering a bit of food and a place to rest. It then appears that this guy, who’s apparently named Ensei, is an aquaintance of Seiran. Though the latter isn’t too fond of the former, which leads to interesting discussions. Ensei used to have a big function, though I couldn’t understand what kind of function, unfortunately.
That evening, Kouyuu and Ran pay Shiurei’s family a small visit, in the name of the emperor in order to ask her to come back. I couldn’t catch the reason behind this, though I wonder what excuse the emperor tried to use. Shiurei eventually gives in, while Seiran sends Ensei along with her, probably in order to protect her.
Ensei isn’t the only new character to be introduced, as we also get to meet with a masked guy, at the end of the episode. We see some quick flashes of him during the entire episode, though we really get to see him introduced by the end of it, near the cliffhanger. I’ve no idea what this guy is, but apparently, he has an important function.
Kourin also moved away from the royal castle, as Shiusui tells Shiurei’s father. She seems to be doing well, wherever she is, and the two of them hope that she’ll become okay again. Shou Taijin (apparently, that’s the name of the advisor-old guy) also behaves weird in this episode, but that’s probably because he carries a little pot, which contains the ashes of the other old guy who perished in the last episode.
Overall, this episode was fun to watch, especially the emperor doing silly things again. But still, the show remains a bit boring. But that can also be because I couldn’t understand half of the things which happened.
