E9 - Lady Raven

Source: Crunchyroll
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(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
SIGN    YATAGARASU
SIGN    The Raven
    Does Not 
    Choose 
    Its Master
[01:59] Hamayu
    Shiratama.
[02:01] Hamayu
    You should never have come here.
[02:07] Hamayu
    Not if you were in love with another man.
SIGN    10 Years Ago
    Mansion of the Northern House
[02:36] Shiratama
    How do you do, Grandfather, Grandmother?
[02:40] Oryo
    Thank you for coming such a long way.
[02:43] Genya
    What a sweet child.
    And clever, too, Mutsu-no-Hana.
[02:48] Mutsu-no-Hana
    You're too kind.
SIGN    Shiratama's mother
    Mutsu-no-Hana
[02:52] Genya
    Shiratama, this will be
    your home from now on.
[02:56] Genya
    You'll be a daughter to Oryo and myself.
[03:07] Oryo
    Study hard now.
[03:10] Oryo
    As third daughter of the North,
[03:13] Oryo
    you'll ascend to the palace
    and marry the kin'u.
[03:16] Genya
    Now, now. Shiratama's only four.
[03:22] Shiratama
    Father. Mother. I'll do my very best.
[03:28] Genya
    Oh! Well said! Well said!
[03:58] Shiratama
    You must be the one who leaves me
     flowers every morning.
[04:12] Shiratama
    Would you tell me the name?
[04:16] Kazumi
    K-Kazumi.
[04:20] Shiratama
    Kazumi. It has a nice, sweet fragrance.
[04:22] Kazumi
    Oh, uh... The flowers
     are called wintersweet.
[04:27] Kazumi
    I'm sorry it's only a small cutting.
[04:29] Shiratama
    No, this is enough.
[04:33] Shiratama
    So you're Kazumi.
[04:35] Shiratama
    It's nice to meet you.
[04:40] Kazumi
    I happened to find it
    while I was out picking herbs.
[04:44] Kazumi
    I stumbled into a clearing
    in a deep mountain valley
[04:48] Kazumi
    full of blooming flowers that birds and
     the wind and such had carried there.
[04:55] Kazumi
    The morning light turns
    the whole field a brilliant gold.
[05:00] Kazumi
    Words don't do it justice.
[05:11] Shiratama
    I'd like to see your garden.
[05:15] Shiratama
    But I can't. I could never go that far away.
[05:19] Kazumi
    I'll bring it to you someday. I promise.
[05:27] Cha-no-Hana
    In Cherry Blossom Palace,
    you must always be mindful
[05:31] Cha-no-Hana
    to comport yourself
    like a true Northern lady.
[05:34] Cha-no-Hana
    Ascending to the palace means...
[05:38] Cha-no-Hana
    You must not meet with gardeners.
[05:43] Cha-no-Hana
    The moment you were chosen for the rite,
     you became the Prince's woman.
[05:48] Shiratama
    I know that. But Kazumi is—
[05:50] Cha-no-Hana
    The Northern House dreams
    of an imperial marriage.
[05:53] Cha-no-Hana
    You no longer belong to yourself alone.
[06:17] Kazumi
    Shiratama. Run away with me.
[06:23] Kazumi
    We won't have much,
    but I'll make you happy. I promise.
[06:32] Shiratama
    Thank you.
[06:34] Shiratama
    But fleeing with you
    could never make me happy.
[06:41] Kazumi
    I knew you'd say that.
[06:44] Kazumi
    Even so, my feelings won't change.
[06:48] Kazumi
    I'd give my life for your smile.
[06:52] Kazumi
    No matter what happens.
[07:09] Cha-no-Hana
    My lady. A letter from
    an agent in imperial service.
[07:17] Cha-no-Hana
    Every house has skeletons in their closets.
     Just look at the South.
SIGN    Kazumi
[07:26] Shiratama
    Kazumi?
[07:34] Hamayu
    A deal?
[07:36] Shiratama
    I want you and the Southern House
    to give up on marrying the Prince.
[07:39] Shiratama
    Or lose everything and leave the palace
     when your secret is exposed.
[07:49] Shiratama
    If you should marry
    the Prince in spite of me,
[07:52] Shiratama
    I swear I will ruin you.
[08:25] Kazumi
    Did my letters prove useful to you?
[08:30] Shiratama
    Kazumi? What are you doing here?
[08:37] Kazumi
    Shiratama.
[08:38] Shiratama
    Don't come near me!
[08:39] Shiratama
    I've done so many awful things.
[08:43] Shiratama
    Things I can't even tell you.
[08:46] Shiratama
    The...
[08:49] Shiratama
    The Shiratama you loved is gone!
[08:56] Kazumi
    My feelings won't change.
[08:59] Kazumi
    You still mean everything to me.
[09:07] Shiratama
    I'm the Prince's woman.
[09:10] Kazumi
    Come to the stable by the stage
     at the next new moon. I'll be waiting.
[09:25] Shiratama
    I won't go.
[09:28] Kazumi
    I'll wait as long as it takes.
[09:31] Kazumi
    Until you come.
[09:49] Shiratama
    Yes, of course...
[09:51] Shiratama
    That wasn't Kazumi.
[09:54] Shiratama
    Kazumi always watches over me.
[09:59] Shiratama
    He said his feelings would never change.
[10:02] Shiratama
    Even now, he must still be...
[10:07] Hamayu
    Shiratama...
[10:09] Shiratama
    Don't touch me!
[10:21] Shiratama
    I'll become consort.
[10:25] Shiratama
    You gave me your word.
[10:28] Shiratama
    You'll withdraw and make way for me.
[10:33] Shiratama
    Now that the North and the South stand united,
    neither the East nor the West can threaten us.
[10:39] Shiratama
    Isn't that right, Lady Hamayu?
[10:44] Hamayu
    Shiratama, the Southern House won't budge.
[10:48] Hamayu
    I didn't promise a thing.
[10:51] Hamayu
    I haven't told the South anything, either.
[10:55] Asebi
    Then, when she said the North
    and the South had joined forces...
[10:59] Hamayu
    I don't know what you heard,
[11:02] Hamayu
    but the South would never content
    itself with another house's scraps.
[11:09] Shiratama
    You'd betray me, Hamayu?
[11:13] Hamayu
    Anyone who gets fooled here
    only has herself to blame.
[11:16] Hamayu
    You did plenty of bluffing yourself.
[11:18] Hamayu
    You have no right to blame me.
[11:37] Toru
    Do you require an opponent, Sister?
[11:42] Empress
    Toru.
[11:50] Empress
    You must have business
    of your own to see to.
[11:53] Toru
    I came at your call.
[11:59] Toru
    What's this about an uproar
    in Cherry Blossom Palace?
[12:02] Empress
    An intruder, I hear.
[12:04] Toru
    Oh?
[12:05] Empress
    Before that, a lady-in-waiting
    fell to her death.
[12:08] Empress
    What are those fools in the
    Wisteria Guard playing at?
[12:13] Empress
    The Prince shows no inclination to visit.
[12:17] Empress
    The stage is set,
    yet Lady Raven still awaits her cue.
[12:32] Shiratama
    You guessed wrong on one count.
[12:35] Shiratama
    I told you I knew your secret.
[12:39] Shiratama
    That was no bluff.
[12:43] Shiratama
    This woman is no court raven.
[12:46] Shiratama
    She's a hill raven.
[12:48] Shiratama
    Maybe even a horse.
[12:52] Masuho
    Impossible. Hill ravens and horses are
    forbidden from taking part in the rite.
[12:56] Shiratama
    But what if she came from highborn stock?
[13:00] Shiratama
    In the upheaval ten years ago, a nobleman
    and his wife committed a grave crime,
[13:07] Shiratama
    and received a sentence of decapitation.
[13:11] Shiratama
    And that couple had a daughter.
[13:17] Shiratama
    Yes, this woman, Hamayu...
[13:21] Shiratama
    is the child of criminals.
[13:24] Asebi
    Lady Hamayu was born to criminals?
[13:27] Masuho
    Shiratama, baseless slander won't—
[13:29] Hamayu
    If you know that much,
    I might as well come clean.
[13:32] Hamayu
    I'll finish the story myself.
[13:35] Hamayu
    But where should I start?
[13:38] Hamayu
    I assume you've heard about
    the Prince and Fujinami's mother?
[13:43] Masuho
    Lady Izayoi. She was my aunt.
[13:46] Hamayu
    Oh, so she was.
[13:48] Hamayu
    Well, the one who killed Lady Izayoi
    was my father, the then Lord of the South.
[13:56] Masuho
    Pardon?
[13:59] Hamayu
    My parents murdered the Prince
    and Fujinami's mother.
[14:06] Hamayu
    My uncle, who is now Lord Toru,
    put a swift end to the affair.
[14:13] Hamayu
    He seized them before the Royal House
    could act and beheaded them the same day.
[14:21] Hamayu
    As their daughter, I was stripped of
    my rank and sentenced to disarticulation.
[14:28] Asebi
    Disarticulation?
[14:30] Hamayu
    Cutting off my third leg
    so that I could never revert to human form,
[14:34] Hamayu
    then working me as a horse till I die.
[14:39] Hamayu
    Though in the end, they let me off
     because I was still a child.
[14:44] Hamayu
    I lived as a hill raven after that,
    practically crawling around in the dirt.
[14:53] Empress
    The Rite of Ascension is like a play.
[14:58] Empress
    Actors burdened with roles cross the box
     called Cherry Blossom Palace.
[15:05] Empress
    But none of them realize it.
[15:08] Empress
    They do not know they are in a box,
    nor that they are merely game pieces.
[15:13] Empress
    How I pity those women.
[15:17] Toru
    That may not hold true for all of them.
[15:21] Toru
    You know how tenacious women can be.
[15:25] Toru
    Some may only pretend to be pieces,
    waiting for their chance to escape the box.
[15:33] Hamayu
    My luck changed eight years ago.
[15:36] Hamayu
    I met my uncle again.
    He'd become head of our house.
[15:41] Hamayu
    I more than half expected him
    to kill me, but I made him an offer.
[15:47] Hamayu
    If he would restore my status,
    I'd do anything the Southern House wanted.
[15:54] Hamayu
    And so, I reemerged as a lady of the South,
    in exchange for accepting a crucial mission.
[16:02] Asebi
    What mission?
[16:06] Hamayu
    Assassinating the Prince.
[16:09] Shiratama
    N-No.
[16:12] Hamayu
    I guess you didn't discover that part.
[16:14] Hamayu
    Well, the Prince probably did,
[16:18] Hamayu
    considering how much
     he avoids this place.
[16:21] Hamayu
    My other role was as a substitute.
[16:24] Hamayu
    If the Prince dies,
    Lord Natsuka will return as crown prince.
[16:29] Hamayu
    The South wanted to save
    their prized daughter for that day.
[16:35] Hamayu
    Between the Empress, Lord Natsuka,
    and any child his bride bears him,
[16:40] Hamayu
    the Southern House would dominate
    three generations of kin'u.
[16:45] Hamayu
    That's long enough to get
    an iron grip on power.
[16:49] Hamayu
    The Southern House will have
    Yamauchi under their thumb.
[16:53] Masuho
    That's the Southern House's true scheme?
[17:00] Hamayu
    Whoops. I went and told you the whole plot.
[17:03] Hamayu
    Still, I can't believe the Southern House.
[17:06] Hamayu
    They want to make me kill the son
    of the woman my parents murdered.
[17:13] Masuho
    If you know all that, then why...
[17:17] Hamayu
    There you have it, Shiratama.
[17:20] Hamayu
    I acted all haughty and told you to leave,
     but I'm the one who needs to go.
[17:26] Hamayu
    Sorry.
[17:31] Masuho
    Where will you go?
[17:36] Hamayu
    I'll run, of course.
[17:38] Hamayu
    I failed my mission and talked too much.
[17:43] Hamayu
    If they catch me this time,
     I'm dead for sure.
[17:46] Hamayu
    Tell Takimoto to search my chambers later.
[17:50] Hamayu
    She'll find what I swiped while you were
    busy sipping tea and ogling flowers.
[17:56] Shiratama
    You don't mean...
[17:57] Hamayu
    Listen up, all of you.
[17:59] Hamayu
    I'll tell you one last thing.
[18:02] Hamayu
    Cherry Blossom Palace
     isn't the whole world,
[18:05] Hamayu
    and being with the man you love
    isn't the only way a woman can be happy.
[18:10] Hamayu
    Don't get that mixed up and
    miss your own shot at happiness.
[18:15] Hamayu
    See you around.
[18:17] Masuho
    Hamayu!
[18:31] Shoin
    I bring a report.
[18:35] Empress
    Hmph. So a piece has escaped the box.
[18:39] Empress
    Shoin.
[18:40] Shoin
    Majesty.
[18:41] Empress
    Summon that man.
[18:43] Shoin
    At once.
[18:58] Yukiya
    I finally caught up with you!
[19:00] Yukiya
    You've got to hear this
    right away, Young Master!
[19:02] Nazukihiko
    Not "Young Master."
[19:04] Nazukihiko
    I'm Sumimaru, a manservant from the Center.
[19:07] Yukiya
    Oh, of course, Sumimaru, sir.
[19:09] Yukiya
    But we've got bigger problems right now!
     Cherry Blossom Palace is a mess!
[19:13] Yukiya
    Intruders, escapees, and—
[19:15] Nazukihiko
    Calm down and explain.
[19:16] Yukiya
    Before that...
[19:18] Yukiya
    Do you mind if I eat something?
[19:22] Yukiya
    I guess nothing's ever simple
    in Cherry Blossom Palace.
[19:31] Yukiya
    Sumio went to ask
    about all these incidents,
[19:35] Yukiya
    but the intruder in the Autumn Hall
    died in bird form, so he's hard to identify.
[19:42] Yukiya
    And we still don't know who the comb
    on the dead lady-in-waiting belonged to.
[19:48] Yukiya
    Takimoto won't say much,
    and neither will anyone else.
[19:54] Yukiya
    Sumio was at his wit's end.
[20:01] Yukiya
    Oh, but we did find out one thing.
[20:03] Yukiya
    Lady Hamayu was plotting
    to kill His Highness.
[20:07] (Flashback) Nazukihiko
    An assassin after my life
    lurks in the Cherry Blossom Palace.
[20:11] (Flashback) Nazukihiko
    I received a warning letter
    just before the rite began.
[20:14] (Flashback) Yukiya
    Who sent it?
[20:15] (Flashback) Nazukihiko
    Who knows?
[20:16] Yukiya
    All His Highness's letters to the ladies
     turned up in the Summer Hall.
[20:21] Yukiya
    She must have hoped
    to discover where he'd be.
[20:28] Yukiya
    Well, anyway, that's one
    less thing to worry about.
[20:34] Yukiya
    That was delicious.
[20:36] Nazukihiko
    So, are you convinced?
[20:40] Yukiya
    Well...
[20:42] Yukiya
    I'm honestly not sure.
[20:45] Yukiya
    She confessed, but something
     still doesn't sit right.
[20:49] Yukiya
    Lady Hamayu did save me one time.
[20:52] Yukiya
    And who sent that warning letter, anyway?
[20:57] Yukiya
    Still, we're at our limit.
[20:59] Yukiya
    We can't handle what's happening
    in Cherry Blossom Palace on our own.
[21:03] Nazukihiko
    There must be clues, however minor.
[21:07] Nazukihiko
    Think.
[21:08] Nazukihiko
    Dredge up all your memories
    and put your wits to work.
[21:15] Yukiya
    Something tells me Lady Hamayu
    is still hiding something.
[21:19] Yukiya
    And why would she confess?
[21:21] Yukiya
    She must've known it would get her killed.
[21:25] Yukiya
    Lady Hamayu's not the assassin!
[21:27] Yukiya
    Maybe she's after something else.
[21:30] Yukiya
    But then, why would she...
[21:34] Nazukihiko
    You picked a decent starting point.
[21:37] Nazukihiko
    Also, you shouldn't take
    what Takimoto says at face value.
[21:41] Nazukihiko
    She's an imperial lady-in-waiting.
[21:43] Nazukihiko
    Her only concerns are protecting the Royal
    House and ensuring the rite goes smoothly.
[21:50] Nazukihiko
    She has tried to bar the
    Yamauchi Guard at every point.
[21:53] Nazukihiko
    She could easily have fabricated
    her reports to suit her own ends.
[21:59] Yukiya
    Ugh! Cherry Blossom Palace is just—
[22:04] Nazukihiko
    We're returning to the Center.
[22:06] Yukiya
    Did something click for you?
[22:09] Nazukihiko
    I'm going to find out.
[22:15] Nazukihiko
    Yukiya!
[22:20] Nazukihiko
    I'll need you to work even harder
    than before. We're going to be busy.
[22:29] Yukiya
    Yes, sir!
[22:43] Hill Raven Child
    That's the place.
[22:57] Sumio
    It's still breathing.
[24:30] Narrator
    Hamayu revealed herself and vanished,
    but the schemes have not stopped.
[24:38] Narrator
    On a stormy night, danger befalls
    the prince in a house redolent of blood.
[24:46] Narrator
    How will Yukiya respond?
[24:50] Narrator
    Next time: "Assassinating the Prince."
SIGN    Assassinating
SIGN    the Prince
SIGN    YATAGARASU:
    The Raven
    Does Not 
    Choose 
    Its Master
SIGN    Illustration: Natsuki