The Man Who Remained — His Second Life Began with a Humble Bow of Apology. - Chapter 85: To Change the Ending (Part One).

To Change the Ending (Part One).

A Day in the Life of Gyokuran.

For Gyokuran, each day begins with work and ends with work.

Though her position no longer technically constituted a nation, the Demon Kingdom had granted her a significant degree of autonomy, meaning her responsibilities were no different from those of a typical vassal state.

As long as Hourai Village was treated as its own polity, and as long as many lives depended on it, it had to be managed and governed properly.

And whether by fortune or misfortune, Gyokuran possessed the capability to do so.

If she hadn’t been able to, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Someone else with lesser ability would simply have taken the role of village chief in her place.

But she could. She could do it all by herself.

And because she could, all the work and responsibility inevitably fell upon her shoulders alone.

Even now, she continued to push herself forward, alone, despite knowing that the village’s end was in sight and that everything might conclude within her lifetime.

Yes, she could handle everything on her own. And because she could, all duties were entrusted to her.

It was an unbearably heavy and painful position to bear alone.

Yet, without a single complaint, she never once threw away her title. She simply carried out her duties each day in silence.

How did a woman who had once been nothing more than a courtesan come to be the village chief?

The answer lay in her desire for the happiness of her fellow courtesans.

Nowadays, the Jade House held the status of national headquarters, but back then, it was just another brothel like any other.

Their arts, their culinary skills, their performances—all merely supplemental to their purpose of providing carnal pleasure.

To men, it was a paradise. But to the women, it was hell itself.

Many courtesans there were miserable. Even if they wanted to run away, they had nowhere to go.

This vicious cycle was overturned by Hisui, who had once been just another courtesan.

She taught her fellow courtesans the art of conversation, encouraged them to hone their skills and performances, and instilled in them a sense of pride.

And for those who simply could not bear the life, she would plead with the proprietors to let them retire and work behind the scenes instead.

At first, the proprietors despised her to their core.

To them, she was a bothersome courtesan encroaching on matters far beyond her station, and their anger was only natural.

But within three months, that anger dissipated.

Why? Because the results spoke for themselves.

In just three months, the courtesans who had once suffered found pride and joy in entertaining through their art.

Despite a decrease in the number of courtesans, revenues rose by roughly thirty percent, and their reputation tripled.

Of course it did. After all, men were far happier to be attended to by women who smiled with genuine delight than those who merely obliged out of misery.

Even if one ignored the internal improvements, the numbers alone clearly showed an unprecedented surge in performance.

And when results spoke so loudly, those above had no objections. They couldn’t.

On the contrary, they swiftly reversed their stance, appointing Hisui as representative of the courtesans and eagerly adopting her proposals.

That was the beginning of Hisui’s journey.

The beginning of the next Jade House master, Gyokuran. The beginning of Gyokuran, the village chief of Hourai.

All she had wanted was for her fellow courtesans to be happy.

All she wished for was to see her friends smile.

That was truly all she desired…

And yet, Gyokuran had come to possess the abilities of a ruler.

Whether that brought her happiness, however…

Today, once again, Gyokuran quietly worked through towering stacks of paperwork alone.

***

There came a knock at the door—kon kon kon—a gentle, friendly sound rather than the unpleasant summons of yet more work.

Hearing it, Gyokuran tilted her head.

“Hm? Was I expecting any visitors today? …Well, it’s fine. Please, come in.”

She raised her voice slightly to welcome whoever it was. The door opened, and a man and woman entered together.

Cross, a guest of Hourai Village, and his attendant, Ellie.

They bowed deeply before smiling warmly at her.

“Were you busy just now?” Ellie asked.

Gyokuran shook her head.

“No. It’s fine.”

A lie.

Anyone could see from the towering mountain of documents around her that she was anything but free.

More precisely, she never had free time. Even the night she visited Cross a week ago had only been possible because she had worked herself to exhaustion beforehand to carve out that sliver of time.

In truth, Gyokuran had no such thing as an unbusy day.

But then again, it wasn’t entirely a lie either. A slight delay here wouldn’t change anything.

“So,” Cross began, “could I talk to you about something?”

Gyokuran nodded. His serious tone let her roughly guess what was coming and how it would end.

“Over this past week, I’ve been going around checking out all sorts of places,” Cross said. “And I’ve been reading up on this area, too—though just what a fool like me could manage.”

Gyokuran gave a small, wry smile.

A fool, he says…

The texts of this region used linguistic styles passed down since before the Eastern Kingdom’s time, filled with archaic conventions. For him to read them so easily and still call himself foolish was beyond modest—it was nearly insulting.

He had likely learned all of it in this short time. It confirmed to her that Cross was not simply the man he appeared to be.

There truly was a reason he had been chosen as the successor.

“But even so,” Cross continued, “I couldn’t think of a single way to save Hourai Village.”

Gyokuran’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“And what is it you’re referring to?”

“How to save this place.”

As she thought.

She swallowed back her sigh and nodded.

There was nothing inherently wrong with how things were run.

In fact, she prided herself on maintaining it so well.

Yet their revenues were declining. The village was entering a period of decline.

At this point, the only fundamental solution left was to relinquish everything to the Demon Kingdom and become a true vassal in every sense—including economically.

She had long since reached that conclusion and resigned herself to it.

That was why his next words caught her completely off guard.

“That’s why,” Cross said, “I want you to tell me.”

“Tell you…what?”

“You must have come up with countless ideas to save this place, right? I want to hear them. Embarrassing as it is, I couldn’t think of anything myself. I need your help.”

Gyokuran was left speechless.

“…Wait. You haven’t given up?”

Her honest words slipped out before she could stop them.

“Of course not,” Cross said with a grin. “It’s way too early to give up. So, ideas please. Ellie told me you probably have them written down somewhere. Or are they the kind of documents you can’t show me?”

“Uh… no, I have them. But they’re stored in the warehouse, so… I’ll need to finish up here first before I can…”

“Yeah, makes sense. We’re interrupting your work, after all. Ellie, could you help her out a bit?”

“Of course, my lord. Gyokuran-sama, I can see you’re handling countless minor tasks alone. I may not look it, but I am fairly confident in domestic affairs. Would you allow me to assist with any non-confidential paperwork?”

“Eh… um… yes, that would be… very helpful…”

Caught off guard again and again, Gyokuran flustered slightly.

Seeing her like that, Cross and Ellie exchanged gentle smiles.

“You know,” Cross said idly, now left without work of his own, “that outfit actually looks really good on you.”

“Huh? You mean me?” Gyokuran asked, pointing to herself in confusion.

“Yeah. Kimonos suit you, but that outfit is really dignified and cute, too.”

He looked her up and down again.

She wore a black outfit resembling a suit with a long skirt and a cloak lined with red. Though she wore no hat, the overall look carried a certain military aura.

“Thank you,” she replied. “This was specially prepared for me by the Demon Kingdom. They wanted me to have something dignified, since they are technically a military state.”

“A military state, huh?”

“Not exactly, but their structure is similar. The gate guards are essentially their army, with me as their commander.”

“Oh, I see. So because defense is so important here, your governance style looks militaristic from the outside.”

“Precisely.”

Smiling softly, Gyokuran returned to her paperwork.

***

Meanwhile, Cross quietly moved to Ellie’s side.

“How’s it looking?”

Ellie didn’t answer aloud, instead writing her reply on a piece of paper.

“Disastrous.”

Just that single, blunt word.

Uncharacteristically casual for Ellie, which only underscored the gravity of the situation.

She began writing out a full explanation for him.

All the documents here were tasks that should be handled by subordinates, not by the leader herself.

Gyokuran had long since finished all work befitting a village chief, and yet she continued to take on everything else alone.

In short, there was no one being trained in domestic administration. Without her, everything would collapse.

Even Ellie, confident as she was in statecraft and diplomacy, felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work.

Cross read her explanation and wrote back:

“Is this connected to Hourai’s crisis?”

“Not at all. In fact, if it weren’t for Gyokuran-sama, the village would have perished over ten years ago.”

Cross gave a bitter smile.

“Having ability… isn’t always a blessing, is it…”

As someone who considered himself incompetent, Cross felt that truth keenly.

“In that case,” Ellie wrote, “I’ve come up with a plan to reduce Gyokuran-sama’s workload. Shall we give it a try?”

She smiled mischievously as she handed him the note.

Seeing her expression, Cross grinned back and nodded.

Then, after a while, he quietly left the room.

“Huh? Where did Cross go? The restroom?” Gyokuran asked absently, noticing his absence.

“No, he just had something to take care of,” Ellie replied with a vague smile before returning to the mountain of paperwork.

Ellie had always been confident in her skills.

Within the Demon Kingdom, she could easily hold important positions in both domestic and diplomatic affairs.

Yet even she found herself overwhelmed by the unending tide of documents here.

And seeing Gyokuran quietly handling such burdens alone every day, Ellie felt a deep respect—and a profound pity—that nearly matched what she felt for her highest sovereigns.