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*WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS:Cussing, corrupt positions of power, violence, abusive behavior, running away, and implied murder/death.
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"Your Majesty, I apologize for inconveniencing you at this time, but the Imperial Princess Uga is nowhere to be seen."
The throne room quickly fell silent.
Not a single person spoke for what seemed like hours but was only a minute in reality.
"...I'm sorry, but I fear that I might've misheard you on what you have just told me," Despite displaying a polite smile, Emperor Nintoku's voice was filled with nothing but venomous malice. Did he hear that right? No, of course not. Perhaps he misheard the chambermaid's news.
The lowly servant further explained the situation to her superior, "Her Imperial Highness requested some time alone in her chambers after her recent training sessions. When I entered in order for her to receive dinner, I noticed that her Highness was nowhere in her room and her window was open. I have reason to believe that she has run away when she was alone."
After telling her side, the chambermaid awaited and feared what her emperor planned on saying or doing next. He stayed silent for a moment, and his facial expression - she hadn't dared to look up to see his face out of respect and fear.
Smack!
The maid whimpered in pain as she fell on the floor, tears threatening to soak on the room's floor. Her right cheek has a reddening mark from Nintoku himself.
"What a joke of a chambermaid. You avert your eyes from the high priestess for a second and she manages to leave under your nose," he began to tear into the maid, not caring if she's started crying. Uga leaving was the maid's fault. And here she was, paying the price for her carelessness.
Today certainly has had its ups and downs.
First, his men found a kappa hiding in an alley and brought it to him. The emperor began to ask them questions about Ryomen Sukuna, in the hopes of locating him. Unfortunately, the kappa said nothing. Either it didn't know anything or refused to say anything is left to only his imagination. Either way, he'll continue to interrogate the yokai until he gets something out of it or it dies. He would be fine with either outcome.
Just then, one of the warriors burst into the throne room, interrupting the emperor's thought process.
The warrior deeply bowed, "Apologizes for barging in, Your Majesty. But the kappa you've taken captive has escaped from it cage!"
Huh. Looks like he was wrong.
Today has been more of a bad day than most.
Nintoku then began to chuckle. His chuckle turned into a laugh, and his laugh became a hearty guffaw. "Well, I'll be damned. I believe I am able to piece together what has occurred in these late hours. It appears that my dear Uga freed the kappa and took off. Right underneath not only your noses but mine as well." He tried to catch his breath after finishing his little fit. This whole thing was amusing, to say the least.
That girl sure is something.
Why couldn't she stay quiet and in line like the rest of her siblings? Maybe if she had, then her father wouldn't pay so much attention to her. He always knew that Uga wasn't as afraid of him as her siblings were, never trembling in fear whenever he would merely glance at her.
And her jujutsu training was a thing to behold. His daring daughter was a quick learner, that one.
He turned around and waved off the troop, "Send out your best searchers and find the Imperial Princess. And should you find the kappa along with her, bring it as well. Oh, and do not be afraid to use some cursed energy if she's spotted."
Alright, Uga.
You've made the first move in this hunting game you decided you want to pay.
Now it is my turn.
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Uga hasn't stopped running through the forest even though her feet were ready to give out soon. She knew better than to stop at this point. She had the kappa that she freed from her father in her arms. Her plan was to drop off the kappa at a nearby river and continue hiding from the imperial searchers. The chambermaids must've learned about her disappearance and have told her father, who probably send out searchers to find her and the kappa.
That was when Uga finally found a river a few feet away. Once the kappa started to sniff a familiar fishy scent from the body of water, it wiggled out of the imperial princess's grip and dove into the river without any form of hesitation.
Uga took out a few whole cucumbers that she stole from the kitchen when the cooks weren't looking and showed it to the water spirit. "Here. I know well enough that you haven't really eaten anything since you were brought to my father."
The kappa looked between its' offering and the young high priestess, most likely scared thanks to its recent past experience with a jujutsu sorcerer. Eventually, it quickly snatched a cucumber from her hand and took a couple of bites of it while staring at Uga.
She took off her shoes so she could soak her sore feet, sighed in relief once the feet hit the water. "I really needed this soak." The princess made eye contact with the river yokai, who was slowly eating the rest of the cucumbers right beside her. "I'm guessing you don't trust me still. Fair enough. I wouldn't trust the next jujutsu sorcerer after what you went through."
When she was younger, Nintoku would often tell her and her siblings stories that painted mythical creatures horribly and told them to run as jujutsu sorcerers who encountered a mythical creature and stay were those with a death wish. He wasn't wrong, but she still thought differently. She wanted to understand the mythical, not hurt them like her other siblings wanted to once they were strong enough jujutsu sorcerers.
Oh, how she wished that some of her other siblings believed what Uga did. Maybe they could've run away together and learn about the mythological mysteries.
"If I continue on my feet, then those searches will surely catch up to me," she said to herself. That was when she came up with the perfect idea. Her father was in charge of her cursed energy training and he was worse than the official trainer. He wanted them to have the strength of a Special Grade. Unfortunately, at least half of her siblings could barely handle a Grade 3 spirit, with Uga being the lucky few with immense cursed energy.
The searchers, on the other hand, couldn't handle a Grade 2 curse.
"It appears that Father did manage to teach me something during my training period," she then made an arrow from the river water and looked at the kappa one last time before getting up. "What to do when a challenge presents itself."
She ran away from the river and went in the direction that she had just come from, leaving the kappa confused. It took the remaining cucumbers and swam away from the shore.
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𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒:
Finally introduced Uga and her father, Emperor Nintoku.
Emperor Nintoku is inspired by a real-life person but the personality is different from the actual person. He has the same name and the rivalry with the one and only Sukuna, and that's where the similarities end.
