“You are marrying another man!?” Titia promptly abandoned all pretense at observing proper local etiquette. “But Kei—darling girl—a blind person could see that you and your father’s great protégé are madly in love. How can an intelligent young woman such as yourself consent to wed a complete stranger?”
“He is not a stranger,” she was quick to protest. “He is the son of the daimyo’s retainer, from the Kumamoto domain, where he studied at the jishukan. He is now greatly esteemed as the inventor of the Shiranui-ryu discipline, in which the sword is wielded with such consummate celerity that only he, thus far, is capable of performing it.”
“Well, if it is a matter of inventing that is under discussion, Tanaka-san is even now developing designs for a steam-powered locomotive and warship! Ther
