"Well. As I've already been told once today, forewarned is forearmed." The kettle starts to complain, boiling on its hotplate in near-silence; he takes it up and begins to pour, with one eye on her. Yes, something is very wrong here.

"So you're saying he had a Palace. That was how you got involved—well, I suppose you would. You had to take him down before it was too late. And your Akechi?...."

There in the false reality, then not. And she still believes he's out there, but can't know. "You're saying Maruki pressured you to submit to him?"