"Kuni-san understand her circumstances rather well." Kaori nodded, her smile cold. "The law is clear. You have behave in a manner unfitting of a samurai. Your actions must have consequences." She slammed her palms together. "Punished is not the person, but the evil within. Thirty strokes with cane." The magistrate looked at Eriko to see if she would flinch. "One of my men will take you to the eta." No honorable samurai would ever torture an another of their kind and so the task was outsourced to the undesirables. "And the governor will hear about this."

Soon after, two guards wearing full face masks would come to 'escort' Eriko to her fate. The law would be served and blood would flow.

He gave her a nod. There was nothing he could say or do now.
A mental note was made for the passive-aggressive insult, but he likely wouldn't bring it up.

What she now had to go through was reason enough to curse, so he was rather surprised that she remained formal.

"Kisada's strength be with you."

He bowed one last time and left the office

====

Outside the Shiro he was already smoking his third cigarette. He tried not to let his anger show, but it was difficult. He had questions, many questions, and more importantly, he needed to scream. He knew that other clans sat idly by and preferred to do one thing at a time, but that if you played their game they would turn against you directly and without hesitation, upset him. Slowly he had to think if a marriage with a phoenix was a good idea....

Eriko didn't flinch from the sentence, although she did expect a number that was perhaps 10 less than what was given to her. It wasn't going to be a pleasant day but at least she did clear her schedule. She let out a tense breath as her gaze went down, not looking at anyone else in the room.

"Let's just fucking do this," she said with strained words, certainly not looking enthused by any stretch of the imagination.

And she followed the guards out.

/exit