Satsuki Nakamura – författare

Thanks to Gyoumei’s and Keigetsu’s timely intervention, Reirin is back from the brink and ready to dish out seismic fury! At the same time, Unran pulls through after the magistrate’s betrayal. With the team reunited and recuperated, it’s time to close out the Harvest Festival, and the Untouchable Village is set to be the centre stage. But this festival is not just about having a good time; it’s also about justice. Time for Reirin and Keigetsu to drag the shadowy villains behind all this trouble into the light!

Prepare for swirling court intrigue in this magical 'trading places' tale of maidens competing for the crown--and don't miss the original light novels, also from Seven Seas!

In a kingdom inspired by historical China, five clans put forth their maidens as imperial consorts--but only one will be crowned empress. The frail and beautiful Kou Reirin, the so-called 'butterfly' of the imperial court, is a shoo-in to marry the crown prince. But when 'court rat' Shu Keigetsu lashes out at her during the glittering Lantern Festival, it's Reirin who wakes up in the dungeons! Body-swapped by her assailant to steal her position at court, Reirin's plight seems dire...to everyone else! Now that she's got a robust new body, not even the looming threat of execution can stop her!

The infamously frigid and unshakable Tousetsu has been brought to her knees. Prostrating before the real Reirin in the dilapidated storehouse, Tousetsu anguishes over what her beloved maiden endured. Still bound by the body swap magic, Reirin struggles to reveal the truth, but it’s nothing that can’t be solved by putting in a little backbone! Across palace grounds, Keigetsu has survived a hellish night, only to uncover sinister strings manipulating her every move. The Bow of Warding saved her, not from a malady, but a curse! And the true menace lurks close by…

The Maiden Court’s blazing summer of plots and curses wanes into cooler autumn days. Keigetsu buckles down to restore the Palace of Vermillion Stallion in the turbulent wake left by the ex-Noble Shu, along with Reirin’s bolstering support. That fateful Double Sevens night almost seems like a different lifetime, but the seasonal change also marks a big event - the Harvest Festival, a chance for the Maidens to trade the palace for the southern region, in none other than…Shu!

Taken hostage, Reirin (in Keigetsu's body) and Keikou must face the Untouchable Village's retribution by...toiling in the rice paddies? Why, it's just the type of challenge the earth-loving Kou siblings delight in! Their bamboozled captors are left in the dust whilst the dynamic duo launch a top-to-bottom agricultural revamp. But their bucolic days are cut short when a familiar face joins the captives. As hidden truths and machinations are tossed into sharp relief, everything Unran has scraped together for his people teeters on the brink. So far from home, how will Reirin face the Village's unprecedented malaise?

Keigetsu knows she must act when rumours threaten to make her already bad position at court even worse. To find the source of the rumours, she hosts a tea party with the other Maidens. But finding out who is behind the slander will take careful tact. Can Keigetsu convincingly act like the genteel Kou maiden and keep her true fiery nature under wraps? Meanwhile, dysentery grips the Untouchable Village, sending Unran on a desperate gamble to bring back medicine for his people. Reirin has always kept up a happy outlook even at the worst of times, but with so many innocent lives at stake, will she be pushed over the edge?