Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 26.

Well... as the very worst novelists are inclined to say... the plot thickens... Rani spent yesterday afternoon in the company of Yuika's cousins and entertained us all with tales of the Sixth at the evening meal. We held the musicians in the hall until the small hours of the morning and Rani promises that tomorrow, her staff will honour us with a performance of their own. It was a thoroughly pleasant evening and I felt some of my suspicions subside... until this afternoon, that is... Rani decided to fulfil her promise to go and see Yuika in her chambers and I simply have no way to explain the outcome of that visit.

It is as if Yuika has become another person. Two sticks in Rani's company and Yuika has suddenly become compliant and co-operative. She has taken breakfast and lunch in the hall and has barely left Rani's side. It is entirely too strange for words; it is as if she is besotted with the princess and I cannot for the life of me think why. It is not as if I can ask either of them what occurred when they talked and Ryouko reports that she and the other maids were banished even from the ante-chamber. It really is all too curious for words and I now find myself extremely suspicious of Rani's motives and am resolved to discover who exactly she has spying for her and more importantly... why...