[Touken Ranbu] How a First-Time Saniwa Can Survive Taking Over a Dark Honmaru

Chaoyan, a government employee who had given up on her dream of becoming a Saniwa because she could not manifest any sword warriors, was assigned by her superiors to take over a "dark Honmaru."

This Honmaru had gone through three Saniwa so far. The first never married and devoted her entire life to the great cause of protecting human history. The second was the first Saniwa's adopted daughter. Once she took over, she had been the subject of great hopes, but she grew to despise her adoptive mother's Honmaru and eloped with her lover. After suffering one disaster after another, she returned to the Honmaru pregnant and begged for shelter, only to go mad for reasons unknown, drown, and die by suicide. The third Saniwa was appointed by the government, but secretly defected to the History Revisionists. Her attendant, Ichimonji Norimune, beheaded her.

The Fukuoka Ichimonji faction now controls the Honmaru, and Ichimonji Norimune, who personally killed his master, has become its de facto ruler. The government chose Chaoyan as the fourth Saniwa because her "sanity level is abnormally stable."

Escorted by her colleagues to the "dark Honmaru," Chaoyan discovered that it was not as decrepit and depraved as she had imagined. It was almost indistinguishable from an ordinary Honmaru.

Yet behind the tranquil scenery, something chilling seemed to be hidden.

And in a shadowy corner unknown to Chaoyan, a pair of cruel, mad, yet childishly innocent eyes silently watched from above the Honmaru as an "uninvited guest" intruded into her toy garden...

Please note before reading:

* Saniwa and sword-warrior romance. The Saniwa is primarily involved with the Ichimonji faction. Dark secondhand Honmaru premise, with sinister and horrifying scenes and original worldbuilding for the Time Government.

Theme: Humanity's hymn is a hymn to courage