Her children would be at the top of the list for succession when Tsukasa was gone. All she needed to do was pop out a son. Preferably it would be an alpha, but a beta could work too. Once the heirs backed by the Akane Clan came of age, Tsukasa, the powerful concubines and their children would begin dying off. If they were smart it would either be a years long drip feed of suspicious deaths or a single event of mass slaughter. Once done, it would be over. The lands would return to the Akane Clan. It would only be a cadet branch of the dynasty, but they would have complete fealty to the head of the Akane Clan at the time. I tried to warn him of this. He did not listen. "I know Hoshiko's heart! She would never do something so evil. I bet my life on it!" he swore. All I could do was back off. "If this goes wrong, don't blame me. I warned you." was all I said. He scoffed at me. "Did you not give Gakita to me!? Neither he nor our children together could even die in the ways you suggest. They are masters at the blade and herbalism." Tsukasa said. That was true. It would be really hard to kill them.
Absolutely possible nonetheless. I told him that, but he waved it off. "You're going to remain here. You will thwart their plans should any arise." he said. It was more of a command than a request. He was still right again. This all was going to my plan. Tsukasa was already my puppet here. If I could rule outright, I would. I could not let him get supplanted by outsiders. Osamu or Satoshi were already perfect puppets. They were the eldest children of the lord and a literal Protector. From birth, they were raised to be loyal to me. Regardless of what anyone in the castle town had to say, the marriage went through. Obviously, the 2 merchant factions did not like the newbie in the harem was automatically getting the ring. They saw it as disrespectful. It was a bit of a disgrace that someone would be elevated above their pick. With that being the case, they had a plan of their own. The merchant concubines had omega servants that attended to them. They offered them up to Tsukasa. Whatever children came from a union with servants would be part of mistress' household. They could spam kids.
