From book 12 also.

Jyuusan-hime fixed a glare on the face of the man she had loved.

“You came here to kill the king.”
“That’s right.”
“Then, you are my enemy. I will protect the king and Nii-sama from you. Because of your running around, Shuuei-nii-sama ended up having to come back here, and the king has become lonely.”

With his one eye left, Jin smiled.

“Hotaru, is that king kind?”
“Much more than you.”
“Really …. That’s a bit bothersome.”

Jyuusan-hime bit her lips.

“Jin, when you and I were together, we were happy. But now I understand. I am no good for you. And you are no good for me. We can’t be completely happy together. ”

Jin probably also knew that.
She loved him more than anyone else.

But, there had always been a cloud over their happiness. Their indebtedness, Jin to Jyuusan-hime, Jyuusan-hime to Jin, haunted both of them like a shadow. That was why they couldn’t be forever happy with one another. Even so, they wanted to be together, could not separate, and things dragged on inconclusively.

If Jin had stayed “dead,” perhaps this could have been one day slowly overcome, somehow. But Jin had appeared. In front of Jyuusan-hime and Shuuei. As an enemy.

If she did not resolve this now, she could not move forward. If she dithered over this, it would someday become a fatal wound. Jyuusan-hime was living in the now. With the life that the man she loved had given everything to protect, she had decided to live well, even if alone. In fact, the enemy had without question, thus found the weak point of Jyuusan-hime and Shuuei.

“I loved Shiba Jin. But, now I will no longer. Because he is dead, isn’t he?”

Jin closed his eyes, and listened to those words. Jyuusan-hime, with her short sword still in her left hand, thrust out her right one.

“Return that eyepatch to me. It’s something I gave to Jin. Since you are not Jin, you have no right to it. You will no longer die for me. Isn’t that right?

Before, the man had for her sake thrown away everything to protect her, then even given his life.

However, this man was already different.
Jin smiled slightly.

“…That’s right. Hotaru, I will no longer die for you.”

His own life was now that of another. Shiba Jin had died.

Jin took off the eye patch, and hesitated, just a bit, then threw it to Jyuusan-hime.
Jyuusan-hime, who had formerly worked so hard to sew it together for Jin, shredded the eyepatch to pieces with her knife.

She realized that she was crying.

Jyuusan-hime had only come to the Nine Hued Cove once before. She had roamed the maze of ravines for half a month, and while risking death countless times, arrived where her three elder brothers were, pressed her forehead to the ground, and beseeched them. Her elder brothers had told her it was a deal, but until her wish was, or was not granted, they would not tell her what the price was. Then, the only thing which was told to her was the news from the Ran Province governor’s office that the death penalty had been given out.

So, both Jyuusan-hime and Shuuei, not knowing whether or not Jin was truly alive, had passed the next five years. There were times when she thought, hasn’t he really been killed? At that time, it didn’t matter that she could no longer be together with Jin, or that she could no longer see him.

“I had thought that it would be all right as long as you were alive somewhere. Even if Jin despised me, hated me, even if I was making a mistake, I wanted to help Jin, who had helped me until the last moment. Even now, I don’t regret that. I am living right now because Jin was there. Whatever stupid things I did…. I, I ..just because I was given this life, I was h-happy.”

When she had gone to Kiyou to marry the king, she had seen some assassins who had definitely learned the sword from Jin…. And Jyuusan-hime was happy. She had never been so happy in her entire life. Far, far more than the time he had proposed to her, overjoyed to the point of death. Even knowing what it meant.

“…Your nose is running, Hotaru.”

Jyuusan-hime sniffled. She wiped her dripping tears with her sleeve. Just like always, this man.

“Shut up! That’s why you’re the worst. Yeah, the world is full of men better than you! I—I will be happy. So that I won’t waste the life Jin has given to me. I won’t cry for Jin’s sake anymore. And if that man with Jin’s face who’s become a shameless assassin appears before me, I won’t be moved! The life I lived for the sake of Jin is over. My life from now on, will all be lived for my sake. ”

Looking straight at Jyuusan-hime’s eyes, Jin smiled, as if saying, is that so.

“But for the rest of my life, I’ll never meet a woman better than you, Hotaru.”
“That name isn’t yours either.”
“It’s mine. I don’t know any name for you other than Hotaru. That’s my only name for you. Whatever you say, I won’t budge on that. Now, we’ve talked. This is enough, eh?”

Jyuusan-hime felt Jin’s aura change.

She braced herself and readied her weapons. There was not even a one in a million chance that she could defeat him. But still, by talking she had bought some time. Just a little bit more—until Shuurei-chan could get to the boat.

(Erg.. But if Jin is serious, I’ll be killed instantly)

At the very least, if she could ward off the first blow…

At that instant, without any forewarning, the shrine gave a great shudder.