Sumiko Nakano The Broken Oath

Edo, 1868. The empire is bleeding. So are the lies. After killing a man they weren't supposed to and fleeing the political firestorm in Aizu, the Hayashi sisters arrive in Edo under cover of silence. But the capital is no sanctuary. It's a city dressed in ceremony, rotting underneath. Foreigners haunt the docks. Spies poison the palaces. And everyone smiles as they sharpen their blades. Sumiko, Misako, and Aiko didn't come to play diplomat. They came to uncover the truth behind their father's death-and drag it, kicking and screaming, into the light. But truth has a price in Edo. And someone's already decided the sisters are worth more dead than dangerous. They carry no clan banner. No daimyo protects them. What they have are each other, a few blades, and the memory of the man whose murder was rewritten as sacrifice. Every answer leads deeper into the rot-into crumbling mansions, forbidden letters, foreign whispers, and betrayals old enough to wear new faces. Edo stands between two worlds: one foot in feudal tradition, the other drowning in politics and guns. Honor is just a word people use when they want you to die quietly. And for women-especially armed ones-there's no safe ground. Only expectations to break. This is not a war of nations. It's a war of ghosts. Of legacies. Of sisters who refuse to kneel. The world is burning-and these women came with oil. For readers aged 14 and up - no upper limit. Some stories aren't bound by numbers. They're forged in silence, scars, and the will to endure.