The cherry blossoms in Kyoto fall earlier than usual.
Tokugawa Yumi kneels in front of the Japanese-style mirror, like an exquisite doll wrapped in twelve gorgeous clothes. The face in the mirror is pale and clear, and her eyes are like glass covered with mist. Her vision has been blurry since she was a child, and the world has always been separated from her by a layer of gloom.
"Madam, it's time to set off." The butler's calm voice came from outside the door.
Yumi's fingers curled up almost imperceptibly. Set off to "□□" across the sea, to her husband, Nobu Konoe, to complete her most important mission as a wife and the daughter-in-law of the Konoe family: to give birth to an heir.
Konoe Shin—her husband. After marriage, they treated each other with respect, but at night, the dignified and self-controlled husband would whisper "This is love" in her ear with a cold and clear voice. His touch is like a poisonous snake swimming around, and his "love" is full of pain and humiliation, burned into the skin and memory. She had thought that marriage was like this and women were like this. Father said: "Xinjun is the pillar of the empire, you must be patient."
Until last night, her father Tokugawa Soichi came to her courtyard for a rare occasion and stood back.
"Yumi," he said in a low voice, "the letter has gained a firm foothold in Manchuria. But war is a man's game, and cannonballs have no eyesight.
He paused and glanced at his daughter's unfocused eyes.
"You need a child. Must. A wife without children is worse than dust in her husband's family. This is your supreme honor and responsibility, to the Konoe family, the Tokugawa family, and even more to the empire. "
Responsibility. This word was like a shackle, running through her eighteen years of life.
Concept: Women go from obedience to awakening, love is not possession, but freedom, faith is not a slogan but a choice.
