Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon - Volume 2 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Still don't get it

"I was seventeen when I got married."

As with the case for most daughters of good family background, for Kudou Hazuki, marriage was an obligation. And of course, she would have no complaints with the other party no matter who her parents chose.

Hazuki was always described as bubbly, cheerful, and very proactive. Her academic performance was excellent as well-she had learned everything well-and there was nothing anyone could say about her beauty. The only thing she wasn't really good at was housework, especially cooking, but she didn't think it was that big of a problem.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have expected that she would be met with failure.

"Yurie never expected this either. To all of us servants, Hazuki Ojou-sama is a lady we're proud of."

Hazuki giggled at Yurie's words and rested her chin on her hand as if to think back to the past.

"Oh, Yurie, do you really think so?"

"Yes, of course."

It was rather fascinating to see Yurie this confident and Miyo couldn't help but feel the expression of her face relaxing.

"Well, the marriage very much a political one so the other family welcomed me with open arms at first."

Even up until this point in her life, Miyo has never had much contact with other people so she couldn't figure out why it didn't work out.

Apparently, Hazuki's partner was a man who served the army and was ten years older than her.

It was a political marriage to strengthen the ties between the families of ability users and the military. She did not have any say in this marriage, but Hazuki was perfectly fine with the arrangement.

"Although my husband could not be considered handsome, he was a good man, a very kind and sincere person. I thought I was very fortunate, after all, I've heard many stories about girls who were matched with terrible partners."

There was a hint of melancholy in her expression as Hazuki murmured about the happy times from before.

"Did you get along well with him?"

Miyo couldn't help but ask and Hazuki replied "Of course."

"I liked him a lot and I don't think he disliked me either; we've never had any fights."

"That's wonderful."

"Thank you."

During her marriage, Hazuki lived in her partner's house together with him and his parents. The marriage seemed to be going well at first, but gradually it began to fall apart.

"My husband's family started to notice my way of thinking and the fact that I wasn't good at housework. In the end, they found fault with everything little thing."

"That's kind of..."

"They would often criticise me for not being able to cook and tell me that I lacked common sense. Those words sent me to a dark place; I never thought that things would turn out this way. Then I thought, I couldn't do it anymore."

Conflicts between mother and daughter-in-laws were common, even Hazuki could not avoid it.

Her husband's family probably had too high of expectations for her. They expected the perfect bride wife from her but she was only human and even she had her flaws. In the end, all her flaws were unnecessarily magnified.

Two years into her marriage, Hazuki gave birth to a child. Her husband's family was elated by the birth of an heir. A short moment of peace had returned to her while the excitement was still in the air, but once it cooled down, everything went back to normal. The pressure of bringing up a child-which she was new to-and the harshness that came from her husband's parents and relatives alike, became too much for her to bear.

"Every night I would cry for no reason, and my husband would try to comfort me, but nothing changed. Then one day, my husband said those words to me..."

Hazuki, who had been recounting her story indifferently suddenly stopped and laughed a little.

"How do you think he said it? rLet's get a divorce.j It wasn't even a suggestion or something for us to discuss as a couple, he said it as if he had already made up his mind. When I heard that, I got so angry; how could he decide that on his own? I threw harsh words back at him and it ultimately developed into a huge fight. By the time I realised what I had done, the divorce had already been finalised; even I was surprised."

"Eh..."

It came as a surprise to Miyo that someone as young as Hazuki was already a mother of a child and what shocked her even more was how quickly her divorce all played out.

However, based on the way she carried herself thus far, this outcome didn't appear all that strange.

"But after I returned to my maiden home and finally calmed down, I regretted it so much. I left my husband and child just because they kept nagging at me. I should have tried harder; I could've learnt and practised how to cook."

"..."

"That's why I admire you so much Miyo-chan. I admire you for not letting your shortcomings get in the way of your marriage and trying to overcome them. You're amazing."

Not knowing how to reply to that, Miyo lowered her head.

As she listened to Hazuki, she began to lose confidence in herself. For someone like her who was covered in flaws, she could not even hold a candle to Hazuki.

"Miyo-chan."

"...Yes?"

Hearing Hazuki call her name, Miyo looked up. Then, she was met with a warm and kind smile.

"I think that it is important for one to do what they can to the best of their abilities at any time while also taking care of their feelings. I'm sure Miyo-chan is always working hard, so the former goes without saying. So spend some time thinking about the latter. What do you want to do from now on? How do you want to live?"

Hazuki's positive outlook, cheerful expression, and every word she said were all so dazzling to Miyo.

Miyo wished she could be like Hazuki, then perhaps, she would be one step closer to becoming a who was deserving of standing next to Kiyoka. However, Miyo felt that the current her was so wholly incompetent it left her feeling rather lost. ...Because she realised something as she listened to Hazuki's story.

(Hazuki-san, I...)

While it was certainly important for her to make up for her shortcomings, there's no doubt about it, but more than that, there was something Miyo was missing.

(For someone like me who doesn't even know what it's like to have a family before marriage... that's quite a problem, isn't it?)

Miyo never knew what it was like to have a family26. What would she do if she got married to Kiyoka and she would have to meet with his parents and relatives, and eventually have children of her own?

How would she be able to manage all that when she couldn't even get along with her blood relatives.

Even Hazuki had such a hard time...

"Miyo-chan?"

Miyo managed to smile back at Hazuki who looked at her with a weird expression on her face.

"I... I've never thought about those but there's one thing I know for sure..."

"And what is that?"

"I want to stay here, by Danna-sama's side."

She knew that very clearly and she made those thoughts known.

That was one thing she would never waver about. That's why she would do anything to achieve that. Even if she had nothing notable about the current her, she didn't want to give up.

"That's good. He's a lucky man to have someone who thinks so much about him."

Hazuki smiled with the face of a calm, mature woman.

"Now then, let us go back to our lessons. Before I knew it, we've been talking for so long."

"Thank you very much for talking to me."

"You're welcome."

Then, Miyo suddenly noticed that the dishes from their meal had already been cleared away.

"Ah, Yurie-san...! I'm sorry!"

"Oh no, no, just leave these little things to me."

Yurie smiled as she wiped the table.

How could she have allowed something like that to happen?! It could be understood if it slipped her mind to do the chores because she was studying or doing other work but for it to be because she was happily chatting away!

Hazuki placed her hand on the shoulder of Miyo who had gone completely pale from panic.

"Miyo-chan, you don't have to look like it's the end of the world. At times like this, just smile and say thank you... Thank you, Yurie, you're still as hard-working as ever."

"Fufu. And you're still as good at flattering servants as ever, Hazuki-sama. —Yurie is just glad to see Miyo-sama and Hazuki-sama getting along so well, so stuff like cleaning up after meals is nothing much."

"But..."

Was that really alright, Miyo wondered.

Yurie simply did what she was supposed to do as a servant. But even though Miyo understood that she was not a servant anymore, the only thing she could do both in the past and in the present was housework. Even if studying had become her top priority, resulting in her leaving more chores to Yurie than before, her existence would become completely meaningless if she didn't even do simple things at times like this.

Miyo's head was starting to spin because of the disappointment that she was. Miyo was biting on her lips when a fair, beautiful hand wrapped around her own.

"Hey, Miyo-chan, it's alright, you don't have to think so hard about it. It's normal to say thank you when someone does something for you, right? You know that it's impossible for you to do everything by yourself, don't you?"

"You're right..."

It was a bad habit of Miyo's to feel anxious if she's not doing something. But that didn't mean she had to do everything she can by herself. That's why people lived by helping one another.

Miyo felt ashamed of herself for forgetting the obvious as Hazuki's words sunk into her heart.

"Well then, here's a lesson for you. You'll be a guest at the upcoming party and there'll be servers at the venue. When you see these people hard at work, you should tell them "Good word" or "Thank you" just like a proper guest-can you do that?"

"Uwu, that's hard..."

Miyo was not used to being the one on the receiving end of such service.

If she could carry herself confidently, would she end up coming across as self-important?

”It's alright. You'll be dressed up prettily on that day. You just have to stand tall; even if you're not confident, you just have to give off the impression of confidence and it'll be fine."

Miyo nodded nervously while Hazuki comforted her saying that they still had time.