"There is this as well." "This is a medicine that my master, Itou Kihei, asked me to bring along." "It is good for the postpartum recovery period." "Please make sure that your wife takes it." "Sorry for imposing on you." "We are all neighbors." "Tamiya-sama, please come over to the House of Itou when you have time." "I will pay a visit to offer my thanks." "We will be anticipating you then." "Oiwa-sama, the medicine is ready." "Itou-sama sent someone over with medicine." "Please offer my thanks to him." "It feels a bit awkward." "It would be better if we pay a visit to thank him." "If that is so, please go with Akiyama-sama." "I will prepare the Haori now." "There is a Haori in such a poor home?" "I am the wife of a Bushi after all." "Then, I shall be going." "Please properly thank Itou-sama on my behalf." "However, hasn't Iemon-sama been treating you rather coldly lately?" "It was not easy to have that child." "He is a very warm person deep down inside." "It is only because he is a Ronin now that..." "Is that so?" "Currently, Itou Kihei is favored by Kira, who is in control now." "It will be beneficial if you get acquainted with him." "Oiwa-sama, hurry up and take your medicine." "Aye, this might make me feel a bit better." "It is bitter." "Welcome to our residence." "As commonly said, good medicine tastes bitter." "That is true." "My throat..." "My throat is burning!" "Oiwa-sama, what's wrong?" "This is cruel, Iemon-dono." "Act Two" "I am Tsuruya Nanboku the Fourth." "The Kabuki I wrote, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan, is based on a widely known horrifying legend." "It was said that the daughter of Yotsuya Samon, Oiwa, was a strong-willed girl and had smallpox when she was young." "In order to prevent her family fortune from going to waste, she married a Ronin named Tamiya lemon." "However, due to Itou Kihei's trickery, she was used by her husband and abandoned." "Oiwa was hurt emotionally and became unstable." "She ran out screaming into the streets of Edo and vanished without a trace right after." "After that, the 18 lives of the Tamiya and Itou families were forfeited." "People claimed that this was the curse of Oiwa." "I had actually written a Kabuki that had a totally different scenario from this." "However, this story behind the Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan..." "Was it really created by me?" "It is all right, it is all right." "There is no need to be so formal." "Feel free to act as you wish." "Hey, Oume, fill up Iemon-dono's cup." "Here you are." "Thank you." "This is my granddaughter, Oume." "It is probably because I pampered her too much since her parents died young that she is acting so insolent." "Whatever she sets her eyes on, she will do anything to get it." "Here you are." "Please enjoy this." "I will help myself then." "This is...!" "Look, Tamiya." "I have prepared another gift for Tamiya-dono." "What the..." "I do not recall doing anything that calls for you to reward me so generously." "The truth is, Oume here is deeply in love with you, Tamiya-dono." "Tamiya-dono, how about marrying Oume?" "I have brought water!" "O-Oiwa-sama!" "Water, more water!" "Ye-Yes, immediately!" "Even though Tamiya-dono already has a wife, ever since she gave birth, her body has not recovered and she has remained in bed." "Even if you said so, I cannot leave her without saying a word." "Is it impossible for you?" "Tamiya-dono, then please kill me, Kihei." "What are you talking about?" "The truth is, the medicine that Maki sent over earlier..." "I heard that it was medicine that is good for the postpartum recovery period." "That medicine is..." "Here's the water." "Even though that medicine will not endanger a person's life, it is a poison that will disfigure anyone who takes a sip." "Wh-What are you saying?" "Since I pamper Oume so much... if you marry Oume, I will hand all the assets of Itou over to you." "How is that?" "If you do not agree, I, Oume, will die here!" "Oume-sama!" "Oume-sama!" "Please stop that, Oume-sama!" "Tamiya." "Since things have come to this, it will not end well if you do not agree with it." "Oh!" "So you have agreed!" "This day that we have been hoping for is an auspicious day." "How about we hold the ceremony tonight?" "Damn it." "Welcome back." "How are you feeling?" "Where is the medicine?" "After I drank the medicine," "I do not know why, but my face feels hot and it hurts." "It is probably a side effect of the medicine." "You look better." "No..." "After all, my body will never recover." "I am not afraid of dying." "I just do not want this child to become pitied." "Even if I die, please do not get a second wife." "A second wife?" "I am going to marry one soon." "Such ruthless words." "A woman who is younger and much more beautiful than you." "I am taking that comb." "To you it is..." "No!" "This is a memento left behind by Kaka-sama." "The revenge of Chichi-ue has yet to be fulfilled." "Just give up on that." "What are you saying?" "!" "Didn't you say we were to seek revenge, as husband and wife?" "As things are now, it is pointless to talk about avenging your father." "I am completely sick of that." "If you are not satisfied with that, just leave." "You want to leave me?" "But, what about this child?" "I do not want the child either." "You want to abandon our child as well?" "Kohei, stay quiet!" "Tamiya-sama, I went to get the oil for the Andon." "Ah-h, Oiwa-sama has..." "It is because she took the medicine from the House of Itou." "How did you know that?" "Tonight, I am undergoing the wedding rites with the granddaughter of the House of Itou." "Takuetsu, you had always harbored some impure thoughts about Oiwa, right?" "Wh-What?" "I've never done such a thing." "You can do whatever you want to Oiwa." "Th-This is?" "Give Oiwa a tainted reputation of unfaithfulness." "She needs to be chased out of the house by tonight." "If things do not go well, it is all right to kill her." "Tamiya-sama says that he will be returning late tonight." "But, let me massage your back." "Oiwa-sama!" "Wh-What are you doing?" "!" "What are you planning to do to the wife of a Bushi?" "Tamiya-sama's love for Oiwa-sama has already ended." "You might as well satisfy me, Takuetsu, here." "Bastard, such disrespect!" "Please stop that, Oiwa-sama!" "Oiwa-sama." "Please forgive me." "Tamiya-sama ordered me to do that." "By Iemon-dono?" "The medicine the House of Itou sent, was meant to disfigure Oiwa-sama." "It was a poison." "This is my face?" "Because the granddaugther of the House of Itou, Oume-sama, wants to marry Iemon-sama, such a plan was made." "I am going to the House of Itou to thank them for what they have done to me." "Takuetsu, bring the equipment for Kane over!" "You cannot do Ohaguro!" "You have just given birth!" "I cannot pay them a visit in this condition." "I must look like a wife, and have done Ohaguro." "I must at least retain the dignity of a woman and keep my hair well combed." "I must give my thanks to them." "If I die like this," "Iemon-dono will marry that Oume." "This is cruel, Iemon-dono." "Not a year has passed and I have been abandoned?" "!" "Oiwa-sama..." "Cats are forbidden to come near a dead person." "Scram!" "I-I cannot stay in a place like this any longer!" "Ta-Tamiya-sama!" "Takuetsu?" "Did you kill her?" "No, I didn't do anything." "It is all your fault that Oiwa-sama died so tragically!" "Kohei!" "I will keep your sins a secret." "But in return, please give me the medicine, Soukisei." "You deserve this, Kohei." "I cannot let you live on any further." "Throw the door into the river." "Let people think that they died as lovers." "Use that to silence the officials..." "I know." "Sorry, Tamiya-dono." "We have come over." "My, my, it is Itou-sama." "Perhaps we are a bit anxious, but Oume said that she wants to start living here from tonight onwards." "Tamiya-dono, where is your wife?" "She left the baby behind, and eloped with my servant, Kohei." "I do not know where she went." "I see." "Then leave the child with Omaki and I." "Namo Amida Butsu." "Oume-dono." "Do not keep your head lowered, let me see your face." "Yes." "You look even more beautiful tonight." "Iemon-dono." "This is cruel, Iemon-dono." "Oiwa?" "Am I hallucinating?" "This is cruel." "Iemon-dono!" "Scram!" "Iemon-sama!" "Oume?" "What is going on, Tamiya-dono?" "!" "Tamiya-sama!" "You have come as well, Kohei!" "Please give me the medicine." "Is this the curse of Oiwa?" "In a night that seemed to drag on for an eternity, a tragedy like this occurred." "However, this is merely the beginning of the curse of Oiwa." "It will continue in the next chapter."