Chapter 158 - His Hatred

Oh no…

Ara suddenly felt all kinds of a jerk.

She had been bullying Kazehaya Gin because he was always overly bubbly and noisy without knowing his history. Again she failed. One really ought not to judge someone by his looks and personality. After all, the one who hurt the most sometimes was the one who always smiled.

"He's sick?"Ara asked in a weak voice.

"Yes."

"No cure at all?" she asked, her tone a bit hopeful, but it vanished upon seeing her fiancé shake his head.

A dull ache started in her chest. She felt so melancholic, and regretful, and all kinds of awful.

"There's no cure for Gin-nii…" he confirmed softly, and Ara felt her eyes grow hot. "Hey – what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Ara, of course, couldn't explain. Even if she bullied Gin, he was still her friend. Knowing that he had some kind of incurable disease made her heart hurt. She remembered all too well the feeling of losing her friends. It seemed she would be experiencing something like that again.

"Don't cry. It's not like he will die right now," he tried to console her but it only made her feel more emotional.

Ryuu, saying 'not right now' just confirmed her thought that the disease was going to make Kazehaya Gin die in the future.

"So, do you mean this is the reason he hates Emi? He doesn't want to fall in love?"

Well, it made sense, in a way. If he's going to die, Kazehaya Gin must be thinking that it's better not to be with the person that he loved only to leave her alone in the future.

"Not really," Ryuu answered which confused her again. "His enmity towards Emi was because of the fall of the Kazehaya House. His great grandfather was born with a fated partner but preferred to be with his concubine – his Makura. This made the real wife unhappy and therefore refused to bear his children."

Ara's eyes became dull. It seemed being a skirt-chaser was in the Kazehaya family. "If I were her I wouldn't want to bear his kids too."

"I know," Ryuu chuckled as he poked her cheek.

Ara then remembered something. "Wait – you said Makura?"

"Yes."

"The Kazehaya House has a Makura system too?" she looked surprised.

"Why are you shocked? The Kazehayas were on equal footing with the Homuras before. It's only natural."

Right. Natural.

Ara blanched remembering the purpose of the Makura.

"If you already have fated ones, why do you even still need the Makura? I mean before the heir is born you already know if he's a re –"

Ara bit her lip. She nearly said returner to ancestry but remembered Kou had no idea what it was. "Reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga," she said instead, making Ryuu laugh.

"What Oda Nobunaga?"

"Ancestor then," she quipped. Whatever.

"Well, it's for precaution."

"Precaution?"

Ryuu hesitated then cleared his throat. "In case the master failed to have children with the fated partner. He is to have spare children with the Makura to preserve the line – but it's the last resort. Because once that happened, the divine blood would die out. It was only to pass on what remained of the genes until they're no more."

Ara flinched. It might sound so disgusting to many, but it was just the brutal truth for noble families and royalties alike. It was how they prospered. Even in Ritz, kings, and royals mostly even had at least three spare wives. That was why Alistair, her brother was considered a strange one since he didn't have any wife or even a lover.

"So? What does Emi have to do with it?"

That's what she couldn't understand. If it was the issue with the previous Makura and Gin's great grandfather, then why was Emi hated?

"It's because she was the Makura," Ryuu answered simply. "Because of the Makura, the Kazehaya House was cursed, right? Gin-nii got the worst of it."

"You mean the disease he has is because of the curse?"

So, it was really a curse and not a disease?

Ara couldn't believe it. This was earth after all. Only the creatures basking in the other world's darkness under the Black God Czernobog's rule could manipulate curses and split people's souls. 

Ara stopped, as a realization hit her.

Because of her sudden impending marriage, she had totally forgotten about the portal!

Could it be?

Could it be that just like those arachnids, some of the Black God's minions also came here and wreaked havoc?

But of course.

There were legends of dragons, beasts and unknown creatures that roamed the land, stories and epic poems of deities in different countries. Where would those even come from, if it weren't for the early witnesses?

Ara realized just now that there was the possibility that she was not the only immigrant in this new world. There were others who came here before her, and that one of them was menacing enough to put a curse to the Kazehaya and the Homura Houses.

Ara frowned.

"Still, even if it's like that, isn't it still unreasonable for Big Bro Kaze to hate Emi? After all, her situation was enforced by your own clan on her. She didn't have any choice in it."

With this, Homura Ryuu sighed again as he stared up at the sky towards the moon. "It may sound unreasonable for you. But Gin-nii's deep hatred for the Makura was not only because he was cursed. It was because his life was nearly taken because of it."

WHAT?

Ara was horrified.

"Since he was born cursed, there was never a day that his mother held him. He was raised by servants. Because his mother hated him, he was never allowed to play with the other kids – even with his younger brother, Aoi. He was almost always confined in the house."

"But that's…"

Ara's sadness for Gin returned. 

"It was only after I was born that he stopped being mistreated in his own house. He was sent to be my mentor and friend. But when he was a bit older, his mother summoned him to Hakone…"

Ara watched as a dark expression crossed her fiancé's face and she wondered what happened. She didn't have to wonder long.

"His own mother poisoned him to death…"