Mysterious Husband [Vol 1-7] ✓

[Vol 2] Chapter 40

The whole week was spent in a peaceful way since both Chinami and Hayami didn't do anything to belittle me, instead they were really good to me and to Arashi. Often they would come with cookies or any new dishes to make us have taste. Lately, Hayami was coming and was chatting with me when Arashi wasn't in the room. Even sometimes, Chinami would come and all three of us would chat. Mostly, it was Hayami being the talkative one and I was happy that for the first time, I felt like a little sister. 

It even made the first lady and the third lady shocked but they weren't the only ones. Mr Bushida was the one who got more shocked because almost everyone in the house started to respect Arashi. Although he wanted to still maintain the way he treated us, he couldn't, since his senior, Mr Dateko fancied Arashi. And he wouldn't want to displease him.

Mr Dateko went and brought the flower for the medicine while Arashi instructed both of them to take it. He believed it wasn't one sided. Thus Chinami and her husband both took the medicine. 

Finally, the day came of the wedding where all of us were getting prepared to go to our clan leader's household. He had sent two large carriages for us.

I wore the kimono Arashi had bought me from the fair of Godoyama. It was a beautiful one with flowery embroideries. The sleeves hung to the ground while I wore the light robe on it. 

Arashi wore the formal dress of our family traditional dress. My father bought that for all three of his son-in-laws. 

I was struggling with my hair since I didn't know what to do with it. I had seen my other two sisters tying the buns with hairpins and I wanted to use the hair pin Arashi had given me. 

I brought that out and a smile spread across my lips as I recalled it was my first gift from Arashi. 

"Are you not ready yet?" Arashi asked as I looked at the door and saw he had worn the traditional haori and he looked mesmerizing. 

His eyes followed me and my cheeks heated. He scrutinized me from tip to toe as I nibbled with the hem of my dress. It was my first time wearing such a fancy and expensive dress. Not to mention I didn't even have a proper wedding with him thus I never got the chance to wear a ceremonial wedding dress. 

"Am—am I looking presentable?" I asked with a low voice.

"You look beautiful." He said in a breathy voice as my ears warmed up. It must be my imagination as I was certain I saw faint shades of red on his cheeks.

I averted my eyes as my heart thumped in my chest and I nibbled my fingers on the hair pin. 

"Bianka! Are you ready?" Another voice called as we both looked at the door and saw it was Hayami who came in a hurry. "You still haven't prepared yourself? We will be late—"

Then her eyes followed my kimono and as if she got struck by lightning, a gape formed in her mouth. "You are looking beautiful." She said and looked between Arashi and me. She must have gotten the awkward silence between us as she smirked.

"Well, I'll leave you two now but don't be late while you both...you know." And she left, making both of us more awkward than ever.

Arashi coughed. "Well, you need to tie your hair now since we need to hurry."

I nodded stiffly as I started to comb and ended up tearing off a few of my hair strands in nervousness. Immediately I tied up my bun and pinned the hair pin. Now I was ready, I guess?

"I—I am ready." I said, still not looking at his way as he said, "Alright. Let us keep going."

We left our room and headed toward the carriage. 

As the dress was really long, I was walking slowly while Arashi kept glancing at me. I couldn't help but get flustered each time our eyes met.

As soon as we both got into the carriage, I saw Chinami and her husband, both greeted us. I bowed and Chinami eyed me as she gave a teasing smile. 

Mr Dateko said to Arashi, "Well, let us go to our dear brother's wedding and bless them."

Arashi nodded. "Of course, I haven't met him yet but I would always pray for happiness for the newly wed couple."

They started to chat as Mr Dateko gave a little information about the head of the Inoue clan and their family to Arashi. Arashi didn't know many people from our clan and I had very little knowledge as there was no one to teach me apart from the maids who had never talked with me. Most of the things I had learnt by eavesdropping. 

The head of the Inoue clan, Mr Choujiro Inoue who served the emperor along with my father, was a very strict man. Even my father at some point had remained wary of him. As an elder cousin brother, my father still obeyed anything he had to say. But I didn't know much about his son.

"The son's name is Hachiko Inoue and he will be the next clan head." Mr Dateko said. "Personally, I had never met him but I heard he is a cruel man if anyone breaks a rule. Unlike his father, he doesn't seem to be very close to his native people."

Arashi said, "I believe, to rule a domain, you have to be a little closer to your people."

"Yes that I believe so but Mr Hachiko Inoue seems to have a lot of influence in the clan and he is marrying the youngest daughter of the Amane clan leader's daughter."

"Is the Amane clan powerful?" Arashi asked.

Mr Dateko nodded. "They are. They are almost the same as us, the Dateko clan and believe it or not, brother Arashi, my father says if I am not cautious they might rule the north as well."

It seemed they both had formed a brotherly bond as Mr Dateko had started to regard him as a brother and often called Arashi, brother Arashi and I found it very interesting. As a future clan head, Mr Dateko seemed to have acknowledged Arashi as his brother and it was an honor for us. Since Clan heads don't always bow to anyone if they don't hold any position. Even Chinami and Hayami had started to call him brother. 

I smiled in my head as Arashi was really good at making people his allies. Something I was never good at. He not only made everyone in my family acknowledge him, he got a good position in all of their hearts. From my father to my sisters' husbands, all of them seemed to be respecting him and often tried to do something to get his attention. 

When I came to my house, I was determined that if they disrespected him, I'd never come back again but now it was different. I was happy they finally saw the worth in him. 

I was forever grateful to Arashi. It was because of him that my family started to get along with me. I knew it was impossible since they had never liked my presence and I knew my worth was until Arashi was with me. But still, I was happy that for the first time in my life, I felt like I had a family.

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8th June, 22
1270