Rearranging Fate | Tokyo Revengers x OC

128 • Doubt

"Do you remember when I told you the title as his wife is mine?"

Reina stared at her reflection in the seemingly perfect tea on her lap. Steam hit her face, and she took a sip of the bitter drink. She had always preferred butterfly pea flower tea, not black tea. "I never told you this, but I think that was a stupid decision on your part."

"Yes, you'd think that way. Many will." Yuna placed her teacup on the coffee table, stacking her hands neatly on her lap. "You might think of love and marriage as a curse considering your background. But Reina, marriage is more than just love." Yuna stared at her as if she was her actual mother, and Reina was a disobedient child. "It's a relationship based on trust, loyalty, and love that should benefit all sides."

Her stepmother—she supposed that was what Yuna technically was to her because Suou Yuna was not her mother—didn't mean any offense despite her words, and Reina took none. But it still displeased her. "Are you saying there are benefits in staying as his wife?"

"Lawfully, there are." The older woman nodded, taking another sip of her tea. "You might think of inheritance first, but that's just one of the many." There was, after all, a reason why marriages used to be for the sake of convenience more than for love. "Taxes, connections, business, and even love. There are more advantages in being someone's lawfully wedded wife than a divorced one."

"Are you free though?"

Was she, Suou Kozue's lawfully wedded wife who suffered humiliation and betrayal due to her husband's infidelity, free? Did Yuna never feel shackled down by the title that was 'Suou Kozue's wife'? Was Yuna free to do what she wished without any social or lawful repercussions? Or was Yuna like her, believing that a few shackles were fine as long as the greater good was achieved?

"The one who was unfaithful was Kozue," she stated as a matter of fact. "So, as long as I don't wish to remarry, I'll hold onto the title of wife. The other woman can be a mistress." There were many things wrong with Japan's current patriarchal system, but married couples couldn't divorce without the signatures of both parties. That was something Yuna was grateful for. "It doesn't matter to me since I can live separately and have nothing to do with him save for our marriage certificate."

Her marriage may have been a shackle to her, but it was also a shackle to Kozue. If Yuna couldn't bring just Kozue down, then she didn't mind if she went down with Kozue. 

She moved to pick up her teacup. Reina's eyes followed her every movement, and Yuna felt her lips lifting into a crooked smile. "Selfish?" She lifted an eyebrow, then took another sip of her tea. "My mother-in-law told me it was selfish of me to keep him chained down like that."

The scar caused by the vase that that woman had thrown at her head was healed, but Yuna's resentment remained. Aizen was still allowed to meet his paternal grandmother because that was his right. But Yuna never bothered being in the house should her mother-in-law pay a visit, much less actively visit her. 

"It's the consequences of his actions." Besides, it wasn't like Yuna told him not to fuck or marry anybody else. She was just holding onto the position as his legal wife. It was a smart move, that much Reina would admit. With just one move, Yuna had secured not only self-respect, but also the advantages of being a wife without having the duties of one. Of course, the most important one was that Kozue had been taught a lesson. "Did you live together again for Aizen?"

Yuna chuckled, nodding. "Yes, though it took me two years of Aizen complaining about wanting to see his dad more often for me to give in." A bitter smile formed on her face. "Reina, I can't say I've forgiven Kozue, and I likely never will. What he did wasn't just betraying my trust and love, it was also an insult to me both as a person and as a wife."