Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 42

Tachibana Kayo was a young girl from a complicated background.

　She was born from a father who was the chairman of Tachibana Trading Company, one of the top ten wealthiest merchants in Fusō-kuni, and a mother who was popular for her good looks and personality among the second generation of Nanban immigrants and was the signboard girl of the trading company.

　However, Tachibana Kayo is not a person to be taken lightly because she has strengthened connections with foreign countries by bringing in many members of mainland and Nanban descent into the Trading Company, and above all, she is loved by Tachibana Hibiki, a leading figure who rebuilt the Trading Company in his own lifetime.

　Therefore, the majority of the people in the society have been cautious about her existence, respecting her and avoiding her. Or perhaps as if she were a tumor. On the other hand, of course, there were a few who bravely, even recklessly, approached her because of her position and innate magic inherited from her mother.

　Tachibana Kayo was also a clever girl.

　It is true that she was spoiled, selfish, and self-centered. But at the same time, she had the wisdom to observe her surroundings to the extent that she could understand how people around her viewed her. Those who approach her and those who keep their distance from her are doing so based on their own position, and she understood very well that this is something that cannot be changed. ...As a matter of fact, she couldn't even handle the people who were trying to make eye contact with her.

　Nevertheless, Tachibana Kayo was still a girl in love.

　She was a clever girl who knew her place, but a girl is still a girl, and no matter how far she goes, she will always be a sheltered girl, a sweet girl at her age.

　Above all, although people around her pried, speculated, and observed her with a penetrating gaze, her family environment was always good, and her parents' relationship was also good, and there was not a trace of darkness or calculation in it, which formed her character for better or for worse. Many people thought that her parent's marriage had some hidden motive because of the imbalance between their status and position, but... it was just a sweet love marriage in reality.

　Therefore, because she had always witnessed her parents' intimate relationship and listened to their interactions leading up to their marriage, Tachibana Kayo's view of love was also greatly influenced by their relationship. For better or worse, she had more illusions about love than she should have, and like many young daughters of noblemen, she lacked the feeling of half-enlightened, resigned, or unquestioning acceptance of a political marriage as a matter of course, but she was smart enough to know that it would be infinitely more difficult for her.

　That's why, at that time, when she and her parents were attacked by the monster, and she herself was about to be devoured by it, when a young man suddenly appeared, she was dazzled by his presence... At least that's how it seemed to Kayo at that time... And the truth is Kayo liked the young man in her own way despite her childishness, and she also imposed her ideals on him according to her own taste just because there was no one else suitable.

　...Once again, she is clever, even for a child. She knew deep down that she could not have a love marriage anyway, and she also understood that it was the young man's job to help her when he appeared in front of her. However, Kayo still wanted to consume the young man as a substitute for her own ideals.