Autumn 1875, Meiji Era, Japan, Tsukigata Town.
"Madam, congratulations. You are ten weeks pregnant," the grey-haired physician beamed as he turned to look at the young woman who sat in front of him.
He expected the young woman to break into tears, either out of happiness or out of sorrow. Having worked as a physician for almost thirty years now, he was used to seeing both cases.
But this young woman in front of him merely snorted. She sounded neither happy nor distressed.
The physician swallowed in confusion.
"Madam? Is something wrong?"
The young woman flashed him a cryptic smile.
"Then, Sensei*, can you please check for the fetal heartbeat?
The physician crossed his arms in front of his chest and shook his head.
"Impossible. It is too early to listen to the fetal heartbeat."
The young woman licked her lips impatiently.
"How is it too early? I am already in my tenth week of pregnancy."
"Please come back when you reach your twentieth week, Young Madam, and then we will try."
The young woman clicked with her tongue impatiently. Twenty weeks? That was ten more weeks from now.
"Don't you have any ultrasound device that you can use?" she snapped at the poor physician.
"Ultra… what?" The physician stared at the young woman as if the latter had lost her mind. Unless his mind was playing him a trick, she literally rolled her eyes in front of him, only to beam at him shamelessly afterward.
The young woman shot him an innocent smile. "Never mind, Sensei. I shall take my leave now, thank you and goodbye."
The young woman soon left, and the physician was left at the doorway, shaking his head as he watched her go.
"Sensei, did something happen?" The physician's assistant, a middle-aged woman who they all called Mari-Obasan quickly approached him and asked out of curiosity.
"Ah, Mariko." The physician heaved a sigh. "Do you happen to know that young woman?"
Mari-Obasan, a wise and experienced woman, gave the physician a low hum as a response. This was more than just a simple nod or grunt; it was a knowing hum, one that suggested she had a deeper understanding of the situation than he did.
The woman then cupped her mouth with a hand, leaned closer to her employer, and spoke in a whisper.
"Narita-Sensei, that is the Koishikawa Family's youngest daughter-in-law."
Koishikawa Family?
The physician's mind raced as he tried to guess which Koishikawa family his assistant was talking about. Seeing that her employer was unable to figure out which family she was referring to, Mari-Obasan decided to be helpful.
"Sensei, she is married to Ryouichi Koishikawa, the third son of the Koishikawa family of the Oburo District."
"Ohhh, the richest merchant family in the Oburo District?" the physician widened his eyes in disbelief. Now that he thought about it, although the young woman's appearance was rather shabby with a set of plain grey-and-white kimono, her eyes emanated the brilliance of a well-nurtured young lady who enjoyed a fulfilling life surrounded by wealth.
Her eyes sparkled with intelligence and vivacity. They betrayed her humble attire, revealing the hidden depths of her character.
One could tell that she had been raised in a life of privilege and refinement. Her posture was erect, her movements graceful, and her speech was eloquent. She had the air of someone who was accustomed to being treated with respect.
The physician's response did not fit Mari-Obasan's expectations. She thus understood that the elder physician had yet to catch up with the latest news.
"Sensei, have you not heard the latest rumors about the young lady???"
"What rumor is there?" the physician wrinkled his brows in confusion. "If anything, she should be overjoyed about her pregnancy. I am certain that her husband and in-laws will shower her with affection and adoration as soon as they learn the news."
Mari-Obasan's mouth fell open in disbelief.
"What? She is pregnant? Oh my. Koishikawa-san must be devastated!"
"… Why devastated? She is married. And into a wealthy family, too!"
Mari-Obasan cupped her hand around her mouth again.
"Sensei, that woman who just left, Midori Koishikawa cheated on her husband and is now pregnant with a child of who-knows-whom!"
The physician gulped. Oh, the poor young woman, he thought to himself. That explained the shabby appearance…
Whether she considered herself a poor woman or not was still up for debate, for Midori Koishikawa herself did not act like a poor woman.
She strolled at a leisurely pace back to her in-laws' mansion without a worry on her face. She even had time to buy some snacks to cheer herself up.
As she was munching on the sweet and chewy dango on a stick, she heard a voice in her head. It was S-9898, the transmigration system that attached to her not too long time ago.
[Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations! ✧\(>o<)ﾉ✧ To celebrate your pregnancy, 1000 Life Points have been added to your account! You now have exactly 1010 Life Points!]
Midori rolled with her eyes. She knew that she was pregnant before she even entered the doctor's examination room. After all, she knew everything about the cannon fodder who shared the same name with her.
Midori popped a dango into her mouth.
To be very honest, pregnancy was the last thing she wanted after transmigrating into a novel. Not that transmigrating into a novel was anything she ever wanted in life.
"What if I choose to terminate the pregnancy?" she asked S-9898.
[ಠ_ಠ The moment the baby is lost, you shall be penalized with -10000 Life Points. Remember, when your Life Points reach zero, you will forever leave this world with no possibility of returning in any form.]
Midori started to complain.
"Hey, that is so unfair. Why do I only gain 1000 points for being pregnant but lose 10000 points when I lose the baby? System, aren't you being too wicked?"
S-9898 whistled in her ear.
[╮(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)╭ La, la, la~ rules are rules. So sorry, Midori-san.]
Midori pursed her lips in annoyance. She bit off the last dango, threw the stick away, and made a turn around the corner to reach the Koishikawa family residence.
In front of the lavish mansion, Madam Koishikawa, her mother-in-law, was already waiting for her with arms folded in front of her chest. She had been waiting there for over an hour now, and her mood was as rotten as a spoiled egg that lay at the bottom of a trash can for three days.
"Well?" she demanded to know as soon as she caught sight of Midori.
"I am ten weeks pregnant," Midori did not bother to hide her pregnancy.
Pa!
One second later, Midori was sitting on the paved ground while pressing a hand against her burning cheek. Madam Koishikawa slapped her so hard that even her head started spinning.
"Disgrace!" Madam Koishikawa spat at her. "My poor son is too unlucky to have married a woman such as yourself! Remove yourself from our residence – no, from this town in an instant! We don't want to see you or your child wandering around and throwing dirt at the good Koishikawa name!"
Midori rose to her feet and patted the dust off her kimono in a calm manner.
"Very well, Madam Koishikawa," she said in a respectful tone. "I shall go upstairs to gather my belongings now."
"No need."
Madam Koishikawa nodded toward the two bundles of clothing that were piled up in front of the gate.
It was almost ridiculous how little private items she had. Three years of marriage and Ryouichi had not even bought her a new set of kimonos. She had to sew her own clothing using scraps of unused material that the other daughters-in-law could no longer use.
"We have packed everything for you. You can check if anything is missing now. Do not claim that we steal your stuff!"
Midori sneered, more to herself than to her former mother-in-law, but Madam Koishikawa still got angry.
"What's with that shameless smile on your face???" she snapped.
"It's nothing," Midori replied without missing a beat. "Then, Madam Koishikawa, please hand me a divorce letter."
With a disdainful harrumph, Madam Koishikawa pulled out two neatly folded letters from her kimono chest and flung them in Midori's direction. The letters hit Midori square in the chest and fell open at her feet.
"There is it!" Madam Koishikawa announced with a triumphant shout. "Your divorce letters! Now sign both copies and return one to me!"
One of the house servants, a young man by the name of Ichiji, had already been waiting some distance away for the madam's cue. He quickly approached with an ink pad and an ink brush. He pitied the Third Young Madam Koishikawa greatly, but he did not dare to lend voice to his thought. If he showed the slightest compassion toward the young woman, he might just get kicked out along with her!
Midori calmly signed both copies of the divorce letters, folded them neatly, and handed one of them back to her former mother-in-law.
Madam Koishikawa took the letter from her with a sour face.
The fact that Midori asked for, and then signed the divorce letters so willingly brought suspicion to Madam Koishikawa's mind. Although she was the one who drafted the divorce letter, she simply had to re-read it again, just to make sure that the unlucky marriage between her youngest son and this cheater of a woman had truly been dissolved.
The elder lady expected to find a trick or two, but there was truly none.
Ryouichi Koishikawa and Midori Koishikawa were, from this point on, no longer husband and wife.
[Congratulations! You have attained a C-grade item, 'A Divorce Letter'.]
Midori bowed one last time to her former mother-in-law, took her two bundles of possession, and left the Koishikawa family's residence without looking back.
Now that she had been kicked out of the Koishikawa family, the surname Koishikawa no longer bore relevance to her. From now on, she should be known as Midori Takigawa**.
Midori Takigawa took a deep breath and looked at the blue sky that stretched endlessly above her head.
Pregnant and homeless. This was far from an ideal situation that anyone hoped for, let alone a young woman from a modern world who only had three days to get used to an unknown, unfriendly surrounding in the past Meiji Era.
Around now, Midori recalled, the original Midori Takigawa in the novel "Dream Of The Ancient Period" would crumble to the ground and start lamenting her poor fate.
Why, oh why? Why was life so cruel to her?
How could she carry on living???
Having read the novel to the end, Midori knew that crying and screaming did nothing to alleviate the original host's pain.
Not that she didn't try that in the first three days. She even made Madam Koishikawa summon an exorcist to the house.
Midori cleared her throat and straightened her posture.
Now that she had successfully transmigrated into the novel, she was going to make Midori Takigawa, this pathetic cannon fodder, grow some backbone and step on all those scumbags who dared to bully her!
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Author's note :
Welcome to my new novel, dearest readers <3.
*Sensei = word used to address teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and so on.
**Japanese women in Meiji Era took their husbands' surnames upon marriage, and renounced them upon divorce.