Mentions of miscarriage in this chapter

Souma brought a hand to his mouth and nearly vomited right there among the letters and scrolls. He wanted to know the truth and this was it. What he had just read...it was why his father had dismissed his harem.

Further away, Joichiro was finishing the same story with Erina.

"Your father wasn't satisfied with a potential arrangement between you and Souma", he said. "He wanted to win the game of thrones and eliminate any competition."

Erina was afraid of where this was going, but needed to hear everything. "What do you mean?"

In the library, Souma pulled his knees up to his chest and curled up on himself. Azami had poisoned a member of his father's harem, causing a miscarriage. It was a treasonous act the likes which hadn't been seen in a long time. Joichiro himself didn't know what to do, so beside himself in grief he was. Harming a member of the royal family and disrupting the line of succession was more than enough for an execution.

But there was still a part of Joichiro that loved Azami. He was banished from the land. And not wanting anymore risks with political intrigue within his own family, Joichiro dissolved his marriages. The only one he had meant to keep had been the one to lose a child. It had been Souma's own mother. But she passed soon after her miscarriage.

Souma remembered his mother being sick. No one ever told him why, it was like they all just wanted to forget. He never imagined... He never thought it could be because...

"Now that you know, what will you do?", Joichiro asked Erina.

She was frozen. She knew first hand how despicable her father could be. But to think he would go so far, that he'd stoop so low. And just what had she been doing? Trying to manipulate others for that exact end. If someone got in her way, would she do the same? Erina didn't like the idea that she was becoming anything like her father.

But that man had been a part of her upbringing. She took a deep breath but then startled when she felt Joichiro put a hand on her shoulder.

"Take some time to think about how you want to proceed."

Erina nodded and left him. She had always been so sure of herself and where she stood in this world, of her position in it. Now everything had been thrown out of sync. She wasn't the only one contemplating some rather heavy topics.

Souma hadn't moved from his current place, his mind rattling with the new information. He had his own bit of reflecting to do.

a short chapter, but whatcha gonna do?

i've just sorta lost interest in this idea and i think the reason is because what i really wanted to do was something similar to my Sweethearts Abound fic but then i ended up doing a more plot-oriented one

i got the rest outlined though, so imma get through it, i promise. after, i'll probably just do a non-linear fluffy oneshot series like i did for BNHA