11.

It had begun to rain heavily by the time I had managed to fall asleep. I had listened to the music box play several times, as I thought of the discussions going on throughout the evening, while we had been guests at Liesl's parents' house and the more I thought it through, the less I believed that I should try to relate to my wife forcedly without struggling to understand her first.

I rested for a few hours, before something in the middle of the night woke me up. At first, I felt convinced to be within the dream I had dreamt.

I had dreamt of finding myself on the ship. The ground was slowly shaking with me, cradling me into sleep, the movement so gentle and so familiar to me, it could never have been threatening to myself. In fact, if anything, the swinging called to me to stand up on my feet and head for the sea waiting for me by the beachside.

The attempt had been made and I stretched my hand to grab the make-shift cane, using it to help myself as I stood up. For the first part of the movement, I felt my hands numb and needless, as if I hadn't made use of the muscles in a while.

I used the cane to help myself out from the bed and stretch my legs up on the floor. The movement took another while, but the cradling would not cease, and for a while, I felt as if the rooms had shrunk in size and that the smell of water and of waves crashing against the surface of the wooden drenched ship filled the surrounding like fire under smoke. I moved to the exit, and I pushed the door aside.

I seemed to have called my second-in-command, but there was no answer. I remembered his face as we watched him walk the plank, forced to do so by the pirates. The way he had stared at me before he had taken the last of steps, I could see his shadow down the hall, towards the other end of the stairs.

I could see his shadow staring back at me in wanting and I frowned, knowing I was in but a dream. But then I heard something smash onto the floor and I startled, waking up just half way through heading downstairs in the hallway.

I woke up under the heavy weather of tempest, of lightning, and of thunder, as the house cracked under the roaring and the anger of the weather outside. I could hear the sea raging for destruction and I wondered why the sound came out so strong, but as I stared at the hallway better, my eyes shifting between dream and reality, I could fathom that – through the brief crack of a lightning – the door to the entrance of the house was largely opened. I frowned hard and misunderstanding. It dawned at me that perhaps the door had not been properly locked, and that now someone may have entered the house without my knowledge.

And as the thoughts wondered aimlessly through the brain, it suddenly came to me that perhaps I should have been more careful regarding such matters. I came down slowly onto the stairs and shut the door behind me, to now thought whatsoever. Just then, I heard another object fall onto the floor and smash, in one of the upper rooms. It came from the direction where my wife's dormitory stood. Kayo!

How foolish I was!

I suddenly grabbed the cane in my hand and without any mid to the sudden pain I'd cause to my battered leg, I began jumping up on the stairs and heading for the direction to her room. As I came closer, the room now filled with things smashing across the floor and I heard a woman's sharp but short scream.

'Kayo!'

I pushed the door open easily, as it had already been crept loosen, when I came across a frightening scene, with a large black shadow pinning down my wife onto the bed, one knee in between her legs, crushing her down, as if she were some lifeless soul. Her hands were pushing the shadow against the chest, while the legs pressed against the knees forcedly locking it from furthering any more.

I could not say anything, while I rushed angrily to grab the fellow from up on my wife and I swung him sideways, so mind-blowing, it felt strange to have such power in my hands, yet the anger was to be thankful. The scene went blank in my mind and all I could see was the white shadow of my wife's night gown while she twisted backwards and crawling out from the bed, crashing onto the floor, breathing and sucking in air, as if she had been strangled. One hand she held at the neck while the other smashed the sheets from the bed in a desperate fist, while she crawled onto one of the corners of the room, as if she had been a battered child.

The cane fell onto the ground, but I felt power in my broken leg, angered that someone would do such shameless unforgiving thing to a woman who belonged to me. I frowned hard at the shadow now crawling upwards on his feet, while I thundered: 'Get the hell off from my wife! Who the hell are you?!'

And then this fellow just upped and screamed angered at me, before he pushed me to the side and I barricaded me onto the ground, throwing fists at me. He kept on growling and laughing at the same time, while I tried to fend off the fists, but he seemed to realize that I was in pain from my leg and kept pressing harder on it. The pain was unbearable now, so I shouted and gnashed at my teeth at the same time.

Yet, I heard heavy footsteps and someone crashed the man's face to the side with the cane and as he dropped to one side, so did Kayo who slipped off the slippery wooden floor and fell over the musical instrument she often played on with the large long strings. This time, the music was abrupt, broken, screaming as if it were a shadowy ghost of the past. For some reason, while the man came straight at her, she grabbed the cane, and drew out a thin blade from inside, so gracefully sizzling through the air, a blade of the old Japanese warriors and she aimed it at the man, before he stopped in the neck of time so as not to get his head cut off. Yet, she managed to swing the heavy blade until it bit from the man's cheek and then she dropped the sword on the floor and crawled over the koto, towards the wall. When she stretched her hand to grab the handle from the blade, the man crashed his hand over hers and she cried out suddenly, the instrument's protuberances slashing through her palm, the strings producing a strong, senseless music.

I managed to stand up and before the man grabbed my wife by her hands, I pushed him aside and crashed him onto the instrument, as he tripped, and cracked his neck against the wall. The hit was precise, noisy and forced the man onto the ground breathless in a slip of a second.

The storm carried on to throw lightning bolts through the sly and crack the clouds with thundering sound. But I now could hear myself breathing hand, while the woman stood at my feet unmoving. Her hands grabbed the strings and she did not move.

My hand stretched for the wall to regain my balance and I growled slowly.

'Kayo? It's alright now, sweetheart…'

I fell onto the floor, leaning against the bed, beside her and the koto, as she still stood there under the position of defense, locked between fright and despair.

My hands, after resting a little stretched gently towards her and grabbed her underarms to force her upwards. She clutched her hands against my shoulders and let herself crawl over the instrument and into my arms. She didn't seem to cry or say anything, but she had spams of either anger or shock, shame or guilt, I could not tell, but the woman would not cry. It took her a few minutes to regain balance and to begin pushing my arms away. She pushed so hard, she slipped away from my arms and wobbled back onto her feet without looking at the dead on the ground now.

'Get him out!'

'Sweetheart…'

'Get him out! Get him out! Out, I said!'

She slipped out from the room and leaned heavily against the railing from the staircase. 'Out!'

I stood up slowly, and I tried to hurry, so as not to let her do anything foolish, for she seemed quite unstable. Even the scene which I have witnessed, even now, it seemed to shameless, so desperately degrading, it angered me by the passing of moments, yet I could not let anger take the better of me, for I should have been the more rational one.

'Kayo, come here!'

I pushed the door shut behind me. 'Tonight we shall try and get some rest, but I swear that at the break of dawn, I shall have someone take him out. Come with me, woman.'

'Get him out from that room. Please take him out, you can't leave him there, the room'll stick of his reek.'

'Kayo, listen to me, you must calm down, it is over. Come with me. Now tell me, have you seen his face?'

'No, I don't want to speak of this.'

'It's alright, my dear, I know you do not, but I need to know.'

'Please don't make me remember, I don't want to.'

'Just tell me this, sweetheart, have you seen his face?'

'Please do not make me say it.'

I pressed my lips together and nodded. 'Very well. You needn't worry, all is well now and I promise you, Kayo, no one will harm you again.'

But I spoke as if nothing had any effect whatsoever. Although I locked the door to add an extra safety, there was no resting for this woman, for she no longer could sleep, yet she refused to listen, to be rational or so cry and shout, as any other woman would do under the circumstances. If anything, she kept calm, but shaking, her posture straight, but mind elsewhere, unable to rest any longer, unable to rest beside me, unable to feel comforted at my touching her, because she perhaps remembered the man's force upon her. She kept staring at the door or at the window towards the tempest and startling each time there would be a rumble through the clouds. I tried speaking to her, yet it felt strange, for I had never been placed under such position and it was difficult to find the right words. I was angered, confused and I was ashamed. Ashamed to have acted so slow, afraid to have been so undermined to think that I would keep this woman safe, ha di known better that the house itself was old, unsavory and wasted.

We kept quiet for a while, my hand over her bare shoulder, while she stood by the side of the bed staring onto the ground, at her red hands, a few scratches over the side of the palms. There was no point in lying to this person that everything would be alright, for she seemed to know beforehand what would happen, and she would tell that facts would be truly well or worse.

And as she stood by the bedside, my hand drew slowly across the front side of her shoulders, under her chin and I pressed her back bones against my chest slowly, firmly, so as to tell her that I would protect her, for she was mine and my wife, and this was my duty from the very beginning, since our wedding vows. But the truth was that the embrace showed the shame I felt for letting her down so easily, do desperately telling her that I had failed her and that I had been foolish to marry her without the slightest knowledge of her.

She refused the embrace, and could not stand still, so she stood up only to pass by a large human sized mirror and shout out once. When I stood up dropping my legs onto the floor slowly, she looked at me desperately. Over the side of her white nightgown, there was a large stain of blood and it still smeared across her breasts, either blood of her own or the man's.

'Take it off, Kayo, I will give you something in exchange.'

'N-no, I… th-there is no need.'

'Do not be foolish! By the bedside there is a small drawing, pull out a shirt and take it on instead. Come into bed afterwards.'

She pressed her hands against her chest. 'I c-can't…'

'Woman, listen to me, go by the drawer, and pull out a white shirt of mine! …That's fine, Kayo, now go behind the screen and take the night gown off.'

She drew the piece of clothing off in slip and threw it over the screen by the corner of the room, against the marvelous paintings of Oriental origin and she startled visibly when a lightning crashed across the surface of the night sky. She took on my shirt and buttoned it to the collar, before she came out. The shirt was long enough to cover her thighs close to her knees, but she was shy and unwanting, so it took her a few minutes to reach the bed and stand still.

'Come here, woman.'

'I…'

I could see the whiteness of the shirt and the blackness of her long hair, straying across her shoulder, streamingly, without an ounce of curl or waviness. 'I prefer it if you did not touch me.'

I breathed in. 'I will not touch you, Kayo, if you needn't me to. I will do as you please. If you need it, I will sleep in another room.'

'No, you may stay. I wish not to be alone.'

I said nothing, but nodded, and I stepped aside slowly from the bed so that she may have room to rest. But she slept for half an hour before she twisted and turned around and woke up, by the side of the bed, staring at the window, at the tempest and listening to the clock ticking time aside. I too did not shut an eye, yet I rested y back against her, unable to speak to her, unable to find the right words or to have her say something in return, unable to tell her that I felt her shame and her guilt and that I was much to be blamed for I had been lacking to take care of her properly, as man should of his wife. Only tonight have I realized the sanctity of marriage between two people, even if not in love, but bound by a sacred bond of mutual respect, a bond between protector and protected, yet the breaking of it all, as I realized I had been lacking the true will to come by this role.

12.

On the following day as soon Nancy came through the house, she realized that something had gone wrong, for the door to the entrance had been unlocked and the bolt twisted at the edge. I asked her that she return into town and fetch, a doctor and a police enforcement, for there had been an accident.

When she returned, she had come with a Mr. Foster, a policeman and Reverent Johnson had come all the same. The policeman had brought in a helper and they took out the body under my presence, but not that of my wife.

They had questioned her for a few minutes, during which she behaved bravely and composed, without knowledge of who the perpetrator was, yet as the break of dawn fell over her bedchamber and when I first came into the room to inspect the body, I realized it had been Mr. Connors.

I had asked Nancy not to look at the terrible sight, simply because I believed she too being a woman, would not have pretty dreams afterwards, but also for fear that she might tell the truth to my wife, a fact which I wished to hide away from her. This man had been in her house, he had stolen goods from her and yet she had kept him for help and as handyman in chores of servants, where Nancy could not be of use, but now having known that the same man had tried attacking her through the night, I thought it best not to tell.

Nancy had bene right to deem the fellow evil and mischievous, scheming and arrogant.

They took the body out from the chamber carrying it on a wooden plank, covered by a white sheet by the doctor and when they came by the hallway, Kayo came out from the study and kept her stance straight as she watched the body being carried out. The dead's hand slipped from off the undersheets and dangled along the side of the wooden plank, as it was carried out from the room.

Beside the woman, Reverent Johnson made the sign of the cross and startled. He had seen a small mark on the dead's middle finger and he must have recognized it.

'Most dreadful, my dear! I imagined you've gone through hell under the circumstances.'

'Quite the fellow, this character, to warm into the house unseen and enter the lady's chambers. Pardon my saying so, your ladyship. I believe it will be time that we move out from here. I thank you kindly for answering my questions. Perhaps the doctor should see you now, my lady, while I question your husband. We promise not to stay long.'

The policeman nodded in my direction and I agreed to have a few words with him.

My wife left with Mr. Foster to a different chamber and the policeman and the reverent followed me up to my own chamber. The room had been arranged as best as possible under the circumstances, but I could tell the priest was looking for something in particular, yet I could not say what it was.

'Now then, sir, pray tell me what exactly has happened.'

'I'm afraid the details are vague. I woke up in the middle of the night to find the front door open and sounds of glass breaking coming from my wife's chamber. When I opened the door, I found the basterd on top of my wife in the bed, so I threw him off from her. There was a struggle and the man slipped over my wife's musical instrument and cracked his neck. That's as simply put as possible. I think you'll find that Kayo spoke the very same thing.'

'Quite so, sir. Have you any idea who the man is? I take it you inspected the fellow's face before we arrived.'

'I did. And I know the fellow.'

Reverent Johnson startled at that and frowned. 'Oh, Good heavens! That is fine news!'

I frowned at me suspiciously, but agreed to concentrate only on the police man in front of me. 'Pray, sir, tell me who the man is.'

'The bloke's name is Connors. I'm afraid I can't give you his first name, but Reverent Johnson here, I expect, could help with that. The man worked on and off for my wife since before I arrived. I'll have you both not tell my wife, though. I don't wish to bring any further distress to her.'

'Fairly agreed, sir. I take it, then, the lady doesn't know.'

'No, and I'd like it if it stood this way.'

'Very well, sir, I shall tell my men to be careful about this in front of the Mrs. And you, Reverent sir, have you any knowledge of this Connors?'

'Y-yes, I do, uh, the man's name is Horace Connors. He is – was – forty years of age and a rather slippery-looking fellow, but good hearted, as I believed. We were both taken in by church, but he grew up wilder and took off various jobs before I agreed to help the man myself. I thought him a quiet, discreet young man, I should say. This distresses me very much, I can tell.'

I frowned hard at him, but when our eyes met, I cleared my throat intentionally and looked away.

'Mr. Chase? There was a kind of blade by the side of the body…'

'Yes, it belongs to my wife. I think it is inherited from her father. I used it for self-defense.'

'In the struggle, you say.'

'Yes.'

'Uh, but, sir, the lady said she used it instead. To cut the man's face.'

I frowned hard and stared at the policeman down, as I was taller than him. I assumed me a little imposing, because he shut his lips together. As much as Kayo wished to tell the truth, this would only make matters worse for her, so I assumed to bear all the guilt upon my shoulders alone. 'She is mistaken, sir. She could not have used the blade, because she was pinned to the floor by shock. Perhaps she thought of using it, but it was I who used it instead.'

'I see, sir. Very well then.'

The police office game me a card with his name on it. 'We will be on our way then, Mr. Chase. Thank you for answering my questions, and I thank your wife for doing the very same thing. May I say, she must have been a very brave woman, and a very composed at that, sir, to have answered my interrogation so calmly. Pardon my saying so, but Reverent Johnson tells me she was born in the land of the rising sun, where they teach children from a very young age to be brave and not shed a tear in public.'

'Perhaps they do, sir.'

They came into the hallway, where Kayo and Mr. Foster were waiting. My wife looked flushed, but calmed and there was red in her cheeks.

Everyone said their goodbyes and for a split second, we both breathed in relieved, to see everyone leaving. But the reverent had a few words of his own to speak to us and was hesitant at the beginning to say, before he asked that he see the lady alone. This annoyed me, so I demanded that whatever he had to say to the wife, he had to say to the husband.

'I begon your pardon, sir, but this is very private. And might I say, the whole business is fishy to me, and I demand that truth be spoken under the circumstances.'

'What it is, Reverent Johnson, that you need to say to Kayo, you will say it to the both of us.'

'With all do respect, Mr. Chase, you have been husband and wife for – what is it – three weeks in total and I suspect you knew less of your wife than you have known in the beginning. Whereas I have known the child since she was fourteen and I am entitled to give advice under such circumstances.'

'I hardly think the woman needs your counselling, father, she is of age after all.'

'I'll have you, Mr. Chase, not speak to me under such tone, you are not of these parts and I daresay you speak little of your origins. For all I care, you could be the sole survivor of a shipwreck out of sheer reason that you have been the perpetrator from the very start.'

'Excuse me…?'

'Pray, do not glance at me in this way, sir, you've understood me well. And under such tragic situation – for which I am grateful it had not been tragic enough – I must wonder, have I been wise to accept such a marriage?'

'What the hell do you mean?!'

'Your words are foul, Mr. Chase, please control yourself, I am a man of God. And since you so insist that we have the conversation with you present, then pray tell me, since you have been married, why do I hear now that the lady present and yourself have shared separate chambers? Were you not present at the time of the attack?'

'Of course I wasn't! If I was, then the basterd would not have made it this far!'

'Then, pray, tell me, why are a husband and a wife sharing separate rooms, when the bondage of marriage should bring both together? Is it how I have suspected, is it not?'

He stared frowning at Kayo who sat by the chair at her desk in her office, where we had retreated to have the chat. She looked away towards the surface of the table in front of her and she made no attempt to speak.

'It is, isn't it? You, Mr. Chase, have married this woman for sheer interest in her fortune and I suspect you make her unhappy, there is no possible scenery in which a couple is happy in marriage, if they agree to split the chambers.'

'I'll have you know, reverent, a man like you shouldn't talk like that.'

'And I'll have you know, Mr. Chase, that I know very little of you and that you have not brought any happiness into the house. The decision to marry this woman was very irrational and quick of you, almost to spite her into believing that there would be no need of any man to have her, because you will all the same. But I believe that, under the circumstances, when her life was as stake, you chose a coward's way to lie about the fighting and about the struggle. I know it was Kayo who used the blade, because you could not have known the object hid such a dangerous weapon! I have seen it when her father had it brought from Japan along with her belongings and I daresay you could not have wielded it so easily without cutting yourself as well.'

He breathed in angrily. 'You, sir, are a liar and a cheat and I suspected all along that you are a gold digger from the beginning. I daresay last night's struggle took place solely between this woman and her wrongdoer, while you stood quietly in your chambers, waiting for the right moment when she would befall, so that you can inherit her money. Is it not so, Mr. Chase?!'

'Reverent, you're overstepping the boundaries of common sense.'

'Is it not, Mr. Chase?!'

And suddenly, before I tried rephrasing so as to still sound polite, to combat the man's lies and ineptities, I heard Kayo fist down over the table once and we both looked at her.

'It is not true, sir, and I advise you to stop these lies before you spread them into town like all the other poison you've spread about my father and about this house throughout the years.'

'I have not spread any poison, Kayo, and you are well aware of it.'

'Do not speak to me in that condescending tone of voice, you, sir, are not my father! And I am not he! I may share the same blood, but the only relation to him that I have ever shared was the fortune he has left me with. You will cease speaking of my marriage, you will cease speaking to and of my husband in that manner and you will cease giving advice as to how I should be properly taken care of or not.'

'Kayo, has he forced you in any way? If the marriage has not been consumed, then we could have it nulled. There is no reason for you to tie your life to this man, if there is no respect or love in this house.'

'There has never been any such of these feelings in this house before, sir, and I daresay you've poisoned my father's mind enough not to ever let them walk in. You will not feed me the same medicine.'

'Kayo, you will not speak to me in this manner, you know that upon his deathbed, your father has left you under my care. I am your legal tutor and I have documents to prove these.'

'I am no longer bound by your strange relationship. I am this man's wife and you are the one to have wed us. That is the only relation we share now, sir.'

'But you are unhappy!'

'You've spoken ill of this man and it was unfair.'

'You do not share the same bed, he does not want you and I can tell that you two are unhappy. He has failed to protect you, and he is a gold digger, I can tell, he's married you for money!'

This time, I tried speaking again, but for some reason, my wife frowned harder and watched the man in front of her spitefully. There was fire in her eyes, as her eyes glowed with anger and when she breathed in, it felt as if the tempest was rising. 'Do you think, you silly man, that I would not know who the foul creature was from last night's event?! Do you think I would not know that he was the very same man you've so insisted on roaming about my house and steal about my things and watch me in that insolent selfish manner? Yes, I've used that blade to slash his face off and yes, I would have done so even better, had this man beside me not interfered and had not stopped me from committing a foolish insensitive gesture.'

She took a step towards the priest. 'But I know who he was and I know what he's done. I will hear his words as he growled them in my ears and I will see his shadow and the cut on his face as he pinned me down or battered my husband senselessly. Do not speak to me of protection, sly villain, you've brought in this house the very same man who has tried to make his way in between my legs last night!'

'Kayo!'

'Don't you dare correct me, sir, for I will bring my hand upon your cheek, when I should have done so since you've started speaking to my husband in that foul manner!'

'How dare you, that is no way for you to speak! Your father would be ashamed.'

'My father is Masamune and he would be ashamed to know that I have not cut that man down and that I have not cut you alongside with him. Now leave this place immediately and never come back! If God has many more like you, then I will have no god in this house.'

'Kayo!'

'Leave! Now! Nancy! Show this man out. Immediately! Take him by the arm if necessary. Take him out!'

'Why, how dare you!'

I took a step in between her and the priest, before he spat any of his venom at her. 'Reverent, I think it's time to leave. My wife's had enough of your presence.'

'I've done a great mistake, sir, in having marrying her to you. You've turned her into a demon, that is what you have, Mr. Chase, and I ensure you, the whole town will know.'

'I've turned her into a fine wife, if anything, reverent. One any man would be proud of, now I suggest you follow her advice before she sets worse curses upon you.'

'Shameful! Your father would be ashamed, Kayo! Ashamed!'

But as he spoke, he left the room and as soon as Nancy saw him out, I breathed in relieved, while I heard my wife crash onto the chair in a loud thud, as if the argument had weakened her considerably. I turned to face her and I watched her breath even, looking down, in a black gown and with her hair falling to the back, cuddled up in a low bun. She had attached from it a silver pin which she had brought in with her from Japan. Today she looked very tired, and worn-out, flushed, but charming. She had been brave and she had been strong. I daresay no one would bother us for a while from now on.

She breathed in delicately and raised her head up. 'What is it, Mr. Chase?'

'Nothing, Mrs. Chase. I stare at you and realize that perhaps I should thank you. You have stood up for your husband in front of a man of God. I think that should qualify as bravery.'

'Oh, the man was foul!' she waved off her hand flustered. 'He has tired me of the anger and the frustration. His words were untrue and they were filled with evil.'

'Kayo, you have not said a kind word directly to me since our marriage, yet now you have proven that you show respect. And I thank you for it.'

I breathed in and leaned against the table thoughtfully. 'But the man was right in some way. I have forced my way through marriage to you and I have not considered asking of it. For many, although they would not show, this would qualify as an act of rash and of scheming intentions.'

'You should not think much of this man's words, Mr. Chase. He has used them with my father, so as he could see me as lower than I was deemed. Yet, my father was a foolish gullible fellow with some goodness in his heart and he gave me all that I requested. I may not have had love or affection in the house, but I had the will and the means to do as I pleased. Mr. Dunn never forced me into anything and for this, I am thankful. Reverent Johnson is another tale which I will not speak of now, for the man has tired me enough. Suffice to say we shall have some peace and quiet in this house for a while.'

'Sir?' Nancy asked from the doorway and we both looked at her. She stared at us worried. 'Is everything alright?'

'It is, woman, and it will be for a while, I gather', I said smiling softly.

'Nancy?'

The women looked at one another slowly. 'Yes, Ma'am?'

'I, uhm, think you should change the sheets in the bedroom.'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

When Nancy left, I looked around the study and I saw the chest as locked as it was the first time I have spotted it. 'Maybe the house needs refurbishing, what say you, woman?'

'Excuse me?'

'Refurbishing, woman. Rearrangement. This house needs a new start. And if I may say so, you will need something to keep your mind off form the incident. I know you well enough, Kayo, to see that you are distressed. I'll not have you wasted, as I had at sea while on lost for the sea after the shipwreck. It's an experience I wish not to share with anyone or that any such person go through all the same. Especially you.'

She looked at me strangely, with coldness in her eyes at times, when I knew her less, but now the same look bore no iciness. If anything, she struggled to revise my words and turn them into facts or mental reconstructions. Looking at me like this, I started to think that she was quite a fine woman and that the children she would bear would be beautiful. There was an Oriental air about her, with her bright blue eyes, yet her straight black-raven hair streaming down over her shoulders, a few locks of hair here and here, as if she had been working hard up to this point to build something of her own, until I came along. Now, she would need to rethink everything through.

'I see what you mean, Mr. Chase. Make a house of our own. All this time, it has been my place and you have been a stranger to it, which is why the reverent had said those harsh words. But now it's time to move onto the next stage.'

'I didn't mean it like this, woman…'

'No, I take no offense. You will have a study of your own and you will share the orangery with me. There is no reason for me to consider this house my own. This place is mine as much as it is yours.'

'Now, Kayo, there's no need for you to go this far. And I needn't a study of my own or share any of the chamber in which you find yourself the best. I am content with my bedroom and the arrangement as it is.'

'No, you don't understand, you silly man. Come here, take a seat and listen.'

I smiled softly. 'I'll take those words as compliment, woman, it's been the first time since you've called me so directly. Now, I've taken a chair. Tell me what you mean, wife.'

'Shut the door first and say this to no one, please.'

'Very well.'

I stood up from the chair and I shut the door from the study behind me. When I turned around, my wife was by the large chest and she seemed to pry it open. There was an oddly large key to the strange Oriental locker, but she seemed to know very well their mechanisms together, for it took her a few minutes before she opened the lid.

'Come here, Mr. Chase. Indeed, everyone's been hauling at the fortune I've been left since my father's death, but the truth was that none of it belongs to him anymore. The fortune I withstand is that of my other father, the rounin who raised me and who sent me off to this place in hopes that I would have a better life, the life which he believed I should have deserved. I was raised to make little use of it, especially with a gambling father and another straying across the countryside in search for a master in need of soldiers. This is all the money I own, Mr. Chase.'

When she opened the lid, I found several golden-and-wooden sculptured boxes arranged inside, and a few silk-clothing, finely done, which meant that even the cloth was expensive. Each box as I could tell, was exquisitely done and well proportioned, and when she grabbed one of the boxes, and opened the delicate lid to it, she revealed several hundreds of oval-shaped thin looking coins which bore Japanese symbols on it.

'Kayo…'

'The amount is senseless to mention, but if you wish, I could buy you an entire ship, Mr. Chase, and you could always be its captain. Today or the day after today. But I will do no such thing, unless you wish it. The truth is, sir, I rather spend it wisely and for this matter, I will agree with you to refurbish the house and build it as if it were dwelled by a married couple and not two strangers.'

'Kayo, this is… I… I don't know what to say, woman!'

'You needn't say anything. This is as much yours as it is mine.'

I took her hand from the lid and pressed it so that she shut away the golden coins from sight. I looked at her gently. 'No, Kayo, this is all yours. This belonged to your father and now it belongs to you. If I ever need it, I will ask of it from you. I may share the same house and bed with you, wife, but this is a gift of yours alone.'

'But the money is important, is it not? And you wish to be a captain and set sail, do you not?'

'I do, but more importantly, sweetheart, is your well-being. You are my wife and I am bound to take care of you and protect you, tasks which I'll admit I have failed terribly with the course of the events last night. If anything, I should apologize to you, Kayo, and be a better husband. For this alone, I will concentrate on your well-being for a time. I've shifted my point of interest a long time ago.

'I don't understand you', she frowned and put the box inside the chest. 'I don't understand you all, Mr. Chase, what you mean and what you are trying to say. It is you who has suggested that we should rebuild the house.'

'Kayo, why do you feel the need to share your everything with me now? Until then, you have tried in various ways to show just how different we are and how it would be impossible to build a marriage with you.'

She rubbed her hands together and walked away a few steps. 'We are married, aren't we? Shouldn't I share?'

'You should have, starting a few weeks ago. Yet you do this now.'

'I have no explanation to give you, Mr. Chase. My mind is settled.'

And then she pushed down the lid and walked away towards the desk. 'I will ask Nancy to bring on a few men and we can start with rebuilding. I will concentrate on what we should keep and what we should not.'

'You will keep everything, Kayo, because you love every object from this house', I said harshly.

'But if there's something you hate…'

'There is nothing I hate. You may keep anything in the house. And if you wish it, you may start with the restructuring plans. As for the ship you claim you would be able to buy for me, I'll have you do no such thing. I will build my own path, if necessary.'

'Are you upset with me?'

I frowned at her, my hand over the doorknob. There were few things I wished to tell her at the time, but being upset with her was not one of them.

'I am not.'

I smiled to her before I left the room, but she spoke nothing in return.