Chapter Text
As is more customary in the countryside, Lady Yuriko commences her morning at 9 AM when she rings for her lady’s maid, Hilde, to help her dress. Her husband, Mr. Sawamura, had already evacuated the mistress’ bedchamber through a concealed passage connected to his own. (It is standard for married couples to have separate bedrooms, but the Sawamuras refused to part and only maintained distinct chambers for intrusive guests and relatives.)
When she used to live under her father’s roof, especially during the season in West Tokyo, the traditional hours for waking were much advanced for they used to go to bed at odd hours in the morning after attending assemblies, balls, concerts, and the like which would often last until 3 AM. A person, therefore, is considered to be more fashionable if he or she awakens near noon.
Only the servants, tradespeople, or poor creatures who need to work would deign to stir themselves so early in the morning since it is a mark of necessity.
In the country, the gentry usually adheres to much earlier hours like 9 or 10 AM but it is often done by gentlemen and no mistress in Nagano is as early as Lady Yuriko consents to be awoken.
Hilde arrives with a bright smile and a cheerful greeting and Lady Yuriko answers with her own. The maid gives her a letter from the Marchioness of Chiba that had been delivered recently and proceeds to open the curtains to let the sunlight bathe the room. Intrigued, Lady Yuriko places the letter on her dressing table, and waits patiently as another maid brings a jug of water. Hilde retrieves a basin so that the Lady could wash her face and hands.
When she has finished, Lady Yuriko dons her morning gown before taking a seat before the mirror and allowing Hilde to brush her hair and plait it into a normal updo. She picks up the letter and breaks the seal to read its contents.
In her own chamber, Miss Sawamura who follows the same ritual as her mother, receives an identical letter from her dear friend Wakana. It contains a plea for Eijun to join her in West Tokyo, divulging her friend’s precarious situation with her in-laws.
Her friend had, after her second season in West Tokyo, married the Marquess of Chiba (one of the most desirable bachelors in West Tokyo) to the delight of her parents and the shock and disappointment of many.
Wakana was from a good, respectable family (her father, an earl’s third son, and her mother, an heiress) and she had been dowered handsomely by her parents. However, Lord Chiba’s mother and his sisters had resented the match. They felt that Wakana had leaped too enormously, from a mere daughter of a gentry man to a wife of a Marquess.
Furthermore, the oldest son’s marriage had compelled his mother to vacate the Marchioness’ chambers in Chiba House, their family residence in West Tokyo, which she was loath to part. She also feels aggrieved at the termination of her tenure as the reigning mistress of such a great house and detested being subservient to the new mistress’ dictates.
Lands in West Tokyo, as the wealthier half of the country’s capital, were limited and expensive and ownership of such a house, standing on expansive lands and dating back to a few centuries, were a mark of great prestige. The house itself, three-stories tall and eleven bays across, can be more appropriately described as a palace rather than a plain townhouse. Eijun has never seen the house with her own eyes but Wakana, in her letters, assure her of its sumptuous interior and its overwhelming opulence. Especially, the Marchioness’ bedchamber which her dear Youichi was very happy to present to her.
Wakana’s in-laws, seething at what they felt was a disadvantageous match to Lord Chiba and the dowager’s subsequent eviction from the rooms, exacerbated their ill-feelings to the new bride. Wakana’s husband, seeing her distress, had therefore encouraged her to invite a friend to West Tokyo for the season to be her companion. And thus, Eijun’s invitation was born.
Wakana informs her friend that she had also taken the liberty to inform Eijun’s mother of her request and hoped that Lady Yuriko’s prevailing desire to launch her daughter in West Tokyo society would push her to give her consent in the enterprise, to which she was quite right.
When the family finally sat down to breakfast, Lady Yuriko elatedly recounted the invitation and sought her husband’s permission. Mr. Sawamura immediately consented, and preparations were made for Eijun’s debut.
Despite her extreme pleasure at the chance to show her Eijun to the bustling drawing rooms of West Tokyo, Lady Yuriko’s worries mounted. Her father’s death had only been a year ago, and she wondered if his influence remained strong.
Hoping for the contrary, she decided to write to her sister, Rei, (now the Lady Jersey) to entreat her to be kind to her niece.
Lady Yuriko hoped she would acknowledge Eijun and thereby take her under her banner. She hoped that her sister’s influence would spare her daughter the infamy of her mother’s conduct and would endear her to the crowd. And she hoped that her sister might take an interest in Eijun and get to know such a sprightly creature as her daughter.