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The sun caressed the rice fields, brushing a radiant layer of golden dust over the new harvest. An abundance of crops were being tied and transported onto wooden carts, where it would then be hauled to the palace from the farmlands.
However, while the peasants and farmers were busy at work, the palace officials who had gathered in preparation to celebrate had a face of gloom. They huddled together in the long wooden corridors, covering their fears with frowns of disapproval.
“Today is the harvest ritual. Why are we inviting a monster like that?” one of them whispered.
“If only that was it. Why are we praying to Sukuna for a plentiful harvest?”
The officials grumbled their displeasure. A monster was invited into the royal halls, its presence a grim and dark shadow that left a horrible taste in everyone’s mouths. Even though it should be a joyous festival, the air felt tainted by misfortune. However, it couldn’t be helped. The men whispered about how elite soldiers and other assassins had been slain by Sukuna not too long ago. This court couldn’t withstand Sukuna’s fury and thus, the generals and the royals decided that they would show Sukuna how they wished to maintain an amiable and peaceful relationship.
“The rumors are true though.” The whispers took a turn, voices lighter as the disgust and horror alleviated slightly from their tones. “Kaguya-hime is every bit as beautiful as the rumors said she is.”
Sukuna had a wife. A woman–slim and pale–who was sacrificed to him but ended up living to see many cycles of the moon when all assumed she would die painfully. She was no proper princess though, for no one could confirm if there was a drop of noble blood in her veins and she certainly didn’t have the heart of a woman. This wicked wrench often used her husband’s notorious fame to demand lords to do her biddings.
However, her actions were often excused by the mere sight of her. Her skin was as fresh and pure as the first fall of snow and her hair darker than midnight ink. The red of her eyes sharpened her beauty under the moonlight, turning her into the brightest sight of the night.
“She is married to a monster.”
“She herself is a monster.”
Just as much as Sukuna too. There were charming young lords or soldiers who tried to save her. Fighters and warriors who were captivated by her swore they would free her from Sukuna’s hold. Yet, the horrible enchantress told them she would only leave with the one who could satisfy her request. But she asked for the impossible, telling the men who went to her with their hearts on a silver platter that she wished for a branch of gold and silver grown in the farest corner of the world. Kaguya-hime demanded for a coat of fur that could resist fire, gems that grew on a dragon’s horns and a swallow’s treasured cowry. Her requests were nonsensical, so much so that some thought she was subtly trying to turn the heroes away, fearing that they would meet their demise if they fought her husband.
The others though, don’t believe in that one bit. There were rumors about how Kaguya-hime dined on human flesh with Sukuna. They’d roast the heroes who tried to save her and enjoy their victim’s livers as monsters adored people’s organs.
No matter how beautiful her skin was, she was a monster just the same.
“All of those idiots associated with that side are terrible.”
“These barbarians have sullied our castle. The other one…the one that was appointed here, she’s got no manners either. ”
Although they complained, they wouldn’t dare say any of these things in front of those who dealt with the supernatural. Monsters and madmen, all of them were strange and dangerous. The court officials fell into a hush as the bell sounded. The festival was in the last stage of preparations and with their special guests roaming around the castle, it was better for them to hold their tongues.
Hopefully no blood would be spilled today.
#
“Yorozu-sama! Please let me fix your robe!”
The young maid chased after the woman down the hall. The woman in front of her was wearing nothing but a plain white inner robe usually reserved as an undergarment. Its front was wide open too, fluttering with the wind as the woman’s large strides picked up pace. Although she was naked beneath, she didn’t appear to be any bit concerned about how large areas of her exposed skin met the breeze.
Yorozu walked forward, ignoring the maid’s pleas. Her hair was loose and her posture inelegant according to the court’s standards. Of course, the average courtesans wouldn’t walk around the palace bare as the day they were born either but Yorozu was never one who cared to conform.
She only threw on the robe as it was the harvest ritual. There was a promise of delicious desserts that prompted her to leave her quarters.
That was when she saw him.
A man larger than the tallest and broadest of the court’s warriors sat on a raised platform. A piece of dark fabric draped over his strong shoulders. Strange dark tattoos marked his bare skin and he had four arms, each muscular as if he could snap a man’s neck without trying. A monster by any normal mind’s standards. The man-shaped beast was deformed and half of his face twisted oddly by scarred tissues just a shade darker than the rest of his body.
What caught Yorozu’s attention was his eyes though. His four eyes told of a sorrowful loneliness. Even if his aura was strong, she could sense that even with all the power this man had, his heart was still frozen in lonesome solitude.
Why, oh why? What on earth were they doing? Why wasn’t anyone doing anything? The cowards of the court stood so far away from him. Even as an attendant stood by his side and more servants shaking as they waited for his order, none of them understood.
So her feet carried her over the stoney courtyard and her body took flight above the platform. The robe fluttered behind her as she landed and her arms wrapped around the man. “It’s alright. I’m here. You’re not alone,” Yorozu promised tenderly.
The hair underneath her palm was short but softer than it appeared to the eyes. Their physical contact didn’t last long though, for Yorozu was forced back by ice creeping up her arms.
“Stay back, you filth.” The attendant who attacked her had light colored hair that fringed his face. He scowled, sneering at her with disgust behind his eyes.
“You should take your own advice,” she snipped back. “From today onwards, I will be the one standing by his side. I will be the one to ease his lonely heart!”
A tickle bloomed over her exposed torso. Confused, she looked down and saw blood gushing from her body and she fell backwards. There were people screaming her name and other shouts for the palace guards. However, she heard other names. The attendant who attacked her was Uraume and the man she fell in love with at first sight was the famous Ryomen Sukuna.
Sukuna.
His cursed technique slashed her as heart-wrenchingly as she thought an attack from his would taste like. She was right about him. No one else understood the loneliness that came from unrivaled strength as she did. The man with the tattoos was just like her, Yorozu could sense it. She could teach him about love, to show him what real love looked like. She had never met a power that matched her own. Sukuna’s solitude would be hers and hers alone.
Yorozu climbed back up despite the clamoring and gasps of the court servants and officials. A slash like this couldn’t kill her. Sukuna probably didn’t aim to kill either, for it didn’t cut through her completely. More of a warning than an attack.
She coughed out a mix of saliva and blood but her eyes were bright as she met Sukuna’s gaze. Everybody else was waiting for the King of Curse’s next move but then, a laughter sounded. Light and easy despite the tension thickening in the air.
Yorozu turned her stare downwards, finding someone else that she hadn’t noticed until now. There was a woman leaning against Sukuna’s side. With how large Sukuna was, she had been hidden from sight. Dressed in layers of kimono as the noble ladies did, she was also covered by Sukuna’s haori, shielded away from the sun.
The woman smiled, red lips curling into a sweet curve that stretched over her pearlescent skin. Her wavy hair spilled over Sukuna’s lap like the pour of a river as she leaned forward. Everything about her seemed to be straight out of an artisan's masterpiece. Each strand of hair and every move were the result of languid strokes under the master’s hand, perfectly painted and ethereal.
“Is warawa getting a sister, Anata?” Her eyes were smiling and her words gentle but it felt just the same as the hiss of a serpent. She spoke politely, referencing herself in a humble manner and submissive as the noble women were taught to respect their husbands. Yet, the turn of her pitch at the end held a suggestive challenge.
Sukuna grunted with a strange look on his face. One of his hands grabbed the woman’s head, shoving her back under his haori as if hiding her away. Yorozu could see the woman pressing her face into Sukuna’s chest, her shoulders trembling from trying to stifle her laughter. Her fingers glided over Sukuna's stomach, where a slit opened just a crack upon his abs, the tip of a red tongue slipped out, licking lightly over her slender fingertips that caused her hand to retract immediately as if shocked. She hissed something too quiet for anyone to hear but Sukuna chuckled as he glanced at his subordinate.
“Kaguya-hime has nothing to worry about,” Uraume huffed through gritted teeth, glaring at Yorozu then at the palace officials. “Sukuna-sama doesn’t have time for mutts. Is this part of the welcome this castle has prepared for us? Who let this joke attend?”
The others knelt and begged for forgiveness while hands grabbed Yorozu desperately. The servants were begging her in hushed whispers to leave. They pressed fabric over her wound and practically dragged her away.
Later on, Yorozu learned from the maids’ lips that Sukuna was married. He wedded a woman who was meant to be a sacrifice to him, one weak and frail mortal with no cursed technique or connections to jujutsu. She was the daughter of the silver moon’s night, a woman whose beauty was said to luminate the darkest hours. They said that Sukuna was infatuated with her, lost to her beauty as any man would and possessive over his darling. Proof? Kaguya-hime was alive, was’t she? Dressed in silk and adorned with jewels, given gold and treasures to satisfy her greed, living in luxury that even royal princesses could only dream of. How Sukuna loved her, letting her wander with his trusted servant by her side.
No.
No.
It was all wrong.
She didn’t love Sukuna, not like Yorozu did. She couldn’t stand next to the King of Curses. Don’t they see? How the loneliness stormed behind his eyes. He had a peerless strength that a princess of appearances could never understand.
It should have been Yorozu by his side. She would kill him. He would kill her. They belonged to each other. Yorozu couldn’t let someone else soil what should be hers. Kaguya-hime didn’t deserve Sukuna’s love. What a waste.
Yorozu would prove that it was she who deserved Sukuna. No mortal princess was going to stand in her way.