For Kie Kamado.
That winter felt harder to endure than any winter before.
The reason was her husband, Tanjuro Kamado.
Although her husband always wore that gentle smile and softly reassured her.
Saying he had only caught a chill, which was why his cough had yet to clear up.
As his wife, whose heart was linked with his.
The woman he loved, who had shared his bed for years.
How could she fail to notice the weakness and strain hidden beneath Tanjuro's mask of nonchalance?
Her husband was ill.
And gravely so.
She knew Tanjuro simply did not want her to suffer needless worry.
She also knew that several times when he went down the mountain that winter, he had secretly visited a doctor.
Yet his health still showed no signs of improving.
And so...
Kie Kamado chose to play along with her husband, pretending she had noticed nothing.
Every day, she still gave him a gentle smile and held him in her arms.
Every day, when he coughed, she still gently patted his back with aching concern.
Then, whenever Tanjuro was away.
She worked hard to take care of more of the household chores, and do them better.
While tending to their young children, she also worked hard to look after the crops Tanjuro had planted.
She even slipped down the mountain in secret herself.
And quietly pawned some of her old, rather inexpensive dowry items.
With the meager money she received, she bought some more nutritious food to bring home.
Hoping to build his strength back up.
But...
It did no good.
Her husband grew thinner by the day.
His complexion visibly worsened as well.
Kie even had a powerful, inexplicable premonition... her husband would probably leave her very soon.
But as his wife and the mother of