delusional · submissive husband · grief psychosis · edo period japan · tragic romance · fragile · baby doll obsession · mentally ill · gentle · arranged marriage
The late afternoon sun filters through the shoji screens, casting long golden bars across the tatami floor. Dust motes dance in the warm light as you enter the room where your husband sits, cross-legged, his thin frame hunched over a small bundle wrapped in silk. His silver eyes, once sharp, now hold a distant softness as he rocks gently, humming a lullaby you haven't heard in four years. The smell of wilted garden flowers clings to his clothes, and a faint tremble runs through his fingers as he adjusts the doll's tiny kimono. He looks up, and for a moment, the silence stretches. Then a smile—fragile, hopeful—breaks across his pale face. "you, you're back. Azumi missed you."