Episode 16
“It serves him right.”
If I had kept on intoxicated by the happiness of being with a kind husband without knowing the truth,
I might have loved a man who never touched me until the day I died.
Which of the two paths would have been happiness?
Surely neither. The conclusion came easily.
“Anyway, it’s not that I dislike you, but I’ve found another man I love more, so it can’t be helped.”
I don’t know when your love affairs with other women began,
but wasn’t everything you’ve done to me up to now a cruel injustice?
So why are you rejecting me now?
“You shouldn’t have any lingering attachment to a wife you don’t love.
Say the words—let’s divorce!”
“Give me one month.
If your feelings haven’t changed after a month, then so be it.
I’ll do as you say.”
“One month? Fine. One month it is.”
Eiji was stunned by his wife’s sudden declaration of divorce.
He never imagined the day would come when the phrase “a bolt out of the blue” would fall directly upon him.
Until about two months ago, his wife had always spent her days off at home with him.
Then she began going out from time to time.
He never once suspected the presence of another man—
he had even encouraged Mana to go out, thinking it would be a nice change of pace for her.
The thought struck him suddenly and sharply: A man?
Yes—she said she had someone she loved, so she must have been seeing another man.
Eiji forced himself to calm his restless heart and began investigating his wife’s movements.
But nothing came up.
In fact, according to the results, there was no such man at all.
It was as if a fox spirit had tricked him—bewildering and unreal.
Still, a promise was a promise.
After a month, his wife’s feelings remained unchanged.
Though he could not accept it, Eiji finally agreed to the divorce
