Back at the Usuba mansion, Yoshirou is about to tell Miyo about how her mother married into the Saimoris and why she sealed away Miyo's spiritual powers. When Miyo finally comes of marriageable age, though, her hopes of being whisked away to a better life crumble after she discovers her fiancé’s identity: Kiyoka Kudou, a commander apparently so cold and cruel that his previous would-be brides all fled within three days of their engagements. True, the author shows that Miyo is the only one who notices certain things about the Kudou estate because of her past history, but the author makes Fuyu so dislikable that Miyo finding a softer side of her is destined to ring hollow. Since then, the manga adaptation has started being released in the West and the anime is due to begin in the Summer season, so there’s plenty to enjoy if you’ve grown as attached to the franchise as I have.

My Happy Marriage is the first volume of the light novel series that presents a fantasy world where people are born with gifts that aid them in keeping evil powers at bay. This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. Kaya is frustrated to overhear them still discussing Miyo, especially as she suspects Kouji's feelings for Miyo. Granted, it doesn't have illustrations, but it was still a much slimmer volume than I was expecting. Miyo requests Kiyoka to take her to the Saimori residence one last time after hearing that it had completely burned down.They're convinced that she's going to be sent away in shame, but Kyoka (and his adorable middle-aged servant) actually take to her, which is where the "happy marriage" part comes in.

Miyo is living the worst sort of Cinderella life in the late Meiji/early Taisho era of an alternate Japan. When they arrive there, Kiyoka informs Miyo that Shinichi and Kanako moved to the small house in the countryside. Thankfully, the awful miscommunication didn't last long and the couple started developping a healthy, well-respected relationship. Again, both of their behaviors make sense, but the way it was potrayed felt incredibly frustrating to read at some points. Now, we learn more about what makes a Grotesquerie a Grotesquerie, and the threat of a shady organization fits into the setting without coming across as a vast and/or unnecessary escalation of events.

Miyo Saimori is the eldest daughter of the Saimori family famed for its spiritual abilities, but she herself lacks it. When Miyo decides to uses her powers to save Kiyoka, she suddenly ends up in the dream world of the Saimori residence.

I'm glad to see a light novel series with a female protagonist that doesn't follow the usual "reborn as the villainess in an otome game" template, but this was a depressingly bare-bones start. So far there have been no on-page Grotesqueries, but several characters used paper familiars (shikigami? Having been nothing but a slave to her stepmother and half-sister, Miyo Saimori is delighted when she’s given the opportunity to leave her family home behind and become a marriage candidate for Kiyoka Kudou. And it’s a power that her mother’s family desperately want to get their hands on, even going so far as to further drive a wedge in Miyo’s relationship with Kiyoka to convince her to start a new life with them. If that wasn’t bad enough, Kiyoka’s focus is split between worrying about Miyo and a case at work involving a bunch of evil spirits that have been unleashed from a burial ground for Gift-users.

Blamed for her parents' unhappy (and unwilling) marriage by her father and stepmother - who were forced to break up so her father could marry her mother and married after her mother's death - her "sins" are compounded by not having the Gift of Spirit-Sight. I have to be honest though, I was very brokenhearted when they were having that huge misunderstanding from lack of proper communication (sheesh, you two! Fortunately Kiyoka's a good person who is righteously infuriated by how Miyo was treated by her family.