In the end, because she had always admired American culture and wanted to live in a Western-style mansion, the 17-year-old girl decided to join the American group.
And that ended up serving as the trigger.
From what I heard later on from people who were there and from news reports….
It seems that the day the girl was supposed to move in, the Chinese wives came barging in, cursing and interfering with her move.
Worse, as they broke into the house with brooms and sticks in their hands, the American wives, who at first tried to deal with them calmly, hardened their attitude as well.
And it ended up developing from a mere quarrel into a brawl with weapons in their hands.
It was said that when Sakuya-san arrived at the scene after receiving the news by phone, one of the Chinese wives, who were at disadvantage due to their size, cut at one of the opposing wives with the kitchen knife she had secretly carried, and then went toward the girl who was the root of this incident.
Sakuya-san, who rushed over to the rescue, quickly protected the girl.
It would have been nice if he had been a normal man. After all, that way, he would be afraid of a place where women were fighting each other, and there was no way he would ever approach it.
However, for some reason, he had a principle where he had to protect women.
Because of this, the knife, which was thrust out with so much force, ended up piercing through Sakuya-san's abdomen.
As the wife's face turned pale after realizing the mess she had caused, Sakuya-san did not get angry at her.
Rather, it seems that he just smiled and said…
「Geez, how big of a dummy could you be? Rather than fighting like this, I could have just kept you all company at once, though….」
Those ended up being Sakuya-san's last words.
At the time, Sakuya-san's death caused a huge uproar, not only in Japan but also abroad, because his name was so well known.
When the Chinese wife in question, who had accidentally stabbed him with a kitchen knife, learned that Sakuya-san had breathed his last in spite of the doctor's strenuous nursing after being rushed to the hospital, she shook off the police officers, ran up the stairs, climbed over the fence on the rooftop, and threw herself down.
Including failed attempts, countless other women had also attempted suicide due to the shock of his death.
Crowds of 10,000 to 20,000 people gathered to attend his funeral.
We – the 19 wives, as one had taken her own life, who attended the funeral – dispersed and stayed in hotels instead of returning to our houses to escape the media coverage.
But then I realized something. That was the fact that I was pregnant.
At a time like this, the only place I could rely on was my parents' house.
It was just that, even when I went back to my parents' house, the media started coming over, so I asked my aunt on my father's side to allow me to take refuge at the hot spring inn in izu she was running.
I had the inheritance that had already been divided by the number of wives, so I didn't have to worry about money.
And the one who was born there was, to my surprise, a boy.
It seemed that Sakuya-san's children were mostly girls, so I heard he was especially happy when a boy was born.
For that boy to be born after things got to this point.
I could not help but feel sad that I could no longer share the news with Sakuya-san, the father.
It was great to give birth to a boy, hold his little body in these arms, and enjoy this happiness to the fullest, but at the same time I had a concern.
In the past, when Sakuya-san was a teenager and recognized as an out-of-wedlock child-giver by women, two boys were born.
I heard that given that both mothers were students, it was decided that the country would foster the children with the pretext of arranging an environment befitting of precious men.
Moreover, the fuss over Sakuya-san's death was still lingering even now, so I was afraid of what kind of treatments my child would be subjected to if his birth were to be known.
Of all things, I wanted to avoid being deprived of my newborn child, whom I had named Yuu.
As such, I pretended to everyone around me that the child I gave birth to was a girl.
I went ahead and asked my aunt to let me stay at her inn in Izu until I was able to hold Yuu's head up.
Once I returned to my parent's home, I told my parents about the situation.
As a result, I changed my family name back to the original Hirose.
Since the father was deceased at the time of the birth registration, I suddenly thought of leaving it blank, and fortunately I left it as it was, so if a third party saw it later, they should not realize that it was Sakuya-san's child.
Just to be on the safe side, I also refrained from seeing Emanuela and Suzanna, as well as any of the wives I had interacted with. I was lonely, but it was something I had to do for Yuu's sake, after all.
Yuu was raised very dearly.
After all, he was a precious boy.
Moreover, to me, he was like a reincarnation of Sakuya-san.
I imposed on my parents for a while, but as Yuu grew up, people around us started to bother me….
After all, Yuu inherited all the good things from Sakuya-san and me, and he grew up to be a really good-looking boy.
Even when he was only 2 or 3 years old, people started saying to me, 「Please let him be our son-in-law in the future! 」
Especially when it was my father's side of the family or my half-elder sisters, I couldn't refuse them too strongly.
In the end, just in time for Elena to enter elementary school, we moved to Saiou City, a newly merged city in Saitama Prefecture.
And then, I decided to start working part-time at a local newspaper company called Saitama Center Newspaper, which just happened to be recruiting.
Sakuya-san's inheritance remained mostly untouched, so there was no need for me to work right away, but I thought there was no harm in accustoming myself to the job while I still could.
For our house, after looking for a place that seemed trustworthy, I decided to hire a housekeeper.
Perhaps it was a good thing that the new environment was peaceful and full of nature for a metropolitan area.
Both Elena and Yuu grew up very quickly.
Though, Yuu was a boy, so he couldn't go out much, but everyone got along very well inside the house.
The Yuu of those days was really cute, you see.
「Mama! Onee-chan! I love you! 」
When he said so with a smile on his face, it made both Elena and me want to give him a hug and a kiss.
Of course, I cherished Elena, my first child with Sakuya-san, too.
But for a mother, a boy is very special.
I realized this was what the phrase 「He is so cute that he is the apple of my eye」 meant.
However, when Yuu was entering elementary school, it was painful for me to tell him, 「Do be careful of girls」.
I mean, I had to make Yuu learn to protect himself from women, the same existences as me and Elena whom he loved so much, after all.
In fact, when he started going to school, I heard that Yuu was very popular with the girls.
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