Koyoi, Lorenzi-ke de Kanbi Naru Chuusei wo - By Yatsuhashi Hachi (8/10)
A fake yandere? It's not love at first sight. In this case it's marriage-of-convenience-at- first-sight. Can any real love develop between a man who kills for a living, and a woman who suffered as a slave? It's not love. It's just business, but soon lots of bodies start to pile up around the new young lady of the Lorenzi family.
Rita is starving, ragged, and alone. Her single gold eye has brought her nothing but suffering. Having gold eyes makes you the most expensive item at any slave market.
The buyers don't listen to crying or begging. Tragically, Rita has parents. It's been many years, but they never looked for her. Her life is one big tragedy. The life of a slave is pure nothingness. Rita is a trophy. An unloved and shiny and rare one.
It's a terrible thing to be.
She is saved by a handsome man named Albert. He proposes to her as soon as she is free. He buys her life with money and a smile. He does seem genuinely kind.
He explains why he wants her honestly. Golden eyes are a quasi-religious symbol of prosperity. The Lorenzi mafia family is actually distantly connected to the Golden Eyed natives who used to reside on Carina Island.
Albert is annoyed. He's tired of being harassed by weak women who want his cash. He is a real mafia head, who kills people. His gang is popular with the locals. He owns many mansions, so naive young and wealthy ladies flock to him. They are useless to him, and he hates going through the same song and dance. Every time a woman falls for him she follows him around. She flirts. She gets too close, and then she sees his gun in action. Then, he watches her innocent love turn into disgust. It hurts him, but he won't admit that.
There's no such thing as a handsome mafia prince.
Albert would rather have a quiet, obedient bride. One that won't fear him and demand love so hypocritically.
Conveniently, Rita cannot speak. The constant abuse she has endured over the years stole her voice.
She's perfect.
Albert dresses Rita in fine clothes. He introduces her to the people of the island. The public's reaction is mostly positive. The Golden Eye of prosperity gets a strong reaction from almost everyone. Milena, a girl who has loved Albert for years, harasses Rita. Then, Rita has to accept her pity. When Milena realizes Rita can't talk she immediately apologizes...because Albert's pitiful disabled fiance is too pathetic to fight.
Albert, of course, realizes that sentiment is a cutting insult. He threatens her like a loving and protective husband would. He does it for his own image and goals. Rita is by his side to keep other women away. She calls him out on his bullshit, but he just smiles. He abmits he will never be kind without ulterior motives.
Rita is the perfect slave bride. Her parents tried to sell her, but she ran away. Her only real mother figure, Oliga, found her in the woods. Oliga raised her with fine manners and a full education. Oliga was once a noble woman, before her family fell. She tells Rita to stay alive and fight for her place in the world. Oliga was already very old when she found Rita. She dies a few years later, and Rita is quickly captured because of her lovely eye.
While Rita is acting like a good wife she gets captured. Two men steal her. They're worthless goons, sent by a bigger fish. Albert wants that big fish. He uses Rita as bait. The entire island thinks he's in love with his spoiled and pretty bride.
When he massacres everyone involved it looks like a necessary, and passionate, act.
Rita has had a hard life. Albert seems to think he's the only person in the world with a heavy past. Rita was a literal slave. She knows evil when she sees it. She knows his massacre wasn't love, and she immediately figures out what he did. Her abduction was too convenient. He saved her too easily. He was too calm the whole time.
So, she slaps him.
She doesn't run, because she has no where else to go. She returns to the mansion after the slap, like a badass.
This is where the real story begins. Guess what? Albert falls in love after that slap. He's suddenly willing to make Rita "comfortable" with sweet words and...gasp...an occasional outing??? How generous. He originally planned to leave her in a countryside house, alone for the rest of her days. What a shift. Now he's really spoiling her.
(Heavy sarcasm)
There are some pretty big hints.
In the beginning Albert did not watch over Rita. He made his men do it, and he wasn't interested in her past. Now, he knows where she is and what she's doing all the time. Her every move, no matter how minor, is reported to him.
He also feels jealousy, a new thing for him, when he sees Rita joking around with his best friend. He even, ever so gently, warns his best friend (and servant). Emilio laughs in his face, and says that must be his love. His incomprehensible, cold love. The love he wasn't able to express before, because his other suitors were too cowardly. Rita is no coward. She has not cried or begged for her freedom even once. She wants to learn about the Lorenzi family, and she wants to clean to earn her bed and meals. Her eye isn't the only thing interesting about her.
Albert has been disappointed by love too many times. If he doesn't send Rita to a safe countryside prison, he'll have to do more killing. If he wants her by his side, instead of out of sight, that comes with a heavy blood cost. He starts to come to terms with his crush on his wife. The security around her gets tighter, and the target on her head gets bigger.
Rita isn't just a trophy anymore.
