Izayoi Summaries

A couple years later, and Soran commits suicide, naming Horai as his successor in a final letter. Horai's upset his friend is dead but is still willing to take on the role of king; a lot of people complain about this but he can get away with it because two points: one, Soran never had a proper heir; and two, Horai is distantly related royalty, from his mother's side. From that, no one can really challenge his appointment but it leaves a lot of people a bit wary- Horai is half Nihite and half Twilite and they are seen as ill omens, bad luck, etc.

Once things settle down, Horai brings Kairi, his wife, from the city to live in the castle proper. Most everyone is taken aback by this since he had never told anyone about her, except for Tana, lead housekeeper of the castle and Horai's former guardian. None of this is as surprising as when Horai challenges one of the Nihite nobles, Lord Dunstan, to a duel to the death. No one knows why and Horai isn't saying much about it. Dunstan accepts and it's set for the next day.

-begin flashback/memory-
A few years before the revolution and upheaval, he decided to buy a house in the city proper; he found it exhausting being at the castle all the time. He lives in the city during the longer spans of time he doesn't work in the castle. One day, while Horai was walking in the rain, he noticed a sickly, blind beggar girl everyone else was ignoring. He saw why once he approached her: she was also Nihite/Twilite mix. Wanting to help her, and also falling in love at first sight, he offered to help the girl. That's how Horai and Kairi met. Kairi stayed at his house alone when Horai was away at the castle; though she had a weak constitution, she had already spent most of her life fending for herself and thus was mostly fine on her own.

Back at the castle, a certain Nihite noble finds out Horai's secret- that he's half Twilite. Though he attempts to blackmail Horai with this information, it doesn't actually bother him much, since Horai knew that everyone who matters already knew that information. Instead, Dunstan followed Horai home and discovers Kairi. He returned later to assault Kairi and taunt Horai about it. Furious and upset, Horai still couldn't do anything about it due to his position; any form of retaliation would've been equal to a death wish. Kairi didn't want him to do anything rash, so he ended up staying silent about it.
-end flashback/memory-

The duel is traditional, one shot with pistols only. Everyone is a bit nervous. There seems no reason to be, however; when the guns go off, Horai is struck in the shoulder while Dunstan is struck in the head, dying immediately. Kairi finds out about this afterwards, and while she is glad that Horai is fine, she's a bit angry that he would risk his life like that at all. She doesn't stay too angry for long, though, since she has good news to share: she's pregnant!