Satoko Kirigaya

About Satoko Kirigaya

Satoko Kirigaya is the beautiful daughter of a count in Meiji-era Japan, raised to be the perfect bride, and born with a heart condition that gives her little time to live. Treated as a burden by much of her family, she dreams of marrying well and making her father proud. When kidnappers come for her, she saves herself with a shocking proposal to the assassin sent to kill her, and discovers her own courage.

Appearance

Satoko is a beautiful sixteen-year-old with the kind of looks that draw marriage proposals from every good family in reach. She dresses the way a count's daughter is expected to dress, neat and proper, and she carries herself like someone who has spent most of her life indoors being careful. There is a fragility to her, but her eyes are sharper than people expect. She has spent years being underestimated by her own household.

Personality

Satoko is gentle and polite, the way she was raised to be, but she is no fool. She understands exactly what her family thinks she is worth and what a good marriage would do for the house name. She has taken her father's wish as her own goal for years. Underneath all that obedience, though, there is a quick mind and a stubborn streak. Put a knife at her throat and she does not faint. She negotiates, and her terms shock everyone, including, maybe, herself.

Background & Story

Satoko is the eldest daughter of Count Kirigaya, one of the great houses of Meiji Japan. She was born with a serious heart condition, so the doctors gave her a short life, and her family quietly started treating her as a problem to solve. Her mother died young. Her stepmother and stepsister make no secret of looking down on her. Satoko's one dream was to marry well, into a family that would raise the Kirigaya name, and make her father proud before she dies. Then she was kidnapped on an outing, handed over to an assassin from the island of Tennyo, and told, in effect, that her time was up early. Her answer was a marriage proposal.

Key Relationships

• Shinpei Goto: The assassin hired to kill her, who accepted her desperate proposal with terrifying sincerity. He is now her protector, her husband on paper, and the most dangerous person in her life.
• Jubei Kirigaya: Her father, head of the Kirigaya family. Satoko spent her whole life trying to make him proud, even though his expectations have caged her.
• Miwako Kirigaya: Her stepsister, healthy and beautiful, who treats Satoko's existence at home like an embarrassment.
• Kotaro Ogawa: Her childhood friend, one of the few people who knew her before marriage politics took over her life.
• Aoi: A courtesan who becomes a mentor to Satoko as the fake marriage drags her into worlds her upbringing never prepared her for.

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