About "Suzaku Brothers"

Lady Aoi is my favorite character in "The Tale of Genji". In the story, she doesn't seem to get along with Prince Genji very well. I personally think that she actually wanted to marry Crown Prince Suzaku. She was born into a high-status family, was beautiful in appearance, and was close in age to the crown prince. People around her probably thought she was worthy of marrying the crown prince, and she may have felt the same way to herself. Perhaps she had someone else to love, but I couldn't read any such gestures or interactions from the original story.

(Mikado is the old name for His Majesty the Emperor. It can be used in the same way as "Your Majesty.") Being married to Mikado is tough. She ends up on the front lines of the conflict between the ladies. If she were a timid woman, she might be relieved to be forced to marry a man other than Mikado. Especially since her husband is Prince Genji, and as Lady Akashi's father said, he is the best man besides Mikado. What did she not like about him?

Prince Genji's popularity may have made her uneasy. If she marries the crown prince and he becomes Mikado, she may become empress. If she were able to give birth to Mikado's son, not only him but also the people around him might treat her with respect. On the other hand, even if she marries another aristocratic man and has children, she is always at risk of being abandoned by him. Living as a consort is tough, but living as a wife is probably just as tough. If I were in her place, I might think it would be better to marry the crown prince and take a chance on having a son.

In the later weeks of Lady Aoi's short life, she appears to have opened up to Prince Genji a little. She may have given up and thought, "It can't be helped even since I had a baby. Maybe this marriage is also a fate." After she passed away, Prince Genji stayed at the Minister of the Left's mansion for a while and prayed for her soul. Later, when he returned to his mansion, he found happy servants and a well-dressed little Lady Murasaki waiting for him. The vividness of this generational change scene is almost cruel. This scene breaks my heart every time I read it, but for little Lady Murasaki's servants, it's the chance they've been waiting for.

In the middle of the Heian period, people fought using methods other than force. Having multiple wives naturally increases the number of children, but the number of jobs suitable for them does not increase. As a result, fierce competition between brothers and relatives took place, vying for the few government positions. There were probably many people who were denied promotion or exiled for unfair reasons. The idea of a "vengeful spirit" must have been influenced not only by women with broken hearts, but also by the grudges of these men. They often used their daughters and grandchildren for political marriages, but the results did not always turn out well. I believe that the system at that time was tough not only for women but also for many men.

For the aristocrats of the time, the love of siblings and relatives would have been a fantasy. That's why I wrote this fairy tale. What if people with modern sensibilities were born into the world of old stories? What if they could know their future? The time I spent writing this while imagining such things was fun and fulfilling for me.

Although I cannot confirm Lady Aoi's true feelings, I'm grateful to have met her. Even if I couldn't change her short lifespan, I wanted her to live a happy life with less pain in my story. I still hope that fewer people will end up in unwanted marriages. I apologize that the characters' personalities have changed considerably compared to the original work. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed my works.