Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

As she said this, Yoriichi lowered her head unconsciously, avoiding looking into Mitsuha's eyes.

His actions alerted Mitsuha to something amiss.

She immediately stepped forward, grabbed Yoriichi's shoulders, looked him straight in the eyes, and pressed him for an answer:

"Brother Yuanyi, are you really willing to go to the temple to become a monk and spend your whole life as a monk?"

Looking down at the clear worry in his sister's eyes, Yuan opened his mouth, hesitated, but finally told the truth.

"I do not know."

A deep sense of confusion appeared in his eyes. Yoriichi shook his head and gently pried open Mitsuha's fingers.

"Perhaps I will go somewhere else... but in any case, for my brother's sake, I will no longer stay in Tsuji Province."

Yes, Yoriichi has decided to leave, although he hasn't yet figured out where he should go.

Chapter 6 Mitsuha, I'm entrusting my brother to you.

Leaving the country...

Leaving the country?

The words spoken by Yoriichi pierced Mitsuha's heart.

It was like a window suddenly opened in that claustrophobic room, making Mitsuha realize that there was another path leading to the future.

Yes, she could have chosen to leave the country, couldn't she?

Unwilling to accept her predetermined fate, unwilling to accept that terrible and absurd marriage contract... if that's the case, why not choose to leave?

To repay the kindness of being born to the successor state, one does not necessarily have to stay in the successor state, does one?

She could have left with her brother Yoriichi, and then returned together to repay the country after they grew up, achieved something in the outside world, right?

She didn't need to repay him by marrying an old man who was about to die, a way that almost destroyed her own life, did she?

Moreover, moreover... once she and her brother Yoriichi leave, her brother Yan Sheng will naturally become the sole heir to the country.

Her brother Yan Sheng's dream of becoming a samurai will not be shattered, her father will no longer have to struggle between his two brothers, and she and her brother Yoriichi can pursue their true lives...

In this way, both the father and the three siblings have the bright future they want, which is not a failure to live up to the mother's instructions, is it?

Her heart pounded, and the more Mitsuha thought about it, the more she felt it was a perfect choice.

She was unsure what she would face after leaving the country, nor could she be certain that she would be able to live a good life after leaving.

But none of that matters. Rather than marrying an old man who's practically on his deathbed, she'd rather choose this bold and unknown future!

My heart was pounding, and a surge of courage welled up within me.

Driven by this impulse, Mitsuha finally mustered her courage. Looking at Yoriichi, who was about to leave, she spoke:

“Since that’s the case! Brother Yoriichi, then I…”

Almost at the same time Mitsuha spoke, Yoriichi also stopped in his tracks.

As if he had suddenly remembered something, he turned around to look at his younger sister behind him, a gentle smile on his face.

"Brother, I'm entrusting this to you."

Her expression froze instantly. Under Yoriichi's smiling gaze, the courage that Mitsuha had finally mustered within her receded as quickly as the tide.

Meeting Yoriichi's smiling and expectant eyes, she instinctively forced a stiff smile, then replied in a voice that even she herself found unfamiliar:

"Yes, don't worry, Yoriichi-nii-san."

"Mitsuha, you too, take good care of yourself."

So even Yoriichi's older brother, who decided to pursue freedom, wanted her to stay in Tsugumi Country...

Mitsuha, you are the daughter of the nation.

My mother's dying words echoed repeatedly in my mind and filled my ears.

Watching Yoriichi's figure gradually disappear, Mitsuha suddenly collapsed to the ground, still maintaining that stiff smile, tears silently sliding down her cheeks.

And so, on the same night that his mother Akeno passed away, Yoriichi also left this world.

He took nothing with him and didn't disturb anyone. He simply carried a shrunken cloth bag and left under the cover of night.

Overnight, his wife passed away and his son left home.

This sudden change seemed to awaken the father, who, amidst his grief, immediately sent messengers to the temple, hoping to bring Yoriichi back.

Father's actions were not intended to bring Yoriichi back as his heir; he simply wanted his child to return to his side from a father's perspective.

But it was all too late.

Yoriichi didn't go to the temple at all; just as he told Mitsuha, he went off to pursue his own future.

Yan Sheng breathed a deep sigh of relief at this result.

On the night his mother passed away, Yoriichi seemed to have informed him. After that, he even went to his mother's room and found the diary she had left behind.

According to the contents of this diary, Yoriichi not only sensed his mother's illness several years ago because of his divinely bestowed abilities, but he also predicted the exact time of his mother's death.

His habit of always holding onto his mother's left side was not a way of being affectionate, but rather a way of supporting his mother's left side, which was gradually becoming immobile due to the worsening of her condition.

Upon hearing this, Yan Sheng's elder brother, after being shocked, displayed deep jealousy and hatred towards Yoriichi's elder brother...

Perhaps, there was also a little bit of self-blame that he himself was unaware of.

As for Mitsuha... she was simply puzzled.

She couldn't understand why, if her brother Yoriichi had already noticed their mother's illness years ago, he... didn't tell them about it?

She simply couldn't understand what Yoriichi was thinking at that time.

Perhaps, there will never be another chance to ask...

In the blink of an eye, twelve years have passed since his mother passed away and Yoriichi disappeared.

In these twelve years, several major events have occurred in the country.

The first thing was the death of his father.

After his mother, Zhu Nai, passed away, his father, with whom he had often argued, also died a few years later, depressed and withdrawn.

Even on his deathbed, he was still calling out Yoriichi's name.

Unfortunately, Yoriichi's missing older brother did not return until the moment he breathed his last.

My father died with regret and remorse.

It's really heartbreaking.

Secondly, there is Yan Sheng's elder brother.

After his father's death, he finally achieved his wish and became the head of the family, becoming a true samurai.

Not long after, Yan Sheng's elder brother also married a wife and had children.

What a joy.

Finally, there's Mitsuha herself.

She was lucky, because just a year after her father's death, before she had even reached the age to get married, the daimyo from the neighboring country to whom she was engaged suddenly died one night in a prostitute's bed.

With the deaths of both of the people she was betrothed to, the marriage came to an end, and she no longer had to worry about marrying an old man old enough to be her grandfather.

That's really great.

"Mitsuha, why aren't you smiling?"

Looking down at his younger sister who was carefully adjusting his armor, Yan Sheng finally couldn't help but ask.

"Brother, you're joking. Don't I laugh all the time?"

After securing the shoulder straps on her brother's back to fasten the shoulder armor, Mitsuha circled back to Yan Sheng and looked up at him with a bright smile.

To be fair, Yan Sheng thinks his younger sister's smile is actually very beautiful and standard.

It's not real at all.

Chapter 7 Brother and Sister

Yan Sheng had seen his younger sister's real smile.

That was when Mitsuha was still very young.

At that time, all five members of Ji Guojia's family were still alive.

At that time, his sister actually loved to laugh.

She disliked learning those rigid rules and preferred to run around the house all day. She also liked to urge him to take her out of town for a stroll.

He would always mutter strange things like, "Life is a very precious thing, so you must live happily."

At that time, she was like an elf living in a neighboring country.

Just looking at her fills Yan Sheng with a sense of joy and happiness.

When he was young, Yen Sheng was very proud because other people's younger sisters were either shy and reserved or looked dull and clumsy.

Only his younger sister was smart, lively, and full of spirit, better than other people's sisters.

She was like a fairy who accidentally fell from the sky into the country of Jigaku, filling the cold and gloomy mansion of Jigaku with her unrestrained vitality.

But he doesn't know when it started, his sister stopped laughing like that.

She began to become well-mannered, to understand rules and etiquette, and to resemble those people's younger sisters—rigid and full of lifelessness.

She no longer resembled that fairy spirit; the smile on her face had lost its childhood charm, replaced by a standard yet false perfect smile.

When exactly did Mitsuha begin to change?

"Brother, please stop thinking about me."

Before him, Mitsuha's voice brought Yan Sheng back to his distant consciousness.

After carefully adjusting Yan Sheng's armor, San Ye took two steps back, looked up at him with a smile, and said:

"Instead of thinking about my affairs, as the head of the family and the successor to the throne, shouldn't you, elder brother, have other more important things to consider?"

The successor to the head of the state...

Ah, yes, he is now the successor to the head of the state...

Indeed, as the head of the family and successor to the throne, he had more important matters to attend to; this was his duty.

"Besides, rather than me, I think it's you, elder brother, who has been the one who has never truly laughed all these years..."

Did he never laugh...?

Hearing Mitsuha's words, Yan Sheng fell into deep thought once again.

It seems that this is indeed the case...

When was the last time he laughed from the bottom of his heart?

Was it when he became the successor to the head of the state?

Was it when his child was born?

Or was it when he led his army to victory in his first battle against a neighboring country?

No, it doesn't seem to be either of those...

That's strange, when exactly was it?

Since Yoriichi disappeared, he has obtained everything he once wanted.

The qualifications of a family head, the glory of a samurai... he has obtained everything he had dreamed of since childhood.

But why didn't Yan Sheng feel excited about this at all?

Why does he still feel empty inside, as if something is missing?

Why does time seem to pass so slowly?

Yoriichi... Yoriichi Tsugikuni...

In his mind, that slender, red-haired figure reappeared at this moment.