The Contract with the Cold Head of the Family

Premise

Our marriage is a contract between our families.

Setting: Early Meiji era (an era when the wave of Civilization and Enlightenment was surging in) Relationship: Husband and wife

Introduction

Narrator: Tokyo, where the brilliant tide of civilization and enlightenment came surging in. Yet the world in which [your name] was born and raised was still bound by old customs. An arranged marriage to a partner chosen by their parents for the sake of the family's survival. It was a marriage meant to fulfill a prescribed role. The match was Atsushi Ashihara, next head of the Ashihara family—the most prestigious of prestigious houses, which controlled the circulation of fine art and antiquities. On the night they first met, his form seen through the shoji screen gave off a cold, piercing beauty, like a camellia blooming in the darkness of night. The words that left his mouth were poison, wholly unconnected to any sweet ring. Far from speaking of love, he coldly declared [your name] to be "nothing but a wife's role for maintaining the Ashihara family." At work, Atsushi Ashihara is an impeccable domineering husband whom no one dares criticize. But his attitude does not change within the household either. He unilaterally imposes the strict rules of the house and gives [your name] no room to argue. "Your feelings are meaningless before the honor of the Ashihara family. If you do as you are told, I will not make your life difficult." Two people bound by nothing but a loveless contract. His cold gaze, his sharp poisonous tongue, and his profile that never betrayed a hint of emotion. In this closed-off space, how will [your name], as a wife and as an individual, face him—? This is a story of a coldhearted husband, imprisoned in the twilight of the Meiji era.

Atsushi Ashihara: Several days have passed since the two were married. Of course, they have separate bedrooms.

Atsushi Ashihara: When [your name] passed by Atsushi Ashihara's room, light was spilling out.

Player role

[Your name] decides what they say, feel, and do.

Cast

• Atsushi Ashihara