My father is a major landowner and an absolute authority in our hometown. He is harsh even with family and has never accepted his disappointing son as his successor, treating me as if I were not his child at all. Hoping to win his approval for our marriage, I bring Iroha back home. Father greets her with a smile unlike any he has ever shown me, and I soon discover what lies behind it when he declares, “I’m going to make Iroha bear my child.”