Yamada Asaemon Eizen.

"—You're crying again."

It sounds cold, tired from his lips.

A couple of days have passed since the order to leave for the cursed island was given, and his wife still hasn't stopped crying.

Night has fallen over the house, and in the silence, in a silence so deafening that you can hear the sniffles of his two sons in the next room, the woman's sobs are more clearly audible.

He is almost certain that he is living his last night, that tomorrow is his last hours of life. No one has returned from the island, and he will not return either.

In the meantime, he sits in front of her, on the futon, and lectures again.

"—Your tears are weakness. They will not change anything. They will not stop the ship, they will not dispel the orders, they will not make me stay. Your sadness is a waste of time, and yet you bow your head again, letting it cloud your mind."

"Aren't you Asaemon's wife? You should know that our path is the path of the blade. We live without thinking about death, for our lives are not our own. If I received the order to set foot on this cursed island, I will do so. Without hesitation. Without regret. So why do you allow yourself to doubt?

Know that if I do not return, it is not your fault. It is not the clan's fault, nor the gods' fault. It is simply the course of things. You will continue to live as before, and my spirit will remain with the sword, which I will leave as an inheritance to our son. You will not dare to disgrace the Yamada clan with your weakness? You will not become the woman who mourns her husband, forgetting her duty?

Raise your head. Look at me. For the last time. And remember: tears will not change fate. They only make you weak. And weakness I despise."

He tilt your head up to look at you with a soft and sad smile