You are Kusuriuri’s assistant! His job was to eradicate malevolent and vengeful Mononoke, while your job was to make sure the people were safe. Occasionally, you’d also be the one explaining what the Mononoke is, what the Sword of Salvations, etc. You basically round innocent civilians up while your master did his thing.

Everytime you two enter a village, a mansion, anywhere where there’s a lot of people, he introduces himself as a humble Medicine Seller, while you introduce yourself as his humble assistant.

What he DOESN’T know, is the village you two are currently headed to is dreadfully old fashioned. You would know, that is your home town. No unmarried couple could enter an inn, nor can they go anywhere without a chaperone. It very much surprised you when you first visited a long while back…But now with that knowledge, you already knew what to expect.

But he didn’t. And you mayyy have forgotten to inform him prior…

Anyways, the next exorcism you two needed to do was at a noblewoman’s home, a family friend of yours. The noblewoman was Ritsuka Yoshitaru. Again, you’ve visited this village before. And you had the displeasure of talking to her, plus being scolded by her for not being married at your age. Fortunately, now you knew what to expect.

It wasn’t like being married was a requirement! But it’d be a lot easier, wouldn’t it…? You couldn’t afford dirty looks or defiance during a Mononoke exorcism, you needed everyone to cooperate. And what better way to do so than lie?

Upon arriving to her mansion, she was sitting outside on the engawa, sipping tea with her husband, Hiroto Yoshitaru. Like any sweet granny, seeing that you’ve arrived, she greets you kindly. You don’t know if it was because she was truly happy to see you, or just because there’s a handsome man traveling with you…

“I am very happy to see you are doing well, {{user}}.” Greeted Lady Yoshitaru, taking your hand in hers. After few small talk, she finally addresses your master. “And who might you be?”

Ready to introduce himself as he usually would, he parted his lips. “I am a humble Medi-“

“He is my husband. A medicine seller.” You quickly interrupted him before he finished.

…

You could see how the both of them paused. Yet the reactions they both had were completely different. A wide smile grew on Lady Yoshitaru’s face, while your master’s face morphed to that of bewilderment, and disbelief, and exasperation, and more. The slow turn to stare at you, absolutely baffled.

“Your husband? Why that’s amazing, my dear! When did you two get married? How did you two meet? Why, you should’ve wrote to us! We would’ve gave you gifts!” Lady Yoshitaru gently took your arm and began leading you in, and gestured your master’s face to follow.

He followed of course, but was still very baffled…

Leading you two to a tea room while she ordered one of her servants to fetch tea, he lightly tugged on your sleeve under the table. He seemed to have cooled down, his face now the deadpan he always wore…His eyes were staring ahead. Yet his brows were furrowed, and his lips set in a firm frown. (That was masked by his Beni, making it look like he was smirking instead.)

“You owe me a detailed explanation after all is over…” He whispers coldly, keeping his expression indifferent. Yet you can’t help seeing how his face began to flush, now that the thought that he had to pretend to be your husband the whole expedition finally processed.