A well-known wife, who began as a daughter of the betrayer Akechi Mitsuhide, became a Christian just before it was outlawed, and finally died rather than inconvenience her husband. Gracia Hosokawa’s tale is a unconventional example of heroic tragedy.
Though she inherited her father’s sharp mind and cunning even as a young girl, Tama Mitsuhide neatly put such tools to rest and devoted herself to becoming the best possible wife for the man she fell in love with. Had she not met Hosokawa Tadaoki, she would have had a future as a great commander. Instead she was an exemplary wife, taking on household duties and expertly supporting her husband. Such was only natural, was it not? A perfectionist to her core, she threw herself into her new role.
The first years of marriage were pure joy, the kind of love that exists for its own sake. However, it could not last. The beginning of the end of Tama’s happiness began with her father’s betrayal of a certain Demon King. Despite her position, Tama’s husband took up arms against her father and she agreed without a moment of hesitation, severing ties with her man that had raised her. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him; Tama merely reasoned that a wife’s duty towards her husband was more important than a daughter’s to the father.
It was then that the first crack appeared in their relationship. If only she had paid more attention, Tama would’ve seen the look of dissatisfaction on her husband’s face as she informed him of her decision.
“It’s not human,” he had thought of her behavior. “Like this, I can’t even comfort her.”
She had not so much as shuddered.
For the remainder of her life, Tama’s unflinching dedication would be her downfall. Discarding all for the sake of her love with the reasoning of ‘such is proper’, she soon found that she had nothing left for herself, and their strained relationship had become something closer to mother and child. Tadaoki would act out, become rowdy, and misbehave, and she would accept it all with a smile. Even when he deliberately provoked her with all of his might, she accepted him unconditionally. Each time, he would grow to fear his wife more.
What had he fallen in love with? Before him, he only saw a perfect automaton.
Soon Tadaoki locked her in their mansion and escaped, finding war more comforting than the thought of staying with her. Tama Hosokawa was abandoned alone in a house with nothing to do except stare for hours on end at the sky and read the vast library of books that had been left for her. She continued doing as was proper, managing the affairs of her husband while he was away without a second thought, until one day, the perfect cycle broke.
“Mistress,” one of her maids said. “Are you alright?”
It was the first time someone had sincerely inquired as to Tama’s health. An ‘improper’ act that should have been punished.
Instead, Tama struck up with a conversation with the girl, and was introduced to God.
Something was born then, inside her soul. It was a seed that had never been watered until that day. Tama snuck out of her castle and approached a hidden church. Within was a priest, and within him was a lesson she should have learned long ago.
Tama discarded her old name. Days before Christianity would be outlawed in Japan, she re-christened herself Gracia, and was baptized.
She had at long last realized her error: by becoming the perfect wife, she had thrown away herself as a human being. By turning love into a routine that could be perfectly performed, she had lost sight of what had truly brought her and her husband together.
It was too late to fix things, though she tried. The remainder of Gracia’s life was spent as a shut-in, quietly supporting her husband from the sidelines. She learned bits of thaumaturgy and prayed for his protection, the rekindled life in her veins granting urgency and strength. She reached out, begging for a second chance, for an ounce of the trust they’d previously shared freely with each other.
She ran out of time, in the end. The signs were there. Tadaoki began to notice Gracia’s feelings once more. One night they even held hands beneath the trees and watched the moon together. And yet, something was missing. A spark that could have appeared at any moment to reignite their love, but wasn’t given the chance to.
The moment came. Gracia herself doesn’t remember if she chose to die or was killed on his order. Her religion forbid suicide, after all. Either way, she only wishes that he had returned that day, and told her to rely on him for the first time in her life.
Originally Posted by the god of world-0
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