English Edition

内容提要:

北村純過著超貧窮、掙扎求生的生活。可是，照顧哥哥英輔撿回來，沒有血緣關係的弟妹們就是她活著的意義。有一天，一名青年救了抱著高燒的妹妹，感到絕望的純。雖然對青年的親切懷抱淡淡情愫，不過為了拯救差點就要被賣掉以便還債的孩子們，她下定決心賣身。之後純被田財閥的少爺‧蒼一郎買下，並為了金錢答應跟他假結婚…

Sumi Kitamura is a simple and a kind-hearted girl. Despite her poor background, she finds joy in life through her younger siblings. To be exact, they are orphans and not her flesh and blood siblings but Sumi's older brother Eisuke brought them home and treat them as family despite they can barely afford of feeding themselves. And on top of that, they have a huge debts of house rental fees they have yet to pay and life became a chore for Sumi. Though Eisuke is a compassionate man, he can be irresponsible and he will spend whatever money was left for his gambling debts and on women.

On an occasion when one of their younger siblings was sick, Sumi went around seeking for assistance but no one wants to help her for they think she has owed them enough. Just when Sumi begins to lose her hope, she received a handkerchief from Nozomu. When she unfolds the handkerchief, she is shocked to find he has left some money for her but before she could thank his kind gesture, he has already left. From that moment onwards, Sumi couldn't help thinking of him and she is hoping she would be able to see him again.

Unfortunately, life does not get better for her and in order to give comfort to her younger siblings, she has to find ways to solve their financial problems. She decided to sell herself but a wealthy, good-looking Soichiro Ashida wants her to marry him instead. Sumi has no choice but to agree to his proposal while on the other end, Soichiro has to marry a girl so that he would have his sickly grandfather's inheritance.

Little did Sumi know that Nozomu and Soichiro were childhood friends and as much as she likes Nozomu, she is bounded by the fact that she is Soichiro's wife. The story began to take a turn when Sumi gets to know more about Soichiro and his tragic past and soon she would find herself torn between these two men. Would she be a proper lady and fit into Soichiro's glitzy and glamourous life, and most of all who should she choose to be with in the end?

I finished reading the above volumes by Rinko Ueda yesterday (I read the Chinese edition) and I've to confess I was totally blown away by Rinko's beautiful illustrations! Besides that, I was also drawn by the plot and the characterisations. I've to admit I disliked Soichiro from the beginning but I think there's certainly more about him than meets the eye, and I cannot wait to read more about Sumi's marriage life in Soichiro's family and not to mention the interesting love triangle. Oh, I hope volume 3 will be released quickly!