He was jealous – Oh, so terribly jealous! Was he a terrible man to admit such a thing?

Not only had Izumi gotten married days prior but, come to find out, she’d also been expecting children. Marriage, children, a love to call his own – something he’d yearned for so very long. Was it too much to ask? Was he cursed with a hex that barred the noble from anything he might’ve wanted for himself?

And the worst part about it all? He was so overjoyed that the news had made him weep.

Yoshiro remembered that one, embarrassing day within the empress' chambers when she’d first told him. He didn’t think he ever wept so hard in his entire life, especially not on his cousin’s shoulders for about half an hour.

The bard didn’t know what to do with himself nowadays – his mind was a haze. For as much as he excitedly awaited the day where he’d become an uncle, envy still burned uncomfortably within his belly. For all the things he couldn't have – or at least, chose not to come to him.

There were approximately 6 different animal pelts surrounding him. All lined with feathers at the hem – all made compulsively to take his mind of the bitterness that soured his own virtues.

The 7th one was within his maw – a white deer hide. Rare and lovely; far too pretty to be wasted on one of his crafting-tantrums…