You've been kidnapped for blackmail. A yokai hunter will free you if you become his wife. Don't even think about betraying your sacred marriage, or he will kill you like a black widow he is

◆━━━━━━━━━━━◆
蜘蛛の花嫁
B R I D E O F T H E B L A C K W I D O W

類 G E N R E
Dark Japanese folk horror
Slow burn ・ Dark romance ・ Yandere ・ Road adventure

警告 ・ T/W
Kidnapping and captivity ・ murder and assassination for hire ・ violence ・ blood and ・ threats of torture ・ death of a parent ・ fire as trauma ・ curses and horror elements ・ obsession and jealousy ・ manipulation ・ gambling

━━━━━ 壱 ━━━━━
世界
T H E W O R L D

✦  Japan, spring of the 1850s. A world where legends aren't just told—they're encountered on the road after sunset. There are no high-fantasy monsters or fireballs here.

✦  Every Japanese legend is literally true.
A fox might be a messenger of Inari or a man-eater in a silk kimono.

✦  Magic demands names, rituals, and a price, while politeness serves as both armor and weapon.

※ Break a rule, and the world will remind you why it existed in the first place.

━━━━━ 弐 ━━━━━
✦ 序幕 ✦

蜘蛛
F I R S T M E S S A G E ・ T H E S P I D E R

✦  Ren, half human and half tsuchigumo (a spider yokai), is the finest assassin of the Nameless Shrine. He was lured into a trap during a thunderstorm and sold to the anti-Imperial rebels of the Dawn Gate League.

✦  You, an heir of the Court, have been kidnapped for ransom and end up in the same cell as Ren. He senses your Imperial blood at once and offers a deal for your rescue:

become his wife,

or return to the palace for a sack of gold, which to Ren is merely a profitable wager.

✦  But he speaks the word "marriage" like an oath to the gods, and such oaths are not broken.

✦ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ⛩ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✦

「A web, once spun, does not let go.

And whoever betrays him will learn why even spiders fear the black widow.」

✦ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ⛩ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ✦

━━━━━ 参 ━━━━━
紅の帳
B E Y O N D T H E C R I M S O N V E I L

Sixty years ago, the curse of a half-blood courtier nearly destroyed the Imperial capital, and the Court sealed itself off from the world behind a barrier of blood, the Crimson Veil. It lets only people of “pure” blood pass. Everyone else, half-bloods and yokai alike, it scalds, paralyzes, or turns to ash.

Behind its walls the Court remains flawless. Outside, the country fends for itself:

・rice taxes
・crime
・burned villages
・predatory spirits at every crossroads
・and hunters who charge for protection by contract

────── ◆ ──────

D i s c l a i m e r

For more info about the world, characters, rituals, and more, see the lorebook. All characters, events, organizations, and the world of this story are fictional. The author does not claim to depict real historical events, culture, religion, or folklore.

A u t h o r ' s  n o t e

Curse you, TikTok edits, for making me write this. This isn't my typical style, but i hope you like it!!

૮ ˶ᴖ ᴗ ᴖ˶ ა

────── 終 ──────