He Rejected the Beautiful Heiress and Chose Her Servant Instead—But Uncovered the Secret No One Told

Plot Summary

A wealthy Kyoto merchant, Tadayori, shocks the Arakida household by rejecting its heiress, Fujino, and choosing Nagi, the family’s servant, as a bride for his son, Sataro. His decision hinges on a bloodstain hidden inside a wedding kimono: Nagi’s bandaged finger matches the mark, revealing that she—not Fujino—sewed the garment. The discovery exposes Fujino’s claim to the work and breaks the marriage arrangement.

Fujino retaliates by cutting Nagi’s wedding robe. Nagi and her longtime caretaker, Sode, work through the night to repair it, and Sode sacrifices the only pair of striped socks Nagi ever made for her. At the awkward wedding, guests mock the mismatched sleeve. Sataro, who resents his father’s decision, quietly turns his shoulder to shield Nagi and tells her to hold her head high. Their marriage begins with little affection, but small acts—mending buttons, sharing work, and joking about lost buttons—gradually bring them closer.

Nagi struggles to adjust to life in the merchant household. Sataro’s mother, Chika, tests her with unfamiliar duties, and Nagi makes mistakes, including damaging a formal gift by tying its wrapping too tightly. With help from the veteran maid Ruka, Nagi learns that good intentions don’t excuse carelessness—and that kindness in a business must be handled responsibly.

Nagi’s sharp eye proves valuable when she notices a batch of indigo silk bleeding dye. The shipment has already gone out, costing the merchant house money and work. Nagi also tries to help an underpaid worker by finding her sewing work, but later gives Sode fabric scraps without checking whether they belong to the business. Her mistake allows warehouse manager Gihei to suggest that she is responsible for missing stock.

The investigation eventually reveals that Gihei knowingly accepted defective cloth and concealed transfers. Sataro and Tadayori also bear responsibility for their own decisions. Rather than let Nagi take the blame, Sataro publicly admits his part. The business suffers losses, but the workers are paid what they’re owed, and Nagi is entrusted with properly recording reusable scraps.

Meanwhile, Fujino uncovers a family secret. Twenty years earlier, she and Nagi were born on the same stormy night, in adjoining rooms. A baby jacket and an old midwife’s recollections suggest that the newborns might have been switched—but no one can prove which child was born to which mother. Sode had suspected something was wrong but stayed silent, fearing that speaking up would separate the girls or leave them both without a home. Her love for both is genuine, but it does not erase the harm caused by keeping the secret.

Fujino is shaken by the possibility that Sode might be her birth mother, while Nagi is hurt that Sode may have known and still let her grow up serving Fujino. Their anger surfaces in painful arguments, and Fujino even turns the uncertainty into a cruel joke that spreads through the neighborhood. Still, she and Nagi begin to find tentative common ground while repairing clothes together. The story never resolves their biological parentage; instead, it leaves them to reckon with the families and relationships they actually lived.

The ending returns to Sode’s sacrificed socks. Nagi makes her a new pair of warm tabi, secretly lining one with a piece of the crimson wedding robe. Fujino helps ease one onto Sode’s sore foot. No one settles the question of whose daughter Sode is, but for a moment, the women share the work of caring for her. The narrator closes by reflecting that Sode’s love and her silence can both be true.

Notable Moments and Humor

• At the wedding, Sataro shields Nagi’s patched sleeve from onlookers and tells her they’ll laugh at him too.
• When Sataro says she needn’t mend everything, Nagi replies dryly: “Then stop losing buttons.”
• Ruka advises Nagi to learn where the keys go—and which things aren’t hers to lend.
• Frustrated with her needlework, Fujino blames Nagi for choosing difficult fabric, then asks for another needle and continues anyway.

Personalities

• Nagi: Observant, hardworking, compassionate, and increasingly willing to insist on fairness.
• Sode: Loving and self-sacrificing, but burdened by a long-kept secret.
• Fujino: Proud and initially vindictive; wounded by uncertainty, but gradually capable of remorse and care.
• Sataro: Principled but initially resentful and slow to speak; grows more honest and supportive.
• Tadayori: Perceptive about skill, but too quick to make life-changing decisions for others.
• Chika: Exacting and initially skeptical of Nagi, but later more accepting.
• Ruka: Experienced, practical, and frank.
• Gihei: A senior warehouse manager who conceals his role in the defective shipment and missing stock.