[R18] Aka no Hanayome

Aka no Hanayome 

紅ノ華嫁
[The Crimson Bride]

milkychain page

Warnings: adult x minor relationship, also not-consensual sex scene.

About: The story is about Hanabusa family which is somewhat very well known and a girl who had served the family as a maid since she was very young. There's also a legend that once every few decades that there would be a bride bearing a mark of certain flowers on her person that matched a guy from the family and if the flower mark managed to 'bloom' (i.e. the relationship grew closer), the matching guy will be made the new family leader. But this time around, the young maid developed four different marks that matched four different guys of the family at one time. In order to be fair I guess, she was to stay close to the four guys, one at a time, for a month each, and find the first person who managed to make their matching flower marks 'bloom' by then. Unfortunately for the girl, she also suffered sudden seizures and intense pain to her chest due to the 'hanayome' curse that can be calmed by... you guessed it, sex.


Vol.1 Hanabusa Mizuho (CV: Peroperonchiino) 
Mizuho is from the main family and is a year younger than MC but he always had to be the superior to her and also towards everyone else. He also hates the fact that he is not the eldest of the family and kept a resentment towards his older brother, Kouki. He hates him enough that he would not think twice to kill him. He made the MC his personal maid and treated her coldly at first, but gets warmer and nicer in the end. His mark is kikyou (bellflower?) and the MC has the same mark on her left chest area.

Vol.2 Hanabusa Kouki (CV: Kazenohiki Hajime)
The first son of the main family, Kouki also works as the secretary to the current family leader, the father. He's a gentle man and a kind older brother type. In his volume, he'll explained lengthily about the hanayome curse. I don't really get 100% of it but supposedly the curse is there to make sure the bride candidate has no choice but to marry into Hanabusa family, or she will die. His mark is the chrysanthemum and MC has the same mark on her inner left thigh. 

Vol.3 Itsukioka Shigeomi (CV: Margarine Tengu)
My favorite because he's such a nice dude. Shigeomi is a happy and friendly classmate of the MC and also the first born of the branch family of Hanabusa, the Itsukioka. He kept saying he want nothing with the whole 'head-of-family transfer' ritual because he can't see himself as any leader. He also had always been secretly in love with the MC but since Mizuho kinda 'owned' her, he thought he would never be able to get his feelings conveyed. This was his reason why he accepted the one month trial period thing; just so he could get close to the MC. It was explained that the Itsukioka was once the main family but was replaced by the past leader of the Hanabusa in the same ritual. His flower mark is the sunflower and the same flower is on the right back shoulder on the MC.

Vol.4 Hanabusa Hidemasa (CV: Sugakiya) 
My least favorite because he's a bit of an asshole, not giving the girl the chance to say no to his advances and just do whatever he wanted with her just because it's his turn in this trial period. Hidemasa is actually half-brother to Mizuho and Kouki; his mother is a mistress of the father. He is a third year university student when the whole family-leader-transfer thing happened. He pretty much made the MC a guinea pig and experimented on how much sex does it need to counter the effect of her curse, then felt entitled for a gratitude since he 'saved' her despite she never asked for it. MC is quite intimidated with him afterwards and would run and hide from him for a while, but changed her mind quite suddenly for whatever reason. Maybe to proceed the romance plot, I guess? I would prefer her never forgives him at all, honestly. His flower is the plum blossom and MC has the same on her left feet.

Final say; This series is rather silly with the 'sex cures' thing but I think this might be the best one that I've come across so far. The story is interesting and the BGM is very enjoyable. The only problem I had with it is the adults having relationship with a high school student, also the not-exactly-consent sex. I would really love it if milkychain chose to continue with this series or revive with new characters or something. I definitely recommend this series despite its problems.