Miyo Saimori

* Anime
* Manga
* Live-action
* Novel

**Miyo Saimori** (斎森 美世, *Saimori Miyo*?) is the female protagonist of the *My Happy Marriage* series. She is the oldest daughter of the Saimori family, the daughter of Shinichi Saimori and Sumi Usuba and the fiancée of Kiyoka Kudou.

## Appearance

Miyo is a beautiful 19-year-old young woman who strongly resembles her mother Sumi. She has long black hair with purple reflections with a square fringe, pale pink eyes, and a mole under her left eye. Due to experiencing years of hard work and malnutrition, she initially is skinny and gaunt and her hair has split ends. In her current residence at Kiyoka Kudou's house, she has started to get healthier.

## Personality

Because of her violent upbringing, Miyo is a timid girl with very low self-esteem, often thinking of herself as a burden to others and let them to give him orders.

Until her engagement to Kiyoka Kudou, was resigned to being a servant for the rest of her life. Kiyoka and Yurie's influence has slowly raised her sense of self-worth and given her a new conviction in life, as seen when she refuses to give up her engagement even after her stepmother Kanoko Saimori slapped her.

## History

Miyo was born from a loveless marriage between Shinichi Saimori and Sumi Usuba, was arranged by their families to improve the bloodline. Her father opposed to the marriage, but was forced by his family to break off his relationship with his lover Kanoko, who came from a regular family with no special powers. Miyo was told that her father used to dote on her and that she was the apple of her mother’s eye. However, later she understands that her father's kindness toward her when she was little hadn’t been out of love: his tenderness was simply because she’d been a baby.

To prevent people from taking advantage of Miyo's Gift of Dream-Sight, Sumi secretly sealed Miyo's Dream-Sight power, soon after she was born. When her father discovered that Miyo couldn't demonstrate the Spirit-Sight ability, he instead was under the impression that she is Giftless and resented her for it. He'd felt bitter dejection when the child of the woman he’d been forced to marry in spite of his love for another hadn’t fulfilled the familial expectation of inheriting the Gift. He started turning his back on Miyo while Sumi was still alive, even when she begged him not to reject his daughter.

When Miyo was two years old, her mother passed away from illness and her father wasted no time in remarrying his former lover Kanoko, who despised Miyo since day one for being the child of the woman who’d separated her from Shinichi; she had ensured that Miyo would understand that by constantly remarking to her that if she hadn’t been born, then everything would be better, that her mother was a thieving wench and called her a "homewrecker's daughter". Meanwhile, her father was so overcome with guilt towards his second wife that he deferred to her in everything. When Miyo's half sister Kaya was born, he lost all interest in Miyo since he preferred the daughter of his beloved.

At the age of three, it was discovered that Kaya has not only inherited her mother’s extraordinary beauty, but also possesses Spirit-Sight. Her father is especially overjoyed and Miyo's exclusion from the family began then. No matter how hard she tried to please them, she wasn’t allowed into their circle and disminished value, losing a place where she could belong. Everyone in the house, even the servants, started worshipping Kaya and devoted less and less attention to Miyo. Despite the fact that Miyo’s parents had married solely to pass their supernatural powers on to their heirs and yet it had been Kaya, not Miyo, who’d been born with the Gift. In hindsight, her father had nothing to gain from breaking up with Kanoko to marry Miyo’s mother. This discovery only further stoked Kanoko’s hatred of her stepdaughter and it had also been when Kaya’s attitude toward her half sister started shifting toward contempt.

One day, Miyo returned home after classes to find her room empty. Her stepmother had thrown away the precious mementos of her mother: kimonos, sashes and accessories. Even the makeup mirror and her mother’s lipstick had vanished. Miyo decided to confront Kanoko. Back then, she’d still believed her father would take her side. He’d become increasingly distant toward her, but she was certain that if she pleaded with him and reminded him of how poorly they had treated her, then he would at least rebuke his second wife. She went to her stepmother’s chambers to ask if she knew anything about the strange disappearance of her belongings, Kanoko flew into a rage, punished her for calling her a thief by shutting her in a storehouse at the back of the mansion. Miyo was imprisoned there in the dark and cold until she was released in the middle of the night. Her father, whom she’d trusted to come to her aid if she was in need, hadn’t shown up. While trapped there, the family had dismissed Hana, a servant who had been looking after her, and had immediately expelled her from the mansion for some made-up reason (in the anime, it's because she openly questioned Kanoko for taking away Sumi's mementos). And finally, they’d divested Miyo of her status within the household and would henceforth treat her worse than a servant.

Despite the fact that she is the eldest daughter of a noble family, she not only has to do many chores, but was unable to be guaranteed enough meals. Even the servants outranked her in the house. After completing elementary school, Miyo had hardly ever left the mansion because her family had refused to send her to a finishing school like they did with Kaya. She was penniless because her family had never given her a stipend, which kept her from moving out. Growing up in such an environment made her have an extremely low self-esteem, and she often apologizes reflexively, and gradually became numb to psychological pain.

## Abilities

### Gifts

* **Dream-Sight**: Miyo possesses over this special Usuba Gift. Like the rest of the Usuba powers, the ability is foremost unique in that it specialises in dealing with Gift-users, rather than with the likes of Grotesqueries and is focused on affecting people's mind. With this ability she can enter the dreams of any sleeping person, including her own, and manipulate their vision. It also allows her to see into the past and future and even alter it through her dreams, and is widely regarded as the most powerful Gift. As her Gift is sealed by her mother Sumi Saimori for fear that she would get exploited , Miyo grows up believing she is Giftless and is consequently mistreated by her family. After the seal has gradually weakened once she left the Saimori estate, her ability awakens.

### Techniques

* **Familiar technique**: After Miyo awakened her Gift, she started to learn how to use it under the coaching of Hazuki Kudou and Arata Usuba. Although she can't conjure up familiars out of thin air by herself, with the assistance of the modified amulet that Kiyoka Kudou has given her, she can activate paper familiars on her own.
* **Sealing**: Miyo possesses over this another special Usuba Gift. As Miyo is in the barrier of the Usuba family in the Usuba estate, she touched the cherry blossom tree as to use her power to unsealed her mother’s powers to awake her Gift that would lead to end the Emperor's tyranny.

## Plot

### Volume 1

At the age of nineteen, Miyo is ordered by her father Shinichi Saimori to marry into the Kudou family. Out of fear of losing her place, she displays submissive behavior and actively tries to do everything she could for Kiyoka Kudou. However, Kiyoka points out that her excessive apologies could diminish their value. Under the gentle guidance of Yurie, an elderly servant, Miyo slowly acclimates to life in the Kudou household, gradually growing fond of the initially cold but ultimately kind-hearted Kiyoka. Her heart soared with happiness during a shopping trip to the city center with him.

However, a chance encounter with her half-sister Kaya Saimori on the streets shattered her newfound confidence, revealing her persistent timidity and vulnerability, particularly under Kiyoka's protective gaze. Furthermore, she lacked supernatural abilities and the demeanor of a lady. Filled with self-doubt, Miyo believed that she could never be the worthy wife of the Kudou family's head and feared eventual rejection by Kiyoka.

Devastated, Miyo locks herself in her room for a whole week, numbing her pain by crafting a tassel for Kiyoka. Following Kiyoka's request, the kind-hearted maid Hana Kanao arrived at the Kudou Residence to convey her heartfelt wishes for Miyo's happiness. During their conversation, she discloses that Kiyoka has been aware of Miyo's past and her lack of powers all along. Overwhelmed by this revelation, Miyo runs to Kiyoka and finally presents the hair tassel to him. He surprises her by proposing a formal engagement.

Just as Miyo is reveling in the joy of her engagement to Kiyoka, she is abruptly kidnapped during an outing with Yurie. She has forgotten to wear an amulet provided by Kiyoka, which is meant to ward off tracking via familiars. In a storehouse at the Saimori estate where she was taken, her stepmother and half-sister subject her to the same physical abuse and scolding she has endured in the past, all in a desperate attempt to force her to break off her engagement with Kiyoka. However, Miyo remains resolute, unwilling to let go of the happiness that Kiyoka has brought into her life. She endures their cruelty, repeteadly relling her that she is Kiyoko Kudo's bride and she won't relinquish it at all, until Kiyoka finally arrives to rescue her.

After the Saimori estate is completely burned down by fire and before the land is about to be cleaned up, Miyo asks Kiyoka to take her to the place again. There, she finds the tree trunk of a cherry blossom tree her mother Sumi Saimori planted when she married into the Saimori family, and which was later cut down when it withered. After feeling a twinge of pain due to (unbeknownst to her) the loosening of the seal of her Gift, Miyo briefly talks about her childhood with Kouji Tatsuishi, who happened to come over, and then goes home with Kiyoka. Shortly thereafter, they formalized their engagement.

### Volume 2

In her pursuit of becoming a worthy wife for the head of the Kudou family, Miyo begins to acquire the skills and etiquette befitting a lady under the tutelage of Kiyoka's older sister, Hazuki Kudou. However, her days are packed with various household chores, tormenting nightmares stemming from her emerging Dream-Sight and the exhaustive effort required to learn from Hazuki. This immense pressure takes a toll on Miyo's already fragile physical condition, and in her determination not to burden Kiyoka, she continues to push herself beyond her limits. It reaches a breaking point when a stressed Kiyoka, unable to contain his emotions, erupts in frustration, regretting allowing her to learn these things. His words inadvertently invalidated Miyo's dedication and intentions, causing her to emotionally break down.

Kiyoka finds out that Miyo's maternal family, the Usuba family conceals themselves under the pseudonym "Tsuruki". In an effort to mend their strained relationship, Kiyoka takes Miyo to the Usuba estate where she learns about her sealed power of her Dream-Sight. Confronted with a choice between Kiyoka and the Usuba family, Miyo reluctantly declares that "either side is fine," aiming to spare Kiyoka any sense of obligation. However, this leads to Kiyoka taking up a challenge by Arata Usuba, Miyo's cousin and an Hallucikinesis user, that he loses. Consequently, Miyo is compelled to accept the protection of the Usuba family, temporarily parting ways with Kiyoka.

After talking with Arata and her grandfather Yoshirou Usuba, Miyo learns about the plight of the Usuba family and her mother's past. A few days later, Miyo hears from Arata that Kiyoka has fallen into a coma. Anxious for his well-being, Miyo expresses her concerns to Arata and finally gets his support. Together, they travel to the Kudou Residence and under Arata's guidance, she uses her Dream-Sight to enter Kiyoka's spiritual realm. There, she rescues Kiyoka from the torment of the resentful spirits. Before returning to the waking world, Miyo and Kiyoka engage in a heartfelt exchange, bridging the gap of misunderstanding between them.

Following this experience, Miyo continues to reside in the Kudou household, finding balance between her domestic responsibilities and her studies and no longer pushing herself beyond her limits. She joins Hazuki and Kiyoka in attending a scheduled event. At this gathering, hosted by Kiyoka's superior and Hazuki's former spouse, Major General Masashi Ookaito, Miyo has the opportunity to meet Prince Takaihito who possesses the Divine Revelation ability. She learns that, due to manipulations by the father of the prince, the Emperor, her mother was forced to leave the Usuba family and marry into the Saimori family.

## Trivia

* Miyo believes herself to be ugly, when compared to Kaya Saimori. This is due to her low self-esteem which comes from years of abuse.

### Name Origin

* The name **Miyo** means "beautiful" (美) (**mi**) and "world" (世) (**yo**).

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6  Novel, Volume 1 Chapter 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2  Novel, Volume 1 Chapter 2
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1  Novel, Volume 2 Chapter 3
4. ↑  Novel, Volume 5 Chapter 1
5. ↑  Anime, Episode 11