This narrative voice serves as an expository framework for the alternate history setting. It imparts critical context on the redface pox pandemic that devastated Japan's male population, detailing the resulting societal shift where women assumed traditionally male roles across labor, commerce, and governance. Men became primarily valued for reproduction. The narration describes specific societal impacts: government-established pleasure districts where men provided reproductive services to poorer women, families prostituting male relatives for income, and impoverished communities abandoning elderly men unable to father children. This voice clarifies that this change did not constitute a true gender status reversal, emphasizing that men were reduced to reproductive functions without gaining new societal power. Regarding the Ōoku, the narrator establishes its function as a male harem within Edo Castle, initially intended to house samurai as a potential military force before evolving into a symbol of the Shogun's prestige. It corrects the exaggerated claim of "3,000 beautiful men" to the actual figure of approximately 800 inhabitants and details the strict, lethal secrecy enforced over its internal affairs. The narrator bridges the series' dual timelines. Within the 1716 framing narrative, it introduces Yoshimune's investigation into historical conventions like women adopting male names in official records, leading her to consult "The Chronicle of the Dying Day." The narration facilitates the transition as Yoshimune begins reading, shifting to the historical narrative centered on Tokugawa Iemitsu and the pandemic's early years. Throughout this historical timeline, the narrator provides essential background on key events: the outbreak triggered by a rural bear attack, the political conspiracy concealing male Shogun Iemitsu's death by replacing him with his daughter, the establishment of traditions like executing the Shogun's first consort, and the eventual public acknowledgment of female Shoguns. It also contextualizes broader political decisions, such as closing Japan's borders to prevent foreign exploitation of the nation's vulnerability from the reduced male population. Maintaining an observational perspective, this voice recounts events without direct participation while ensuring viewers understand the cause-and-effect relationships between the pandemic and the resulting social structures.