"No!" Zhu Daohe instinctively resisted, while Zhu Dao Essence seemed to enjoy teasing her little sister. She immediately said, "Why not? Am I really that bad? Who knows how many princes' sons want to marry your elder sister?"
"Elder Sister, don't bring that up!" Zhu Daohe said unhappily. I froze where I stood. I had never expected that finding someone to refine pills for me would require marrying her. This seemingly unrelated matter had somehow become entangled with it. Awkwardly, I said, "I had no idea there was such a background to this. I was too presumptuous to ask. My apologies."
"It's not like that. The ignorant are not guilty. That is simply how the Zhu family operates. Right now, the eldest son of Prince Muru of the Directorate of Armaments is negotiating with Father—he wants to marry Elder Sister! And the girls of our family will only use their abilities for their husbands. If you want Elder Sister to refine pills, you must marry her!" Zhu Daohe said anxiously.
This is deadly. There was no way I could marry Zhu Dao Essence, let alone marry her just to have her refine pills. Wouldn't Prince Muru's whole family chop me to pieces by then? They wanted their son to bring home a formidable wife to take charge of the Directorate of Armaments! Zhu Junyu must have been thinking the same thing. That way, the Divine Firmament Prefecture and the Directorate of Armaments would be bound even more tightly, their ties pulled even tauter. If I broke this plan now, wouldn't I offend both families at once? Blackie would fry me alive!
I swallowed and immediately said, "Then forget it... If it's inconvenient."
"Haha, it's not that it's inconvenient! Prince Muru has been acting strangely lately, and his relationship with Grandfather's