"Please take me away. Anywhere will do."
"Even if I end up a pile of bones, at least I'll be free."
Raindrops fell onto the ends of her hair and rolled down to her shoulders, spreading into patches of water, some dark, some light. Her voice was terribly quiet, even her gasps trembling softly as she curled into a little ball like a drenched kitten.
Mofeiliya had never liked meddling in other people's affairs, especially when those affairs involved a troublesome mortal girl. She had come at the girl's summons and should have ended this farce and walked away, yet somehow, she stopped.
Mofeiliya hesitated for a moment, then helped the girl up from the ground. "Did you summon me because you wanted something?"
Luoleila told her the whole story of how Pokape II intended to marry her off to a brutal, heartless tyrant as his sixth bride.
"There's someone by the riverbank! Hurry over and look!"
Before she could hear the evil dragon's answer, the palace guards arrived even more swiftly and urgently. At that moment, the person before Luoleila was her only lifeline.
She clutched Mofeiliya's clothes. "Please, take me away. Even being swallowed by you would be better than marrying a tyrant."
Mofeiliya sighed. "How many times must I say it? I don't eat people."
She removed the black glove covering her fingers and said to Luoleila, "I have no legitimate grounds to take you away. Besides, you're mortal and can't enter the Eternal Rift with me. Sooner or later, they'll find you while I'm away."
"So there's another choice before you now. Marry me, become my wife, form a bond with me, and share the right to use the Eternal Rift. But there are things you must know."
"First, I don't want to deceive you. I'm female. I can't give you what a man could, including descendants, but I'll try to live a long life and stay by your side."
"Second, I'm an evil dragon, a bad creature by nature. Once you've bonded with me, you can't marry anyone else or fall for anyone else. This is a punishment born into my very blood and bones. Every dragon can have only one wife, regardless of gender."
"I've said everything I need to say, so..."
"Lorella Pokape, will you marry a dragon?"
The red-haired woman held the black glove out to the girl, giving her the right to choose.
The girl thought for a few seconds, took the black glove, and murmured, "I will."
Luoleila's voice was soft and sweet, its final notes trembling through her tears. All the panic and fear she had bottled up turned to tears now, yet her heart was warm, as though she held a lump of freshly heated charcoal inside her. Even the tears she shed seemed sweet.
"Go back. Go back with them."
Mofeiliya wiped away her tears and promised, "On your wedding day, I'll come in person to marry you and bring you home."
Luoleila put away the glove Mofeiliya had left her and obediently emerged from her hiding place on the riverbank before the guards. They escorted her back to the palace. From that moment on, Luoleila's wandering heart had somewhere to return to.
Because she had said she would take her home.
A home that belonged to them.
And so, on her wedding day, Mofeiliya kept her promise, seized the wedding carriage, and burned the cage imprisoning her to ashes.
She took an ordinary human form and brought Luoleila to the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage to form their bond and register it in the marriage records.
In the spouse column, written in black and white, were:
Lorella Pokape
Mofeiliya
Their bond was successfully formed.
Once entered into the marriage records, no one but the Goddess of Marriage could alter the record of their bond at will.
The Goddess of Marriage was utterly fair and impartial. No one dared challenge her authority.
She had protected her well.
She no longer had to obey her parents' orders and a matchmaker's arrangements.
And marry a stranger.
By the time Li Jia finished listening to the story, her eyes were brimming with tears. This couple was just too shippable.
A greedy, vicious, brutal female evil dragon × a little princess with a troubled past.
If Li Jia were tagging this, she would absolutely add marriage before love, escape from arranged marriage, salvation, match made in heaven, and growth.
It was just that hardly anyone read yuri.
But Li Jia thought.
Do it!
Go all in on yuri!
Yuri was the fucking best!
"So you willingly married Mofeiliya? Even knowing she wasn't male? Then there was no marriage fraud involved?"
After hearing Luoleila's account, Hera had a rough idea of the situation. The Goddess of Marriage's duty was to protect women's rights. Since this was voluntary, she had no grounds to interfere with Luoleila's choice.
"Your Majesty, Goddess of Marriage, I became her wife willingly."
As Luoleila looked at Hera and spoke those words, her brows relaxed. Her eyes were utterly tender, the light in them never wavering as she laid her feelings before Hera, cautiously yet with absolute resolve.
"All right, I understand. I won't erase your entry from the marriage records."
A deity had to hear the people's pleas and fulfill their wishes.
"Your Majesty, the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage does not interfere with consensual marriages in the records. But Mofeiliya used tricks to disguise herself as a man and evade the Covenant Bucket's marriage screening. We failed to notice. That alone constitutes a failure in the temple's duties. This marriage is improper."
As part of fulfilling her duties to the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage, Doreen was obliged to remind Hera.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp!"
"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp!"
Hearing Doreen say this, Little Yellow Chick immediately became unhappy. With her little beak open, she poked her head out from Hera's chest, vehemently expressing her opinion.
"Do you have something to say?"
Hera restored her ability to speak. Once Li Jia realized she could talk, she launched into an endless stream of words.
"What's wrong with you? Isn't liking each other the reason people decide to form a bond and become partners?"
"Wherever the heart turns, there's love. Love knows no national or regional boundaries, and of course, no gender boundaries either. Anyone who makes you happy can be someone you love."
"Liking men, women, fictional characters, rocks, flowers, grass, and so on-I think all of that is fine and reasonable. It doesn't harm anyone else or disturb public order."
"A mortal's lifespan is thirty thousand days at the absolute most. For most people, even living out all thirty thousand days and dying of old age is pretty difficult. So living in the moment is the happiest way to live. Why get hung up on whether someone loves men or women?"
"Your Majesty, you're the Goddess of Marriage. You decide the marriages of all things in this world. Whether something is reasonable is yours to determine. I think same-sex love is reasonable."
Little Yellow Chick pecked at the golden hair hanging beside the goddess's cheek, looked into her eyes, and asked, "Your Majesty, what if you fell in love with a woman one day? Would you think it was improper and push her away too?"
Before Li Jia could react, Hera patted her little head and curled her lips into a smile. "Not unless I died."
"Tch, so you'd push her away if you died? Besides, you won't die." Little Yellow Chick rubbed against Hera's hair, which tickled a little.
"Your Majesty, according to article 137 of the Marriage Code..."
Doreen wanted to stop Hera's absurd behavior.
Hera cut her off.
She glanced at Doreen and said, "Li Jia is right. The Goddess of Marriage has the right to establish the rules of marriage."
"I've confirmed your feelings, but I still don't know whether your partner, that female dragon, feels the same way about you. So, Princess Luoleila, let's make a wager."
"If you win, I won't erase your entry from the marriage records. But if you lose, I'll take you away, and this marriage will be annulled."
Hera whispered a few words to Luoleila. After hearing what Hera had to say, the girl nodded with complete confidence. "I'll take that wager. I trust her."