Marriage

"Yaoyue, what are you doing here? Where are Rosinante and Cioccolata?"

Kexi hurried over, his voice urgent. "I was worried sick about you all. That bastard Christopher didn't do anything to you, did he?"

Yaoyue frowned slightly and stepped back half a pace, looking at him with polite, distant confusion.

"Little brother, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

Kexi's smile froze.

"It's been so many years, and this is your first time coming home. I'm so happy."

Yaoyue's tone was gentle and dignified, as though she were speaking to a family member she hadn't seen in years, but there was none of the warmth Kexi knew in that gentleness.

"We'll hold a welcome feast for you later."

"Huh?" Kexi opened and closed his mouth, then opened it again.

He stepped forward, grabbed Yaoyue by the shoulders, and shook her. "Yaoyue, is Christopher controlling you? Wake up! This isn't our world! He threw us in here. Don't you remember?"

Her hair came partly loose from the shaking, but Yaoyue still wore the same proper, distant smile, as though she were looking at a misbehaving child.

"That's enough." Carlotta stood on tiptoe, but when she found she still couldn't reach, she jumped and grabbed Kexi's ear, giving it a hard twist.

"Ah, ow, ow, ow-Second Sister, let go!" Carlotta dragged Kexi aside by the ear, his head tilted. He clutched his ear and grimaced.

"Stop bothering Eldest Sister." Carlotta let go and straightened her cuffs.

Yaoyue paid the little interruption no mind. Her gaze passed over Kexi and fell on the pink-haired girl behind him.

"And who is this?"

"She's my wife," Kexi answered before anyone else could, still holding his ear.

"Like hell I am," Aemeath retorted reflexively, though her voice was a little quieter than usual.

The opulent living room and the two imposing women before her had overawed her, and she instinctively edged half a step behind Kexi.

Yaoyue looked back and forth between them, her expression growing somewhat complicated.

She was silent for a long while before she spoke. "Then what about your engagement to the Daswei House Clan?"

"Huh?" Kexi was dumbfounded. "I'm in an arranged marriage? And what the hell is the Daswei House Clan?"

Yaoyue didn't answer his questions.

She sighed softly, her tone growing grave. "You came back at the right time. Father doesn't have long left. He's always wanted to see you one more time."

"Huh? The old man's dying?"

Yaoyue's brow twitched.

Carlotta ground her heel into the top of Kexi's foot.

"Ow!"

A dramatic transition.

Francis's bedroom was large, but dimly lit.

An emaciated old man lay on a large four-poster bed.

His hair had turned completely white, and his cheekbones jutted out, but his eyes lit up the moment he saw Kexi.

"Kexi..." His voice was hoarse and faint, each word seemingly forced up from deep in his chest.

He held out a gaunt hand, his fingers trembling slightly in the air.

Kexi stood where he was, his feet as heavy as lead.

He knew the old man was fake, an illusion created by Christopher.

But the trembling of that hand was real, and the anticipation nearly spilling from those eyes was real.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and took the hand.

"Old man."

A weak smile tugged at the corners of Francis's mouth.

His gaze shifted slowly to the pink figure behind Kexi. "And this... is my daughter-in-law?"

"Yes," Kexi answered without hesitation.

Aemeath stood half a step behind Kexi and opened her mouth.

She wanted to say, "No," wanted to say, "Like hell I'm his wife," wanted to say, "I'm his enemy."

But her gaze fell on the face of the old man in the bed.

He was looking at her.

His eyes were gentle, as gentle as though he were looking at something wonderful that he had waited a very, very long time for and had finally seen before his death.

She thought of her own father.

Her father had looked at her the same way.

On the morning she took human form, her father had crouched in front of her, nuzzled her forehead, and said, "My daughter will surely be beautiful when she takes human form." The look in his eyes had been just like the one the old man was giving her now.

She bit her lower lip and swallowed all her objections. Lowering her lashes, she softly said, "Mm."

Francis looked at the two of them with satisfaction and gently patted the back of Kexi's hand with his gaunt fingers.

His gaze returned to Kexi's face, and his tone grew solemn, each word seemingly taking all the strength he had.

"In that case, don't forget that young girl from the Daswei House. Give her a better ending. Explain what needs explaining, and if you need to break off the engagement, go and do it."

Kexi said nothing, only nodded.

Francis's breathing grew a little quicker, and a faint sound came from his throat, like air leaking from a broken bellows.

He gripped Kexi's hand tightly, his voice faltering.

"I don't have long left... My greatest wish was to see the three of you married before I die... But I'm running out of time. Kexi, only you can fulfill this last wish of mine now. Even... even if it's just you, that would be enough."

Kexi looked down at the gaunt hand gripping his, then at the old man in the bed, whose body had been ravaged by illness but who was still using the last of his strength to hold on to him.

This world was fake.

He knew that.

Carlotta was fake, and so was this old man-all of it was fake.

But that anticipation was real.

No matter what it was made of, no matter whether Christopher's written trap lay behind it, the anticipation in the old man's eyes was real at this moment.

He couldn't let a dying man close his eyes with regrets.

Even if he was a fake dying man.

And besides... if it was Aemeath-

He was more than willing.

"All right," he said.

Aemeath was not nearly as willing as he was.

Her golden eyes widened sharply, and she froze on the spot.

She looked at Kexi, then at the old man in the bed, then at Kexi, and then at the old man again.

Both of them were looking at her, one full of anticipation, the other determined to have his way.

She took half a step back and bumped into a bedpost.

"M-marry?"

"What's wrong? Don't you want to marry Kexi?" Francis looked at Aemeath, his voice weak but gentle.

Aemeath was just about to say she didn't when she looked up and met Kexi's eyes.

They were anxious, urgent, and longing, with a hint of pitiful pleading, like a puppy terrified of being abandoned.

She opened her mouth, and the word "no" hovered on her tongue, only to somehow turn into two different words.

"I do."

"Wonderful. Then you two can get married tomorrow." A flush of relief appeared on Francis's face.

"Huh?" Aemeath's voice shot up.

"Kexi, there's no time to lose. Go to the Daswei House and break off the engagement now. Tell them this old man agreed to it." Francis patted the back of Kexi's hand, his tone suddenly growing a little more brisk, as though he had been granted a final burst of energy.

"Uh, isn't this a little too rushed... All right."

Kexi looked at the old man's expression, which seemed to say, "If you don't agree, I won't die in peace," and swallowed the rest of his words.

After they left the bedroom, Aemeath walked ahead, her steps quick and heavy.

Kexi caught up and scratched the back of his head.

"Thanks for what you did back there."

Aemeath snorted without looking back. "I just couldn't bear to see an old man upset. Don't get the wrong idea. It was just an act. I'm not going to marry you."

"Yes, yes, yes. Aemeath is the best. Aemeath is wonderful."

"Hmph." Aemeath quickened her pace.

Carlotta and Yaoyue, following behind, exchanged a look, their expressions strange.

"I'm hungry." Aemeath stopped and turned to glare at Kexi.

"Sure thing, I'll take you to get something delicious-"

"Kexi, wait." Carlotta stood on tiptoe and grabbed him by the back of his collar. "Have you forgotten what you just promised Grandfather?"

"Oh, right, breaking off the engagement. In that case, Yaoyue-you take Aemeath to get something to eat first. We'll go take care of something."

Kexi turned to Yaoyue as he spoke, looking thoroughly bossy.

Carlotta's face darkened at once when she saw him ordering Eldest Sister around.

The next second.

She jumped up and hit him on the knee.

"Call her Eldest Sister. Show some respect."

Kexi felt wronged.

Yaoyue really wasn't his eldest sister.

But he couldn't explain that to Carlotta, so he could only rub his lower leg and watch Yaoyue lead Aemeath away.

After Aemeath had gone some distance, she looked back at him. When their eyes met, she quickly turned away again.