Will You Marry Me?

Yaoyue nodded, stood up, straightened her skirt, gave Xia Cioccolata a slight nod, then glanced at Kexi with a hint of gentle reproach in her eyes, and said softly, "Come back early, we have to get up early tomorrow," before turning and walking towards the main house.

Her silhouette was dignified and composed, just like any other older sister who cares about her younger brother's wedding.

Once she was out of sight, Cioccolata plopped back down on the stone bench and buried her face in her hands.

Her voice was muffled, leaking from between her fingers. "My Resonance Ability... doesn't work on her."

"It's alright, I expected it."

Kexi leaned against the banyan tree trunk, arms crossed, watching Yaoyue's figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

He spoke calmly, as if stating a result he had rehearsed many times before.

"Do you think we'll be stuck here forever?" Cioccolata asked.

She sat on the stone bench, her fingers unconsciously plucking the strings of the lute, producing one scattered, low note after another.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it." Kexi's gaze followed a banyan leaf that drifted down from a branch, watching it sway and land on the stone slab. "Here, there are no Tacet Discord, there's family, senior and junior sisters, no worries about food and clothing, and I can be with the one I love..."

He didn't finish speaking.

Because Cioccolata had already stood up, walked up to him, and slapped him across the face.

"Are you crazy?!"

Kexi covered her face and remained silent.

He looked down at the banyan leaf at his feet, which was lifted by the wind and fell back down. Finally, he managed to squeeze out only a very soft sentence.

"Christopher said someone wanted me dead. But since I came here, no one has wanted me dead. My master and senior sisters care about me a lot. Even though I made a huge mistake, Aemeath said she wanted to kill me, but I could tell she was just being stubborn. Otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to marry me."

His voice grew softer and softer, until it was almost a soliloquy.

"I know it's fake. But so what if it's fake? The real one is empty anyway."

Cioccolata stood in front of him, the hand that had been suspended in mid-air slowly lowered to his side, clenched into a fist, and then relaxed.

"I'm sorry," Kexi said first, her voice very soft. "I shouldn't have said those things."

Cioccolata neither said "It's okay" nor "You're right."

She simply sat back down on the stone bench.

"Kexi, we don't belong here. No matter how much this world has given you that you couldn't get over there, we don't belong here. You don't belong here."

Kexi raised her head, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but Cioccolata stopped her with a raised hand.

Do you know who I was when I woke up? The eldest daughter of the Toccata Family.

I have both parents, a butler, servants, and a more magnificent manor than I remember.

My father would review account books in his study every morning, and my mother would comb my hair by hand every night.

They're alive, they can talk, they can laugh, and they'll ask me if I snuck out to play the piano again today.

Her hands rested on the strings, her fingertips trembling slightly.

It took me three days to realize they were fake.

It took me another night to convince myself of this.

Then I killed them with my own hands, along with the butler, the servants, and everyone in that manor who called me "Young Lady." Twenty-seven people in total.

Kexi's heart clenched suddenly.

"You asked me what I went through, and I said nothing. It's not that I didn't want to tell you. It's just that telling you would feel like killing someone all over again."

Cioccolata lowered her head, her long eyelashes obscuring her eyes.

This was the first time she had shown such an expression in front of Kexi.

You said you had nothing over there. But I saw it. You did.

You're never short of people around you. You just don't realize it.

She looked up, her eyes slightly red, but a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"So if that's really what you think, then my slap was pointless."

The banyan leaves rustled for a while, then fell silent.

Kexi was touched by her.

"Alright. You're right, I don't belong here, none of us belong here." Kexi straightened up from the tree trunk and patted the bark off her back.

"Never mind what I said." Cioccolata pouted and stood up.

"What's said can't be taken back. Alright, your Resonance Ability doesn't work on Yaoyue, it's not your fault. Christopher's control methods are probably not that simple, we'll think of something else later. But before that, I have my wedding tomorrow."

"You're really hopeless." Cioccolata shook her head, but she didn't slap him like before, nor did she call him crazy.

She turned and walked towards the main house, but after a few steps she stopped and looked back at him.

"Hello."

"Um?"

"If we really can't get out, will you marry me here?"

"Ah?"

"Wouldn't it be?"

"Um, I think so."

Cioccolata's lips curled into a slight smile.

"What if they go outside?"

Kexi didn't rush to answer.

Instead, he thought about it carefully for a while before speaking.

"You are a free bird, just like in the letter I wrote to you. If one day you grow tired of the noise outside, I can build you a nest."

This answer surprised Cioccolata slightly.

After a while.

She smiled. "Then you have to keep your word. But I have some very important things to do. After I'm done, I might consider finding a place to rest for a while."

Cioccolata produced a dried apricot from who-knows-where and threw it, hitting Kexi squarely on the forehead.

Kexi took the dried apricot, looked at it, and put it in her mouth.

Sweet.

He swallowed the dried apricot and clapped his hands.

I'm getting married tomorrow.

After that—whether it's Christopher or some other scripted ending—he'll have to face it.

But before that, he had to go back and check if Aemeath had finished eating.

That guy can eat over a dozen bowls of noodles in one sitting, leaving not a drop of soup. He's probably already devouring dinner right now.

When Kexi returned to the restaurant, Aemeath was still eating.

The plates on the table had been replaced; the mountain of bones had been cleared away and replaced with a fresh plate of egg tarts and a bowl of steaming sweet soup.

Her cheeks were bulging, she held an egg tart in her hand, and the bowl of sweet soup in front of her had been mostly drunk.

"You still have room to eat?" Kexi sat down opposite her.

"None of your business." Aemeath stuffed the egg tart into her mouth.

"You're getting married tomorrow, eat less, just in case you can't fit into your wedding dress--"

"Who wants to wear a wedding dress?" Aemeath glared at him, then picked up a piece of osmanthus cake. "I'm not human. We Snowy Velvet Seal don't wear wedding dresses when we get married."

"Then what should you wear? Fur?"

"Not wearing anything."