Chapter 6 - Marriage proposal

Once Yuuki changed my hair and eyes back to their original color, I saw someone familiar.

It was Lobo, with his master. I hoped they hadn't seen me change my appearance.

Lobo approached me, his master close behind...

— "Hi, I'm Leandro. You helped me a few weeks ago, I looked for you several times afterward, but I couldn't find you since I never knew your name. I wanted to thank you properly for what you did."

— "Oh, hello. I'm Yuli. It's fine, you really don't need to thank me. I just happened to be there at the right moment, and thanks to my grandmother, who's a herbalist, I knew enough to help. Anyone would have done the same."

I felt so embarrassed and withdrawn in front of him that I couldn't look him in the eyes.

I didn't understand why he was making such a fuss over it. It wasn't like I'd done something special, it was just the one thing I actually knew how to do. People don't usually thank you for the one thing you're good for.

— "Please, let me thank you properly. If you ever need help with anything, take this card, you'll find my contact details, in case you ever need to reach me."

Looking at his card, I noticed he was from another city, he lived in the capital, Olbi.

This was actually the city I'd always dreamed of living in, back when things were especially hard with my family.

— "Um, thank you for the card. I have to go now."

Lobo came up to me before I left and rubbed his face against my arm. Without thinking, I said:

— "Bye, Lobo."

I hurried off, realizing the slip I'd just made in front of Leandro.

When I got home, I wondered why a handsome man like him had insisted so much on thanking me.

To me, what I'd done for him was nothing. Anyone in my position would have done the same.

The next day, my whole family was at breakfast.

My parents said:

— "Amaria, you're eighteen now, an adult. You're of age to marry. Count Berry is looking for a wife. He's a bit older than you, but he'd suit you well. For the family's sake, you should marry him."

Count Berry was one of our neighbors, forty-eight years old. His addiction to alcohol was well known throughout the village.

I opened my mouth to say no. But somewhere between my chest and my throat, the word disappeared, the way it always did. Refusing meant taking up space I didn't think I'd earned. So instead, I heard myself say what I always said.

— "Alright, Father."

My two sisters wore matching smiles, their faces practically saying you deserve this.

Once I finished breakfast, I went back to my room. Tears filled my eyes, and I couldn't stop crying.

Yuuki came to me and asked:

— "What happened, Amaria? Why are you crying?"

I told him what had happened at breakfast, and what my father had said to me.

— "I see. So, your gut feeling was right after all, you said you felt like something was coming, that you needed to prepare."

— "I don't know what to do, Yuuki. I already told my father yes. I couldn't refuse him. I don't want to marry Count Berry. but honestly, I don't think I could have said no. I felt like if I did, I wouldn't be welcome in my family anymore."

— "You know, Amaria, it's time to put a stop to this, to think about yourself before your family, for once. If you keep going this way, you'll never be happy."

— "What am I supposed to do? In my city, arranged and forced marriages are allowed. Technically, I don't get a say in it."

— "You have two options, Amaria. First, you marry Count Berry and suffer in silence, living with him. Second, you leave this house and build a new life somewhere else. What do you decide?"

— "I want to run far away, but I don't feel capable of it."

— "I'll help you, and I'll be with you. Let's prepare to leave tonight."

— "But I won't see Grandma anymore."

— "You will, I'm sure you'll meet her again someday. Right now, your situation is the emergency."

— "You're right, Yuuki."

I said that out loud, but inside, I felt so sad and lost.

Yuuki was right, and I knew it. But some small, stubborn part of me wanted to say: wait, what about how I feel about this? I didn't say it. I never did. Somehow, it felt selfish to make my own fear the priority when everyone else already had a plan.

Then I packed the bare essentials I could carry in a bag.

Once I was done, I hid the bag in my room, in case one of my sisters or my parents came in.

After that, Yuuki and I made a plan together, where to go, how to get money to live, and so on.

We decided to go to the capital, Olbi, for several reasons. It was a city I'd always dreamed of living in, and the capital was the kind of place where it would be easy to find work or a new opportunity. Since making money was one of our priorities, that settled it. It was also a big city, which meant it would be harder for my family to find me, if they came looking.

We decided to leave that night. Honestly, I was terrified to leave everything behind.

I felt like I'd never see my family again after this. Even though they'd never once made me feel wanted, it still made me sad to think about it.

It made no sense, they'd never given me any reason to miss them, and still, some foolish part of me kept hoping that leaving would finally be the thing that made them notice I was gone.

But I had no choice. Otherwise, my family would force me to marry Count Berry.

I'd overheard my two sisters talking about the wedding. The real reason behind it was to help pay off my family's debts, in exchange my father had promised one of his daughters.

That's why I had no choice but to leave.

When it was time to go, I asked Yuuki to change my appearance. He turned my hair black and my eyes blue.

We slipped away quietly and headed into the forest, toward our first destination: Calgara, a small city between my village, Orila, and the capital, Olbi.

We decided to stop there for two days, to rest and save our energy.

Since I'd won 5,000 lyra, I decided to treat us to some good food, to start this new departure, this new life, on a positive note.

I didn't know what awaited me in this new city, but I didn't want to spend the time worrying.

Yuuki stayed in his cat form the whole time, to avoid attracting attention.

Since we were staying two days, we took the time to visit the city. There was a large market, and we wandered through it, past stand after stand of food, clothes, and jewelry.

As we walked through, right at the far end of the market, I spotted a stand I never could have imagined existed.

I couldn't believe what I was looking at.