Abyssal Awakening

Sitting in front of a mirror a woman could be seen tidying her hair with an expressionless face.

"Do you resent me?" An old man asked, clearly fatigued.

"Me? Resent you? I wouldn't dare." The woman replied, giving him a side glance before focusing back on her make up.

"Your si-"

"Don't mention her to me." She cut him off sharply as her glare was filled with anger and annoyance.

"She's the one who ran out, she's the one who abandoned the agreement. She's the one who doesn't care about the peace between the two families. She's the one who went chasing after her dreams because some f*ck boy decided to whisper sweet nothings into her ear. And the result of all this is you pushing all of this onto me."

Gritting her teeth, she slammed her hand against the table and stood up.

Facing her father, Chi Hualing glared at him, trying her best to hold herself back.

Her sister was the one who was meant to marry today. She was meant to marry her childhood sweetheart and the two clans accepted it. Joint marriage wasn't uncommon between the two and there shouldn't have been any problems.

But then an outsider interfered.

Instead of talking with the clan, her older sister abandoned everything and left without so much as a word.

With the bride suddenly leaving without a word, it's only natural that the Vermillion clan are angry since they now look like the fool.

Therefore, it was now up to her to amend the mistakes caused by her older sister. To marry in her place and take on the mess that SHE caused.

"I'm s-"

"Don't you even dare say sorry. This is the last thing I do for this family. After this, you can wipe my name from the registry or whatever, I don't care. All you need to know is that we have no more ties. If I could remove your blood from my veins, I would." Chi Hualing glared at her father before spitting on his shoe and walking out.

Watching his daughter's back leave the room, Chi Fan let out a weary sigh.

###

After storming out of the room, Hualing made her way to the garden and sat down.

Leaning back, she looked up at the sky. Despite there being no walls or buildings around her, she felt as though she was locked in a cage.

She didn't want to marry but if she didn't, her family would suffer. Hate them or no, they were still her family in the end. This never would've happened if her sister didn't run out at the last moment.

"You look like someone killed your pet." A voice called out.

Letting out a light chuckle, Hualing shook her head and tilted her head back.

"What? Come to see your future bride early?" She patted the seat next to her.

While her sister and him were childhood sweethearts, the two of them could be considered to be close friends. Not close enough to marry but enough to confide in one another.

"I'm just here to make sure you're feeling alright. If you want, I can try and talk to the elders again." Xiao An asked but Hualing shook her head.

"You're only going to piss them off more if you do. Then they're going to blame my family and after that, they're going to start fighting again."

Looking down, Xiao An was about to apologize when Hualing pinched him on the arm.

"Ouch! What was that for???" Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire

"I swear to the gods if you apologize as well I'm actually going to lose my mind. Do you know how many times I had to listen to the words I'm sorry?" Hualing folded her arms in annoyance.

Just as he was about to apologize again, Xiao An stopped himself.

"We'll just be married in name only. If you want to pursue anyone, I'll help you from the back."

Resting her cheek on her palm, Hualing chuckled.

"What? Am I not good enough to act as a real wife?"

"That's… Not what I meant." He sighed, familiar with her way of bullying him.

"Hahaha, I'm just kidding. If I don't laugh about it I'm just gonna get more annoyed." Hualing waved her hand.

"You know your father didn't want this to happen either."

". . . Tch." Crossing her legs in annoyance, Hualing also understood that. If there was someone to blame, it'll be the old guys in the Vermillion sect. Forcing things to happen even though the people involved didn't want to marry.

Not to mention, her sister.

"Did… Ning leave behind any words?" Xiao An revealed a bitter smile.

"Nope. Nothing for you, nothing for me. Nothing for anyone. She's just disappeared without a care in the world."

Even though he expected this, Xiao An was still a little disappointed by the news.

"Aiya! If you're gonna be sad about it don't ask in the first place. Come on, there's a new restaurant that opened up nearby. Their food is apparently pretty good so stop moping around." Hualing stood up as she tugged on his arm, trying to get him to stand.

Thinking about it for a moment, Xiao An nodded his head and stood up.

"Alright."

Even though this wasn't the ideal marriage or situation, he'll still do everything he could to make Hualing happy. Not as a 'husband' but rather simply as a friend.

He too understood the difficulties she was facing. Despite wanting to join the Demon Extermination Squad like Qiu Qiu, she was now forced to be a wife.

"I'll pay for this one." Xiao An chuckled as Hualing rolled her eyes.

"No sh*t. If you don't pay for this one who will? Or what? Are you asking me to pay for this?" Hualing shrugged with a smirk.

Fake marriage or not, she'd rather be with someone she knew than someone completely random. Out of everyone within the Vermillion family, Xiao An was definitely the best choice.

Making their way through the city of Yan'An, Hualing's mood was quickly soured as she saw the countless banners talking about their marriage that was being held later today.

In the end, the two decided to get a little disguise so that they could go and eat without being bothered.

Hualing decided to cross-dress and disguise herself as a man while Xiao An bought a wig and had Hualing do some makeup on his face to change his features.

It wasn't a great disguise, comical at best but none of the civilians disturbed them.

As they approached the newly opened restaurant, the two couldn't help but blink their eyes in surprise.

They could see the staff rushing back and forth through the store carrying dishes of varying sizes and laughter in the back.

She knew the food was good but it was just opened like… two days ago. Wasn't this a bit… ridiculous???

"Should we come back another day?" Xiao An's smile twitched.

"It should be fine. Let's take a look and see who's ordering this much." Hualing rubbed her hands together as she wanted to see what kind of rich person appeared in Yan'An.

Making their way through the front door, the two of them saw the disguised Alice eating without a single instance of grace.

Next to her, Jin was also doing the same.

For the first time, Hualing saw a woman not care about how others saw her. She simply just… ate.

She ate and she enjoyed herself in her own little world with no care.

No care, no attachments, no burdens.

'Ah… How liberating it must feel to act like this.' Hualing couldn't help but smile sadly as she wished she could be the same.

But instead, it felt like every move of hers was restrained by an unshakable shackle.

"Can I help you?" Alice called out with a raised eyebrow.

Realising that she was staring too long, Hualing coughed awkwardly. But before she could explain herself, Alice swallowed her food and pointed at a table not far away from her.

"If you're hungry there's a spare table over there to use."

Blinking her eyes, Hualing couldn't help but laugh.

"Thank you, may I know your name? I don't believe I've seen someone like you around these parts." Hualing smiled while Xiao An simply allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

After all, after today, she'll be bound to the Vermillion family.

"Mine? It's Ecila. I'm from overseas." Even though she was wearing eastern clothing, her speech patterns, mannerisms and habits made it clear that she was not from this place.

"Overseas you say? It's not often that I see someone like that. They usually stay by the ports or the major cities. So how have you been enjoying the east?"

The two immediately hit it off as Hualing made herself comfortable nearby.

Taking a seat by the window, Xiao An simply watched as Hualing enjoyed herself.

After all, after today, she'll be bound to the Vermillion family.

In the days leading up to this moment, she hadn't smiled properly once yet. All the smiles she's shown had been fronts to not worry those around her. To make herself seem stronger.

As someone who's been her friend since they were children, it was obvious to him what was a smile and what wasn't.

Therefore, he wanted her to indulge a little.

"You like alcohol too?! Have you tried the local speciality? It's my favourite. It's called the Nine Sun's Liquor."

Upon hearing these words escape Hualing's mouth, Xiao An paled and so did the servers in the place.

There was only one person in this city who enjoyed the Nine Sun's Liquor and that was Hualing!

If one lived in Yan'An for any period of time, they would understand that hearing her say these words were akin to an evacuation order.

After all…

In this city that stood for generations…

She was the reason they had so many new buildings!