On that bright morning in a very large house, there was a woman trying to wake up her child in the child's room.
"Nova... Nova, wake up!"
The voice was gentle yet firm. Hanah Nightwind, the child's mother, stood beside the king-size bed.
"I told you last night to sleep earlier, didn't I? So now you have to wake up quickly. If not, we might be late for today's important event."
Hanah shook her head seeing her child still curled up in the thick dark blue blanket. She had been standing here for ten minutes, but Nova showed no signs of waking up at all.
On the bed, the teenager with messy black hair groaned softly while covering his face with a pillow.
"Nova Nightwind! Don't pretend to be asleep!"
"Ugh... Mom, can I not go today? My head is still dizzy," Nova finally spoke, though his eyes were still tightly closed. His voice was hoarse.
"You can't! You know very well what day this is. Don't try to run away." Without mercy, Hanah immediately pulled the blanket off Nova's body. "Get up quickly! The Moonwhisper family is already waiting for our arrival."
The cold morning air immediately hit Nova's skin, forcing him to open his eyes. His black eyes stared at the bedroom ceiling.
"Mom is mean..." he mumbled while slowly sitting on the edge of the bed, his hair messy in all directions.
"Mean how? Mom just wants you to wake up." Hanah smiled satisfactorily seeing her child finally give up. "Alright, Mom will wait in the dining room. Hurry up and take a shower and get dressed, and don't take too long, or Mom will come back up here."
"Uhh, alright," Nova answered with a weak voice.
*Haa, today... the day when I will meet my fiancée whom I haven't even seen her face.*
Nova let out a long sigh while scratching his still messy head.
"Excuse me, Young Master. Are you awake?"
At the bedroom doorway stood a young girl around twenty years old. Lina Silverbell, Nova's personal maid since he was still a baby. The beautiful girl with long silver hair and clear blue eyes wore a black-and-white maid uniform that was always neat and clean.
"What do you think I'm doing right now?"
"Hmm, maybe you're already awake."
"If you already know, why ask again!"
"Oh yes, today Young Master will meet your fiancée, right? This should be an exciting moment," Lina said while entering the room and starting to tidy up the messy bed.
"Exciting?" Nova laughed bitterly. "I don't even know what her face looks like. How can it be exciting to meet a stranger who will suddenly become my fiancée?"
Lina stopped fixing the sheets and looked at Nova with a sympathetic gaze.
"Young Master, I understand your feelings. But now there's nothing you can do except meet her, right?" Lina said with a slight smile.
"Somehow I feel like you look happy? Is that just my feeling?"
"Huhu, I'm happy because you will finally meet your fiancée. Is it not okay for me to be happy?"
"Not really. Lina is already like Nova's older sister, their relationship is very close.
His thoughts drifted to one day ago when Hanah told him about this arranged marriage.
*"Nova, Mom has something to discuss with you," Hanah said while sitting on the edge of Nova's bed.*
*"What is it, Mom?"*
*"You already have a fiancée! Her name is Ena, Livia's daughter. You two have been arranged to marry since you were still in the womb."*
*Haha, somehow I ended up laughing instead.*
"What's wrong, Young Master?"
"Nothing, you can wait outside, I want to shower and change clothes."
"Alright then, I'll wait downstairs." Then she walked out of his room.
A few minutes later,
After finishing his shower, Nova wore a formal white kimono.
"Is Young Master ready?" Lina asked when Nova came down to the lower floor.
"Ready. Where's Mom?"
"Lady Hanah is already waiting in the carriage with Master Noah."
In the front yard, a luxurious black horse carriage. Although the world had begun entering the technological era with various new innovations, horse carriages were still the choice for some people.
"Ready, Nova?" Noah Nightwind had long white hair and wore a black mask that only covered both his eyes. Although he wore a mask, strangely somehow he could see the road and other things clearly.
"Ready, Dad."
"Alright, get in quickly. The journey to Z City is quite far," Hanah said while moving her seat to make room for Nova.
Nova got into the carriage followed by Lina who would accompany him. The carriage interior was decorated with red velvet fabric and soft cushions. There was even a small table for placing food and drinks during the journey.
The carriage began moving with a regular rhythm. The Nightwind family's black horses were indeed trained for long-distance travel.
The journey to Z City took about two hours through stone roads. Throughout the journey, Nova chose to remain silent while looking at the scenery passing by outside the window.
"Look at that, Nova. We've arrived," Hanah said while pointing ahead.
Nova followed his mother's pointing finger.
"Wow, this is better than I imagined," Nova said.
When their carriage entered the city limits, Nova was slightly surprised. The streets were already equipped with modern traffic light systems—green crystals meant go, red crystals meant stop. Tall buildings stood side by side.
Along the main road, Nova could see various people walking around, buying clothes, and there were many shops around.
"This is your first time in Z City, right?" Lina asked while also looking out the window.
"Yes. All this time I've only heard stories from Dad and Mom. It turns out to be far more amazing than I imagined."
"Wow, Young Master's face doesn't look surprised at all, even though you just said it was amazing," Lina said with a smile.
"Really? What can I do? Mom said my face is similar to Dad's face when he was young. Mom said Dad's face used to be flat like mine."
Their carriage finally stopped in front of a two-story building.
"This is the place," Noah said while getting off the carriage.
Nova followed, his eyes immediately drawn to the luxurious nameplate in front of the building: "Silver Moon Restaurant & Lounge". From outside, he could faintly hear the soft flow of classical music coming out.
"This restaurant belongs to the Moonwhisper family," Hanah explained while tidying Nova's kimono. "Alright, let's go inside."
When they entered through the automatic glass door, Nova was slightly mesmerized by the interior. The first floor was filled with round tables with clean white tablecloths. Several noble couples were enjoying lunch while chatting in a romantic atmosphere.
In the corner of the room, a beautiful woman was playing piano with her eyes closed.
"Wow... this is really beautiful," Nova said looking around.
"Yes, this is really beautiful," Lina answered, who was beside him.
"Hanah! You finally came!"
A melodious voice from upstairs made the entire Nightwind family look up. A beautiful woman came down from the second floor. Livia Moonwhisper had long black hair and purple eyes.
"Livia! It's been so long since we met," Hanah greeted warmly while hugging her friend.
"Yes, it's been a long time since we met."
Then Livia's gaze shifted to Nova who was standing somewhat awkwardly behind his parents.
"And you must be Nova," Livia smiled gently while bowing slightly. "My goodness, you've grown this big now?"
Nova quickly bowed politely. "Good afternoon, Aunt Livia. It's a great honor for me to meet you again."
"Come on, don't be too formal. We're already like family. Just call me Aunt," Livia laughed lightly while patting Nova's shoulder gently.
Nova nodded.
"Now," Livia clapped once, "I'm sure you can't wait to meet Ena, right?"
*Not really...* Nova thought to himself, but of course he couldn't say that.
"Yes, Aunt. I'm... curious about what she's like."
"Ena! Come downstairs, dear! There's a special guest who wants to meet you," Livia called toward the second floor with a loud enough voice.
A few seconds later, the sound of soft footsteps could be heard from the wooden stairs.
Ena Moonwhisper.
The twelve-year-old girl had a face very similar to her mother's. Her dark purple eyes looked at Nova with a gaze that was hard to interpret—not cold, but also not warm. More like... evaluating.
She wore a long white robe.
Ena descended the stairs calmly.
The distance between them was only one meter when Ena finally spoke.
"Welcome to Silver Moon Restaurant," her voice was soft but very clear. "You're Nova Nightwind, right?"
Nova was slightly surprised hearing his future fiancée's voice for the first time.
"Ah... yes, that's right," Nova finally managed to answer after a few seconds of silence. "I'm Nova. Nice... nice to finally meet you, Ena."
Ena nodded slightly, the corner of her lips slightly raised forming a thin smile that was hard to interpret. "I'm Ena Moonwhisper, nice to meet you."
Behind them, Hanah and Livia exchanged glances and smiled satisfactorily.
"Alright, you two sit at the table near the window. Mom and Aunt Livia will go upstairs for a while to join your fathers to discuss boring adult matters," Hanah said while pointing to one of the empty tables near the large window facing the city park.
Nova's father had already gone upstairs earlier.
After both their mothers went upstairs, Nova and Ena sat facing each other at the table their mothers had indicated. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. No one knew where to start the conversation.
Beside Nova was Lina, who was standing with a face that somehow looked happy.
Nova played with his fingers on the table while occasionally glancing at Ena who seemed calm while looking at the city park scenery outside the window.
"So..." Nova finally opened the conversation. "How do you feel about... all this?"
"All what?" Ena asked back with a casual tone, though Nova was sure she knew what he meant.
"About our arranged marriage."
Ena was silent for a moment, her fingers playing with the small flower embroidery at the edge of her dress. Her facial expression was hard to read.
"Honestly?" Ena finally spoke while looking directly at Nova. "At first I was very upset. It felt really strange to be arranged to marry someone I had never even seen. I don't like it when life is arranged without my consent."
Nova nodded, feeling relieved that he wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"But..." Ena continued, "after meeting you today and talking like this... I think the situation isn't as bad as I imagined."
"What do you mean?"
"You're not like what I thought. I thought you would be a spoiled and arrogant child. It turns out you're quite normal and easy to talk to."
"Wow, so my image in your eyes was very bad."
"Not anymore now. You turned out to be... decent."
"Decent?" Nova raised an eyebrow. "Is that a compliment or sarcasm?"
"It's up to you to consider it whatever," Ena answered playfully.
"What about you?" Ena asked back curiously. "What have you been thinking about this arranged marriage all this time?"
"Honestly, I have to say, this makes me very uncomfortable. We're even still very young for something serious like this. But I don't want to make my mom sad and disappointed. If I refuse this arranged marriage, my mom will definitely be very sad. I don't want to do that to her."
"Wow, so you really love your mom."
"That's obvious, right? Is that strange?"
"Not really. Uhh, how about this," Ena suddenly looked like she was thinking hard. "We are now officially engaged, right?"
"I think that's indeed our status now. Why?" Nova asked curiously.
"Even though we are officially engaged, it doesn't mean we have to love each other by force, right? So we can do whatever we want individually. You can do whatever you want and I can also do whatever I want."
"I don't understand what you mean. What do you actually want?"
"Simply put—we are engaged couple who don't love each other and we can do whatever we want in our respective lives. In front of our families, we have to pretend to love each other and be happy, but when they're not around or when we're far from them, we can do whatever we want. What do you think?" Ena explained in great detail.
"So, you want to say that we are engaged couple who don't love each other, is that right?"
"Exactly! How about it? That way we can live freely as usual like we've been living all this time."
"I think that idea is quite good and makes sense. But I've heard from my mom that eventually engaged couples will fall in love with each other after they're together for a long time," Nova explained while thinking.
"Are you trying to say that I will fall in love with you in the future?"
"Not really. If that's the case, I think I agree with your idea," Nova said with a slight smile.
Fortunately, Lina had gone to the bathroom at that time, so she didn't hear their conversation.