CHAPTER 146: RIN’S PROPOSAL! 2

It took Rin three minutes to register exactly what had happened. He grabbed his hair with both hands and tugged hard, as if he could wrench free of the moment.

He wished it were a dream, so the pain would wake him. But, it didn’t. The tug hurt. The hot, solid ache was proof that it wasn’t a damn dream.

He stepped away from Lucien, because stepping away was what someone would do when something huge and dangerous and private had happened and one needed to breathe.

He went to the window and leaned his forehead against the cool wood, cheeks burning. He bit his lip hard as his whole chest was still on fire with confusion.

Lucien did not answer him. He stood frozen in the middle of the small room, eyes wide and blank like a man who had been shown a miracle and didn’t know whether to kneel.

For three long minutes, Rin fought panic and the stupid hope that Lucien would laugh and say, "Very funny" and leave the world back to the safe lines it had before.

The warmth of fingers wrapped around Rin’s side before he realised Lucien had crossed the room. He smelled faint blood and sweat, the medic smell that clung to him because he’d been stabbed. Obviously.

Lucien’s arms were steady but shaking, and he hugged Rin from behind so tight the breath left both of them.

"Thank you," Lucien whispered into his hair. "Thank you. I... I was going to... I was going to do it. I was going to ask you. But I was scared you were going to reject me,"

Rin’s whole body went still. He turned in Lucien’s arms and faced him properly for the first time since the proposal. Lucien’s grey eyes glittered, hurt and relief and something like awe wrapped together. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

"I’ll marry you," Lucien said, and the words came out in a rush now that the dam had broken.

"If you want. Yes. Of course I... Rin, yes. I’ll marry you. I’ve wanted... Goddess, I’ve wanted this for so long."

Something inside Rin cracked. No, not in pain, but like a seal lifting. He laughed, a small, broken sound at first that turned into a proper, absurd laugh that made Lucien smile for the first time in a while like the world had adjusted to the new shape.

He should have felt embarrassed. He should have been terrified and furious at himself for proposing to a man out of sudden desperation. Instead, relief hit him so hard he had to put his hands on Lucien’s shoulders to hold himself up.

"I said it first," Rin told him, voice small. "You were going to. You were going to propose to me?"

Lucien squeezed him and folded him tighter as if to ground them both.

"I was. I swear. I rehearsed it a dozen times, and then I nearly died out there, but I’m happy to hear it from you. I thought I was going to get rejected, you fool!"

"Hey," Rin said, and the word was soft. He put his forehead to Lucien’s chest, burying his face to hear his steady breath. "Maybe I should have waited for you, then, I wouldn’t be so embarrassed,"

They stood like that until Lucien’s grip loosened and he stepped back, suddenly aware of the raggedness of his own shirt and the blood dried into a messy map across his side.

"You should sit," Rin said finally, the practical voice returning. "Let me look at your wound,"

Lucien made a face.

"I’m fine. Call for a doctor tomorrow. I can sleep on it."

"No," Rin snapped, more sharply than he meant. "Sit. Now."

Lucien lowered himself onto the bed, careful and slow, every breath a small wince. Rin crouched in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Lucien managed, voice weak.

"What it looks like," Rin said easily. He wanted to say that it was the least he could do after Lucien had been stabbed because of him. The words came out soft. "Hold still."

Lucien half-laughed, half-grunted and put his hands on Rin’s shoulders. His fingers were warm, oddly trembling.

Rin closed his eyes for a split second and reached into himself for demonic energy. He kept it tiny and hot, like a coal cup in his palms. He placed that heat against Lucien’s wound.

Lucien sucked in a breath at the temperature change. Rin felt the wound knit under his touch... skin pulling together, muscle knitting like thread. The blood stopped leaking as if the world decided it had had enough.

"It didn’t even leave a scar." Lucien’s voice was one of pure disbelief. He rubbed his palm along the spot like testing the truth of it. "You... what did you do?"

"I healed you," Rin said simply and added, "You’re not a walking corpse anymore."

Lucien stared at him like he’d been handed back his future.

"Thank you. And your demon... does it help that much?"

Rin laughed, too loud and a little guilty.

"No demon. I don’t have one." He turned his face away. Saying it aloud felt like a trap. For now, he folded it into his chest. "I’ll explain later,"

Lucien’s expression softened and something like hunger stirred, raw and sincere. He reached and pulled Rin to sit on his lap, and Rin didn’t object.

He wanted to be held. He wanted to sit inside the warmth of Lucien’s embrace.

"I’m glad you came for me." Lucien’s voice was small, almost shy. "You came back and also, thanks for the proposal."

Rin facepalmed, embarrassed all over again.

"It was half despair, half something else. Don’t get used to it,"

"You can’t keep saying things like that." Lucien blinked at him, genuinely offended. "Half despair is a poor fabric. I’ll accept full intent only."

They argued nonsense until Lucien’s voice went small and practical: "What happened to that enforcer? The one who rushed at you. Did he hurt you?"

Rin shrugged, a careless movement that didn’t look like the truth.

"Not sure. He’s... gone, probably. He won’t be bothering Lucien’s shirts again."

Lucien’s jaw tightened. He opened his mouth to ask, then closed it. He swallowed and said, voice thin, "You didn’t..."

Rin cut him off with a kiss... soft, quick, claiming. He tasted iron and pine and sweat and that made him dizzy.

"Don’t think about it," Rin said. "Forget him."

Lucien nodded as if being ordered to forget was the simplest thing. He held Rin tighter and mumbled against his hair.

"When are we getting married?"

Rin’s smile fell flat. He looked down at Lucien’s face, earnest and a little boyish under the blood and the faint stubble. For one shining selfish moment he wanted to say, right now, at this stitched-up bed, let’s do it. But the system sat there like a third voice in the room: clear, annoying, and always reminding him of the rules.

He slid his gaze to the visible notch in the air... the system’s display that only he saw...

DING!

[DAYS REMAINING 355 days]

MISSIONS:

1) Marry a male lead.

2) Kill a male lead.

3) Create a new life.

Ten days had passed and the clock was already orbiting them like a white-faced judge. He was supposed to kill a male lead first to complete mission two... the system had been explicit about the sequence. If he killed one without marrying, the second mission might be invalid.

He swallowed.

"We’ll wait," he said. "We’ll wait until after this war. Defeat the demons, stabilise things." He lied by leaving out that he might prefer killing Asmodeus first. Killing the demon king felt closer to saving the world than the neat mechanics of the system. It also felt like the only way to be free.

Lucien’s hand found his and held it like an anchor. "Then we’ll wait. I’ll wait."

Rin blinked. "You..."

Lucien’s gaze was fierce.

"I will not let this world take you. If fighting that demon gets to you, I’ll fight beside you. Whatever it takes to protect you."

He meant it. The raw sincerity of Lucien’s tone loosened a part of Rin he hadn’t realised was clenched tight from fear and petrified hope. A strange heat pooled behind his ribs, a bright, dangerous tenderness that made him want to protect Lucien the way Lucien wanted to protect him.

Lucien hesitated, then asked, small and urgent,

"Can I mark you? Just a mark. It means I belong to you... to stamp you so no one else dares to claim you. It’ll help to hide your scent a bit. Make it clear you’re mine."

Rin’s brain registered the concept.

’Does marking equal marriage?’

DING!

No.

Marking is binding in a different way. It requires consent. It can be undone.

Choose carefully.

Rin hid his eyes from the tiny notice. He looked at Lucien and tried to read how necessary this was. Lucien watched him, breath held.

"Not tonight," Rin said finally. "I’ll... talk to my aunt first."

He was sure his aunt would have opinions and vetoes and would probably be upset if Rin doesn’t tell him beforehand. Lucien blinked. "Your aunt?"

"Yes." Rin’s voice was light. "Lirien. She runs the brothel. Sort of my guardian. If she says we can’t, then we can’t."

Lucien didn’t pry. He stepped closer, cupped Rin’s face gently, and kissed him low and long enough that the world narrowed to the curve of Lucien’s mouth.

"Goodnight," he breathed. "Tomorrow, we’ll meet."

"Goodnight," Rin answered, and slid from Lucien’s arms.

Lucien watched him go to the window. The moonlight painted Rin’s hair silver. He watched Rin hop out, vanish into shadow, and disappear into the black lines of rooftops. Lucien stayed on the bed, hand pressed to the spot where Rin had been standing. His mind buzzed with a wild, dangerous happiness.

"I’m sure Rin killed that enforcer. I don’t care how, as long as my Rin is safe. I’m sure he has a plan. I’ll support him all the way,"