The Dragon King's Substitute Bride

Chapter 117

CH117 Morgan

She sounded so unsure but I smiled.

""I'm sure."

She nodded. "Then... if you think it best." She chuckled. "I lean on your judgement, though I have to say that the heavens really have brought an amazing young woman into my son's life."

She smiled, her eyes misty. "I can not think of a bride who would forgo her own honeymoon for

another."

I scoffed. "Given the circumstances, I'm not sure why it's such a surprise."

Haruka blinked and then she burst into laughter..

"I really shouldn't laugh!" She cried. "It's been so long since I remembered the fact of how I got to be here..." She shook her head. "And I imagine that your circumstances are not quite the same.

I frowned at that. "What do you mean by that?"

I thought the Trial was pretty much the same throughout time.

She sighed and looked off into the distant, as if she were looking back through the years. She looked utterly blissful and in love. Anya sat beside me, looking just as curious as I felt.

Her fingers traced the edge of her teacup absentmindedly, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips before she finally began.

the edge of the Celestial Range, where the mountains met the sky. My parents... well, I barely remember them. They died when I was young, leaving me an orphan. The village wasn't kind to children without families, and for the most part, I raised myself. It didn't help that

get into how I came to be there

it stating that it didn't matter. Haruka's eyes flickered with old memories-some painful, some bittersweet. For a moment, I saw the girl she must have been:

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CH117

or less." She chuckled. I'll have to visit them soon. In those days, there were only two paths for someone like me," she continued, leaning back in her chair, "marry a lord or spend the rest of your life

for me, and I had been very forward in how much I had no plans to participate in their plans... That's how I ended in the meadow where I met

up

village and just chance my luck in the forests. He just... appeared seemingly." She smiled softly, her eyes brightening for a moment.

the cup, a flicker of something

time, the veil was open. There hadn't been

Scooped me right up and-hurried through it, calling for a

The gong sounded, the whole palace went crazy, and suddenly, I'd gone from an injured orphan

"Just

filled with irony. "Yep. The way I understand it...

the back of my mind. It wasn't envy-not exactly-but it was hard not to compare her story to mine. There had been no fear for her. Her and Hayato's relationship had started from a place of care. It had hardly even been a Trial for

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My own trial had been so much more dramatic, traumatic, and complicated. I was still dealing with the effects of how I'd ended up

was why she was Hayato's

comforting to know that it hadn't always been the way it had been with me. I don't know

"And... you adjusted?"

apologetic while I got through all the classes,

the palace afloat and