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.

"on the edge of the Celestial Range, where the mountains met the sky. My parents... well, I barely remember them. They died when

"We'll get into how

over it stating that it

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CH117

worked together to survive more 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 scraping by as a servant. Marriage was considered a way to better your position, but it wasn't what

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

up

sighed dreamily. "I was gathering herbs in the meadow beneath the mountain, not far from the gate that led to the Celestial Realm. I need medicine. I was planning to leave the village and just chance my luck in the forests. He just... appeared seemingly." She smiled softly, her eyes brightening for a moment. "He wasn't the king you know today. He was younger, quieter, still learning what it meant to be a crown prince under his father, but he

a flicker of

doctor. At the time, the veil was open. There hadn't been a queen in a long time. Hayato is actually

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 to

"Just like

out a soft laugh, but it was filled with irony. "Yep. The way I understand it... your

wasn't envy-not exactly-but it was hard not to compare her story to mine. There had been no fear

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so much more dramatic, traumatic, and complicated. I was still dealing with

suppose that was why she

with me. I don't know how I

"And... you adjusted?"

court me. He was my greatest defender and apologetic while I got through all the classes, the endless education, and

so your path to figuring out how to keep the palace afloat and the kingdom in possession