Chapter Text
“Orm, you have to stop doing this. Uncle wouldn’t be happy if he heard about it,” Miu said, her brows knitting together.
“He won’t know if no one tells him…right?” Orm answered, far too casually.
“Oh god. Just—don’t tell them anything private, okay?”
“Them?” Orm grinned. “Wow. Didn’t know you’re inclusive now.”
Miu glared. “Oh, fuck off, Orm.”
“Language, missy! Or should I tell your lovely wife how dirty your mouth actually is?” Orm teased, one brow arching.
Miu flipped her off and stomped out, slamming the door behind her. The sound only made Orm laugh harder.
The moment the vibrations settled, a notification pinged.
K: Hey, stranger.
L: Welp, my cousin was talking too much. Sorry. Anyway—how are you, K?
K: I’m okay. Same old problems, L. Now my mother wants me to marry someone for ‘greater power.’
L: Can’t your other sisters do it?
K: They can. But I don’t want them tied to a loveless life.
L: What about you? Won’t you be lonely?
Orm sighed. She had been talking to this stranger—this woman—from a forum for months now. She didn’t even know her real name. Only that she lived in the same city, around her thirties, and understood loneliness a little too well.
K: Better me than them. I love my sisters, and the business is my life. I’ll do anything to make it stronger.
Orm leaned back. She still didn’t know what kind of business K meant, only that it was big and always under threat. Something powerful. Something heavy.
“Sweetie, can we talk?”
She turned to find her parents standing in the doorway, smiling—too warmly. She quickly closed her laptop and nodded. Her mother sat on the bed and patted the space beside her.
“Sweetie,” her dad began, “do you have a special someone?”
Orm groaned. They never talked about things like this. Ever.
“I don’t have one,” she snapped. I can’t even go out with my other friends, she almost added.
Because you control everything I do.
She swallowed the thought. She could rant to K later. Her fuse had always been short—how could it not, when her life had never really been her own?
School. Training. More training.
Martial arts. Marksmanship. Surveillance skills.
Languages—half of which she didn’t even like.
It was exhausting being the one they put everything on.
“Great!” her mother squealed, patting her head.
Orm didn’t trust that excitement for a second.
Because whenever they acted this cheerful, it only meant one thing: they were planning something she definitely wasn’t going to like.
“Uh, why is it great, Mommy?” Orm asked, forcing a curious tone. Deception, lying, manipulation—she’d been trained for all of it. Might as well use it now.
“Because I found you the perfect match, sweetie!” her dad announced, practically vibrating with excitement.
Orm laughed silently. Wow. Destiny, huh?
What were the odds that she and her anonymous stranger online would share the same cursed fate?
“Great,” she echoed, lips pulling into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Her mother smoothed her dress and said, “Be on your best behavior at dinner tonight.”
“Of course, Mother.”
As her parents stood and walked out, the air in the room shifted—heavy, cold, inevitable. The door clicked shut, and Orm let her smile fall the second they were gone.
She took a slow breath and turned back to the mirror. Smile. Greetings. Posture. Every gesture she’d been trained to perfect since childhood.
This marriage wasn’t about her—never had been. It was about power, legacy, the family’s future.
Funny, really. They called it a family, yet she’d never been allowed to choose anything that made her happy. Not once.
A knock. Then Miu’s voice.
“Orm, they’re here. Auntie wants you downstairs to greet the guests.”
Orm met her cousin’s eyes in the mirror. Concern. Pity. A hint of apology for a life Miu didn’t have to live. Orm exhaled and nodded.
“Sure. I’ll just fix myself a bit more. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Hey,” Miu said softly, leaning against the doorframe, “maybe I can ask P’Lena to kidnap you. Hide you somewhere for a week.” Her face was so comically serious that Orm let out a short, genuine laugh—the first one all day.
“At least I have you,” Orm murmured. “Thank you for the offer, but we both know it’ll only delay everything.”
Miu hummed in agreement, then wrapped an arm around Orm’s waist.
“Just don’t leave me alone with all these strangers, yeah?” The younger mutter.
“I won’t,” Miu promised.
They walked together toward the living room. Laughter rose from below, the kind that sounded rehearsed. Her father spotted them immediately.
“Oh! Look who’s here!” he exclaimed, stepping forward. He waited at the bottom of the staircase, hand outstretched to guide her down—like she was a porcelain doll on display.
Right on cue, every guest turned toward her. Of course they did. These were faces she’d grown up seeing at formal functions—smiling allies, careful rivals, people who had known her since she was “little Orm” learning how to bow properly.
“Good evening,” Orm said, pressing her palms together as she dipped her head in a polite wai.
“Good evening,” they echoed, mirroring her gesture with practiced grace.
“Come, let’s continue in the dining hall,” her mother announced, ushering everyone forward with a smooth, host-perfect smile.
Orm followed, steps steady, expression neutral—until a familiar voice broke the composure around them.
“Sweetheart, sit here,” her mother said quietly, gesturing to the seat beside her at the long, polished table.
Orm nodded and slipped into the chair, her posture perfect, her smile practiced. She lifted her eyes—and met the gaze of the woman seated directly across from her.
“Hello,” Orm greeted, voice polite but cool.
“Nice to meet you, Khun Orm,” the woman replied with a gentle smile.
Something in Orm stilled. Not recognition—just…a pull. A familiar ease in the stranger’s eyes. A softness that didn’t fit the stiff formality of arranged marriage dinners.
Orm pushed the feeling aside. She had trained all her life to bury anything inconvenient.
She smiled back, flawless and empty.
“Likewise, Khun Lingling.”