Rattling people up

Near the great hall's gate, Zhang Li and Lily stopped.

'A lot of people.' the great hall has a circle shaped stone arena with a 20

meter diameter at the bottom of the stairway like a stadium. from this entrance, you can see the throne of the clan head. and the guests' seats beneath.

"Li! what are you up to?"

A tall handsome man with a short red hair,r slaps Zhang Li's back.

and with a bear hug, take all the air out of Zhang Li.

"Zhang Wei! damn, can you be a little more gentle? And wear something for god's sake"

"You're so uptight. I don't like wearing shirts or robes. A pant is all a man needs! "

Lily stare wide-eyed from the side, 'It's really as the maids said the eldest son only wear golden jewels, pants, and boots.'

Zhang Wei gazed at his younger brother up close. and with another slap at his shoulder, he said

"Look at you! All nervous. just do what you wanna do! Haha"

and with loud laugh, he goes away

looking at the reliable back Zhang li sighs with emotion

'you are an airhead, yet have an absurd vision'

"Were you nervous?" Lily closes in

"of course, the eldest princess Ming Yunque and the little prince Ming Yunche will be there. there's also the four main elders of the Zhang clan,

four major merchant leaders. and the high priest of the light church ."

'you didn't look like it though' She thinks to herself.

"and, as my personal maid, you're going to offend half those people with me!"

"What? No, I'm just a small maid I -"

"Alright small maid. unfortunately, a big part of your future will be with me so le'ts just do what we need to do"

"damn it! "

Lily fumes as she follows behind the leaving Zhang Li.

---

With time, everybody that was invited arrived. with the exception of the host himself and his second son. but no one found it strange. it's known that the cripple of the Zhang family is in a coma. and the Host naturally appear last

With steward old Xiu announcement. the host, Zhang family's leader,

Zhang Xie arrived at his seat. With a serious face he stares at his sides and sees the chairs on his right, where his children are supposed to be the one in the middle is empty.

'where is he?' He looks at his wife on the throne beside him, but she just shakes her head. the eldest and the youngest both shake heads.

'I can only continue.' getting up again Zhang Wi greeted the guests

"Princess, little prince, high priest Clovis, neighboring Companions. thank you all for coming here today."

the black-haired woman said in an emotionless voice

"It's good to see Zhang family so well"

the little prince gave a timid greeting

"Ming lunch greets senior"

"May the grace of light illuminate the zhang master, "priest Clovis says with a smile

"I thank you all, Now. let's start." With wide arms and a serious face, Zhang Xie announced

"Let the tourna-"

"Wait! father, I didn't come yet how come you start without me?

When Zhang Li cut him off in the middle of the announcement, Zhang Xie understood,

'whatever surprise he came up with; won't be a good one'

---

Zhang Li came through the main gate, slowly observing the crowd of people. he sighted his wife, in a corner right beside the maids.

sitting in a common chair with her personal maid beside her.

'since she has a veil on I can't guess her expression, but since she comes as I asked I 'don't think she hates me that much, well let's greet her.'

---

Eldest princess Ming Yunque saw her younger sister since the beginning but due to the image she can't speak anything; She only hates the fact that light church, who abhors the use of death and dark magic elements. and with their preaching through the country, the people all go mad when someone births these abilities. This younger sister of hers had the bad luck of being discovered by the church. which made her suffer everytime she got out of the house.so with the promise of taking care of her the Zhang clan accept her as a wife of the second son.

Ming Yunque glared at the priest Clovis. the man who condemned and spread the rumors about Zhang Li 's wife Ming Fang.

---

Before getting too close, Ming fang's personal maid walked two steps in front of her lady and stood between the two while reaching for her sword

Lily immediately jumped in with lightning in her hands

"Lily, stop. it's ok, get back" Zhang Li gazed at the lady in armor in front of him." I come with good intention"

"it's ok Kia let him come " With her lady's words Kia can only back away with a snort.

"My lord husband what would you like this one to do?"

startled he observed her, this tone... She's messing with me'

"And I was naive enough to think my wife didn't hate me . but it turned out she only comes out of boredom."

"Ara. but I never disliked lord husband. how could I dare? instead isn't husband the one with bad intentions? If I remember correctly you said "I'm marrying you for the family but don't ever think I'll accept you as anything but a cursed burden for me to carry."

"I am sorry."

Ming-fang startled by the word. finally look at him in the eye

Seeing no smile, only a serious expression

she saw that he wasn't kidding.

clearing his voice, he speaks again,"I am truly sorry for what I said and for the way I treated you. I'm going to compensate for the time you lost. to the best of my ability. and that-" with a pause, Zhang Li slowly looked at the priest Clovis direction.

"starts today."

suddenly changing into an indignant expression. Zhang li stared at the highest stands.

"Why is my spouse int lowest stand? Who're the mongrels that arrange her seat!?"

the stadium stood silent.

Words like ' What is he doing?','is he crazy?' are whispered.i'ts the normal reaction since is common sense someone who with affinities with death energy is considered cursed. normally a cursed person is turned into a slave by the powerful or "purified" by the church hence when a common person wakes such abilities they have few choices running and living alone in most cases are what they choose they end up being great necromancers or witches. by then the church invokes the light law and hunt them. for the people, a cursed person standing together with the workers are already too much.

An obviously nervous young man come from the maid stand.

"Y-young master I was responsible for the arrangin -" Zhang Li didn't let he finish

" ughk! cough !" with a sudden knee to the chest the young man falls backwards clutching his chest

"Since when a little maid can afford to humiliate this young master's wife? are you crazy!?"

"You are the one who's crazy! what are you thinking!? "

looking up to see the angry fourth great elder Zhang Li smiled again

"Does fourth elder has an opinion?"

"she's a cursed one! it's only obvious where her place should be! What are you fussing about for!?" the fourth elder barked.

'what is this thing thinking? can't he see the high priest of the church in the guest seat?'

"Yes elder, I agree! It's obvious where she should be!" shifting his gaze to the woman standing next to his sister Zhang li says

"Mei Xu, go and take a suitable seat and put it beside mine!"

returning his gaze to the elder Zhang Li loudly say

"Once she was married to me, it does not matter if she's cursed or the fucking demon herself. no church nor the emperor get a say in how She should be treated in my house! "

"this is a warning for you old thing if this happens again. A knee to the chest will be the least you will worry about! Wife let's go."

Ming Fang looked at his extended hand, with calm eyes. she understands that when he apologized he was being sincere but with this show, she started to think 'maybe he's just using me.'

"after the rumors spread about her ability's spread, everyone else besides her dad and her siblings treated her like air.

and those that didn't ignore her, where trying to convince her that being purified by the church is the best option.

'hmm,I don't need to trust him to go with the flow I guess. at least I won't be bored.'

once the two hands locked in and she stood up, Zhang Li whispered in a tone only for she to hear.

"you'll regret this decision for the rest of your life, And you'll also think this was the best decision you made in this life."

startled by the words she looks at the smile on his face.

"haha, wife come with me. The show is not over yet"