Return of the Mythic Bloodline

Chapter 534: Marriage Preparations II

Ume began preparing the flavored cream at the central table in the kitchen while I worked on the cake base at the other side of the table.

Behind her, her three tails moved around the kitchen like extra limbs, fetching the required ingredients from the cabinets while her hands expertly mixed everything together with a mixer.

It took us a continuous twelve hours, from preparation to baking. Another five hours were spent as Ume carefully decorated the cake with cream. Perhaps it was because she was an array expert who worked with the delicate threads of magical circles, but her precision was simply otherworldly. I had only shown her the overall design, and she executed it flawlessly, even better than I had imagined.

Naturally, Ume locked the refrigerator after placing the cake inside. Since Nymeria had decided to keep our wedding dresses a secret, Ume planned to surprise her with the cake as well.

"Finally, we are done," Ume sighed, wiping the imaginary sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "What are you laughing at?" she asked as I continued snickering while looking at her.

Both of her cheeks were dusted with white flour, making her look incredibly adorable.

I walked around to her side of the table, pulled her gently by the waist until our stomachs pressed against each other, and whispered as I brushed the flour off her cheek with a gentle stroke of my thumb, "Your cheeks are covered in flour, silly."

She stared intently at me with her big pink eyes and murmured, "Like you are the one to talk. You have something on your face as well."

"What is it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I was certain my face was clean. I was about to touch it when she answered,

"Charisma."

She suddenly rose onto her toes and sealed my lips with hers. For a moment, I remained completely frozen, butterflies fluttering in my stomach from the sudden warmth of her kiss.

She slowly pulled away, her eyes never leaving mine.

"Close your mouth," she whispered with a smug smile. "Or a fly might get inside."

"Why don’t you help me close it?" I suddenly wrapped a hand around the back of her head and kissed her again, savoring the softness of her lips. She steadied herself by placing both hands firmly on my shoulders as we continued kissing. Slowly, we backed toward the edge of the table, where I lifted her gently by the waist and sat her on top of it.

"Ta-Taranis, stop," she whimpered, trying to push me away. "Someone m-might come in."

"Everyone is asleep. So don’t wo—"

Thud!

A loud noise echoed from the hall before I could finish my sentence. We had been so absorbed in each other that neither of us noticed the three people standing there.

"D-damn, boy... you’ve really grown up," Jay gasped, his mouth hanging open. Behind him, a suitcase lay on the floor, the source of the loud thud.

On one side stood Leena, wearing an equally shocked expression, while on the other was Saya, her hand covering her crimson face as she peeked at us through her fingers.

"Guys, have you never heard of knocking?" I shouted from the kitchen, feeling more than a little embarrassed.

"We came to surprise you," Jay said, facepalming himself. "Who would’ve thought we’d be the ones getting shocked instead?"

Leena elbowed him in the stomach, silencing him before saying, "You two continue with your business. We’ll go meet Aunty Siya."

Ume, who was sitting on the marble countertop with her back facing the hall, was left utterly embarrassed. Her face turned a deep rosy red, and her eyes spun in flustered panic.

"Ume—"

Before I could finish, she vanished from the kitchen in an instant, leaving behind a shower of plum blossom petals.

"Hah..." I sighed, pressing my temples as I awkwardly walked into the hall.

"Weren’t you supposed to come tomorrow?" I asked while guiding them toward the sofa.

"That’s a rude thing to say to your guests, not to mention your friends," Jay muttered, smacking the back of my head.

"Aghh! My hand!" he screamed, having hurt himself with his own punch. "What’s with your stone-like head? And when did you become so tall?"

His bewilderment was justified. Back in college, I barely reached his shoulder, not to mention his muscular frame that he used to bully me with, albeit playfully.

But now, my shoulders stood slightly above his, and the skinny kid I used to be was nowhere to be seen.

"What do you think would happen if you hit the strongest active Awakener on Earth?" I asked with a shrug as I settled beside Leena. Jay sat on the other side with Saya.

"Tch, arrogant bastard," Jay scoffed, blowing on his sore knuckles.

"Was that one of your fiancées?" Leena asked teasingly, giving me a mischievous side glance.

"You do realize how stupid that question is, right? Who else would I be kissing at midnight before we got raided by a bunch of idiots?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes in annoyance.

Bam!

A sofa pillow struck me square in the face.

"Look at this brat and the way he runs his tongue!" Leena snapped.

"Do you have a death wi—"

Another pillow landed squarely on my face from across the sofa. The culprit this time was Jay.

"Strongest Awakener my ass," he laughed. "You don’t even have Spidey tingles."

He puffed out his chest proudly as he continued, "I hit you. Guess who’s the strongest Awakener n—"

Bam!

"It’s one and only, Sexy Leena," Leena declared, swaying her hair dramatically as she slammed Jay with a pillow.

She had not even finished striking her victorious pose before the pillow in my hand flew straight into her face, knocking her back onto the sofa.

"Guys, we’re here to celebrate the wedding. Stop acting like kid—"

Saya’s sentence wasn’t even finished before Leena smacked her with another pillow, laughing while pointing at her.

Thus, it became an official declaration of war.

Pillows flew across the hall from both sides as we engaged in a deadly pillow battle. Nobody was spared.

"Haha... this reminds me of our college days," Leena chuckled as she lay flat on the floor beside the three of us. "Those were such good times. The only monsters we had to worry about were our professors, and exams were our end-of-the-world catastrophe."

"Leena, this isn’t the occasion for such talks," Jay scolded, lying on the opposite side, with Saya and me between the two of them.

"Have you decided on your honeymoon destination?" Saya asked, propping herself up on one elbow. "Most countries are still closed to tourism because of the reconstruction. But I don’t think anyone would dare stop you."

"We’ve traveled a lot together," I replied. "Now that I think about it, most of the time I spent with them was while traveling. So this time, I want to stay home and simply live a normal life with them. Of course, I’ll ask what they want first, and then we’ll decide together."

She nodded before lying back down. She seemed to have moved on from what happened at the international conference. I also chose to feign ignorance about that incident so I wouldn’t embarrass her.

I guided them to their rooms before heading to one of the guest rooms myself since my own room had been occupied by Nymeria.

The time was 12:01 a.m. on the 17th of January.

According to our culture, the bride and groom were not allowed to see or meet each other on the day before the wedding, as it was believed to bring bad luck. Naturally, I didn’t believe in such superstitions, but Nymeria strongly insisted otherwise. She didn’t want even the slightest chance of bad luck on such a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, so Ume and I reluctantly agreed to stay in separate rooms.

Once I locked the door from the inside, I entered the bathroom, took off my shirt, and looked at myself in the mirror.

With a wave of my hand, dark smoke emerged from my chest, revealing a deep, coin-sized purple mark at its center.

"So, even ascending to the True Sage Realm couldn’t change my destiny," I sighed, touching the mark.

I opened Vivi’s Truth-Teller and typed the same question once again, the one I had asked repeatedly over the past few days, each time after growing stronger.

[How can I change my fate of death on 20th February?]

[Submit]

[Checking for the answer...]

[Error! No answer found. The destiny of a being cannot be altered. You will die on 20th February.]