I pulled up a smile on my face and hugged my mother back. She was quick to pull away. "The dissolution of the feud has been keeping me busy. I must have hurried sooner," I said, looking at my in-laws. If they weren't here, I would not even have considered returning to this dreadful place.

My mother wiped the fake tears from under her eyes. "We thought you might not be able to make it. Your in-laws were about to leave hours back, but they stayed for you." She turned to the other royal couple that sat in the room, "Such luck my daughter must have gathered to have in-laws like you"

"It wasn't any hassle," my mother-in-law said as she got up from where she sat.

I observed the other couple in the room, apart from my mother and father. The lady who just spoke had bright red hair tied in a loose braid. Her eyes were blue like sapphire and looked around the room intelligently, as if she had seen centuries through them.

Beside her was a man who looked just a little older than her and had black locks of hair with eyes as red as blood. The couple looked very young for their age. If they had a son as old as me, they should have looked around my father's age, but my in-laws looked not a day older than me! I wondered if they truly were my in-laws or if the man with red eyes was supposed to be my husband and the woman beside him would share the title of his wife with me.

I cleared my head. I shouldn't judge someone by appearance.

I stepped ahead and bowed to the couple who were going to be my in-laws, "My queen, my king." They were the rulers of some other land, so I had to show my respects. If what I thought was wrong, then I would be marrying their son.

My mother-in-law held a delicate smile on her face and spoke in a soothing voice, "you look beautiful, Selene. That is such a lovely dress you have there. It was very thoughtful of you to consider clothing of our choice"

Clothing of their choice? Something so old-fashioned, as if they have lived in the Victorian era.

Fang was the one who had brought this for me, and he dressed me up to their choice.

So he was involved in this marriage. There were so many questions he would be answering when I meet him.

"Thank you," I offered my mother-in-law a kind smile, pushing the topic of Fang for another time. "I have been looking forward to meeting you. My apologies that I could not come early and be of your service"

"That is alright dear, the king and queen have been an excellent host," replied my mother-in-law to have my mother tilt her head up. "We are going to be a family now, Selene. Don't keep formalities, you must call me mother"

I smiled, knowing she was a very kind woman, I can tell. There was nothing malicious that oozed from her, as it did from my mother. But looking at my Father-in-law, I tensed as there was not a hint of a smile on his face. As if he refrained from putting up a fake act. This had me wonder, was my mother-in-law faking her act as well.

"Thank you for accepting me with open arms," I said with a gentle bow.

My mother-in-law tilted her head to the side, anticipating something and when I creased my brows she said, "I did not hear you say it"

It took me some time to realise that was waiting for me to call her mother. My hands wrung in awkwardness. I was not used to this kind of motherly affection. "Mother," my voice almost came in a whisper, and the smile on the woman's face broadened. Hesitantly, I turned towards my father-in-law, but the way he held his composure right now made me sweat buckets.

In no lifetime could my own father look this proud as my father-in-law did. He looked like he owned the place wherever he stepped. Even if he was in our kingdom right now, someone would easily mistake him for the king of Adalolpha.

My father-in-law passed me a glare before a soft smile graced his handsome face. This man had the same black hair as Fang, but had paler skin and I could not even start comparing those two. If my father-in-law had been born in our kingdom, then Fang would have been the second most handsome man, the first would be this man in front of me with sharp red eyes, black hair and a face that carried his prideful heart very well.

He had a charming voice but held a stern tone, "you can drop the honorifics with me after your marriage."

My breath hitched at his words. This had me worried in an instance, like the atmosphere that was being dominated by this man right now and no one else stood as tall as him.

I gulped the ball of nervousness in my throat and replied, "Yes, my king-"

"Your grace," the man corrected me instantly, "that is the respect given to me and my wife. Anything else leads to beheading in our kingdom." There was so much seriousness in his tone that I could not even open my mouth. It instantly converted my worry into fear that this man carried along with him on a leash.

B-Beheading… they behead people just for the wrong honorific there!

My mother-in-law rested her hand over my father-in-law's, "Vincent, don't scare her like that." She turned towards me and offered me a smile, caressing my face. "Don't worry, Selene. Vincent treats his own people with utmost care. You will see the change on the wedding day itself" She had a wide smile on her face but I couldn't return her the same smile. I had to return her a flattering smile.

My mother stepped beside me as if to show how she wasn't scared of my father-in-law, but seeing the blazing red eyes, her face turned to my mother-in-law "Queen Prudence, stay a little longer. I am sure we two queens will enjoy the company of equal standing and would have a lot to share between us"

My mother-in-law, Prudence's, face contorted with little distaste towards my mother's words.

She was about to reply, but my father-in-law, Vincent, pulled Prudence closer by her waist. There was so much possessiveness in his eyes as he looked down at my mother and said, "I like to have Prudence by my side at all times. You can catch up with her during the wedding day." He looked at Prudence, and his eyes softened just for her, just for his wife. "Shall we leave now?"

Prudence looked up at her husband and smiled gently. "Yes, we wouldn't want to be late." She turned to me and said, "I am happy I finally got to see you, Selene. All this time there was not one photo or painting of yours that Minister Fang had shown us. Now that I see you, I can tell his words were true about you being beautiful and a hardworking person. It would be lovely to have you as my daughter-in-law"

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