After seven weeks of recovery, Mandy regained her stunning figure. Despite the lethal trial, Wolf’s Internal Energy infusion propelled her to Third Order Sword-Sage.

Wolf forcibly expanded Mandy’s Internal Energy capacity to reach the required level, but her physique wasn’t suitable for Energy Refinement. Mandy’s Internal Energy continuously leaked until she reached a half-drained state, where it hit equilibrium with the barren environment of Silver City.

Despite her lacking physique, Mandy fantasized about adventuring and traveling together with Wolf. So, she read literature on Internal Energy Refinement and even found expensive books illustrating two dozen different first and second Order maneuvers.

Mandy worked while studying in her spare time. Much to her surprise, she discovered that Mage Academy’s executives had a perpetually empty private gym, which she visited daily. For arcane reasons, senior staff, aged between fifty and ninety, weren’t interested in physical exercise.

Thus, Mandy’s schedule changed. She got up at four, ate a handful of nuts, then hit the gymnasium. She got back at half-past six, showered, drank a Lesser grade energy restoring potion, ate proper breakfast and then left for work.

Her lifestyle expenses were obscene, but she could afford to spend seventy gold coins a week on potions.

Mandy kept her change a secret. She wanted to surprise Wolf, but she failed to find a chance. And today, when opportunity presented itself, Wolf brought along a guest towards whom Mandy had conflicted feelings.

“You want the three of us to live together?” Mandy double-checked what she heard. She had just returned from work, preparing herself for evening reading and meditative introspection.

Wolf nodded. Mandy shifted her gaze from Wolf’s enthusiastic eyes and glanced at Anna. She noticed the young woman’s struggle to maintain a neutral expression, but her eyes held the look of a trapped general.

Mandy breathed in. This was a tough situation. Wolf acted out of kindest intentions, but he was oblivious. Again.

Is he faking it? Mandy wondered for a moment, then shifted her mind towards solving the problem.

“Miss Didot.” Mandy faced Anna. “You are welcome in my apartment if you wish to stay here. Your tenancy comes with no strings attached, and I don’t expect you to do chores. That said, my question is, are you positive you can live under the same roof as me?”

Anna shuddered. She wanted to jump away like a scared cat, but couldn’t. She wanted to say no. But most of all, she wanted to choke this tramp, who was the root cause of her mother’s torture and that searing poker. But she couldn’t. Some things were more important than jealousy. More important than pride. Even more important than hate.

“Thank you for considering my feelings, Miss McCoy. If Wolf thinks this arrangement is our optimal solution, I shall adhere to his wisdom.” Anna strived to sound emotionless and official.

She mostly succeeded. Wolf remained oblivious, while Mandy saw the resignation Anna felt deep down.

I should let her sleep on the couch. For a second, a petty idea flashed through Mandy’s mind. Her apartment had two bedrooms. If they arranged this as one person per room, she would force Anna to sleep in the living room.

However, that wasn’t in Mandy's interest.

“Let me show you to your room, Miss Annabelle.” Mandy turned around and led the way to her guest bedroom. “It’s humble. There’s only a bed, a desk and a wardrobe, but you have enough space to personalize it and add whatever furniture you may need.”

“What about my room?” Wolf asked, making Mandy stop in her tracks. She cocked her brow and shot him a glance without saying a word.

Anna stared at Wolf like he was mentally challenged. She had to share his bed four nights a week when he stayed in Silver City, even if he visited brothels. That meant her room would be his at least four nights out of seven, and since they were under Mandy’s roof…

Anna bit her lip at the thought. Anxious, she glanced at her host, but Mandy had a faint, unreadable smile.

“Shall we?” the confident Chief of Finance asked, then led the way. Unlike Anna, Mandy had more monopolistic intentions towards Wolf’s nights.

***

In Silverhound, as well as the other eleven duchies, magistrates performed commoners’ marriage ceremonies. As for nobles, the groom's liege officiated the wedding. After the ceremony, the groom and the bride left to perform their marital duties, while their parents and families hosted the guests.

Barbara’s father was the liege of her future father-in-law. Viscount Neue was the richest of the Charter family’s retainers, and the man willing to pay the most for Lord Charter’s beloved daughter’s hand in marriage. His firstborn son was in his thirties, and the age gap was large, but still well within acceptable range.

Wolf was short and sat in the back, meaning he didn’t see a damn thing. Anna gripped his hand, gazing at his eyes with a dreamy expression, which reminded him of Mandy. It freaked him out just as much. Thankfully, Wolf knew Anna’s look was fake and his fiance hadn’t gone crazy.

Suddenly, the murmur quieted.

“His excellency Dominic Neue,” Lord Charter’s deep voice resounded through the large gathering hall. “The heir apparent of the house Neue, ranked thirty-seven in the Silverhound’s talent-grade dueling arena…”

The deep voice continued listing Dominic’s achievements, and Wolf thought the groom was decent. The talent-grade arena was for warriors who didn’t follow any refinement paths. They competed in pure expertise and natural abilities. Ranking in the top fifty within the entire duchy was quite impressive and meant Dominic could at worst become a combat trainer, and a Weapon-Master at best.

A round of applause followed the introduction, and the groom approached the podium. Wolf glimpsed at Dominic as he walked the aisle. His face was plain, his chin squarish. He stood tall and spear-straight, his body solid, while his countenance passed for handsome within the Empire of Human.

Then the deep, masculine voice spoke again, announcing his daughter. “As lovely as a flower, her hair like a burning flame of passion, her eyes like clear…”

Barbara’s introduction disappointed Wolf. It was an overdramatized listing of her physical attributes. The officiant didn’t mention her being a Fourth Order Mage, nor that she was proficient in melee combat, nor that she could vaporize her husband, if he gave her a breath to cast Fireball.

Wolf looked at Anna, silent apology in his eyes. She cracked an honest smile and rolled her eyes, but otherwise remained silent.

“So, do we have to attend the wedding party?” Wolf whispered into Anna’s ear.

She shook her head.

“According to custom, they will lock up the newlyweds for two days. They are supposed to do their best to conceive.” Anna’s lip twisted for a moment, only to form back into the fake smile as she continued explaining. “I bet Barbara’s father will be grateful if we leave, but he would never admit it. We’re a social plague right now.”

In the general public’s view, even Matilda and Wayde avoided Wolf, while Anna knew their friends were giving them space. She hated being under such scrutiny of others.

That morning, Wayde mentioned the latest gossip, the pervert Mage and his bride got evicted and moved into the other woman’s den to lick each others’… wounds.

By that point, neither Anna nor Wolf cared about the mud slung at them. Anna already knew what kind of stigma she would bear. The young woman was unaware of it, but this experience toughened her personality. Meanwhile, Wolf wondered how idle those people were. He also wondered how they got their information so quickly.

Then again, if anyone saw him entering Mandy’s suite with Anna, they were just a couple of yes-or-no divinations away from a probable answer. Divination wasn’t accurate, so the court of law didn’t recognize it, but it was enough to get a reasonably accurate picture about unknown matters.

“Does that mean they will lock us up after getting married?” Wolf wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about the topic. They could read books, perhaps? Play cards?

“The groom chooses. The bride has no say in it.” Anna tried to keep her resignation out of her voice and succeeded, for the most part. “Barbara is coming.”

And indeed the lengthy ceremony of introducing Barbara’s unearthly beauty, the glorification of her virtues and the masking of her flaws finally came to an end.

After a round of applause, Barbara moved down the aisle. Just like with her husband, Wolf only caught a glimpse of Barbara. Or rather a veiled person roughly the same height and body shape as Barbara.

“That could be anyone.” Wolf whispered in Anna’s ear and the young woman nodded.

“Indeed. That could be anyone.” However, those words had a considerably different meaning, coming from her.