Mr. You's fictitious marriage

Chapter 1

As a matter of fact, You Huo had no spouse other than his betrothal in childhood to Chu Yue, with whom he was raised as kin and mutually dissolved their engagement upon reaching adulthood. And so what he blabbered to throw the crown prince off was made up on the spot.

At first, he was planning on leaving the city for a while to let things cool off and wait for the crown prince to forget about him. But the scumbag wasn't going to play nice and went for his relatives from the get go.

As You Huo was stripped of his privileges and position as head of the Royal Guard, certain superficial acquaintances seemed to get the Crown Prince's hint and ceased their dealings with his family's business. Moreover, Du Dengliu sought to besmirch You Huo's good name at every opportunity. For instance, he implied that You Huo's dismissal was due to him embezzling funds from the royal subsidies without saying it outright. Which also diminished his chances of finding another job in high society.

You Huo knew he was being cornered, but he couldn't let his uncle's lifelong efforts go to waste. If the matter only concerned himself, he would have confronted the Crown Prince's advances without any fear, but knowing how low Du Dengliu's morals were, he would not leave his family alone, so he chose to hastily find a fictitious marriage partner until the Crown Prince chose a new unfortunate target to prey on.

Since You Huo's uncle was the one to participate in the marriage talks for him, You Huo didn't have a chance to meet his groom until the very day of his marriage.

Judging by his uncle's dark expressions every time he came back after another negotiation, his hopes for a peaceful union were unlikely to come true. He at least thought they could continue living separate lives and not bother each other that much, but his luck was way too bad for it to play in his favor, either.

After everything was finalized and his marriage was decided upon, he strongly insisted on not having a big reception but only signing the papers with the two of them and a priest as a witness.

That's why, on the day of his marriage, he got into his best tailcoat and left in a hired carriage for his future husband's mansion.

The streets behind the carriage curtain were as bustling as always, maybe even more so now that the war was finally over. You Huo heard someone singing that new song, which became a trend after the victory. People's spirits were up, and legends of brave soldiers and brilliant generals were going around, growing more and more ridiculous and unbelievable day by day. After years of many defeats and depression, the common folk found their outlet.

Of course, the matter of the national treasury and reserves being on their last breath wasn't their daily concern. Just as the hundreds of thousands of casualties that paved the road to this blissful peace through blood-soaked foreign soil only to satisfy some greed for conquest and enrichment weren't a concern for the few empowered bloodsuckers either.

You Huo saw the royal guard's regiment patrol out of the corner of his eye. It must be Gao Qi's, his senior from the academy, and his best friend, according to Gao Qi himself; unit patrolling at that time of day, You Huo observed out of boredom. He wasn't a captain anymore, but old habits were hard to shake off.

When his colleagues from the regiment first learned of his disgraceful discharge, they strongly disagreed with the decision. Chu Yue, in particular, was furious. They wanted to write a petition for an appeal to the House of Lords or even His Majesty himself. You Huo barely stopped them by convincing them that it was in accordance with his own wish.

Chu Yue later brought him to the side and interrogated him about the whole story. After cussing out the Crown Prince for three minutes straight, she apologized for not helping him prevent the harassment until it reached such a point. Although he was sure she could have done nothing more in that situation, he decided to accept her apology if it were going to make his friend finally feel better.