An Arranged Marriage [Mitake Story]

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 3

The lady walked toward us and faintly smiled before looking serious again. "Good enough, however, I think I shall choreograph a dance. Let's practice tomorrow,"

Let's just say I was not happy.

I can't spend time worrying about that, the problem is that I'll have to see my parents again. My siblings are fine, mostly annoying, but I still love them. My older sister, Aoi, was away when I left.

My younger sister, Himari, was a bit bratty. She was still kind, but she was my parents' favorite child. I was bad at school, but she was great at it and an excellent student. And my older sister was average.

Himari was the kingdom's favorite. She looked like an angel with her straight blonde hair and blue eyes. She was straightforward and bold but kind.

Compared to me- she was everything. Still, I am grateful to not be her. Our parents were stupid and agreed that she would marry a man who was 7 years older than her when she was 12. Apparently, she's gonna marry the person at 16. She's only 14.

She did not dare talk back to our parents. All she's ever known is to obey orders. That same night, I heard her sobbing from my room, but talking back to our parents was not an option.

Aoi was always my grandparents' favorite when they were alive. She had a quiet and timid personality. Aoi had black hair and brown eyes, always my parents' second choice.

She already has a child of her own, my niece, Aika. Aika is only an infant, and Aoi is married to a man who is only 3 years older. But a great guy, but it's a loveless marriage. Forced like everyone in our bloodline. I always felt bad for Aoi, being married at 17 and carrying a child at 19, or raising a baby at 20 is not fun.

But still, that wasn't enough for our parents. Himari was everything to our parents, Aoi wasn't enough or even at the same level as Himari, and me, well, I've never been as good as Aoi.

They could care less about me, and as a toddler, they'd let me wander the palace, not even caring if I got hurt. However, every time I got dirty, they always had something to say.

My aunts thought of me as the wild one, bad-mannered and uglier than my sisters.

That's the reason I don't want anyone other than my sisters at the gathering.

While I zoned out, everyone else except some maids and Manjiro left to go get something. I was brought back to reality when Manjiro said something.

"Hey, at the wedding, what cake did you choose for the wedding?" I glanced up before realizing he was talking to me. "Chocolate." He sighed, "Why not vanilla," I rolled my eyes as the maids left to go assist the others.

"Well, maybe if you came with me to the planning we would've decided on a flavor, don't you think?" I forced a smile. "Those are boring." It took me a moment to process what he said.

Dear lord is this guy serious!?

"Did you expect me to know what flavor you wanted when you did not even tell me!?" He looked calm. "Yup,"

I would have chosen to marry anyone else. But not him!

"Whatever, but as you know this is an arranged marriage, so let's try to get along roommate level kay?" I nodded, "I agree,"

Then there was silence, until he spoke, "So... how old are you?" Such a simple question. "I am 17, turning 18 this year, what about you?"

"I'm 18, this year I'll be 19," Then there was silence again, awkward silence.

"Oh yeah," I broke the silence, "You're mother said something about her mom?" Mikey glanced at me, before sighing. "She's- very controlling. Once she heard about you, she set an expectation and thinks we should have at least 1 child 2 years into marriage. She's crazy,"

Nope! Don't like her already... It should be fine, though. "It's fine, I will just ignore her crazy demands," Manjiro blinked while looking at me, "I thought you would have baby fever, my sister always says teenage girls have baby fever as soon as they think about having kids" he stated.

"Do not mention that," I said a bit too quickly, then he stared at me like he was waiting for me to confess something. I sighed, "Yeah, I do want children, but not with someone I don't even know,"

"You know me," Manjiro teased. "Barley, but let me reword that, with someone I love," he just shrugged, "Guess you won't have children,"

His mother and the others walked back in.

-

5 PM hit and it was officially 30 minutes before my family would come over, they're most likely on their way tight now. While standing and looking at the clock, I thought about the words, "Guess you won't have children,"

Ever since I was a kid, I've dreamed about having my own family. That dream became bigger when my niece was born, but I knew that now the dream of having a happy little family with parents who loved each other was gone.

My parents never showed affection to one another, and that's all I knew until I saw how my aunts and uncles acted around each other.

I don't want my kids to have the same feeling, the feeling that they were not meant to be born and that their parents would have been better off by themselves. You know, it gets to their head.

Just the thought of my kids going through a loveless marriage where your parents regret having you makes me throw up. It fills me with disgust.

The maid then called me, "Princess Takemichi, hurry we don't want you missing the sunset," I hadn't realized 5 minutes had gone by. Anyway, the queen wanted all of us to watch the sunset, I used to see it every day as a kid. As I grew up, my parents needed me more often.

I was about to reach the door to the porch when I realized how beautiful the village was. The structures made out of stones looked pretty in the sun. Then I stepped out and the queen greeted me with a smile, then pointed at my seat, of course, it had to be next to Manjiro's.

I dat next to Manjiro who was uninterested in watching the sunset, "I've already seen it plenty of times," he said. "Me too, but it's still beautiful. Especially when it's night and the stars are shining," I smiled softly.

"I find the sea more fascinating, the color is pretty in the sun," After saying that, he looked up at me, "Your eyes represent the color of the sea," I hummed, "Hm? You're calling my eyes pretty?" I teased.

A grin appeared on his face, "What do you think, princess?" I smiled at him, "Well I think I should call your eyes pretty too, your eyes represent the night sky with stars twinkling brightly,"

It wasn't a lie, his eyes were pretty. Before he took a chance to respond Emma who was next to Mikey's oldest brother said, "Look!" She pointed at the sky, and there was a sunset.

The village looked pretty with the sun's light shining down on it, and the light green trees matched with the village. You could see little kids playing and farmers working hard.

It was such a pretty sight.

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