Chapter 154: Chapter : 154 : Choosing!

“Huh?” She said, considering his offer. “I am not deserving of your kindness, Young Heart.”

“Ohh come one Edda. Pick one.” Aiden insisted, trying the find one himself.

Aiden scanned throufh the piles. Suddenly, his eyes landed on a flower shaped earring.

“Ohh… Look at that. Perfect.” Aiden chuckled, picking up the earrings.

Without waiting, he held it beside her ear. “Look at that. You look extra beautiful now.”

Edda blushed furiously, “W-we didn’t came here for this.”

“Who cares why we came here for. Only thing that matters is to live like you mean it.” Aiden smiled, then looked toward the others, “Isn’t it?”

“Yes Daddy!” Leona giggled.

“Yes Onii-Chan.” Ivy added.

“Mii~”

“See… They agree. Now its your turn to have fun.” Aiden told her, putting on the earrongs in her ears.

She touched the earrings shyly, “T-thank you.”

“No bigge.” Aiden chuckled.

As they walked through the market, they stopped at various stall to buy gifts for his wives.

“Young Heart…” Edda called Aiden.

“Yes?” Aiden replied.

“Umm… How many wives do you have?” Edda asked shyly.

“Fourteen. And two in waiting.” He said with a smile, then he chuckled mischeviously, “And… You can be one. Well… If you want that is…”

“Huh? Wha… No… I mean… I…” She got flustered, fumbling with her words.

Leona giggled from his arms, “Daddy… New mummy is so shy.”

“Is she?” He teased.

“Cut it out!” Edda cried.

Both Aiden and Leona giggled.

“Ohh… You two. Seriously.” Ivy scolded, running toward Edda.

“Mii~” Fluffynugget followed her.

“Ma’am, leave them be. I am on your side.” Ivy told Edda.

Edda smiled toward her, her eyes glistering. She immidiately knelt down beside her, “Ahh… You cute little thing. You’re soo adorable.” She purred, pressing her to her cleavage.

“Lucky girl.” Aiden sighed.

Leona giggled in his arms.

“Ma’am! I can’t breath!” Ivy shouted, her voice muffled by her boobs.

“Ohh… sorry dear.” Edda said, looseing her hold aroung her.

Ivy pulled back, taking a deep breath, “I thought I was going to die.” She said huffing.

“You’re just like my daughter.” Edda said, smiling toward her.

“Really?” Ivy asked cheerfully.

Edda then felt a hand on her shoulder, “Can you tell me about her?”

Both Edda and Ivy looked toward the source. It was Aiden, holding Leona in his arms.

Edda got up, facing him, “O-okay.”

They started walking again, now outside the baazar.

Edda’s steps slowed at his words, and for a moment her smile trembled—soft, fragile, yet glowing with a pride that no grief could dim.

“She… she is,” Edda murmured, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “My little Liri. She’s seven now.” Her voice warmed instantly, the way a home brightens when the hearth is lit. “She’s… everything. My only hope to live for.”

Ivy’s eyes sparkled. “What’s she like?”

“Oh, where do I even begin…” Edda chuckled, cheeks still rosy from earlier.

“She’s small—much smaller than girls her age—and she’s got these big, bright mossy eyes that always look like she’s up to something. She loves braiding my hair in the mornings… horribly, mind you.” She let out a soft laugh. “It takes me half an hour to undo her ’creations.’”

Leona chimed in from Aiden’s arms, “She sounds cute!”

“She is,” Edda whispered, and her smile gentled into something almost sacred.

“Every day when I return home, she jumps on me the moment I open the door. Not even giving me time to take my shoes off. She wraps her tiny arms around my waist and just… clings.”

Her hand drifted to her chest, resting over her heart. “As if she’s afraid I’ll disappear again.”

Aiden looked at her, his expression softening. “She must love you a lot.”

“She does,” Edda said, voice quivering with a mother’s pride and a widow’s grief. “After her father passed, she… she didn’t speak for weeks. She only sat beside me, holding my hand. Even now, she sleeps curled against me every night.”

A shaky laugh escaped her. “I pretend I don’t notice, but she always tucks her little toy fox under my arm before she falls asleep, like she’s guarding me back.”

“That’s adorable,” Ivy said, awestruck.

“She sounds like a sweetheart,” Aiden added.

“She is,” Edda whispered again, blinking rapidly.

“If not for her… I don’t think I’d still be standing. She’s the reason I work so hard. The reason I smile. The reason I wake up and keep breathing.” Her voice softened to a hush. “She’s my whole world.”

Aiden chuckled gently. “She’d be proud of you. You’re doing great, Edda.”

Edda looked away shyly, flustered yet touched, “Y-Young Heart… you shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Why not? It’s true.”

Leona poked Edda’s cheek with a tiny finger. “She sounds like me a bit”

Edda laughed through her lingering tears. “Maybe that’s why I like you so much, little one.”

Aiden walked beside her, watching the warmth return to her features as she spoke of her daughter. “I’d like to meet her someday.”

Edda blinked, startled. “Huh? Y-you… want to meet Liri?”

“Of course.” Aiden grinned. “Any girl raised by you must be amazing.”

Her breath caught—heart thudding once, hard.

She turned away, cheeks blazing again, but this time the fluster came with a tender, hopeful glow.

“…You really are impossible, Young Heart.”

—

They moved deeper into the residential district, the noise of the bazaar fading behind them until only the distant chatter of birds and the soft crunch of gravel underfoot remained.

Here, the air felt calmer—cleaner—yet the houses themselves were anything but modest.

Massive structures lined both sides of the stone road, each so enormous they could have easily housed entire tribes. Aiden raised an eyebrow at the sight, shifting Leona slightly in his arms as Fluffynugget waddled beside his boots.

Edda halted at the first gate.

Before them stood a mansion with walls made of cerulean crystal that caught the sunlight and fractured it into shimmering ripples across the ground.

“This one belonged to a noble alchemist,” Edda said, brushing a hand across the outer pillar. “He crafted the walls to glow during the night. The whole place becomes a lantern.”

Leona pressed her cheek against Aiden’s shoulder. “Pretty…” She murmured.

“It is,” Aiden admitted, humming thoughtfully. “But not our style. Too shiny. Luna would attack the walls out of pure instinct.”

Edda blinked. “…She would?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

They walked on.

The next mansion looked like it had been swallowed by a garden.

Crimson vines climbed the walls, bursting with roses so thickly that the stone beneath was almost invisible.

Ivy clasped her hands together. “Onii-Chan… it’s beautiful…”

“It’s expensive,” Edda added quickly, almost defensively.

Aiden gave a playful smirk. “That part’s not the issue. The problem is that the flowers are staring at me.”

Ivy slowly stepped behind him. “…They’re actually staring at me too.”

“Mii…” Fluffynugget echoed, glaring at a rose.

They hurried onward.

The third house curved like the arc of a moon—smooth, silver beams bending gracefully overhead like the crescent of the night sky.

“This one is brand new. Never lived in,” Edda explained.

“Never?” Aiden blinked. “Why?”

Edda offered a helpless shrug. “The architect said it was ’too perfect to use.’ He refused to let anyone scuff the floors.”

Aiden laughed.

Next stood a sprawling wooden lodge adorned with dozens of wind-chimes.

Every passing breeze set them into motion, creating a harmony of delicate ringing.

Leona giggled. “Daddy… the house is singing.”

“It’s charming,” Aiden admitted. “But I can already imagine Luna ripping all the chimes off on day one. For ’training.’”

“Ah,” Edda murmured sympathetically. “Yes… perhaps not the best fit.”

This home stretched like a countryside estate, orchard trees heavy with fruit swaying behind the mansion.

Ivy gasped and bolted forward. “Onii-Chan, look! Apples!”

Aiden’s stomach growled loudly.

“…Tempting,” He muttered.

Edda snorted before catching herself. “W-We shouldn’t choose based on fruit.”

“Why not?” Ivy asked earnestly.

Aiden tugged her back lightly. “Because we’d end up living in the orchard.”

They now stood infront of an old mansion.

It was beautiful once.

Three stories tall.

Tall windows.

A wide porch.

A fence covered in silent ivy.

But the air around it felt… wrong.

Aiden slowed. Ivy’s hand slipped into the back of his coat.

Leona hid behind his neck. Fluffynugget puffed up like a scared marshmallow.

Edda’s voice dropped.

“This one… has a history.”

A cold breeze pushed past them.

“Twenty years ago, a family of thirteen lived here. They all died during the same winter night. No signs of struggle. No poison. No wounds. They were just… found. Sitting together at the dining table.” Edda explained.

Ivy swallowed loudly.

Aiden adjusted Leona protectively.

“M-Mii…” Fluffynugget whimpered.

“And after that,” Edda continued, “everyone who tried to live here either disappeared or… died in their sleep.”

Leona hugged Aiden tightly. “Daddy… no. We are NOT buying ghost house.”

Ivy shook her head. “Onii-Chan, absolutely not. No cursed house. No haunted meals. No sleep-dying!”

Aiden agreed. “Agreed. Hard pass.”

“Mii-mii!” Fluffynugget seconded with violent squeaks.

Edda couldn’t help it—she laughed. “I thought you’d enjoy the story.”

Aiden sighed. “You nearly gave Ivy a heart attack.”

“My heart is tiny, Onii-Chan!”

“It is,” Aiden nodded sympathetically.

Then—

Grrrrrrrgl—

Guuuuh—

Grumble—

All four of them froze.

Aiden blinked.

Leona blinked.

Ivy clutched her stomach.

Fluffynugget patted its belly.

Edda covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

“…Are all of you hungry?”

Aiden coughed, embarrassed. “Possibly.”

Leona raised her hand. “Yes.”

Ivy raised both hands. “Very yes.”

“Miiiii…”

“That’s a yes,” Aiden translated.

Edda sighed, amused, but her smile brightened.

“My house is nearby. You guys… want to come?”

“Yes!/Mii~!” All four answered in perfect unison.

Ivy hopped excitedly. “Onii-Chan! We can meet Liri that way!”

Aiden grinned, shifting Leona on his hip.

“Lead the way, Edda.”

And Edda—blushing, smiling, heart fluttering—turned toward her home.

—

END OF Chapter : 154 : CHOOSING!

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