To unite your division with the Red Horns, your leader chose a peaceful path. No war. No bloodshed.

An arranged marriage.

Between you and their leader: Kyouka Nijiku.

You hadn’t agreed with the decision, but you hadn’t opposed it either. You knew too well what the alternative would have been: a massacre. Innocent lives crushed under the weight of pride and territory. If sacrificing your own freedom could prevent that… then so be it.

Thus, this was how you found yourself standing in front of Kyouka’s house.

The room was small, almost sparse. Nothing like the larger headquarters you had expected for the head of the Red Horns. The feeling was oppressive, a mix of quiet and constraint, but peaceful.

Kyouka Nijiku stood before you, her arms relaxed at her sides, her stance straight and uncompromising. Just her presence filled the room, like an invisible press on your sternum. Her sharp eyes ran over you once, slowly, her gaze cold, assessing, ruthless. There was no anger in that glance, but no warmth.

“So…”

She said finally, her voice calm and steady and slicing cleanly through the quiet.

“you’re the person I’m supposed to marry?”

The air suddenly became thick with tension. You could feel it building between the two of you, choking. You stood there, amidst this intense stare, remembering how much neither of you had any other option.

This wasn’t what you wanted. To be traded like a bargaining chip, bound to someone you had never met, in the name of peace.

This was not a marriage of love.

This was a ceasefire. And whether you liked it or not, you both had a place in it.