Author’s Note: Okay, fine, I’ll obediently add another thousand words! (This is an author's note, not part of the story.)
After watching the Chu Emperor leave the palace, Ivy Shen and Lucian Vane quietly slipped out as well.
Their departure was so light, it was almost as if they'd never been noticed in the first place—just like when they arrived.
"Ivy, aren’t you going to tell him? What if he goes back on his word?" Lucian Vane asked lazily as they strolled down the bustling streets of the capital. "He’s about to take the throne, shouldn’t you at least say something? What if he changes his mind?" (Lucian is speaking; narrative beat clarified for speaker and action.)
Ivy just smiled. "He won’t. He absolutely won’t go back on his word. Otherwise, I’ll make sure he dies without a grave!" The sheer swagger in her voice left Lucian completely stunned.
"Alright, alright, look at you spacing out again!" Ivy laughed at Lucian’s wide-eyed stare.
"Well, who told my Ivy to be so irresistible?" Lucian ignored everyone’s stares and grabbed her hand, acting cute. (Lucian calls Ivy by her nickname here for comic effect. For clarity: 'Ivy' is her real name, but Lucian sometimes uses 'Xin’er' as a pet name when he's being dramatic.)
"Ugh, look at that hottie holding hands with an ugly freak!"
"Seriously, that guy must have something wrong with his head!"
"Oh my god, if someone that ugly can snag a hottie, then I must be a literal goddess!" No matter where you go, there’s always a flock of busybody women. What really blew their minds was this handsome guy holding hands with a scar-faced ‘ugly freak.’
"Scram!" Lucian snapped, annoyed at the growing crowd, whipping his head around and yelling at them.
"Fine, fine, we’re leaving! No need to bite our heads off!" The crowd muttered nervously, quickly scattering.
"Ugh, those women are so annoying. If they saw your real face, Ivy, they’d jump in the river out of shame!" Lucian grumbled.
"He finally told you?" Lucian couldn’t help but gossip.
She decided to regroup with Adrian Night, then head to Ruiland City, and from there straight to Draken City.
But as they reached the second floor hallway, they suddenly heard a shrill accusation from inside: "Liars! You and that poisonous she-male snake are both liars!"
Author’s Note: [This is an author note and not part of the narrative. It should be omitted from novel translation unless preserving webnovel format.]
"Butterfly Rogue!" Just as Ivy was about to say it, Lucian beat her to it and rushed straight for the room where the voice was coming from.
With a bang, Lucian shoved the door open without any courtesy. The first thing he saw was Adrian Night lounging in a wicker chair, eyes closed, relaxing. Next to him stood a man in ridiculously colorful clothes—Butterfly Rogue himself!
At the sound, both Adrian and Butterfly Rogue turned to look. In the very next instant, Butterfly Rogue darted over, and as he reached Lucian, he swung his hip to shove Lucian aside, planting himself right in front of Ivy.
"Why did you lie to me?" Butterfly Rogue pouted, clearly unhappy.
"What are you doing here?" Ivy didn’t answer his question and instead asked her own.
"I came to protect you! You guys don’t know your way around Chu, so I was worried you’d get into trouble," Butterfly Rogue said quickly.
"Protect her? Ha! Who can you protect? With your skills, you can barely fool someone as innocent as Liam Willow. Do you really think you’re some kind of martial arts master?" Lucian sneered.
"You—you poisonous she-male snake, that’s too much!" Butterfly Rogue was furious at the insult.
"Look who's talking!" Lucian hated being called that, slammed the table, and stormed over in anger.
Seeing this, Butterfly Rogue immediately hid behind Ivy, wailing, "Wife, he’s going to poison me!" He didn’t care if Ivy agreed or not—he just kept calling her ‘wife’ over and over.
"Alright, both of you, knock it off." Ivy cut them off and headed for a chair. Adrian Night quietly poured her a cup of tea and slid it over.
"Thanks." Ivy shot Adrian a gentle smile, then frowned at the unexpected guest standing in front of her.
"Did you go see Liam?" Ivy took a sip of tea, asking casually.
"Huh? How did you know?" Butterfly Rogue froze, caught off guard.
"Out of everyone, only Liam calls me ‘wife.’ He must’ve been saying it nonstop lately—otherwise, you wouldn’t be calling me that too."
"Wow, wife, you’re way too smart! You’re right, I did go find him. But I didn’t expect him to be so stubborn—he’d rather die than talk! Still, I just kept sticking to him, even followed him to the latrine, and finally..."
"He finally told you?" Lucian pressed, unable to resist gossiping. (Clarifies Lucian as speaker and his reaction.)
"In the end, Colin Kerr just couldn’t stand me pestering him day and night, so he finally caved and told me everything!" Butterfly’s reason was so ridiculous that Lucian nearly fell out of his chair.
Ivy could only sigh. Poor Colin probably hates her guts right now—she’s not even around and he still can’t catch a break, like a helpless bunny.
"Why did you hide the truth from me, wife? If I hadn’t been smart enough to get info from Liam, I’d have died never knowing you were my wife and my wife was you!" He’d gotten so used to hearing Liam call her ‘wife’ that now he couldn’t stop. ‘Wife’ sounded way better than ‘madam’ anyway!
"Smart? More like shameless! Listen up, flower thief—she said she’s not accepting any more men." Lucian didn’t hate Butterfly as much as before, but the thought of sharing Ivy with even more rivals was just too much. No way he’d let these freeloaders join in.
"None of your business!" Butterfly shot Lucian a glare, then turned to Ivy with a bright smile. "Wife, I’ve already sent your bride-price!"
"Huh? Bride-price?"
"Yep! It’s all at the Disco Nightclub in Ruiland City. It’s literally my entire life savings, and I gave it all to you!" Butterfly Rogue said proudly.
"Are you sure you’re not just obsessed with my looks?" Ivy teased, slowly peeling off her fake scar and revealing her flawless cheek.
Butterfly Rogue just stared at her in a daze, so stunned he couldn’t even react.
"Hey, you brain short-circuited or something?" Lucian yelled.
Startled by Lucian’s shout, Butterfly Rogue snapped back to reality, his face turning bright red. "You... you’re really beautiful." Then, suddenly all serious, he shook his head, "Wife, don’t be ridiculous! I, Butterfly Rogue, would never pick someone just for their looks. I didn’t even know what you looked like before, but I was still obsessed with you! Even when I saw your ‘brother’ was so handsome I thought you two couldn’t possibly be related, but I still gave you my bride-price. If I hadn’t kept pestering Liam for your whereabouts, I’d never have known you were that gorgeous young man!" He was being totally honest.
"That’s actually true," Adrian Night suddenly said, taking a sip of tea.
"Thank you, Boss!" Butterfly Rogue grinned, sucking up to Adrian Night.
"Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? What’s so great about him?" Lucian grumbled, not liking the idea that Adrian might be letting Butterfly join the crew. (Lucian’s inner monologue: Fine, let Adrian be the bad guy—if he lets Butterfly in, Lucian is totally letting Ethan Chu marry in too. Let’s see who’s boss then!)
Seeing this, Ivy sighed, "Butterfly, don’t make trouble—I can’t accept you, I already have three husbands!" For reasons she couldn’t quite explain, Ivy didn’t feel any disgust toward Butterfly. Actually, she found him pretty entertaining, especially when the three of them were together and bickering.
"Wrong, it’s four!" Butterfly corrected immediately. "I’m Husband Number Five!" He didn’t care about anyone’s objections—he just declared himself Old Five. Even Adrian and Lucian had to admit, his shamelessness was next-level. Swords probably couldn’t pierce that thick skin!
"Number Five?" Ivy frowned. "Who told you you’re Number Five? You’ve got some nerve!"
"Number Three told me!" Butterfly Rogue replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Number Three?" The three of them looked at him, confused. Who’s Number Three...?
"Did you forget? Number Three—Caleb Miles!" Butterfly explained. Seeing their blank faces, he frowned and continued, "He said he’s Husband Number Three. Oh, and when I got here, he was already waiting for you at the Disco Nightclub. Said Liam Willow told him everything, and he’s the only one who hasn’t had his wedding night with you, so you owe him one! And after him, it’s my turn!" Butterfly nodded seriously, proud of his ‘first come, first served’ logic.
"What?!" All three of them shouted in shock at Butterfly’s announcement. (Clarifies that Ivy, Adrian, and Lucian are reacting together.)
*****
Author’s Note: PS: If you’ve got monthly votes, send them to Yiyi! She’s packing up for a trip to Hunan now—love you all!~~~~ (This is an author's note, not part of the story.)