Chapter 1: Why Did You Agree To Marry Us?!
’What now? Can’t I just lie down and sleep for a while?’
Asher thought to himself as he lay still on his small, lumpy mattress. His eyes remained closed shut, stubbornly refusing to open them, because sitting straddled across his chest, with the cold steel of a knife pressed against his throat, was no one other than his third wife, Juliana.
’How did I end up in this situation?’ He mused, feeling the sharp edge of the blade resting against his skin.
It all traced back to two weeks ago. His father, the imposing head of the Starfire Empire and one of the leading figures in the world, suddenly told him he had finally found a way on how he would be useful to the Family.
’Useful my foot.’ The bitter thought echoed in his mind.
His father and his extended family hated him to the bone, not simply because he was the weakest in the family’s younger generations, but because his mother abandoned his father shortly after she gave birth, and eloped with her lover. With no one else to vent their festering anger on, he became the designated scapegoat. He had grown a thick skin bearing the weight of someone else’s sins. That was how he lived in the grand Starfire Estate, surviving as a ghost, until his father suddenly said he was useful.
Pathetically enough, Asher was actually happy hearing that at first. A 20-year-old guy, who had always been looked down on by everyone, suddenly having the opportunity to prove himself—he was more than ready to be of help, even if he would just be washing his father’s car in the freezing cold.
But what came next froze him to the bone, entirely extinguishing that foolish hope. His father, as a well-known, ruthless businessman, always knows how to gain benefits from others’ suffering, so he made a predatory deal with three close, bankrupt families, targeting them mainly because of their lucrative spirit stone mines.
The Asheville Family, Stafford Family, and Royal Wood Family, drowning in desperate debt, readily agreed to this.
The Deal: The families’ three daughters will have to marry into his family. Out of all the prestigious daughters and sons in his lineage, the three close friends were given to Asher, a waste.
A waste given to the wasted.
Asher was indeed shocked hearing the absurd plan, but what could he do? Nothing... He was a Waste, a powerless pawn on his father’s board, so he swallowed his pride and agreed to his father’s wishes.
On the wedding day, he finally discovered who his brides were. Three close friends, who took themselves as sisters, and not just any sisters. They were fallen stars.
The oldest was Kelly Asheville, the renowned number one Ice Queen in the business world. Seeing her in person, he was actually impressed. She possessed long black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a body any man would die for, but there was one glaring issue her family had hidden from the public. She was mentally unstable.
Yes; Mentally Unstable.
Kelly wasn’t a maniac or violent or anything. Instead, she was always hauntingly quiet, just sitting still, and spacing out. She hardly speaks, simply staring at one spot on the wall for hours... Yet, during these past two weeks, Asher noticed something profound beneath her shattered psyche. Although she has a mental problem, a fierce protective instinct remained; she always made sure to look after her friends in her own silent, broken way.
Yes, the two other wives:
The second after Kelly was Sara Stafford. Sara wasn’t into Business like Kelly, she was an Awakener, and an SSS-Rank talent at that... In the past, the world knew her as the Fire Goddess, a legendary figure single-handedly taking on S-Rank Dungeons, and protecting not just a city but even a whole country from monsters. But now, after a catastrophic incident, she was someone who lost her powers, hearing and her vocals, making her a complete deaf and mute. The world’s brightest hero, now isolated in utter silence. Asher couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of respect and pity for her fall from grace.
The third wife was the only one you can call complete. Well, that was what Asher thought at first, but the moment they moved into their new home, she showed him a vastly different side of her.
Juliana Royal Wood. She was the youngest, just 18 years old, five years younger than Kelly, and three years younger than Sara; a beautiful blonde hair female.
To the outside world, Juliana played the part of a cute, loving, and peaceful lady, but inside, beneath the aristocratic facade, she was like a viper, possessing the volatile temperament of a gang’s queen. For two weeks now, Asher was still lost on why she even agreed to marry him. Maybe she was fiercely looking out for her disabled friends, acting as their shield, or simply just wanted to make his life hell to vent her own helpless frustrations.
As an Awakener, she stubbornly refuses to cultivate any spiritual energy, remaining intentionally at the lowest rank alive; F-Rank. Ironically, Asher was even better, having managed to scrape together the strength of an E-Rank.
_
Back in the present, feeling the slight tremble in the hand holding the blade, he finally sighed, and slowly opened his eyes. He knew she wouldn’t dare kill him. Beneath her hostility was a deep current of fear. If she does kill him, the three will become widows; not to mention their families effectively sold them off to him while his own family sent him away, coldly saying he should start living alone, now that he has a family of his own.
Asher wasn’t a kid. He understood the brutal reality: he knew he was officially out of the Starfire family. Thanks to him acting as a receptacle for this marriage, they got the spirit energy mines from the three families, so he was completely useless now. And as for his wives, their families already fled and left the city. In short, they already abandoned them with him. They had all been left to rot together in this exile.
Although his wives remain outwardly indifferent, he knew they were all heartbroken, sold by their own blood. But none wanted to show that vulnerable part of themselves, maybe because he—a stranger and a symbol of their downfall—was present.
"Are you done?" He asked, his voice steady, staring straight at her fierce green eyes. He didn’t see a killer; he saw a trapped, angry lady lashing out.
Juliana gritted her teeth, infuriated by seeing his calm, unfazed expression, and forced the knife down slightly closer to his skin:
"Tell me, why did you agree to marry us?!" She demanded, her voice thick with the grief she was trying so hard to mask.
Asher met her gaze without flinching, recognizing the shared pain of abandonment in her eyes. "You are the one who agreed to marry me, am I wrong?" Asher retorted quietly. His harsh words stunned Juliana in place, the truth of their mutual powerlessness washing over her.
Before she could recover, he added in a dry tone, "Oh, and take this knife off my throat, you don’t want to become a widow after two weeks of marriage, right?"
".....?"
Silence stretched heavily in the cramped room, as the two stared at one another, none blinking. It was a silent acknowledgment of their shared, miserable fate. After fifteen agonizing seconds, the tension in Juliana’s shoulders finally broke. She finally removed the knife from his neck, got off him, and walked towards the door, her tough exterior cracking just a fraction.
Seeing her retreat, Asher couldn’t help but diffuse the heavy atmosphere the only way he knew how. "It’s already late, sleep well, oh, and don’t have wet dreams." He teased, and closed his eyes again.
"Shameless."
Juliana muttered under her breath, the venom lacking its previous heat, and walked out of the room, shutting the door hard behind her.
Asher simply grimaced in annoyance at the loud bang, but remained silent. He was already used to this. He understood her anger because it perfectly mirrored his own. He simply forced himself to relax, and tried his best to sleep on his little mattress, in the only small room he could truly call sanctuary.
Tomorrow was another day, another day for four abandoned souls in a trapped home.