Worst still, even though these last few messy clauses were separated from the rest of the agreement in all ways, they were still considered to be a part of the agreement. And as such, once the contract was signed, everything on it would be valid indefinitely and could only be changed if both parties agreed to the change.

Noah blinked his long eyelashes at the document and couldn’t help but complain, “The lawyer who worked on these last few clauses did a sloppy job …”

And that wasn’t just Noah’s layman opinion. Education in this not-so-utopian world was rather streamlined. High schools were highly specialized, and university lectures and course materials were all available online, so everyone could study at their own pace. Those ready to spend more time and effort in their studies could finish their higher education years earlier. Which was exactly what Levi, Aris, and Maery had all done.

In other words – yo, don't let Aris’ young age of 18 fool you! Aris, and now by extension Noah, was a well-educated princeling with a degree from the School of Law, Politics and Sociology!

“The meaning of some clauses is too vague, and overall, there is no concrete penalty defined… how did this go past our lawyer team?” Noah shook his head, “Look here. Didn’t you and Maery intend to divorce after 20 years? Which fool from the law department added a no-divorce clause for a couple who intended to divorce?”

The “fool” Astar Levi, who did a “sloppy job” adding these clauses last night, “…” (; ﾟ 3ﾟ )~♪

In his defense, his degree was in criminal justice, not law… And also, he had no intention to legally pursue his baby for anything! ╮(╯∀╰)╭

Ah, he just wanted to righteously bind his baby to his side, never to part! (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄

…And give himself full justification to whine and act wronged if his baby refused to “fulfill his marital duties” in the future. ಠ‿ಠ

Noah held his forehead, “What if you guys didn’t read through everything carefully and ended up unable to divorce later on? What a catastrophe!”

“Luckily, I am no longer marrying Maery…” Levi looked away to hide the pink tinge spreading over his cheeks. “As for the agreement… It should be fine… Our lawyers found no notable issues with it… and it’s too late to revise it again now …” Levi coughed awkwardly; even he himself found his words too shameless. But that didn’t stop him from decisively signing the agreement.

As for how these last-minute changes got past their lawyers… ahem, naturally, Levi’s own lawyer team worked for him, so they went along with whatever his intentions were. As for the other team…

The Cordias’ legal team, after looking over the changes early this morning, “…” (。_。)

On the one hand, there was one pushy Levi and his team of lawyers who were not accepting a no for an answer, and on the other… these changes were actually beneficial for their side, yo! ╰(*°▽°*)╯ And by “their side”, they naturally meant the Cordia family and their city.

Take the no-divorce clause, for example. Just this one clause rendered at least one-third of the document unnecessary. If only it was added sooner, it would have saved them so many man-hours! If you asked them, the longer this marriage lasted, the better it was for everyone.

And the clause about requiring the two spouses to live together. Since they already had to raise a child together per contract, it wouldn’t be convenient if the child had to move back and forth two homes. And their side actually had more to lose if this happened!

Think about it! Without their young master Aris to supervise the child’s development, what if their future heir ended up just as asocial and unreasonable as his other father, Astar Levi?!

No, no! These new clauses were very good! If their young master Aris was willing to sacrifice himself in a harmonious and permanent marriage with Astar Levi, then, by all means, they would give him their teary-eyed yet heartfelt blessings!

As for these other, more ambiguous clauses… well… The lawyers shared a look and collectively stepped back. Who were they to prevent the two grooms from sprinkling their love all over the paperwork? Since they wanted to shove dog food down everyone’s throats through yet another piece of paper, just let them…

These last clauses were harmless anyway. Their interpretation was open-ended, so even if the clauses were broken, neither side would be able to succeed in legally pursuing anything. In other words, these were just some sweet nothings between lovers expressing their wish for a happy and harmonious marriage. o(￣▽￣)ｄ

And thus, the lawyer team wisely decided to just let the grooms handle it amongst themselves. If both were willing to sign this, then who were they to oppose it?

Besides, they didn’t need to worry about their young master getting tricked. Unlike his sister, he had a background in law – what they noticed, so would he.

…

Noah continued to look at the papers incredulously for a few long moments, but seeing how decisively Levi had signed them, he didn’t have the heart to make further trouble about it. If Levi was fine with it, then what was he complaining about? Noah shook his head helplessly and signed the agreement as well.

Seeing both of their signatures placed upon this one piece of paper, Levi, who had been feigning nonchalance at the side, couldn’t help but break out in a huge smile. All that was left was one single “I do” and his baby will be his and only his forever. ❤

Blackie, ‘Yeeeah, I hate to break it to you, but this contract is only valid in this one lifetime… ╮(╯∀╰)╭ If you want to keep my host yours forever… you’ll have to do better than that, ah! Work hard! I’m rooting for you.’ (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

The two had only just signed the agreement, with Levi still being in la-la land, shooting his baby ambiguous glances, when their moment was broken by the glorious interruption of one Cordia Maery.

The gleeful-looking woman trotted over them and then shamelessly inserted herself in between the two on the sofa, much to Levi’s outrage. Then she turned her back to one miffed Levi, completely ignoring his existence, and focused on her lovely baby brother.

“Little bro!” Meary called out, her voice strangely coy. Her hand went for her communicator as if she had something to show Noah. But midway, her hand halted and then quickly changed directions to make it seem like she just wanted to scratch an itch. “That… little brother… have you decided on your best man yet?”

Noah, who had been leaning on the sofa, nearly shot up right off of it like a rocket. The expression he made, at that moment, as he realized he had completely forgotten about this matter, was indescribable.

Maery forcefully swallowed down a snicker. Of course, her baby bro couldn’t find a best man when all of his friends wanted to be the groom instead, ah! (ಡ艸ಡ)

With great effort, Maery attempted to hide the amused glee from her expression and pass it off as supportive understanding. She gently patted Noah’s stiff back, “Don't worry, brother, I've got your back! How about you let me be your bridesmaid–no, best man–ahem, woman?”

Noah’s completely petrified form suddenly regained its vitality, and he turned to look at his sister with moved tears in his eyes. “Sis, you are a lifesaver!”

Maery puffed up her chest and nodded her head. “I know, I know. You are welcome.” –was her composed response, but what she thought was, ‘Yesssss!!!! Woohooo! (ﾉ*^o^)ﾉ* My fujoshi comrades, are you jealous?! I’ve secured the best seats for the show!!!’ (ಡ艸ಡ)

After nodding wisely a few more times, Maery finally showed her true colors. She flipped open the light screen of her communicator to show Noah a screen filled with pictures of dresses, “So about the bridesmaid dresses… How about this one? Do you think it’ll look good?”

Noah, “…” ‘…you came well prepared, didn’t you?’

- Author Note -

I owe you guys one chapter. The day before yesterday I struggled with this chapter, constantly writing and rewriting it until I was too tired to continue. And yesterday I didn’t manage to squeeze in any writing at all. QAQ

Ah, well~ Not to worry. As always, you’ll be getting the owed chapter eventually.