“Should I make it into a giftbox? Or wrap it according to its shape?”

Isabelle eyed the metal sculpture of a sword-wielding solider, who was protecting an elderly couple behind him by brandishing its sword at invisible enemies. “Remind me why you thought this was an appropriate sculpture to begin with.”

“It’s not my fault if you decided to buy ice-cream for Nakama,” Gaius replied.

“No, I’m just questioning your taste.”

“Oh. I mean, it looked cool, and I liked the implied aspect of self-sacrifice.” Gaius rubbed his nose. “Isn’t it great? Besides, all of the sculptures I could find, this was the one with the best craftsmanship!”

“Of course, the master craftsman wants the best he can buy.” Isabelle hung her head.

“See? You won’t settle for some shoddily-made artefact either, right? For me, only a sculpture that can inspire emotions is a good one!” Gaius bobbed his head up and down. “I’m sure your family will like it too.”

“To be honest, they’ll actually like anything you give.” A lovely smile floated onto her face.

Gaius felt his heart pump extra-loudly at her expression, and then resolved to wrap the sculpture up with as much elegance as humanly possible. The air around his hands warped as grey qi seeped out of his fingers, and he began to wrap the sculpture up slowly.

“Why are you going that far?” Isabelle asked. “And you’re also using your powers as the Abyss Sovereign, aren’t you?”

“Hehe.” Gaius continued to flatten and smoothen the glossy paper wrapped around the sculpture. “Hang tight. I’ll be done with this soon.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Isabelle let out a sigh. “How could someone tapping on the Abyss’ power take more than five minutes to do a perfect gift-wrapping?”

Patting down the last crease, Gaius held the sculpture up to the sky, and then nodded in satisfaction. “Now, to seal this up in qi…”

After wrapping a few layers of energy around the sculpture, Gaius popped it back into his backpack. Checking a few more times to make sure that it wasn’t going to catch onto a zipper or anything, Gaius got up and followed Isabelle as they headed down Liberty Street.

“So, we’ve come for dinner before, right?” Gaius asked.

Isabelle blinked. “Yes, but why are you bringing this up?”

“Well, I was wondering if anyone’s at home right now. It’s in the middle of the day. Lunchtime.”

“Grandmother’s going to be there,” Isabelle replied, “so that’s fine. Unless…”

“Unless?”

“She headed out to find her friends.” Isabelle frowned. “Maybe we should come back at dinner.”

“It’s okay. You probably want to spend some time with your grandmother, right? Without your uncles, aunts and cousins around.” Gaius reached out and poked her forehead lightly.”

“How—”

“Reading your partner’s mind isn’t an ability exclusive to you,” Gaius replied. “Besides, now that our futures are bound together, I have a responsibility to make sure that you don’t have any regrets. It’s…the least I should do.”

It was his turn to be flicked on the forehead, which was swiftly followed by a peck on the exact same place. “Thank you.”

“We’ll end up thanking each other all the way to your grandmother’s mansion,” Gaius replied, “so I’ll just do this in return.”

Pulling her close, he leaned his head onto her shoulder. Personally, Gaius had wanted to scoop her up into a bridal carry, but considering how badly Isabelle took to embarrassment at times, he didn’t quite dare to do it in public. Besides, he didn’t want to let anyone else see her at her most beautiful.

After thirty minutes of enjoying each other’s company in silence, Gaius stopped at a familiar-looking mansion. The first time Isabelle came to visit her family in Interregnum, she had been very nervous, but now…

It was an interesting change to note, to say the least.

The mansion gate looked the same as Gaius remembered it, with a blue button that needed to be pressed to ring the bell. He exchanged glances with Isabelle for a few seconds, and then pressed on the button.

“Now that I think about it,” began Gaius, “Nakama’s absence might make your family a bit sad, right?”

“I…didn’t really think that far.”

Gaius grunted. “What now? I’ve already pressed that button. Do we run?”

“Run?” A voice came from behind them. “Run where?”

Gaius turned his head jerkily, and an old woman, who was carrying a small child, appeared in his vision. “Uh…”

“Grandmother?!”

“Ah. Isa, dear! You’re back!” Isabelle’s grandmother reached out to rub her head. “No one’s at home but me right now. Oh, and little Jusis. What brings you here?”

“Oh, um.”

“Hmm. This is indeed not the place to discuss family affairs.” Her eyes swept to Gaius, and then back to Isabelle. “Let’s talk inside, shall we?”

Opening the gate for them, Isabelle’s grandmother let them into the mansion. Leading them past the small garden, she fumbled with the doors to the mansion proper and got them to sit around the table Gaius remembered having dinner had.

“Here, boy. Take Jusis and play with him for a while.”

Offloading the sleeping kid into his arms, who promptly woke up to mess with Gaius’ face, Isabelle’s grandmother sat down at Isabelle’s right. “Long time no see, Isa. First…why isn’t Nakama with you?”

“Um.”

“You visited your home, but didn’t bring your little sister with you?” The old woman shook her head. “Hmm. Is it possible that she’s been adopted by another family too? Or did the authorities not let her into Interregnum? Or did she already find a nice partner— by the gods. Can you just tell me about how you got together with Gaius here already and that you’re here on a honeymoon?”

“Oh. Um. You know.” Isabelle fidgeted in her seat. “I’m not sure how to do this.”

“Of course I know. Anyway, don’t worry about these ceremonies. We aren’t nobles anymore.” She chuckled. “Alright. Welcome home, Isa.”

She paused. “And you too, Gaius.”