Her hand was blocked by an invisible barrier before it could even touch Under the Moon Glass.
Madoka held a wand that had suddenly appeared, a gentle smile on her face, though her tone was not particularly kind.
“You two, if you want to fight, please go to the training ground. You have to pay for anything you break.”
Evelyn withdrew her hand begrudgingly, but her gold-red eyes still glared fixedly at Under the Moon Glass.
“A stray dog is just a stray dog, only knowing how to hide behind others.”
“Better than some stupid bird who doesn’t even understand the situation and goes around claiming people as her wife,” Under the Moon Glass sneered.
“You—”
“Enough!”
Luo Tianyou couldn’t take it anymore and stood up.
The office fell silent.
Both Under the Moon Glass and Evelyn looked toward her.
“Miss Evelyn, I am very grateful that you kept your promise with my mother. But my life should be decided by me. Whether it’s an engagement, love, or anything else, it should be my choice, not something arranged for me by others.”
Evelyn opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing the serious look in Luo Tianyou’s eyes, she closed it again.
Luo Tianyou said calmly, “I have many things to figure out right now—about my mother, about myself, about magical girls, and so much more. I have no desire, nor am I prepared, to consider marriage or dating.”
She looked at Under the Moon Glass and then at Evelyn.
“If you are willing to be my friend, you are very welcome. If you find that unacceptable, then there’s nothing I can do to force you.”
Evelyn remained silent for a few seconds.
Just when Luo Tianyou thought she would get angry or argue…
“Pfft.”
Evelyn suddenly burst out laughing.
“What’s all this? Wife, you’ve explained yourself quite clearly. Auntie Flora did say that if you were unwilling, I absolutely couldn’t force you. She said my little Tianyou hates being arranged most of all.”
Hearing this, Under the Moon Glass’s expression shifted subtly.
‘That woman, Flora, actually had that kind of foresight?’
Evelyn wore a cute smile.
“Fine, since my wife has put it that way, I won’t mention marriage for now. However, being friends is fine, but I want to be the ‘more than friends’ kind!”
Luo Tianyou asked, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means being closer than ordinary friends but a bit less than lovers. A relationship where we can hold hands, hug, and sleep together, but I won’t force you into marriage.”
“Isn’t that still…”
“I don’t care! This is my final bottom line. Regardless, Auntie Flora said that as long as I’m thick-skinned and persistent, you’ll eventually soften up!”
“And,” Evelyn suddenly leaned in and lowered her voice, “Auntie Flora also gave me a secret weapon.”
Luo Tianyou looked at her warily.
“What secret weapon?”
Evelyn took a small notebook with a dark blue leather cover out of her pocket.
“The Love Notebook. Auntie Flora gave it to me specifically, saying I could use it to trick my wife later.”
Under the Moon Glass frowned deeply.
‘She has one too? Damn you, Flora. It was one thing to give one to me, but how many did you actually hand out?’
Luo Tianyou didn’t know what to say anymore, feeling as though her mother had planned her life down to the last detail.
Suddenly, a realization struck her.
How did Evelyn know what her current appearance looked like?
She had even claimed to know her face from a photo.
If Evelyn had made the promise with her mother ten years ago, Tianyou would have still looked like a boy then.
Even if her mother had announced to the world since she was a child that she was a girl, her actual body was different from how it was now…
How could there be a photo of her current self?
“Miss Evelyn, you said just now that you’ve seen a photo of me?”
“Yeah!”
Evelyn immediately perked up.
“Auntie Flora gave me so many! From photos of you with a bare butt as a kid to ones of you wearing dresses later, and…”
“Wait! B-bare butt?!”
Luo Tianyou’s face instantly flushed red with nervousness.
Evelyn laughed so hard she doubled over.
“I was just teasing you. Auntie Flora said I can only see those kinds of photos after you marry me; they’re part of the dowry.”
Luo Tianyou sighed.
“…Fine. Show me the photos.”
“Wife, it’s fine for you to see the old photos, but I can only show them to you.”
Evelyn pointed at Under the Moon Glass.
“Especially the dog. No looking.”
“You… you dead bird. You’d better sleep with one eye open.”
Under the Moon Glass took a deep breath and turned away.
Madoka smiled and led Li Huayu and Under the Moon Glass out of the room.
Only then did Evelyn take out her phone and open the photo album.
“Here, just these.”
Luo Tianyou leaned in to look and froze.
On the screen was a slightly aged photograph of an album page taken with a phone.
The background appeared to be the living room of her home.
In the photo, a girl who looked about fourteen or fifteen years old sat on a sofa.
She wore a simple white dress, her long hair reached her shoulders, and she was looking down at a book in her hands.
Her profile was soft, and her eyelashes were long.
That was indeed Luo Tianyou’s current appearance.
However, the angle and lighting of the photo indicated it was definitely not taken recently; the edges were even slightly yellowed.
“When was this taken?” Luo Tianyou’s voice felt a bit dry.
“Ten years ago,” Evelyn said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“I asked Auntie Flora back then if this was my future wife. She smiled and said, ‘Yes, but little Tianyou is only ten years old right now and hasn’t grown up yet. This is a Future Prediction Image I drew.'”
A prediction image?
Luo Tianyou stared at the photo and suddenly noticed a few details.
On the hem of her dress in the photo, there were tiny, almost invisible star patterns—the mark of Starry Sky Magic.
Furthermore, the posture of her fingers and the way she turned the page…
That wasn’t some prediction image at all.
It was an image created by magic.
Her mother had used magic, performing an infinite analysis to foresee her ten years into the future, creating the image of her future daughter and fixing it onto a photograph.
She had known all along.
She had known she would become like this.
“Besides this one, there are more.”
Evelyn swiped the screen.
The next photo was a snapshot that looked like Luo Tianyou practicing magic in the garden, her long hair flying in the wind.
The one after that was a profile of her sitting by the window dazing off, sunlight spilling over her face, gentle and quiet.
Then the next…
There were more than twenty photos in total, recording every moment of Luo Tianyou’s transition from a young girl to maturity.
Every single one was so real, so vivid.
It was as if such a girl truly existed in some parallel timeline, growing up safely according to Flora’s vision to become a beautiful magical girl.
Looking at these photos, Luo Tianyou’s nose suddenly felt tingly.
‘Mother… just how much did you plan for me? And how much did you hide?’
Evelyn’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Auntie Flora said that when little Tianyou grew up, she would look like the girl in the photos. She said she’d let me marry you then. She said little Tianyou’s future might be filled with many dangers and many people would covet her power, so she would need a powerful and sincere Guardian.”
“She said if I liked little Tianyou and was willing to protect her for a lifetime, she would set an engagement with me.”
“But,” she looked at Luo Tianyou, her expression rare in its seriousness, “Auntie also said this promise wasn’t a forced one. If little Tianyou was unwilling after growing up, then that would be that. She said…”
Evelyn’s voice softened.
“She said my little Tianyou hates being arranged most of all. So, if she doesn’t like you, you can’t force her. But if you are truly good to her, she will definitely feel it.”
Luo Tianyou’s eyes turned slightly red.
“There’s one more thing!”
Evelyn knelt on one knee before Luo Tianyou.
“Miss Tianyou, please kiss me as the beginning of the promise with Auntie Flora.”