"So, who was supposed to be engaged to this person?" Yuri asked. The Hiro family was much more powerful and wealthy than the Cheng family, so Yuri was sure that she, an illegitimate daughter, couldn't have been the original fiancée.
"It doesn't matter who it was before, it's you now. The Hiro family has agreed to switch the engagement to you," Kiki said, guilt flickering across her face.
"Oh..." Yuri drew out the word, eyeing Kiki, "So you were the original fiancée!"
"And if I was? I'm a valuable beta. Tuss, a guy with two disabled legs, doesn't even deserve to touch my shoes. How could I ever marry him?" Kiki lifted her chin proudly, defending herself.
Yuri felt a twinge of empathy for Tuss Hiro, wondering how he felt hearing his ex-fiancée talk about him that way.
"Anyway, you have a disability too. By marrying Tuss, you'll have a comfortable life. You should be grateful to me for giving you this chance!" Kiki looked at Yuri with a you-owe-me expression.
"Well, I really must THANK YOU!" Yuri stressed the words 'thank you' heavily.
Kiki actually nodded, "You're welcome. And don't feel bad. The Hiro family said they'll give Tuss an ore planet after your wedding. You can live there as the rulers."
Yuri's eyes widened as she thought to herself, "An ore planet? Rulers of a planet? Am I hearing it wrong?"
An entire ore planet would be enough to restore her golden
Kiki smirked, looking down on Yuri's naive reaction.
"Fine, I agree to this marriage." For an ore planet, she would marry without a second thought, even to a beast.
It was an ore planet, after all!
The day after returning to the Cheng family, the original host's friend Alia reached out to Yuri to pay her back for a favor and invited her to lunch.
Yuri took the free lev, arriving on time at the agreed-upon restaurant.
Alia was a curvy girl with a baby face, her smile showing two small dimples. She was fair-skinned and adorable. She waited at the restaurant entrance, her eyes watering as she spotted Yuri. She rushed over and hugged Yuri gently, her voice shaking, "Does it still hurt?"
Yuri wasn't accustomed to close contact with others and tensed up. She patted Alia's shoulder, gently pushing her away, and reassured, "It's fine. It doesn't hurt anymore."
Alia wiped her tears and apologized, "I'm sorry. I just finished a two-week training course and only found out about your accident yesterday."
"It's okay." Yuri shook her head, not familiar with the original host's friendship with Alia. If this young girl knew her friend was gone, she couldn't imagine how much she would cry.
Yuri sighed inwardly and changed the subject, "Did you make reservations?"
"I did." Alia hesitated for a moment as she looked at Yuri, then whispered, "Besides me, there are a few classmates. They said they're friends of Tuss and wanted to meet you. Are you really engaged to Tuss?"
Yuri honestly said, "Yeah, our families set it up."
Alia got worried, "But, Tuss has lost both his legs. Now he's a—"
"I lost an arm either," Yuri cut in, moving ahead into the restaurant.
As Alia guided Yuri into the private room, she mentioned, "I didn't reserve the room; it was Tuss's classmate. They didn't want to be in the main area, so they switched it to a private room."
Yuri didn't care. She was more interested in what Tuss's friends wanted from her.
When she opened the door, Yuri looked at the good-looking guys and girls lounging on the couches. Their eyes met, and Yuri felt a hostile vibe. It seemed they had bad intentions.
"The Cheng family replaced Kiki with you, an armless?" A guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who looked honest, spoke harshly.
Yuri casually replied, "My father said Tuss and I are both disabled, so we're a good match."
"Tuss is a top-level alpha, a genius from Military Academy No. 1. You're just an omega; how could you be a match?" A gorgeous girl snapped back.
Yuri noticed that people in this world were generally attractive. Everyone she'd met since waking up was good-looking.
"Since he lost his legs, his alpha tier has dropped. By now, he's probably not even an e-tier. Otherwise, Kiki wouldn't have looked down on him and passed him to me. Apart from me, there's probably no one in the Cheng family willing to marry this disabled guy." Yuri bluntly stated the harsh truth. If they weren't nice to her, she wouldn't have to be nice either.
"I won't let you talk about Tuss like that!" The guy got mad, clenching his fists, veins popping on his face. An invisible force headed towards Yuri.
Yuri's body shook, her head feeling like it had been hit with a heavy hammer. The pain almost made her lose her balance.
"Daleks, stop it! You can't use mental attack on Yuri; she's just an omega!" Alia supported Yuri, glaring at Daleks angrily.
"I'll stop if she apologizes first!" Daleks coldly said.
Yuri gritted her teeth, tasting the metallic sweetness of blood in her mouth. She stared intently at the guy called Daleks.
Yuri's body, still healing from her injuries, slowly gave in to Daleks's mental attack. Her face gradually paled, and her forehead was covered in sweat. If it weren't for Alia supporting her, she would have collapsed.
"Kilana, please tell Daleks to stop! Yuri can't take it anymore!" Alia's voice was shaking.
Kilana's gorgeous face showed no emotion as her red lips opened, "She really is useless if she can't handle this level of mental power. Daleks, stop it. You may kill her."
Yuri leaned against the couch, her eyes fixed on Daleks and Kilana, "Was it Tuss who sent you?"
"Of course not," Daleks denied. "We came to warn you. Tuss's marriage to you is just temporary. Don't get any unrealistic ideas about him and don't desire things that aren't yours. You're not worthy."
"Just play your part. When the time comes, your marriage will end right away, and Tuss will compensate you," Kilana added.
Yuri replied casually, "Are you finished? If yes, please leave."
Daleks scoffed, "It's not us who should leave, it's you who should get out of here!"
Yuri rolled her eyes, coolly firing back, "If I were to cancel the wedding, I wonder if the gossip at Military Academy No. 1 tomorrow would be that the former genius became worthless and got dumped by a one-armed girl—"
"Shut up!" Daleks shot up, glaring at Yuri as if he wanted to eat her as a whole. In the end, however, all he could do was clench his teeth and grunted, "Let's go!"
"Yuri, I'm sorry. I didn't know they'd act like that. They say they were Tuss's friends, so I thought they wanted to be friends with you," Alia said, her face full of remorse.
Yuri waved her off, "It's fine."
Even though she had suffered, she gained some insight. From Daleks and Kilana's words, she could deduce that Tuss had no expectations for her as his fiancée, and they would maintain a distant relationship after their marriage. This was precisely what she wanted, since she only agreed to marry for the ore planet, not for Tuss himself!
As for today's humiliation, she would get her payback twice over in the future!
"They crossed the line. You only lost an arm, but you can still take care of yourself. Tuss lost both legs and will depend on others for help. How could he look down on you!" Alia fumed, her face red with anger.
Yuri joked, "Maybe because he's an alpha?"
Alphas, making up less than one-thousandth of the total population in the galaxy, are scarce resource—even if they are disabled.
She wondered who would be more powerful: an alpha or an Enova power possessor?
Yuri felt excited inside. She looked at her own forehead and the tiny crystal core the size of a grain of rice, wishing she could go to the ore planet right away to boost her Enova.
Lack of strength now made her feel insecure deep down.