"Will you marry me?!"
Four words Kai had not expected to hear at all, and definitely not in this situation.
He had no idea how to react. His face was blank as he stared up at Cecilia, wondering what the hell was she on about?
Marriage was a big thing. Was he even ready for it? He was only eighteen after all, he had his whole life ahead of him!
...
Oh, right. He was dying.
Cecilia's tears continued to drip onto his face, mixing with the blood that was coating his cheeks. It was an uncomfortable sensation.
"Please... Say yes... Just say yes."
Kai blinked.
Why was she so invested in this? What could she possibly gain from asking him to marry her?
It wasn't like it would be bad to get married before his death...
Opening his mouth, Kai resisted the urge to go into another coughing fit and just barely managed to croak out a single word.
"...Yes."
He felt something begin to stir within his soul.
Cecilia's eyes widened as she heard Kai speak, seemingly having not expected him to actually answer. It was almost like some sort of hope had been ignited in her once more.
Panicking slightly, the ex-Queen then began to move erratically. Her hands let go of Kai's wet cheeks, letting his head rest on her lap as she summoned another HP potion.
In his head, Kai was wondering what was the use of that. Even if he were to drink all of the health potions and use Minor Restoration, there was no coming back from this.
So, with a heavy heart, Kai opened his mouth to tell Cecilia to cease her efforts, to-
His eyes widened as he watched Cecilia take in a mouthful of the potion herself.
Then, he watched as she leaned down towards him and...
Tenderly pressed her lips against his.
Despite the severe blood loss, Kai could tell that his face had turned bright red.
He wanted to pull away, but he also didn't want to. It was like he was in a trance, addicted to the sensation of what he was feeling. This was how his first kissed happened? Him on his deathbed and the kisser crying her eyes out?
Just what the hell was going on?!
The health potion trickled between her lips into his mouth. This time, the potion tasted much sweeter than it usually did, like a strawberry.
Kai panicked and accidently swallowed it all down in one go. Once he had ended up drinking the mouthful of HP potion, Cecilia pulled away and wiped her lips.
Kai's vision cleared a little after that.
Cecilia's eyes were half closed, the back of her hand pressed against her mouth as she wiped at her lips.
She looked stunning.
Kai swallowed.
Was he... flustered?
So what if he was, what did it-
His soul suddenly thumped.
Kai froze in place, as if he wasn't already staying completely still so he couldn't cry out in pain. Maybe he was hallucinating, but wasn't it his heart that was supposed to thump in this situation?
Kai felt his soul thump again.
Then, he could sense it.
It was a burning sensation inside his chest, something intertwining with him. Deep inside his soul, there was a sublime and unimaginable change occurring.
It was unbelievable. Something was rooting itself deep inside his soul, connecting itself to him. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on the sensation, only for it to masterfully evade him, like it was hidden in the deepest trenches of his soul, never to be uprooted.
In the corner of his eye, Kai could see Cecilia begin to pant, her face turning a bright shade of red as she had seemingly just realised what she had done.
She had been acting on adrenaline and pure instinct for that kiss, so it made sense that she was flustered as well, but Kai could sense that there was also a change taking place in her soul, one that was on the same level as the one happening in his own.
Then, Kai watched as new lines of text appeared before his eyes.
Marriage Contract complete!
Soulmate acquired
Kai blinked, wondering if he was seeing things right. What the hell was all this? A marriage contract? What-
Turning his head to look up at Cecilia, Kai flinched as she quickly pressed the remains of the HP potion she had kissed into him against his lips. The rim of the bottle was a much less pleasant sensation then her lips had been, but there was no way he was going to say that.
Surprisingly, the potion slipped down his throat a little easier than the previous one had. It was almost like he really was recovering.
As soon as he finished that one, Cecilia grabbed another one and pressed it to his lips, making him down the entirety of its contents before continuing to do so until he had finished all five of his daily potions.
Kai hadn't believed it was possible. He thought he was for sure done for, the potions shouldn't have been enough. So why were they all of a sudden much more potent?
It wasn't like he had recovered that much HP either. When looking at his status, he only had a little over a quarter of his total health, so-
Kai frowned as he looked over his status, more specifically, he frowned as he looked at his health.
Why had his total HP suddenly skyrocketed?
Glancing up at Cecilia, Kai stated at her wide eyed, wanting some sort of explanation, but Cecilia was focused on looking away from him, unable to bear looking at him.
"Just what did-"
As Kai went to ask Cecilia that question, another notification appeared in his mind.
Congratulations! You have acquired a Soulmate. When in the same Dimension as your Soulmate, all of your base stats will be doubled. In tandem with that, the effects of all restorative potions will be doubled. When sleeping in close proximity, your HP, Mana regeneration and the rate you recover from fatigue is also doubled. Performing loving acts with your Soulmate can sometimes grant XP. You have the ability to sense what direction your Soulmate is in.
It was too much. That description just contained too much to go over at the current moment. Kai's brain was too fried from all the pain, he couldn't believe what he was reading.
Doubled stats, doubled effects from potions, sensing locations... Loving acts giving XP?
It was too much!
But the majority of the description was incredible, it made Kai wonder why Cecilia hadn't done this at the very beginning of their journey. It would have made everything so much easier.
Managing to lift his head from Cecilia's head with some effort, Kai looked at Cecilia, shocked at what just happened.
"Just what did you do?"
Cecilia's hair covered her face, hiding her expression as she turned her head away from Kai.
"...I'm sorry."
Kai let out a pained laugh, wondering why the hell she was acting so depressed.
"What's wrong? You should have done this earlier. It would've made things much-"
It was then he saw it, the few extra lines that were under the already somewhat chunky description, lines that completely changed the way Kai was seeing this marriage.
When you are not in the same Dimension as your Soulmate, all of your base stats are halved. If your Soulmate perishes, you shall go to the afterlife with them as your love is eternal. This marriage cannot be annulled.
Oh...
So that was what the feeling in his soul had been. It wasn't the contract itself being set up, it was the actual intimate linking of it.
Their lives, their fates were now so intricately intertwined that they were practically stuck together for the rest of their days. If Kai ever wanted to go anywhere he would have to bring Cecilia with him, otherwise he would be at half his strength.
And that fact that if she died, he would die. It also worked the other way around. If Kai were to die, Cecilia would die with him.
Now he understood why Cecilia hadn't done this at the very beginning.
Because now, for better for or worse, they were stuck together for the rest of their lives.
A stifled sob could be heard from behind Cecilia's face, still guarded by her hair so Kai couldn't see her expression.
"I-I'm sorry... It was the only- hic- way to save you. I'm so, so sorry..."
Kai sighed.
There was no need for Cecilia to be so hard on herself. She made a difficult choice in a tense moment, at least she stuck with it.
Groaning, Kai used all of his might and lifted himself off of Cecilia's lap. Once he was back on his feet, he hissed in pain. Despite the healing he had received from the potions, his stomach and chest were still in complete agony. His bones and organs definitely weren't healed yet, and any blow he suffered would hurt a lot more than usual.
But the pain meant he was alive.
It meant Cecilia had made the right choice.
Delicately, Kai placed his hand on Cecilia's head. His fingers softly flowed through her hair, feeling its silky texture before he finally sighed and turned around.
"It's not your fault, and it's not you that has to apologise."
Kai's eyes narrowed as he turned to face the Yeti, the creature that was the reason all of this was happening.
Petunia's mother was still engaged in a brutal clash with the hulking beast. It was a near stalemate, with the demon being on the losing side.
But maybe, the momentum of the fight was about to change.
Letting go of Cecilia's head, Kai glared at the Yeti as he put Minor Restoration into overdrive, healing and supercharging every inch of his body.
He had been out of the fight for too long at this point.
It was time to kill a Yeti.