"I said let's get married." There's no hesitation in JJ's voice. Her eyes showed that she's serious.
"I..." The Red King ran his hands through his hair, pulling it out of his face, but a few stubborn strains still fell back over his forehead. "Okay."
The baby looked between the two teenagers, and he didn't know what to feel about this. Two seconds ago, he was excited that his parents are finally getting married.
Sure, they're teenagers, but they're already pretending to be a pair. Wearing wedding rings would make things more legitimate. However, the fact that none of them are actually adults haunted Jay.
"As Verana and TC Reth. Not as Jay Pleng and Jay Pleng." JJ added.
The specifications didn't make anything better, but at least the transmigrator doesn't have to worry about his teen parents getting it on in the middle of the night or something. Fuck, Jay is a firm believer in not doing anything too romantic before the age of eighteen.
The teenage girl didn't blink as she reached out to touch her partner's hand that's rested on his knee. "We don't have to do anything, Jay. I'll make us wedding rings."
"Okay." The Red King nodded, and his eyes not meeting his companion's. "Wedding rings will make our cover more believable, yes. Yeah." He took in a deep breath, gathering the courage to look at her again. "How about our backstory? How we got together? I'm asking just in case anyone asks."
"Arranged marriage." His companion deadpanned as she took her hand off his.
What's more depressing than the cover story of an arranged marriage is people in this world would accept that reason as legit.
The two teenagers didn't say anything for a while, so Jay decided to break the silence by pointing at the book on the floor.
"Dada!" He patted his male caregiver's knee. "Dada! Boop."
"Book, Kaon. Book." The Red King snapped out of his daze, and instead of picking up the book, he picked up the baby and set him down on the floor.
Once he's seated on the floor, Jay watched his male caretaker awkwardly scooted closer to the teenage girl. Well... They're still kids after all, even though they're tasked with taking care of a baby.
"Where did you get that idea?" The Red King's voice wasn't above a whisper. "Don't tell me it's my father."
"It's your father." JJ didn't hesitate to tell him the truth. "Mine didn't care enough to refuse the offer."
The transmigrator picked up his alphabet book and began turning the pages just to pretend that he's not actively listening to their private conversation.
"Damn it." The teenage boy mumbled, and the baby resisted the urge to repeat after him.
JJ took out her wallet again, and a gold coin was placed on her companion's thigh. The teenage boy eyed the coin, then he stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Do you ever imagine what our lives would be like if we stayed with our families?" The teenage girl put away her wallet, her voice maintaining its seriousness. "We would still be married anyway. Married as Jay Jue to Jay Romanov. I would hate your guts."
"You're saying you don't hate me now?" A smirk slowly made its way on the Red King's face, and he picked up the gold coin from his lap to show her. "In another life, we didn't leave our respective families, we got married, I wouldn't hate you, Jay. You're a victim of their scheme, and I can't ever hate you for it."
"You're as much of a victim as I was." JJ's index finger traced the rim of the coin. Her eyelids lowered as she leaned in closer. "So... As Verena Reth and TC Reth, we were in an arranged marriage, then fell in love afterwards."
"Your uncle passed away and left you this property." Her partner continued her story. "So we left my parents' place and moved here with our son KJ. You're the one paying the bills while I babysit our son."
The last sentence drew a laugh from the teenage girl, but her finger didn't leave the gold coin, which was still being held in her partner's hand.
Welp... He's not wrong. Most of the time, the transmigrator was being entertained by the teenage boy while his female caretaker was counterfeiting coins. Technically, she's the breadwinner of the house, and of course, the Red King is the house husband who made sure that they have food to eat and go to bed at a reasonable time.
JJ took the gold coin off her partner's hand; her eyes began glowing white as she used her powers to shape the coin.
The transmigrator looked up at her in amazement as the coin was cut into two, one part is a little bigger than the other. No matter how many times Jay had seen his female caretaker using her powers, he would still want to look at the process of it.
"Give me your hand." She called out to the Red King, who did as told by lifting his hand up in front of her face.
The bigger lump of metal mended around his ring finger, forming a band of gold without burning his flesh. Jay couldn't see the designs from here, but from the looks of it, there won't be any designs on the simple wedding band.
"Wow." His male caregiver grinned as he wiggled his fingers. "Hey, now you can track me anywhere."
Another sigh left the teenage girl's lips. "As if I need to track you down."
Hold up, "track me anywhere" and "track you down"? Can JJ track people down?
Looking at the situation back in Evergreen's cabin, where the teenage girl somehow knew that there was a crystal necklace on the corpse, and how the Red King spoke about her tracking him down after she gave him a ring, Jay could make the assumption that his female caretaker can sense the items that she had changed or created with her powers.
Wait, does that mean that she knows where all of her counterfeited money end up?
Even after this time, his caretakers' powers still remained a mystery to the transmigrator. The System did explain a few things when Jay asked, but the damn thing ever went into any detail that would help him understand it better.
The teenage girl began making her own ring. Just like her companion's, it's a simple golden band.
"Hey, the little guy likes your power." The teenage boy playfully slammed his shoulder into his partner once she's done making her own ring.
Dark blue eyes moved to meet Jay's violet ones, making the baby to grin at her. Her serious expression was replaced with a soft smile.
"He's adorable. Such a happy baby you are!" JJ's finger poked the tip of the baby's nose for a second, then she ruffled his dark hair.