It was the final weekend before the secret wedding. The entire Dragon Palace Home #10 was busy with all the preparations. Despite the hustle and bustle, everybody was moving in an efficient manner and also conducting everything with the utmost discretion and secrecy.

After a busy meeting with their wedding planner which lasted almost the entire morning, Iris started feeling a little queasy. Jin Liwei decided to have the two of them eat a quiet lunch at their suite's living room instead of joining the others.

Lunch was light but very nutritious. Iris struggled a bit in eating her food but she was still able to finish everything without running to the bathroom and vomiting.

After the meal, she reclined on the couch and sighed. "I hope I won't get sick on our wedding day."

"Don't stress too much about it, love," Jin Liwei said while taking a seat beside her.

Once the table was cleared of all the dishes and the household staff left the suite, the couple lounged while listening to Iris' recorded piano music. Some were classic masterpieces from the great masters, a few were by some of her favourite contemporary composers, and of course, the majority were her own original composition. Regardless of the original composer, her style of playing flowed like an ethereal breeze throughout the entire suite.

Iris rested her head on Jin Liwei's shoulder and stared at his face. He looked back at her with a slight smile and raised eyebrow.

"We haven't really talked about how you're feeling since the shock from last week. Are you really fine after reading the…report?"

His expression froze but it only lasted for a second before he gave a reassuring kiss on her forehead. "Must we talk about this right now?"

She didn't answer but it was obvious that it was bothering her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you're not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It's very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]

He sighed. "I'm not going to lie. I'm still digesting everything even until now. It's…a lot."

"I know."

Silence.

She tugged his shirt. "You still want to marry me after knowing my true origins?"

"What kind of question is that?" He scowled. "You thought that I'm going to back out of marrying you after learning about your identity in your past life?"

She turned her eyes elsewhere, not saying anything.

"Evelina, look at me."

When she didn't move, he touched her chin and gently turned her head back to force her to look at him again.

"I was the one who asked you to marry me. Many times, if I remember correctly. And now that we're expecting our twin babies, there's no way in hell that I'm going to back out of marrying you. We'll marry and that's final! I'm a little hurt that you even thought I'll back out. Do you have so little trust in my love and loyalty for you?"

Instead of answering him with words, she grabbed his face with both hands and gave him a passionate kiss. Both became hot and breathless after their mouths separated.

"Thank you, Liwei," she whispered.

"No need to thank me."

They stopped talking again and focused on the music instead to calm their desires for each other. Jin Liwei's injuries were almost all healed now. A few more days and he should be completely fine. The doctor already permitted them to resume their regular s.e.x life. However, the two of them decided to wait until their honeymoon to finally make love again.

It was Jin Liwei who spoke again. "Last week, I've been too harsh on your brother. I was so worked up that night with all the information I read in the report that I lost control of my emotions. I shouldn't have blamed Nikolai for what you went through. Just like you said, he also suffered. Both of you were victims of the environment you were born into and grew up in."

She pressed herself closer to him while continuing to listen to his words.

"Nobody can choose which family you're born into. To a lot of people in this world, there's the option of leaving an unfavourable family situation to seek for a better life elsewhere. However, now I know that the two of you never had that option. Choosing to leave was even more dangerous than staying." He sighed and stared at the ceiling. "I was only thinking about you and how much you suffered. I never even considered what your brother must have gone through in order to achieve the level of his strength back then."

"You were overwhelmed that night," she whispered. "My brother and I dumped a lot of information on you. Your reaction was understandable. To be honest with you, I expected a lot worse. I'm actually very surprised that you managed to maintain your composure and that you're still willing to accept me and my brother after knowing who we really are. Even after our meeting with my brother, you're treating me as usual like nothing really changed between us."

He shifted his position so that they were face to face. "You're wrong, Evelina. Something did change between us."

Her eyebrows drew together. She looked at him warily.

Before her mind could arrive at a worst-case scenario, he grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest on top of his beating heart. "After learning what you went through in your past life, I found that I love you even more. My desire to protect you has intensified because I don't want you to experience any of your past life's suffering again. Evelina, this is what changed between us. It made our bond stronger because I now know the real you."

Her eyes watered but her lips curved up. He was right. Now that he said this to her, she was also finding that she loved him even more.

He lifted her hand on his chest and kissed her soft palm. "No matter who you and your brother were in the past, both of you are now my family. You are my wife, Evelina, and the mother of my children. And Nikolai is my brother-in-law. I protect my family and that's what I'm going to do for the rest of our lives."

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