The orange sun in the distance was slowly going below the horizon, bathing everything all around in an orangish resplendent glow.
Looking at the beautiful scene was a brown-haired young boy sitting on what appeared to be the ledge of a balcony.
"Ashton, you better get off there before you end up falling," he heard a thin, confident voice coming from behind him.
"I wouldn’t even look at you if you end up hurting yourself," the voice added.
Hearing the slightly commanding tone in the girl’s voice, Ashton felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Nagging girls sure are scary," he muttered while he got off the ledge and back on the actual balcony.
To his surprise, the girl actually heard him, and he noticed her brows slowly began getting furrowed.
’Damn, I messed up.’
"What did you just say? What did you call me? You dare call me nagging. Now you have done it," she said while rushing straight at him.
"I am sorry Selene, this lowly one is extremely sorry, what can I do to appease you my lady," Ashton hurriedly said While taking a few steps backwards.
Hearing his apology, the girl named Selene slowly felt her frown morph into a smile but she still didn’t stop her walk, she got closer enough to give him a punch to the chest.
"Dummy," she said in a low voice.
’Damn, that hurts.’
’But seeing her like this is also not too bad.’
He looked at the girl named Selene in front of him, and the neutral and unbothered face he had was now replaced with a smile.
Selene was a girl he had unknowingly chanced upon one day when he followed his Mother on a shopping outing, he got distracted and before he knew it, couldn’t find her anymore.
So he did what any logical kid will do in such a situation. Cry.
While he cried, he felt someone was looking at him so he had raised his head to look and there she was, standing not too far away from him with a look of Superiority on her face.
"Crying like that just because you can’t find your mommy—you are such a baby."
Those were the first words she had said to him, and from that day till this moment, the two of them had been almost inseparable friends.
Selene was from a big family, who had almost everything she wanted while he wasn’t from a rich family, he wasn’t poor either, they were just a Middle-classed family. So their friendship didn’t attract any opposition.
But today it seemed like it was about to end.
Earlier that morning, Selene told him she was leaving the city and heading to the capital, where she can get good tutoring to become a good lord.
Lords were said to be people capable of doing really magicals things, and though he didn’t fully understand it, he couldn’t hinder her plans, so he could only quietly sulk and that explained the staring at the sunset.
"Ashton, you know you can come with me, right? I can tell my dad to speak to your dad; I am sure he won’t object." Selene suddenly said in a low voice.
Ashton felt slightly taken aback by her words, but he soon composed himself and opened his mouth to answer.
"Yes... yes, I know, but I don’t want to. I don’t have any desire to be a lord whatsoever; I am not like you," he managed to answer.
"Coward," she said before giving him a punch on the chest again.
"Lady Selene, it’s time to head out." Someone called from the other side of the door.
"I am coming!!!!!!!" Selene shouted back before turning to look at Ashton again.
The room slowly grew quiet; the only sound one could hear was the sound of their breathing and synchronized heartbeats.
"I will miss you," Selene said, breaking the silence.
"I will miss you too," Ashton replied.
"On the bright side though, I don’t have to hear your relentless nagg—"
He felt a soft body embrace him tightly, cutting him off mid-speech.
And that was the last moment the two shared together.
10 years later.
While he walked back home from his farm, Ashton’s eyes remained unfocused, a sign that he was currently lost in thoughts.
He wasn’t lost in thought because of a funny incident, he was lost in thought because he didn’t know how to feel or even what to feel. It’s not every day someone comes to deliver a message to you that your childhood sweetheart was back and she was currently in your house.
That’s bound to freak anyone out, at least just a little.
Not the current Ashton, though; he heard the news, and he just felt...empty. There was no reaction at all from him. He had been this way for quite a while now.
Since when his whole family died or even before that, he had been slowly regressing into the current will-less state he is now but opposite to him was his childhood sweetheart, ’Selene’.
From the news he heard, her test to become a lord didn’t go well and that was because she was so ambitious she had wanted to lord over the grandest, vilest thing that existed.
She wanted to lord over the human mind.
Sadly she didn’t succeed, but she didn’t die like others did; she was left in what others believe to be a worse state.
She was in a complete vegetative state.
The prodigy everyone had always praised was now someone no one wanted to take care of anymore.
’I wonder why she was brought to me.’
At this point, Ashton could already see his house off in the distance, so he picked up his pace slightly.
Walking was already growing tiring.
Soon he arrived at the entrance, opened his door, and that was when he saw her.
His childhood sweetheart Selene was now lying on his living room couch completely still. Her delicate and peaceful face directed towards the ceiling.
He felt his heart quiver in his chest, almost as if it was about to jump out. He hadn’t expected to see her again after so long, but in such a condition. She looked extremely pathetic
The clothes she was currently wearing looked to be in slightly good condition, but her body, on the other hand, wasn’t. She said was quite dirty and almost certainly due for a wash.
"Why would they Leave you like this,"
Having no choice, Ashton went into the bathroom, prepared a bath, and went somewhere to wash her previous clothes and, last but not least, a rag and a bowl.
When he was done preparing all that he needed, he walked back into the living room and approached her.
Before picking her up, he couldn’t help but scan her face with a soft smile.
"Still looking so determined even in such a condition,"
Bending over, he slipped one of his hands behind her back and the other one under her knee. Exerting some strength, he managed to lift her, but a shocked expression showed on his face.
"Even when you can’t resist physical, you still resisted mentally."
He carried her to the bathroom, where he undressed her without a single change in expression or even a physical reaction,everything was done with a neutral face.
After undressing, and giving her a full body bath, he went into the living room to pick up a set of clothes from the luggage that was brought along with her when he noticed a little note placed on the luggage.
[She is your wife now; her dad has already consented to the marriage , so there’s no going back now. She is now officially in your care; that was her last wish before going to take the test.]
’She told her family to bring her over here if something happened. Why?’ Ashton thought while looking towards the bathroom.
’And why was I suddenly given a wife? That seems like a lot of work. Should I refuse?’
’How am I going to do that though?’
He pushed the thought into the back of his mind and quickly picked up a cute flower-patterned nightdress.
Ashton returned to the bathroom, dressed her up as best he could before carrying her out, he didn’t take her back to the couch though, he carried her into his bedroom and laid her down gently on his bed.
After making sure she was comfortable, Ashton wanted to leave the room, but looking at Selene’s face, he felt the urge to say something out loud.
"I don’t know why you told them to bring you over here, but since you are here now, I might as well take up the role."
"Selene....I am your Husband now."
Immediately those words got out, Ashton felt something he hadn’t felt in years, he felt a feeling of Fulfilment flood his body.
[Ding!]
[Criteria met: Have conviction to do something Important]
[Analyzing...]
[Task determined: Caring for your Vegetative Wife]
[Congratulations, you have awakened the Wife Care System!]
[First task completed]
[Willforce +5]