“Sure,” Adam drawled. “You guys keep telling yourselves that.”

  Then he clapped his hands once, and the air condensed into a throne. He slouched into it, legs crossed, while the already-formed seat began to spin above his head. It slowly changed shape, turning into a hovering crown that spun lazily like an orbiting moon.

  “Alright, ladies, give me your marriage pitch.”

  My head spun—not because of the absurdity of the marriage proposal or the weirdness of how we got here—but because of something else entirely. “Dwarf, why did you refuse the harem idea when you proposed to Adam? You had a ring and everything!”

  Luke looked like someone had just caught him fondling sacred forge tools in a church. His face twitched, and he scratched his beard before sighing—loud, dwarven, and deeply offended.

  “I did not propose!” he barked. “I simply offered a spiritually significant, rune-etched, soul-binding ring made from reforged fallen-star metal. That’s not a proposal—it’s a collaboration contract!”

  “There was romantic subtext!” I shouted, arms wide. “You said you wanted to birth a weapon together! That’s either very poetic or very horny—and neither of those scream ‘purely professional!’”

  “It’s a dwarven metaphor, you damn twig!” Luke snapped, slapping his hammer against his palm. “We don’t do all your surface-dweller nonsense! ‘Birthing a weapon’ means co-forging something legendary—something that lasts! Like a bond! A platonic soul-bond forged in molten steel and mutual respect!”

  I pointed at him. “You’re describing marriage with extra steps!”

  Luke’s face turned the color of overheated iron. “You people corrupt everything!”

  Derrick laid flat on the ground, eyes closed. “You know what? I volunteer as tribute. I volunteer to be the sacrifice,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and seemingly falling asleep.

  “Okay, I volunteer as not it. So, it’s between the dwarf and the dead one.” I said, removing myself entirely from the equation.

  Adam’s expression soured, like I’d just pissed on his throne. The crown above his head paused mid-spin, dipping slightly as if it shared his offense. “Am I that ugly?” he asked, voice dangerously calm—like a storm pretending to be polite.

  I blinked up at him, still mid-step in my dramatic exit from this chaos. “I mean… no? That’s not—listen, you’re objectively not ugly, alright? Like, you’ve got the unbothered immortal bastard look down to a science. If I were into walking catastrophes with egos taller than city walls, maybe I’d fight for a spot on the marriage wheel.”

  Adam arched a brow. “I don’t like the way you phrased that, but continue.”

  “But I’m not trying to get married at the young age of 14,” I said, flailing my arms in a way that could only be described as “defensive.” “I’d be emotionally steamrolled by someone who makes thrones out of thin air and turns the laws of reality on their head. That seems like starting a boss fight a little too early.”

  He leaned back in his throne, spinning it slowly like a moon caught in attitude. “So, you’re saying you’re intimidated?”

  “I’m saying I enjoy sleeping peacefully, not worrying if my bed partner will roll over and accidentally summon a meteor.”

  Luke snorted. “Why didn’t he get face-smashed, Mr. ‘My class punishes liars’?”

  “I’m 14 at heart, you dwarf. Don’t be so angry, you know little people only have three inches of height, so that anger rushes straight to their heads.”

  Luke’s face turned bright red, looking like it might pop right off his neck. Jacob shrugged, cutting off the dwarf, seemingly about to release the force of a thousand stars in my face.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “He’s not lying to me,” Jacob said, “since I didn’t ask him a question. I also don’t care enough for my class to intervene. So as long as your lie isn’t interesting, feel free to lie to your heart’s content.”

  Derrick mumbled from the ground, still pretending to be a corpse. “I’ve accepted my fate. Just bury me with snacks.”

  I gestured to him. “See? He’s not resisting. He’s practically begging to be the sacrificial lamb. Dwarf still has unresolved feelings. I, on the other hand, am stable. Mentally and emotionally. Which means I shouldn’t be part of this mess.”

  “Stable people don’t say that,” Luke screamed before tragically dying from his own anger.

  “Stable people also don’t forge soul-bonds in the shape of rings and then scream about platonic molten metaphors afterward,” I shot back at the red-faced dwarf.

  Adam chuckled under his breath, the sound like polished obsidian scraping against pride. “You keep talking like you have a choice.”

  I froze. “What?”

  He leaned forward, eyes glinting. “The throne doesn’t just accept rejection. Once it spins, the game begins. Voluntary or not, all parties get tested. Seeing as two-thirds of the contestants are already dead, you’re the only viable option.”

  Looking at the two passed-out bodies, I realized, “This was your plan from the start!” I shouted.

  Derrick groaned from the ground. “No, it was my plan. The dwarf just caught on faster than you.” He shoved something into his mouth. “Looks like we’re in a dating sim.”

  “What’s a dating sim?” Collin called out, slapping his hand against my back.

  “Okay, let’s get these marriage pitches out of the way!” Adam declared, sitting up straight and crossing his arms.

  "Can I get a piece of paper and a pen?" I asked, already feeling like I needed some distance from the insanity happening around me.

  Derrick, still pretending to be dead with an uncanny level of commitment, was the only one who had actually planned ahead. Without so much as a glance, he raised a hand from the ground, a small portal flickering into existence above him. It swirled with a faint, otherworldly glow before he pulled out a set of blueprints.

  He picked one off the top of the stack and held it up. “ This is one of my inventions. You can call my class plasma engineer.

  “ Your invention is a piece of blue paper, am I hearing that right. The dwarf laughed Give me five minutes, a piece of paper, and a frost Elf orc, and I’ll give you some blue paper.

  “ That sounds really creepy Is anyone else hearing this. Wait a second 1, 2 , 3, 4 ,5 where are the other people?

  I blinked, realizing the background noise of bickering and banter had fallen disturbingly silent. A slow chill crept down my spine, not the good kind either—the kind you get when the forest suddenly goes quiet in a horror movie.

  “One, two, three, four, five…” I counted under my breath, eyes scanning the increasingly chaotic camp. “Where the hell are the other five?”

  “Gone,” Derrick said, flat as ever, not even pretending to get up anymore. He crunched loudly on something—I didn’t even want to ask what—and flicked his finger a yellow substance. “

  “ I locked them out Adam replied with a smile. “ They aren’t in contention for my bride or should I say husband-to-be, so they shouldn’t interfere until the husband is decided. I was going to let them watch until he assaulted you.”

  I took a step back, my heart racing. Adam’s smile was as chilling as his words, and the situation was rapidly spiraling into a nightmare I couldn’t quite process. "Assault me?" I stammered, eyes darting to the now-empty area around us. In the corner of my eye, I saw two light projectiles, one headed straight towards Adam another towards me.”

  The moment Derrick spoke, my attention was yanked away from the glowing deathballs inching toward us. His voice cut through the chaos like a scalpel—sharp, deliberate, and way too casual considering the fact we were literally seconds away from being vaporized.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed, taking a half-step toward him while keeping my peripheral locked on the incoming projectile. “There’s a goddamn light missile coming for me, and you’re giving a presentation?”

  “ If you paid attention to my presentation, they wouldn’t be coming from you. Derrick shot a glare at luke. Let’s continue the presentation These blue papers are called bull prints and they serve a very important purpose. He emphasized every letter. “ To use them to their fullest extent, you have to understand their value. The blueprints with just a bit of mana and your thoughts can make any combination of your thoughts a certified blueprint. ”

  “ You know not once has my ability activated when he said the winner would marry him, you know. I’d be careful before you become an unwilling spouse.” Jacob but it in and I realized he was right. " Your class punishes lies, so he would be lying if he said something he knew was false, so he is planning to get married.

  I blinked.

  Jacob’s words hit like a punch to the gut, knocking loose a fresh wave of dread. I spun toward him, mind racing, heart beating double-time. He was right. Jacob’s class didn’t just detect lies—it punished them, ripped through deception like a knife through silk. If Adam had been bluffing… if all that crap about “husband-to-be” and “bride” was just another layer of manipulation... Jacob's flight would’ve been noticeably destabilized.