Chapter 359: Official marriage proposal

After the dinner finished, Reisa sent her daughters upstairs except for Akiko. Meanwhile, Silver took Mia and Rey to the entrance hall.

As the dishes were cleared from the table, Reisa made Akiko sit in between herself and her ex-husband.

"Ms. Quilton, Williard, please…" She then gestured for Scarlet and Wil to sit on the opposite side, facing them.

Looking at Scarlet, she said, "In the past, I gave a marriage proposal to Wil not knowing that you are alive. Now that our families have met each other, I think it's appropriate for us to take permission from you, officially.

I, Miyazaki Reisa, would like to propose a marriage between our third daughter Akiko and your eldest son Williard to form a relationship between both of our families."

Upon hearing the official request, Wil felt tensed a bit.

Accepting the request is the same as making it official. At the same time, it is also the same as giving a signal to Reisa to prepare for an engagement at any time.

Before, Wil didn't think too much about it. Maybe, his thinking is a bit dumb but all he cared about War Online and staying alive. He thought that accepting the marriage proposal will not only help him achieve his goal in the game but also help him survive threats in real life as his mother-in-law is a finance minister and his father-in-law is a four-star general.

However, after getting acquainted with Akiko, a part of him feels that since he hadn't got close enough to Akiko yet much develop feelings for her. After all, his crush on Sierra hasn't been wiped out from his heart, yet.

Wil thought maybe spending more time with her daily might help him in developing feelings naturally. Since she was a final year, Wil assumed that he might still have a year.

Moreover, there's that situation with Luoyang. As soon as they will get engaged, he is obliged to tell her the truth. Wil felt that they weren't close enough yet for her to understand his situation.

Another part of him believes that just like whom Akiko dated in college or school has nothing to do with him, he felt his past actions before the engagement also have nothing to do with her. Their present life matters more than the past. So, he should out with it…

While he fell into a dilemma not being able to choose one over the other, Scarlet gave an unexpected reply. 

"Ms. Miyazaki, since you have asked me formally in accordance with your tradition, let me follow the tradition of our western continent too." She answered her firmly before looking at Akiko, "Parents can propose an alliance but it's the bride and the bridegroom that will spend the life together.

We aren't standing in a church and there's no priest to ask this either. So, let me just ask you a similar question he asks during the marriage that will happen in presence of the lord. Do you accept this marriage proposal?

If you don't want it, then, say it. If you want to take time, then, take it. Until the both of you give your consent, I can't accept the proposal."

Reisa stiffened for a couple of seconds as she didn't expect Scarlet would have this sort of temperament. She wasn't a delicate person like she heard at all. "Maybe she changed due to the second marriage?" Reisa wondered.

However, to her relief, without she needed to pressure her daughter, Reisa saw Akiko nodded her head shyly. Reisa instantly smiled. Meanwhile, Daniel was observing Wil who seemed like he was lost in thoughts.

"What about you, Wil?" It was probably the first time Wil heard his mother talk with a tone like this towards him.

After hearing his mother's words Wil felt like he had already found an answer to his dilemma…

"I give my consent to the marriage. However, I'm only 19 and still a college freshman. Akiko-san is also still in college. So, only after she graduates from college, we can have an official engagement. As for the marriage, it would have to wait until I graduate from college, we can marry each other." Unlike Akiko, Wil stated his terms clear to everyone.

To his surprise, Miyazaki family members and Scarlet stared at him in silence for a few seconds making him wonder whether he was a bit harsh on terms or something until suddenly, Reisa started to laugh, "I didn't expect Williard is so impatient in marrying my daughter."

"Young man, even if I approved you, don't you dare think that I will hand over my little girl so easily." Daniel also joked around, pulling out a typical father's dialogue.

"Eh? Eh?" Wil looked at them cluelessly while Akiko blushed in shyness. "Did he say something wrong?" He wondered.

Looking at his clueless expression, Reisa explained with a smile, "We aren't in a hurry in marrying you two right away. It was only to make it official for the public to know and I don't plan on ruining my daughter's college life by getting her engaged."

If Kiyumi listened to her explanation, she would have scoffed in her heart.  After all, she knew that her mother's political ambitions outreach the love over her family.

Upon hearing her words, Wil realized that his words caused a bit of misunderstanding to others. In reality, he just wanted to say that he doesn't want to get engaged or marry right away as he is too young.

Under the embarrassment, he stayed silent until Reisa mentioned that she will publish the news the next morning where she has an interview regarding the flood relief to the people who lost their houses because of heavy floods.

It made him remember the heavy rains at Wular city during the finals. Wil asked her whether the floods occurred in the rural parts of the Wular province to which she nodded.

Wil immediately thought of something.

With the news of the engagement with Akiko going public, he felt that his deal with Texel will go smoothly.

However, to develop the bank from the scratch, he needed the support of the public. He thought of improving the Scarlet group's fame by giving a hefty sum as a donation to the relief fund.

***

Soon, the family of four along with Silver returned to the hotel. Reisa offered them a night's stay in their guest rooms but Wil rejected it right away as he felt it wasn't proper for them to stay in Miyazaki's mansion when the engagement isn't official yet.

Wil actually wanted to talk to Kiyumi and Reisa about Texel. However, with the talks of engagement and a peaceful dinner where no one talked about his in-game life, he decided not to ask them, not intending to turn this family meet into some business deal.

At the same time, he also sent a thank you message to Akiko for not revealing the truth to Mia.

After the talks of the engagement is over, as everyone gathered at the entrance hall once again, this time, Akiko sat beside Mia and tried to converse with her, the latter also pointed out about their meeting during the world auction.

Akiko then finally remembered where she had met Mia and immediately glanced at Wil. He slowly shook his head gesturing to her, not to say it.

Understanding what he was trying to say, Akiko covered the matter by explaining that her guild works with Time Traveler inside the game as Scarlet group owns it.

At first, her words surprised the others as to why she was addressing Time Traveler as some other person. Then, as Kiyumi supported Akiko by mentioning that she wanted to meet Time Traveler for once in real life, the other sisters also understood the situation.

They too realized why their eldest sister didn't start the conversation about the game until now. After all, in their view, usually, she would be like congratulating Wil for conquering three kingdoms.

Now that they understood the reason, none of the sisters intervened about the game, any more and let the topic end naturally.

Scarlet didn't understand what they are talking about but seeing how her daughter-in-law is trying to get along with Mia who also seemed to be comfortable with her, Scarlet kept quiet and didn't intervene.

She only questioned Mia after they get back to the room, to which the 13-year-old explained the events that occurred in the game of how they met each other. 

Since it's nothing important to think about, Scarlet puts the useless thoughts away and lies down on the bed after talking with her husband Scott for a while.