Chapter 131: Noah encounters a not-so-legal legal surprise.

Noah was surprised that Aria was with Ren, who was sitting on the other side of the room, but something was different about her, something very different.

Noah looked her up and down and noticed that Ren was wearing the girls’ high school uniform.

Ren was dressed in a skirt, stockings, a fitted jacket matching the corresponding uniform, and she had even stopped trying to completely hide her appearance.

Noah’s eyes widened.

"Ren, is that...?"

She looked away.

"Yes."

Noah looked her over again.

"You’re..."

"I already know."

"Dressed like..."

"I already told you I know."

Aria cut in.

"You can finish the sentence, it won’t explode... I think..."

Ren looked at her a little annoyed.

"Aria."

"What? I’m just trying to make the conversation easier."

Noah walked in and closed the door.

"I thought your family would keep asking you to pretend to be a guy."

Ren shifted a little in her seat before answering.

"No, I..."

Before she could finish the sentence, Aria answered for her.

"It’s not necessary anymore."

Noah looked at Aria.

"Why?"

"Because our families reached a new agreement."

Noah looked back at Ren and for a moment he smiled, since he was happy for Ren.

"That’s good, right?"

Ren looked at him.

"It depends."

"But you don’t have to hide that you’re a girl anymore."

"No, but..."

"Then you can live normally."

Ren lowered her gaze a little, somewhat embarrassed.

"I-I guess."

Noah smiled at the news.

"I’m glad for you."

Ren stayed quiet, but her cheeks turned slightly red, so Noah noticed.

’I guess she must be embarrassed about dressing like this.’

It made sense, since Ren had spent years wearing men’s clothes and presenting herself publicly as a guy.

Even though Noah already knew the truth, seeing her in the girls’ uniform for the first time still felt strange, and for Ren it was probably a lot worse.

’She must feel really exposed.’

Noah took a seat.

"It looks good on you."

Ren turned even redder, but at the same time a slight smile escaped her.

"Th-Thanks."

Aria looked at her.

"That was more effective than I expected."

Ren clenched her teeth, annoyed by that comment.

"You shut up."

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

Ren answered too quickly, while Aria leaned back against the couch.

"She’s a little nervous, that’s all."

"I’m not nervous."

"You are, it’s obvious."

"I’m not."

"Ren, there’s no need to hide it."

"Nobody asked for your comment, Aria."

Noah looked at one, then the other, and thought immediately.

’Yeah, something’s definitely going on here.’

Aria decided to continue.

"Ren agreed to do something as part of the new agreement."

Ren turned immediately.

"D-Don’t say it like that!"

"How would you prefer I say it then?"

"Like a normal person."

"That limits my options quite a bit, honestly."

Ren took a deep breath, but Noah started to get worried.

"What agreement are you talking about?"

Aria smiled.

"It’s precisely because of that agreement that I called you here."

She took a folder from the desk and placed it in front of Noah.

"Read."

Noah looked at it without really understanding what she had given him.

"What is this?"

"A document, what else?"

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Then we’re already making progress."

Noah opened the folder, which had several pages, way too many, with legal text, seals, signatures, and names.

Noah started reading slowly every word written on those documents, but he barely understood anything from the first paragraphs.

"Why does this look like a bank contract?"

"Because legal documents are usually written like that."

Noah turned another page and kept reading, trying to understand everything mentioned in those papers, until he found his name.

[NOAH REED.]

At that part he stopped immediately.

"Why is my name here?"

Aria and Ren didn’t answer, so Noah continued until he found another name.

[ARIA CELESTIA.]

And right next to that name was another.

[REN AOYAMA.]

Noah frowned at seeing those three names, but he kept going down and then read a sentence that made him stop completely.

He went back to the beginning of the paragraph, read it again and a third time more to make sure he had read that part correctly.

Once he was sure of what he had read, he slowly raised his head, surprised by what he had read.

"What is this?"

Aria smiled.

"The new agreement."

Noah looked at Ren, who wasn’t looking at him, so Noah returned to the document.

"This says that..."

"Yes."

"That when I finish my studies..."

"Correct."

"I’m going to marry..."

"Exactly what you read there."

Noah looked at the names again.

"Both of you."

"All that’s left is to say congratulations."

Noah set the document on the table and there was a brief silence in the room before he picked up the document again to reread it, only to set it back on the table.

"What?"

Aria crossed her legs.

"I think the document is pretty clear."

"No, it’s not clear!"

"Legally it is clear."

"I’m not talking about that!"

Noah pointed at the contract.

"Why am I going to marry both of you!?"

Aria answered with complete calm.

"Because that’s the new engagement."

Noah looked at Ren.

"Did you know about this, Ren?"

Ren stayed quiet at the question.

"Ren."

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"Since yesterday."

"And you accepted?"

Ren pressed her lips together and Aria intervened.

"She accepted without thinking."

Ren looked at her with annoyance.

"You didn’t need to answer for me."

"You were taking too long."

Noah brought both hands to his head.

"Wait."

He needed to sort out the situation.

"The previous engagement was between you two."

"Yes."

Aria said.

"Because your families had an agreement."

"Yes."

"And now they canceled that engagement."

"Yes."

Noah pointed at the document.

"To replace it with one where I marry both of you!?"

Aria smiled.

"Exactly, dear."

Noah stayed quiet because now he understood why Ren was so embarrassed.

’It wasn’t because of the clothes.’

He looked toward her, but Ren immediately avoided his eyes out of shame.

’It definitely wasn’t because of the clothes.’

Noah breathed slowly.

"How did you convince your mother?"

Aria answered.

"It was pretty simple."

"I don’t think so."

"I explained that the alliance between the families could be maintained in a more convenient way."

"Convenient for who?"

"For the families, for who else?"

Noah looked at her with disbelief, to which Aria added.

"And for me, of course."

"That I do believe."

The engagement took another turn.