Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 255: Taking the Reins

"Didn’t I say I’ll never forgive you if you hurt Arkai, Lord Dawnoro?"

Immediately, everyone fell silent.

Despite his raised voice just moments ago, despite the thunder of his command still echoing off the walls, August Dawnoro found the wind stolen from his lungs. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. No sound emerged.

The man didn’t understand it either. This girl was just an eighteen-year-old magic student. A commoner orphan. Nothing by the standards of his world.

Yet something in her made him think twice.

His hesitation was unmistakable. Sienna saw it. Ines saw it. They had never seen the patriarch react like this to anyone. Not to rival lords. Not to imperial emissaries. Not to anyone.

Arkai, however, noticed nothing but Cecilia.

She moved through the room like smoke, her black dress flowing around her like captured night. The fabric was exquisite, deep velvet that absorbed light, trimmed with silver embroidery that caught the candles’ glow.

Her golden hair was pinned up in an elaborate style, threaded through with silver chains that chimed softly with each step.

She looked like a queen. Like a goddess. Like something that had no business existing in this mundane world of dinners and family squabbles.

Didn’t she already leave? Arkai’s mind raced. Why did she return...?

"Miss Araceli." August rose from his seat, moving to greet her with a formality he rarely showed anyone. "You’re here."

This time, Arkai finally noticed his father’s strange reaction. He turned to the man with widened eyes, incredulous.

Cecilia sighed.

The sound was soft, almost weary. Her gaze swept the room, taking in Ines’s confusion, Sienna’s barely concealed hatred and shock, the servants pressed against the walls like frightened mice. Then back to August.

"Is this how you treat Arkai, Patriarch?" Her voice was gentle, almost conversational. "Do I need to do something about it?"

August’s eyes narrowed. It had fallen. He mused.

The Dawnoro household, his household, his legacy, his name, had fallen into this girl’s hands.

Alright.

Let’s just hand the problem over to his son. He’d figure it out.

"Get married." August said. "This is your bride."

...

...

...

"Eh?"

Arkai’s face went through a journey that no painter could capture. First shock, eyes widening as his father’s words registered. Then disbelief, his brows drawing together as if waiting for the punchline.

Then, a flicker of something fragile and hopeful that he immediately tried to suppress, his jaw tightening against the unbidden warmth spreading through his chest...

And finally, his gaze sliding to Cecilia with an expression that held wonder and terror and the dawning realization that his life would never, ever be the same.

Across the table, two faces told very different stories. Ines’s eyes went wide with genuine shock, her lips parting as she looked between her husband, this strange girl, and her stepson, trying to piece together how a simple family dinner had become an engagement announcement.

But beside her, Sienna’s carefully composed mask cracked and shattered. Her eyes first widened with disbelief, then narrowed with a fury so pure it seemed to darken the air around her.

Her cheeks flushed red, then went pale, then red again as her hands clenched in her lap until her knuckles showed white through her skin.

For one terrible moment, all pretense of innocence fell away, leaving only the raw, ugly truth of what lived in her heart. Hatred, betrayal, and a grief so profound it looked like madness.

But no one saw it except Cecilia.

Her eyes fell down on her like moonlight over snow, untouchable. The kind of light that could illuminate every flaw without ever intending to. Moonlight couldn’t melt the snow like sunlight could, but it could take away all the shimmer and glitter of a winter night anytime it wanted. Just by looking away.

Sienna felt that gaze heavily pressing on her. And in that moment, she understood that this woman saw everything. Every crack in her mask. Every ugly truth beneath. And simply didn’t care.

That was when Arkai finished processing everything in his head and suddenly sat down.

The movement was almost casual, as if he hadn’t just been on his feet, defying his father, ready to burn everything down for a woman he’d known for days. A smile spread across his face, impossible to suppress.

"I’m sat, Father."

Brat!

August’s blood pressure skyrocketed. Veins pulsed at his temples. His jaw clenched so tight his teeth creaked.

So he did want to marry this girl! And still dared to go against him for her?! What was the Dawnoro family in his eyes? Did he forget who gave birth to him?!

"Father-in-law."

Cecilia’s voice cut through his spiraling rage.

"How about you scoot over so I can have my seat?"

August moved. He vacated the leading seat and settled beside Arkai.

"I’m sat, Miss Araceli."

Cecilia smiled.

She could see it, the resistance still flickering behind August’s eyes, the pride of a patriarch grudgingly allowing her to take control. But it was enough for now, a foundation to build on.

She noted to herself, later when Arkai regained his memory, she would ask him what his father had been like in the real world. Before he died. Before everything.

"Thank you for having me."

She settled into the leading seat at the dining table, the position that had been August’s moments ago, and arranged herself like someone who belonged there. Her black dress pooled around her like shadows and the chains in her hair caught the candlelight.

"My name is Cecilia Araceli." She said, her voice carried to every corner of the room. "From now on, I will be Arkai’s fiancée. It is nice to meet you."

Her gaze settled on Ines.

The woman blinked, confusion warring with the ingrained politeness of a noble hostess. "Nice to meet you, Miss Araceli." The words came out automatically, even as her mind raced to understand why a girl would sit where her husband should sit.

But Ines wasn’t stupid. If her husband allowed this, even encouraged it, then this girl must be someone very, very important.

"You are the third mother-in-law I have met." Cecilia said gently. "I hope we can get along."

What...?

The table erupted in silent chaos.

August’s eyes widened fractionally. Third? He thought, before he forced his expression back to neutrality. Arkai’s head snapped toward Cecilia, curiosity and confusion warring on his features. Sienna’s carefully composed face flickered with something that might have been hope or might have been dread.

Ines simply stared, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"But let’s move on to the next topic." Cecilia’s attention smoothly returned to August. "Father-in-law, once again, you do confirm that you agree with my suggestion, correct?"

Despite his lingering doubts, August sat straighter. His weathered hands gripped his knees as he met her gaze.

"I think your decision is the best."

"Alright." Cecilia nodded, satisfied.

Then, finally, she turned to Sienna.

The girl sat frozen in her white dress, the pigeon embroidery at her breast now ironic. Her eyes darted between Cecilia and her father, her mother, her brother. Panicking. Wrathful. Trapped.

"Sienna." Cecilia began, calm and unhurried. "You will be sent to the Aurelian Academy of Arcane Studies to continue your education."