"Over here, over here! I'm over here!"
The blue-haired girl in the wedding dress was holding up the sides of her skirt with both hands, cake crumbs still stuck to her face, hopping in the middle of the crowd as she called out.
She had only just bounced up a little when her body suddenly lifted into the air, then slowly floated toward the staircase where Silco was standing.
Every person beneath the path she flew over looked up at her. Of course, there was no chance of anyone getting an indecent glimpse, because Janna thoughtfully stirred the long trailing skirt with wind, shaping it into sothing like a flower bud, hiding even the girl's feet beneath the dress.
Silco looked up at her as she floated closer. She was wearing a white wedding dress, her blue hair beautifully pinned up. As he looked at her like this, Silco suddenly froze where he stood.
An indescribable mix of bitterness and pride rose in the old father's heart. At that mont, Silco felt both miserable and deeply comforted.
That girl he had once thought of as a burden, that girl who had only seed similar to him because she too had been abandoned, had now grown this much.
That was right. Jinx was almost twenty now. She truly wasn't a little girl anymore.
The mont he fully accepted that fact, Silco suddenly felt like crying.
He didn't know whether, after Jinx got married, she would still play pranks on him, whether she would still doodle on his drinking cup, whether she would still carve her marks into his chair. Would Jinx beco more mature because of this? And if she did...
Silco really wanted to cry.
But just as he was sinking into that sadness and his thoughts began to drift, Jinx's voice rang out beside his ear.
Then a pair of arms wrapped around one of his.
"Co on, Silco."
Turning his head, Silco saw Jinx's smiling face. Her makeup was light but beautiful, and her signature smooth, full forehead was on display. Around her snowy white neck hung a necklace, a beautiful sapphire gleaming just above the faint rise of her chest.
The sickly pallor that had once clung to her face was gone.
The blue veins that had once spread around her eyes had vanished too, leaving behind only those one or two lovely beauty marks.
Silco stopped feeling sad. He took a deep breath and straightened his back, his gaze turning stern as he looked ahead. This was one of the most important monts in a father's life. He absolutely could not fall apart now.
So Silco clenched the right hand Jinx was clinging to into a fist and punched himself in the lower stomach with nearly enough force to bruise, then prepared to start walking with Jinx up the stairs.
But in the very next second, Jinx's words shattered him.
The bride chirped excitedly, "Co on, let's go find Logan!"
"..."
The next mont, everyone who heard that burst out laughing.
Most of the people who had co to the Twin Cities today to attend this wedding were people who had seen their fair share of the world. Calling them experienced and worldly wouldn't have been an exaggeration.
But honestly, while they had seen plenty of people eager to get married, they had never seen anyone this eager.
The groom stood on the stage in a black suit, smiling down at them with his hands on his hips, his groomsn gathered behind him.
The n in the groomsn's party were of different skin tones, and honestly, not even the sa race in so cases, but a group of well-built n standing together in matching white formalwear really did look impressive.
The groom wasn't the one in a hurry to collect the bride. Instead, the bride was the one anxiously urging her father to hurry up and hand her over.
Could soone's loyalties really lean that far?
A dark line crossing his face, Silco stepped onto the stairs, thinking to himself, Maybe it would be better if Jinx did beco a little more mature after all.
Now that she was married, she should grow up at least a bit, shouldn't she?
Step by step, his frustration slowly faded, and Silco gradually settled into the mont.
Seraphine's voice echoed across the Twin Cities, and even the nearby cities beyond them could hear her.
It was bright, gentle, sweet, and carried just a hint of excitent.
"Finally, we are about to witness Councilor Logan marrying his bride..."
He walked Jinx up the stairs.
But when they reached the final step, Silco suddenly stopped. Then he let go with his right hand, gently took Jinx's hand instead, and looked up at Logan.
Through the Hextech sound system, everyone heard Silco's voice.
"Logan, I'm entrusting Jinx to you."
Silco stood there, lifting Jinx's hand slightly as he offered it upward. Logan stepped to the edge, reached out, and took the fair little hand from Silco. Looking at him seriously, Logan said, "I'll protect Jinx."
"I believe you," Silco said with a nod.
Then, without looking at Jinx again, he turned and walked back down alone.
He had walked ninety-nine steps with Jinx.
This final step would be Logan's.
Logan looked at Jinx standing on the last stair. After a mont's thought, he lifted a finger slightly and, smiling at her, asked, "Where did you run off to just now?"
"I went to eat. I haven't had a proper al these past few days," Jinx said righteously.
She blinked, then realized that when she spoke to Logan, her voice wasn't being broadcast for everyone to hear.
Only the two of them could hear each other.
Even more interestingly, the giant glass-like screen behind the stage was currently projecting Logan and Jinx's faces. Their mouths were clearly moving, obviously carrying on a conversation.
But there was no sound, so the crowd could only guess from their lip movents what the two were saying.
Jinx was complaining to Logan, muttering unhappily, "Caitlyn has way too many rules. First it was how I had to sit, then how I had to stand, and later she even started telling how fast I was allowed to eat."
Down in the crowd, near Vi, Caitlyn stood in formal Kiramman attire, looking sharp and dignified. Her expression had turned strange. As a detective, and one known for solving cases at that, Caitlyn had of course taught herself lip-reading.
She hadn't spent a huge amount of ti on it, but there was no way she was going to misread her own na.
Which was why Caitlyn could more or less imagine exactly what Jinx was doing right now.
She was complaining to Logan.
Complaining about .
"I seriously don't get it, Logan. I'm just getting married, not becoming so noble lady. Why is everyone making such a huge fuss? Why do I need to learn all that stuff?"
"They really are the ones making this harder than it needs to be," Logan said with a smile, still holding Jinx's hand.
The fitted suit showed off his build perfectly. He had the kind of body that looked lean in clothes but was clearly muscular out of them, broad shoulders, narrow waist, excellent proportions.
Jinx was the sa in her own way, long-limbed and fair-skinned, so pale that even that white wedding dress couldn't wash her out.
"So that's why I snuck out to eat while Vi wasn't paying attention. I really don't understand it, why make eating into this giant complicated thing? Doesn't that feel awful? It doesn't matter how good the food is, if I'm in a bad mood, I can't enjoy it."
"Our house doesn't care about any of that. You and Isha can eat however you want."
"Mhm, I want to sit in your lap and have you feed ." Jinx's eyes darted around, then after thinking for a second, she said it with a grin.
Logan replied gently, "Okay."
Even now, standing in front of Jinx and holding her hand, Logan still felt as though all of this was surreal.
From being afraid of Jinx, wary of Jinx, to finally accepting Jinx, that had taken him a few weeks.
From falling for Jinx to deciding to be with her, that had taken him almost a year.
And now, he was marrying her.
"Then when we get ho, I'm eating exactly like that! I want greasy food. That old Kiramman hag said greasy food makes won gain weight and that won have to keep in shape, but I'm not going to get fat. I exercise every day, okay?"
At one of the front tables below the stage, where the Piltover councilors were seated, Hoskel looked up at the screen, read the lips, and burst out laughing.
Hearing Hoskel laugh, Mrs. Kiramman only found it irritating, and felt more than a little aggrieved.
She really had ant well, okay?
"That won't work. Tomorrow, yes. Today, no," Logan said, shaking his head at Jinx's request.
"Why not today?" Jinx asked curiously.
"Because there are more important things to do today," Logan said in a rather serious tone.
Jinx froze, then imdiately understood sothing. Her eyes dropped for a glance, and then she lit up with excitent.
The people below had no idea what had just happened, but Zaun's ruler had said one thing correctly, tonight, he really did still have quite a lot to do.
Like making the rounds for toasts, maybe?
"Then let's hurry up and finish this and get out of here. All this ceremonial stuff is optional anyway!" Before Logan could even react, Jinx gathered one side of her skirt and stepped onto the final stair.
Her hand also shifted from rely holding Logan's to tightly wrapping around his arm.
Aunt Marna, standing in the middle of the stage, blinked, suddenly unsure what she was supposed to say.
At this point, weren't the bride and groom supposed to walk up to her hand in hand, and then she would play the host, ask so questions, and only after that would co the intimate interaction?
But Jinx had just skipped right past her.
Still, Aunt Marna wasn't the rigid sort. She imdiately launched into a string of appropriate words, talking broadly about all the hardship they had endured, all that they had been through, how true lovers had finally beco husband and wife, and wishing them a happy marriage and a lifeti of joy.
And Jayce?
At that mont, he was looking toward Yi and Jax in the corner. The two of them had also changed into groomsn's outfits, but... it felt like they had only shown up right at the very end. And with all the attention fixed on Logan and Jinx, the audience wasn't looking at Jax and Yi at all, even if Jax looked like he might rip his white suit apart.
Wait, damn it!
Wasn't I basically the sa?
Looking back on the entire day, Jayce felt like he had mostly just been a prop.
After that ca the toasting.
But Logan wasn't much of a drinker, and neither was Jinx.
Back when she had still been underage, Logan wouldn't let her drink, so she had insisted on trying it, but honestly, that had mostly just been curiosity. After tasting it once or twice and discovering that alcohol really wasn't nearly as good as juice, Jinx had lost all interest in it.
So after thinking it over, Logan decided to use juice in place of alcohol. Silco and Vander had no objections, and if they didn't object, then no one else possibly could.
The luncheon lasted until after three in the afternoon.
Then Silco, Vander, Jayce, and the others all headed up to Piltover, where a second banquet would be held as part of the celebration.
Plenty of people followed them up, determined to enjoy the whole thing from start to finish.
After all, if Zaun's food and alcohol were already that good, then wouldn't Piltover, famous across Runeterra for luxury and wealth, be even more outrageous?
So whether their bellies were already swollen or they were half-drunk, the number of people who attended Piltover's second banquet only outnumbered those at Zaun's.
Black Lane, after all, could only seat so many people.
Piltover didn't have that problem.
The streets, parks, and shopping districts had long since been prepared with all sorts of free stalls serving food and drink.
As for Logan, accompanied by several groomsn and bridesmaids, he led Jinx deeper into Black Lane.
Zeri was wearing a bridesmaid dress. Her bright green hair had been braided instead of styled into her usual little buns, and she was blushing as she followed behind Jinx, lifting the trailing hem of her dress.
Ekko was there too, following behind in silence, his head lowered as if he were thinking about sothing.
As for Lux, she had disappeared long ago. The mont she had appeared on stage and then caught sight of Fiora, only to see Fiora's face looking dark enough to kill, Lux had vanished by the ti she stepped back off.
Isha followed along too in her little floral dress, carefree and smiling from ear to ear, but the mont they reached the house, little Isha stopped smiling.
Because just as she happily prepared to go ho with her brother and sister, a hand suddenly grabbed her by the arm.
Isha blinked in confusion and looked at Vi, who had grabbed her.
Vi said with a serious expression, "You're sleeping with tonight."
Isha looked even more confused.
"Don't give the sad puppy look. It won't work. Tonight you're either sleeping with or sleeping sowhere else, but either way, you're not going ho tonight," Vi said.
Isha looked utterly lost.
Why?
Why was she suddenly not allowed to go ho anymore?
Night fell quickly.
Yi and Jax went back to the new city to rest, while Ekko and Zeri chose to go up to Piltover for round two, once they had finished enjoying the excitent of the lower city, they were going to join the upper city's celebration too.
At nine that night, at Logan's house, Logan had taken off his suit and changed into loose clothing. He looked over at Jinx, who had also bathed and changed.
The warm steam still clung to her. Her face was flushed red, and she sat obediently on the edge of the bed, both hands resting atop her pale thighs beneath her sleep pants, staring at Logan with those beautiful big eyes.
Her eyes were full of excitent.
"Logan, this ti I don't have to just watch and ss around, right? I can really do it this ti, right? It's legal now!"
Logan said nothing.
He only kept taking off his clothes.
Then Logan turned off the light.
"!"
"Logan, why are you turning off the light? If you turn off the light, then I won't be able to see anything!"
"???"
No, I'm turning off the light to spare your feelings, okay?
That one line from Jinx was enough to make Logan dizzy.
"Don't grab so hard. Let handle it," Logan said in a low voice with a muffled groan, just before silencing Jinx's little mouth.
When that first step was finally completed, tears the size of beans splashed onto Logan's elbow. That made him instinctively reach toward the corners of her eyes, gently stroke her cheek, and stop moving.
Then she opened her mouth on instinct, and what ca out left Logan with a face full of black lines.
"Is it over already?"
"That's it?"
Her voice sounded pitiful, weak and miserable, but the words coming out of her mouth didn't sound pitiful at all. To Logan, they even carried a hint of provocation.
"Tch, Logan, you're not as amazing as you said you were."
"What do you an it's over? I'm just getting started."
A man's pride could not be insulted!
Logan imdiately struck back, and the result was sharp nails raking down his back, along with the pitiful expression and sounds of the girl beneath him, who really had turned genuinely miserable this ti.
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