Call me Hubby, Darling or Ash

After thinking for a moment, Asher replied to Aelia with a serious expression on his face.

"Well, if you want to sign a contract, I'll agree to your terms, but I have some conditions of my own."

Aelia thought that this was quite reasonable while signing a contract. Actually, Aelia wanted to sign the contract because she could not figure out why Asher was acting so generous towards her. First, he mysteriously sent her an invaluable dress for her birthday. Next, he himself appeared on her birthday in spite of never showing his face to the public outside of Delphia. Aelia knew that Asher had taken quite a risk to attend her birthday party. It was just that she could not figure out why Asher was behaving so.

Since Aelia agreed with Asher's proposition, she quickly brought out a contract paper from her drawer of her father's office table and began to write down her terms.

1. Both parties will agree to put their focus on their official duties and make sure that feelings do not hinder their actual mission of fulfilling the prophecy.

2. After the fulfilment of the prophecy, both parties are free to get out of the marriage with a divorce.

3. No intimate physical contact can be initiated by either party, before the fulfilment of the prophecy.

4. During the period of the marriage, both parties will respect and remain loyal to each other. Either party can find another partner, only after their divorce after the fulfilment of the prophecy.

Aelia could not think of any other terms, that she was supposed to pay attention to. Thus, she passed the contract paper to Asher and said, "Your Highness, here take a look! See, if you can accept these terms or if you want to modify anything and add your own conditions.

Asher took the paper and immediately frowned after seeing the first term of their contract. The further down he read, the more displeased he felt.

He immediately pointed to her first condition and said, "My angel! I agree that our mission should be one of our top priorities. But I really want to work out this marriage with you! So, I can't agree with the fact that we would not be even allowed to cultivate our feelings!"

"But..."

Aelia was about to say something, but was interrupted by Asher.

"How would you even know that we aren't meant for each other if we don't even give it a try! Hmm? Let's change the first term to this: 'Both parties will agree to put their focus on their official duties, but will also try to cultivate mutual feelings without hindering their work.' How about this?"

Aelia reluctantly agreed to this term, for she could not find any other reason to refute Asher.

Seeing that his angel had agreed, Asher continued, "The second term is alright."

Aelia was surprised to hear this. She had thought that Asher would try to get out of this condition as he had said so much about cultivating feelings with each other.

However, Asher's reasons were quite simple. He was sure that before their tasks were over, he could make Aelia believe in his love for her. After all, how could he let his angel get out of this marriage, after he waited so patiently for over ten years?

Asher continued, "The third condition of no intimate contact is not really possible! We have to at least pretend to be truly married in front of others. Let's change it to: 'Intimate physical contact initiated by either party are to be kept to the minimum and would depend on either party's discretion.'

This time too Aelia could not find any possible reasons to refute him. Thus, she nodded in acknowledgement.

Asher then gave her a pleased smile. The fourth term of the contract really delighted him as he never wanted to share his angel with anyone. As it was, he knew that his sweet angel was bound to attract some bees and butterflies, but this condition would ensure that she only belonged to him and he would also get her full attention.

He said with a pleased expression, "Now I'm alright with your conditions. I have only one condition of my own to add to this."

Saying this, he took the pen from Aelia and wrote something down on the contract paper. Then he handled the document back to her.

Aelia took the paper and after seeing the condition he added, her eyes bulged.

It was written:

5. Aelia Romanov will call Asher Ignatius Ivanov as 'Husband', 'Hubby', 'Darling' and 'Ash', effective immediately after signing this contract.

For a moment, Aelia felt that she was seeing things. She read the sentence again and was rendered speechless on realizing that this was exactly what Asher had written. She really did not know how to react upon seeing the shameless words written by the Crown Prince of Delphia on such a serious contract paper.

She asked a little hesitantly, "Your Highness, w-what is the meaning of this?"

Asher gave Aelia an inscrutable look and said with a serious expression on his face, "Well, you see you have a habit of always calling me Your Highness! What do you think will happen if our enemies hear you addressing me so formally and realize that our relationship is not that steady? They will try to take advantage of this and eventually cause more problems for us. So, I've added this term to the contract to make sure that you'll always remember to not call me so formally in front of others. This will thus ensure that outsiders won't be able to know about the real condition of our relationship."

Hearing Asher's righteous words, though Aelia's doubts were dispelled a little, she still felt that something was amiss. However much she thought, Aelia couldn't pinpoint what was really amiss about what Asher said.

Actually, Asher just wanted his angel to not call him so rigidly. He could not wait to hear his angel calling him sweetly as 'hubby' and 'darling'! Just thinking about it, made Asher feel as if his heart had been dipped in a jar of honey.

However, Aelia soon poured a bucket of cold water over his warm thoughts. She frowned and said, "Let's change the 'and' to 'or'!"

Thus the final contract eventually looked like this:

1. Both parties will put their focus on their official duties, but will also try to cultivate mutual feelings without hindering their work.

2. After the fulfilment of the prophecy, both parties are free to get out of the marriage with a divorce.

3. Intimate physical contact initiated by either party are to be kept to the minimum and would depend on either party's discretion.

4. During the period of the marriage, both parties will respect and remain loyal to each other. Either party can find another partner, only after their divorce after the fulfilment of the prophecy.

5. Aelia Romanov will call Asher Ignatius Ivanov as 'Husband', 'Hubby', 'Darling' or 'Ash', effective immediately after signing this contract.