[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 114: In Which I’m Petty (And Justified)

The next morning started with Void trying to eat my pillow.

"No," I said, gently removing the furrball from where it had latched onto the fabric with its newly grown crystalline teeth. "That’s not food."

"Food?" Void asked hopefully, mouth still open.

"No. Food is what Mara makes. Pillows are what I sleep on. Different categories."

Void made a disappointed sound but released the pillow, floating over to examine Azryth’s face instead with intense focus.

"Don’t eat him either," I added.

Azryth opened one eye. "I appreciate the intervention."

"You’re welcome." I stretched, feeling various things pop that probably shouldn’t. "How long has it been awake?"

"An hour. It tried to eat the blanket, the nightstand, and my hair before moving to your pillow."

"Productive morning for Void."

"Food?" Void asked again, now hovering near the door with obvious intent.

"Fine. Let’s go see if Mara’s made breakfast."

We emerged from the bedroom to find the common area already occupied. Henrik was at the table with his tablet, Mara was in the kitchen doing something that smelled incredible, and Ryota stood near the window with his phone, looking unusually tense.

"Morning," I said, claiming a spot on the couch.

Azryth sat beside me immediately, close enough that our legs pressed together, and Void settled on my lap with a pleased hum.

"Food!" it announced.

"Soon," Mara called from the kitchen. "I’m making pancakes. With actual maple syrup, not that weird coalition substitute that tastes like sadness."

"Bless you," I said.

Through the binding, I felt Azryth’s amusement mixing with contentment. Apparently domestic mornings with nexus energy child and impending doom were his aesthetic now.

Ryota’s phone buzzed again, and his jaw tightened.

"Problem?" Henrik asked, looking up from his tablet.

"Chen Wei called me at three this morning," Ryota said, his voice flat in that way that meant he was containing annoyance. "About Switzerland. She’s been sending follow-up messages every thirty minutes since."

The room’s energy shifted immediately.

"What happened to Switzerland?" Mara asked, setting down her spatula.

"Remember the woman in the chocolate shop? The one who could see Void?"

"The reality merger affected person," Henrik confirmed. "Yes, didn’t you report her to Chen Wei for training."

"Right. Chen Wei investigated, found the woman, and seven other people in the same area who’ve recently developed the ability to see dimensional anomalies." Ryota’s expression was grim. "As of this morning, that number is up to fifteen. And growing."

"Fifteen?" Mara abandoned the pancake entirely and moved to her scanner. "That’s not a cluster, that’s an outbreak."

"It gets worse," Ryota continued. "The coalition detected energy clumps forming in that specific area. Concentrated dimensional power that’s not dissipating naturally. They’ve tried standard dispersal protocols, but it didn’t work, warden techniques also didn’t work. The energy is actively resisting intervention and building up instead."

I felt Azryth’s attention sharpen.

"Chen Wei’s been trying to handle this," Ryota said. "But it’s escalating faster than they can respond. Reality distortions are visible now, the area around that chocolate shop is becoming dimensionally unstable."

"And she’s calling you because..." I prompted, though I already knew where this was going.

"She wants you and Azryth to investigate." Ryota met my eyes. "She thinks you might be able to handle whatever’s causing this since you’ve dealt with rifts, the nexus, and dimensional anomalies that the coalition couldn’t touch."

I stared at him.

Then I started laughing.

"No," I said when I could breathe again. "Absolutely not."

"Riven..." Mara started.

"Nope. Not doing it."

"The situation is serious," Henrik said carefully. "If it’s related to the entity fragment the arbiters mentioned..."

"Still no."

Azryth’s hand found mine on the couch, and through the binding I felt his quiet satisfaction. He knew exactly where this was going and he approved.

"You’re refusing to investigate a dimensional anomaly that could be the entity fragment we’re looking for? Why?" Mara asked slowly.

"I’m refusing to help Chen Wei," I corrected. "There’s a difference."

"Why? And what’s the difference?"

"One involves cosmic responsibility, the other involves dealing with someone who’s spent months being actively hostile to us." I leaned back against the couch. "Chen Wei called our binding inherently corrupted. She filed seventeen separate complaints about it. She blamed the entire rift crisis and reality merger on our bond. And now she wants our help?"

Void made an approving chirp and created a small burst of sparkles near my face.

"Thank you, Void. At least someone understands."

"Even though Chen Wei is a self-righteous bureaucrat who thinks her moral authority trumps basic competence," Mara said, "and I absolutely agree you deserve an apology... we don’t know what happens if we wait. What if it gets worse while you’re making a point?"

"Then Chen Wei can apologize faster," I said.

"Riven, people are being affected..."

"And Chen Wei has an entire coalition at her disposal. If she can’t handle this without us, maybe she should reconsider her position on demon-warden collaboration." I looked at Ryota. "Tell her we’ll help. After she issues an official apology."

"Official," Henrik repeated carefully.

"Yes. A public statement, sent to coalition leadership, acknowledged by the higher-ups, on record." I ticked off the requirements on my fingers. "She needs to publicly admit that she was wrong about our binding, that her complaints were unfounded, and that Azryth deserves respect as my husband."

Mara made a sound that might have been exasperation or might have been reluctant approval.

"You want Chen Wei to publicly apologize to Azryth," Ryota said. "In front of the entire coalition leadership."

"Yes." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"She’s not going to do it."

"Then Switzerland can keep getting weirder while she figures out her priorities."

Through the binding, I felt Azryth’s deep satisfaction. Apparently defending his honor aggressively was very romantic.

"I’m not a coalition member," I continued. "Chen Wei has no authority over me or my demon lord husband, she can’t spend months calling our marriage an abomination and then expect us to come running when she needs help. That’s not how it works."

"The entity fragment..." Henrik started.

"Is concerning, yes. But Chen Wei doesn’t even know it’s an entity fragment. She just knows there’s weird energy that she can’t handle and people developing abilities she can’t explain." I shrugged. "If she wants our expertise, she can ask properly. With a public apology that acknowledges she was wrong."

Void created another sparkle, this one popping with emphasis.

Azryth’s thumb brushed over my knuckles. "I support this entirely."

"I know you do." I smiled at him. "You like it when I’m petty on your behalf."

"I do."

Mara had returned to the kitchen and was aggressively flipping pancakes. "This is ridiculous."

"This is principled," I corrected.

"You’re holding a dimensional crisis hostage."

"I’m establishing boundaries. There’s a difference."

Ryota was already typing on his phone. "I’m sending your requirements to Chen Wei. Don’t blame me when this explodes."

"I accept full responsibility for the explosion."

We waited while Ryota sent the message. Mara brought plates of pancakes, eggs and toast to the table with more force than necessary, clearly torn between supporting my stance and worrying about the escalating situation.

Henrik was very carefully not commenting, which meant he probably agreed but didn’t want to get involved.

Void was happily eating eggs from my plate, making pleased sounds with each bite.

"Food good!" it announced.

Ryota’s phone buzzed almost immediately.

He looked at the screen, then at me. "She says no."

"Shocking."

"She says the situation is too urgent for ’personal grievances’ and you need to prioritize dimensional stability over ego."

I felt my eyebrow rise. "Ego. That’s rich coming from someone who blamed rifts tearing reality apart on my marriage."

Another buzz.

"She’s now saying that refusing to help makes you complicit in any damage that occurs," Ryota read. "And that your binding has clearly compromised your judgment."

"There it is," I said. "Even when she needs our help, she can’t help herself."

Azryth’s hand tightened on mine. "Tell Chen Wei that the binding is permanent, our marriage is valid, and if she cannot accept that basic reality, then she cannot expect our assistance. We’ve saved her world twice now. She can show basic respect or handle her own problems."

His voice was quiet, but there was cold steel underneath it.

Through the binding, I felt his anger...not at me, never at me, but at Chen Wei’s persistent refusal to accept that we’d chosen this, that it was real, that it mattered.

Ryota sent the message without comment.

The silence stretched for several minutes.

Then his phone started ringing.