Ethan stirred the murky substance in the bowl with a spoon, eyeing Damian suspiciously. "You're not trying to poison me, are you?" he demanded.
"It's not poisoned." Seeing Ethan's disbelief, Damian took the bowl, scooped a spoonful into his own mouth, swallowed, and then offered it back. "No poison."
Hesitantly, Ethan took the bowl back. He scooped up some of the dark vegetable mush and took a bite. An intensely bitter and astringent taste filled his mouth; he barely managed not to spit it out.
"This tastes awful! Don't you have anything else to eat?" Ethan looked up at Damian pitifully. Even a hostage deserved some dignity, right? Pigs would probably turn their noses up at this stuff!
"I'm sorry... there's nothing else." Damian looked ashamed. He quickly took the bowl back, carefully scooped up another spoonful of the mush, and gently offered it to Ethan's lips.
Ethan turned his head away, asking hopefully, "What about rice porridge? Surely you have plain rice porridge? If not that, then steamed buns?"
Damian just shook his head again, a hint of dejection on his face.
Seeing this reaction, Ethan's eyes widened almost out of their sockets. He couldn't help cursing under his breath, "Damn! You don't even have that? Dude, how poor are you?"
Nowadays, even most rural areas in Aldoria could afford meat sometimes. To not even have plain rice porridge... had he been kidnapped and taken to some godforsaken remote hovel?
No wonder you turned to kidnapping, Ethan thought bitterly, though he didn't say it aloud.
Seeing Ethan's disappointment, Damian quickly explained, "The money the family had saved up was all spent on our wedding suits. But don't worry, as soon as you're a bit better, I'll go hunting in the mountains." Not only was food an issue, but the money to pay the doctor who'd seen Ethan had been borrowed from the Village Elder. He needed to pay it back as soon as possible.
Hearing this, Ethan froze. He asked, bewildered, "Wedding suits? What wedding suits?"
Damian pointed towards a dilapidated wardrobe leaning against the corner wall. On the top shelf lay two sets of clean, folded red clothes. "The ones we wore for our wedding."
It was because Ethan had once casually remarked, "When I get married, I definitely want to wear bright red clothes, make everyone in the village jealous." Damian had remembered that remark for a long time. So, when Mr. Evans came asking for help, Damian had agreed without hesitation. He'd then resolutely spent all his savings on these two red suits for the wedding. He never expected such an accident to happen on the wedding day...
God knows how panicked Damian had been seeing Ethan lying motionless in the field. And when he saw Ethan's bound hands and feet, he'd felt an urge to kill everyone present. If his father-in-law hadn't shouted, "Ethan's still breathing! Quick, get a doctor!" pulling him back to sanity, perhaps only one of the three villages below Blackstone Ridge would still exist today.
Unaware he had nearly become the cause of a massacre due to his looks, Ethan followed Damian's finger. When he saw the pile of red fabric, so out of place in the shabby house, he was visibly stunned. After a long moment, he found his voice. Pointing a trembling finger at himself, then at Damian, he asked nervously, "Did you say... married? We... got married?"
"Yes." Damian nodded.
"Wait! Buddy, let me confirm – we're both guys, right?"
"Yes." Damian nodded again.
"Are you kidding me? How can two guys get married?" As far as he remembered, Aldoria hadn't legalized same-sex marriage yet, had it?
"It's possible here. The birth rate for girls in Blackstone Ridge is low, so not every adult man can find a wife. Therefore, some men who prefer men, or those who can't find wives, pair up to live together. Over time, men marrying men became commonplace." Knowing Ethan's head injury might have left him confused, Damian explained patiently.
"What about girls? Can two girls get married?" Ethan asked instinctively, purely out of curiosity.
Damian shook his head, explaining again, "Girls are already scarce in Blackstone Ridge. To ensure the bloodlines continue, marriage between two women isn't allowed."
Hearing this, Ethan felt indignant on behalf of the local women. "Damn! That's so unfair!" It was the 21st century! Wasn't gender equality supposed to be a thing? How could such a feudal, backward village still exist!
"No wonder the village is so poor!" Ethan muttered, pursing his lips.
Damian sighed helplessly. "There's nothing to be done. We can't let the bloodlines of Blackstone Ridge die out, can we?"
"Fuck! Do you guys have a throne to inherit or something?" Ethan couldn't help cursing. "Does that mean girls who marry into your villages have to keep having babies until they produce a son?"
"Well, naturally, the more children the better. It doesn't matter if they're boys or girls," Damian nodded. In their three villages, every family had at least two children.
Damn, damn, damn! Ethan was furious at his words.
But Damian, born and raised in Blackstone Ridge and indoctrinated with the belief that many children brought many blessings, didn't understand Ethan's anger. He could only try to soothe him softly, "But Ethan, you're a boy. You don't have to give birth." Compared to other villagers, Damian wasn't actually that concerned about bloodlines; otherwise, he wouldn't have married a man. As for his sister, Chloe, if she wanted children, fine. If she didn't, he would support her. No one in the Evans family would dare pressure his sister into having children.
What the hell! Damian's words reminded Ethan—he'd mentioned marriage. So, he hadn't been kidnapped... he'd been sold to this remote mountain village to be someone's male wife?
!!! Ethan, convinced he'd guessed correctly, broke out in a cold sweat. He stared warily at Damian, carefully inching himself further towards the edge of the bed.
"Gurgle gurgle~" His stomach, empty for days, let out a loud rumble.
Before Damian could react, Ethan snatched the bowl of vegetable mush from his hand. Pinching his nose, he gulped it down like bitter medicine. If he wanted to escape, he needed strength first!
Ethan fought back the urge to vomit. With something finally in his stomach, the dizzying hunger pangs subsided. Having eaten, Ethan's mind cleared slightly. He was in an unfamiliar place, it was pitch black outside – now was definitely not the right time to attempt an escape.
He looked up at Damian and asked tentatively, "Buddy, this Blackstone Ridge... which province of Aldoria is it in? How come I've never heard of it?" He hadn't seen it on any map either. Maybe the villagers just made the name up?
"Aldoria? Province?" Damian mulled over these unfamiliar terms for a long moment before asking, "Are you asking about the location of the Blackstone Ridge mountain range, Ethan?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Ethan nodded eagerly.
"Blackstone Ridge was originally a small mountain range in the Province of Qi on the Continent of Nine Realms. Later, the Nine Realms collapsed, and Blackstone Ridge was swallowed by the Wildlands. To ensure the survival of the people living below Blackstone Ridge in the Wildlands, the Beast God Pixiu used its spiritual power to create a barrier around the entire range, preventing the monsters of the Wildlands from entering, allowing the mortals within the mountains to live and reproduce undisturbed. But when the barrier was created, it also meant that the people inside Blackstone Ridge could no longer leave."
"???" Ethan tilted his head. The more he heard, the more confused he became.