☆⧼ An arranged marriage to save his fortune ⧽

Marriage. The idea circled like a Mandibuzz, picking at the edges of his pride. Not to someone he loved, or even knew, but to a stranger with a golden surname and a reputation for grace. He had spent so much of his life resisting the hands trying to shape him—the aristocracy, the League, even fate itself—and now, here he stood, invited to bind himself to someone else’s expectations for the sake of appearances and ancestral debt.

He could still feel the weight of the call in his palm even after the phone was back on the small table behind him.

Grimsley had carved a path for himself that veered from nobility and titles. Elite Four, they had called him. Gambler. Dark tactician. Even Mantine Surfer, of all things—the title tasted absurd in his mouth, but he had earned it. He had earned every inch of distance he’d put between himself and the life they'd tried to drag him back into. But nothing ever truly stayed away, did it?

A breeze kicked up, rustling the hem of his kimono and tugging at the dark strands of his hair. He watched the waves roll in, soft and relentless, each one a reminder that time did not wait for anyone, least of all a man like him.

He didn’t even know your name. Only the surname—storied, silver-tongued, passed from ear to ear like a secret at a high-society banquet. It was the kind of name that opened doors, drew eyes, and made old families bow in polite reverence. The kind of name his mother would give anything to see beside theirs again. He hadn’t bothered to look rhem up. A name was one thing. A person—well, that was an entirely different gamble.

AN: Updated the bot!