Ever since the incident of "entering the house", my wife doesn't allow me to be far away from her. She even had the idea of tying a little snake around me like before. In order to reassure my wife, I stopped talking to Evelyne and the other witches, and the only people I could chat with were Granny Bonari and the little girl Lulu...

This is not a sustainable situation. I understand my wife's feelings very well. We urgently need something that can prove that we are "a pair". During the time I was studying, couples used to have couple phone charms and wear couple outfits. By the way, back then, I had a couple teddy bear hanging on my backpack with my girlfriend, and we even had matching shoelaces. Although I have forgotten what "matching shoelaces" exactly meant, my wife and I do need something like this as a symbol of our relationship.

Hmm... a ring would be the best choice. We are adults now, and our thinking should be more mature. We can't have Granny make us two straw dolls to carry around, can we? Should we use needles to play with each other out of boredom?

I found the pronunciation of the word "ring" in my notebook. For words that are not commonly used, I usually look them up on the spot.

"Mr. Raul, do you understand?"

"Oh, oh, I still don't understand."

Granny Bonar continued her magic teaching. Today's lesson was about a very important principle of magic. I roughly understood what it meant. To put it simply, "the effectiveness of magic is directly proportional to the consumption of magic." For example, the consumption of magic is different when using it to ignite dry firewood compared to wet firewood.

Or to put it even more simply, if this were a online game, casting a small fireball would require one point of magic, casting a big fireball would require three points of magic, and casting a huge fireball would require nine points of magic. These are all fireball spells, but because the consumption increases, the effect becomes stronger.

This principle is absolute, and all magic must abide by it.

Although I'm not sure if my understanding is correct, it sounds unexpectedly reasonable. Perhaps it's because this principle itself is very fair?

But this brings up another question, what does consumption of magic mean? Does everyone here have a "mana bar"?

Granny Bonar once again clarified my doubts through practical action. She first used the glass tube to measure her own magic power (I called it a magic meter), and the value was about nine point five. Then, she cast a magic that seemed to be similar to heating, instantly boiling a large pot of water without any heating process. After that, she measured her magic power again, and the value became eight. This means that boiling a large pot of water requires one point five of magic value.

The consumed magic can slowly recover, but if one accidentally exhausts all of their magic at once, they may faint. Magic can be said to be a very interesting concept, and it even has a connection with physical strength and willpower.

Although it was eye-opening, I felt a bit inferior. It turns out that my magic is not even enough to boil a pot of water...

I still have limited knowledge about magic, and it is difficult for me as an "outsider" to understand such mysterious things. I recorded all the magic I have seen these past few days, so that I can refer to them in the future if I encounter them again.

"By the way, Granny, we need rings."

"Rings? Oh, oh, I understand."

"Well, it's... that kind, I have one, and she has one too."

During lunch, I mentioned the matter of rings to Granny Bonar. Actually, the idea of rings was also heavily influenced by games. In those RPG games, they always had accessories or something like that, and wearing a ring would also fill one of their equipment slots.

Granny Bonar's room was like a treasure trove, and the small wooden box on the table was one of the many "treasures". Inside the box was a transparent little bead. If this bead wasn't placed in a delicately crafted wooden box, and if the box wasn't taken out by a witch's hand, it would just be a plastic ball used for making bracelets in my eyes.

But at this moment, I subjectively chose to believe that it was a bead full of magical power.

"I thought this thing would never be brought out again."

Granny Bonar smiled, her tone conveying either gladness or nostalgia.

The animal leather covered with strange symbols was spread out on the table, and a small knife was placed beside it. It seemed that this was all the preparation that was needed. I said, let's make a ring, but this setup seems a bit extravagant...

First, place the bead on that piece of leather. According to Granny's instructions, both my wife and I used the small knife to cut our fingers, and let a drop of each person's blood fall onto the transparent bead. The blood of the magical creature and the blood of the human were absorbed completely into the little bead, which was once transparent, but now looked like a teardrop of blood red.

"Mr. Raul, I need you to think carefully before answering the next question."

"Alright."

"Do you love your wife, regardless of life or death?"

"Yes."

"Are you willing to feed your wife with your own flesh and blood?"

"Yes."

"Are you willing to face the dark future together with your wife?"

"Yes."

Although it should be a joyous occasion, these questions and answers are filled with darkness and death. Next, it's the daughter-in-law's turn.

"Mrs. Raul, I need you to think carefully before answering the next question."

"Alright."

"Do you love your husband, regardless of life or death?"

"Yes."

"Are you willing to protect your husband with your own body?"

"Yes."

"Are you willing to face the dark future together with your husband?"

"Yes."

What does it mean to protect your husband with your body? What does it mean to feed your wife with flesh and blood? Is this a wedding vow or a ghost story?

"Alright! That's enough... Hey ya!!!"

With a loud slap, Grandma Bonarie split the pearl in half as if she were a martial arts master.

Oh my goodness, Grandma, are you acting like Bruce Lee with us?

I nearly fell off my chair from being startled by that slap. Even my wife trembled in fear.

Grandma Bonarie kept the split pearl and then proceeded to make the rings. At this point, I understood that the pearl was the "gemstone" embedded in the two rings, symbolizing the unity of me and my wife, representing an unwavering commitment to love.

The process of making the rings was quite different from what I had imagined. There was no melting of metal; instead, the metal wires were hammered into a ring shape using a small hammer. Then, with the help of magic, the blood-red pearls were embedded, and finally, the rings were rubbed in ashes. The two rings were completed.

I have to say, the rings looked strange. Like two intertwined silver snakes biting tightly onto a blood-red pearl. Some gaps were filled with black ashes, and with the opaque blood-red luster, it felt like there was a touch of evil within the rings.

"Husband~"

"Hey hey."

My wife grabbed my hand and eagerly helped me put the ring on my middle finger. I also put the slightly smaller ring on her middle finger. I didn't know the significance of wearing a ring on the middle finger, but it was only because the ring was too big to fit on any other finger...

We held our hands together, admiring the two hands with rings, and couldn't help but smile foolishly at each other.

Although I was happy and fulfilled my wife's little wish, a strange sense of crisis arose in my heart. It was like a picture hidden under a sheet of paper, with no details visible, but forcing me to constantly speculate.

What was the reason behind this comedic ceremony?

And those vows, they seemed too dark. What did it mean to feed your wife with flesh and blood? Why not talk about a bright future, but a dark future instead? It's truly amazing how we foolishly said "yes" to everything. What if this is some kind of curse?

These two rings are definitely not as simple as couples' rings.

Too much curiosity dragged me out of bed. I glanced at my sleeping wife and knocked on Grandma Bonarie's door.

There was only the light of a single candle in the small room. The kind-hearted old witch, who appeared serene during the day, now had half of her body immersed in darkness, making her smile much more sinister. I gritted my teeth and tried not to show the word "fear" on my face.

Grandma Bonarie couldn't possibly be a bad person, I thought to myself as I sat down at the table.

"Young man, do you have a cigarette? I forgot to buy them when the black market came last time..."

"Oh, yes, I do."

I handed a cigarette to the old lady and watched as her dry hands unwrapped the cigarette paper and stuffed the tobacco into the long pipe. The candlelight flickered, and the smoke greedily burrowed into Grandma's throat.

"Is it about the ring?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's not a very pleasant story..."