Arranged marriages.

Whoever started— accepted, that silly tradition in their family was probably a sadistic bastard who found pleasure in making people's lives miserable. It was only fair that every member gets a taste of marrying someone against their will, right? If you take a closer look, it wasn't that bad compared to how Louise viewed it.

Louise Brienne, soon-to-be Kolovisky.

Back then, she didn't question the tradition that continued on for god knows how long. Her fate being already sealed the moment she was born was hardly a bother for her because even at a young age, Louise knew she would have to go through the same process as her mother and father. They did tell her when she was just eight years old that she was bound for a perfect noble man, as what she was in their eyes.

They showered her with affection in their own little ways, and perhaps Louise saw it as something that she should repay by complying to their every request, that's why she had little to no qualms with the decisions they made for her even when it came to being engaged at an early age. Still, she would often ask the two if they at least held any ounce of love for each other despite the circumstances and when she did, they would only change the subject with awkward smiles etched on their faces.

Louise was just a curious girl after all.

Her parents only wanted what was best for their daughter, taking it in their hands to find the most suitable husband for her. Of course, being born with noble blood running through one's veins wasn't enough, some families had certain qualifications when it came to choosing their future in-laws.

And love was definitely the last thing that's ever taken into consideration.

How unfortunate that it was what she actually craved for out of all. As cliché as it may be, she only wanted what most girls of her age she assumed wanted too; to be the princess in her own fairytale and live happily ever after together with her prince. Her mother would always tell her,

"Soon you'll meet the one, Louise."

And she did.

At least she thought she did, he was insanely an expert in deceiving people with his angelic looks and gentleman acts. However, Louise recently found out that he was anything but a charming prince.

Luka Pavelovich Kolovisky.

Usually, the bride and groom have no knowledge of each others' presence before the engagement. Not on her case, Louise had already met him when they were younger; he was the eldest son of one of her father's acquaintances. They weren't relatively close, seeing that the boy was a few years older than her, but hey, age didn't matter much in arranged marriages. Louise was only grateful that her parents didn't decide to send her off to a middle aged man, unlike what happened to Josie.

Josephine Every.

Her parents agreed to a proposal from a Lord Henry or something like that, a Baron from a neighboring country and Josephine was to move there after their wedding ceremony. She was only sixteen, and Louise still shuddered at the thought of her friend staying in the same roof as the old man— she could feel the distress in poor Josie's letters whenever they did exchange. Everything else barely mattered in arranged marriages after all, as long as both families could benefit from each other, one's true colors or mental state was out of the question.

"Aren't you going to spare miss Louise? She can be of use to us in the future."

"Hmm, you do have a point. Maybe I will... for a few years."

Right, who would have thought that her fiancé had morbid plans of getting rid of them altogether? While he did say he was going to keep her alive for a few more years, who knows? Once he realized that she was no longer usable, Luka would definitely dispose of her like the mere pawn that she was.

And for what?

Their title? The massive wealth of the Brienne's? Her family didn't even own much in their life time and if anything, her parents were miraculously one of those few people who used their money for charity and the like. Wait, that must be it— it's because they were too gullible that they never noticed they were being taken advantage of.

Humans sure were greedy.

"Love, what are you doing there?"

"U–oh, I–I have you seen Freya anywhere? I–I've been looking for her all day, I'm… worried."

Louise mentally cursed for being a stuttering mess. Hell she was obviously trembling while trying to keep a straight face on! Who wouldn't? Especially when your loving, polite, and charismatic husband-to-be was revealed to be a big fraud. All of this display was just a façade, to lure them into his carefully-crafted web and then strike when they're most vulnerable. It wasn't even surprising that his most trusted advisor was also in behind the scenes with him, silently waiting for the right time to attack their unsuspecting prey.

"Maybe she's outside? I saw her a while ago."

Louise wanted to wipe that fake smile off his face so badly, if only she could. She sent them a hesitant look, before finally glancing the other way.

"T–thank you, Anton, I'll go check. Tell me if you ever see her running around here, okay?"

She tried her very best to stay calm but ultimately failed when she started bolting through the large hallway, leaving the two men behind. Louise only hoped that the idea they had in mind for her sudden hurry was because of her fluffy, black cat, and not because she overheard them and the little scheme they had in store for her family.

"Sir, do you think she..?"

"... Perhaps. But Louise is just like her mother, beautiful, elegant and naive. Even if she did find out, who is she going to tell?"

Louise Brienne was screwed.

She was only fourteen with parents who were too busy and excited for her engagement to even take note that she had fished a complete maniac for a fiancé. All she could do right now was to internally panic and relentlessly pace around the room for a solution without making the slightest wrong move that could easily lead to a worst case scenario. The whole situation screamed surreal that she could feel her perfect little world slowly crumble down, after all,

What would someone like her— who has never encountered something like this before, who was also undeniably desperate, and who possessed a large amount of cash— do?

And then like an imaginary light bulb, an idea sparked up inside her mind.

A hitman.

It was particularly quiet today, Sawada Tsunayoshi mused as he walked home with his best pals, Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi; the two were having their typical friendly spat. At times like these, explosions made by Lambo's weapons and some new member of the mafia would come barging in to terrorize his once tedious life, before surviving another day yet again thanks to Reborn's help and some inspirational quotes he probably found in the internet.

It wasn't all bad though, a small smile crept up on his face as he secretly admitted it. If it weren't for Reborn, he wouldn't be able to meet these amazing people right now, he wouldn't be able to make a move on Kyoko or even strike the tiniest bit of conversation with the popular girl, he wouldn't be able to laugh like this with a bunch of friends as they walked side by side together, he wouldn't be able to grow stronger everyday and protect his family—

Without Reborn, he would still be the No-Good-Tsuna from back then.

There was still the issue of his failing grades but that besides the point.

"Tsu-kun, welcome home," his mother, Sawada Nana, greeted as soon as he entered the house, Gokudera and Yamamoto following in suit after greeting the beaming woman back. "By the way, we have a rather lovely guest with us today. Reborn has such pretty friends, ne?" she continued with a dreamy sigh.

Tsuna shot her a confused look. "Friend?" At the prospect of having another uninvited guest, he instantly shut up. 'God, not again.' Hopefully it was a decent person this time but with the history of meeting the hitman's acquaintances, he knew for a fact that Reborn didn't have ordinary friends in the mafia business.

"Make her feel at home, okay?" said his mother one last time before she merrily strolled into the kitchen.

Her. So it was a woman. Tsuna only wished that this one was tamer compared to his friend's sister or else all hell would break loose if it was a carbon copy of the love-struck Bianchi.

'Only one way to find out.' He prepared himself as he grabbed the knob to his bedroom—

"Sil vou plait!(Please!) I'm begging you!"

The scene slowly unfolded in front of them as the door fully opened; there was Reborn, enjoying his afternoon drink, and a kneeling girl who had her head bowed so low that it reached the floor.

It was worse than Tsuna had imagined.

'She's worshipping him!'

"Oi, I can read you like a book you know," Reborn called out before throwing him the nearest thing he could get his hands on, which was ironically his math text book. And being the clumsy person that he was, he didn't manage to dodge as it hits him right in the face.

"Boss!"

"Tsuna! Are you okay?"

The commotion caught the girl's attention, quickly lifting her head up to turn and look at all of them. To say Tsuna wasn't mesmerized would be an understatement.

"Je suis desolee!(I'm very sorry!)"

"W–what?" Tsuna rubbed his swollen face, brightly red due to the hard toss of his tutor and because of the pretty stranger's delicate features.

"Who are you?" Gokudera gritted his teeth as he approached the said girl, his hands reaching for the bombs hidden inside his pockets. Good thing Yamamoto's laid back attitude, and his cheerful smile that seemed to piss off the silver head every time, were enough to ease the tension in the room.

"C'mon guys, let's all calm down."

"Don't tell me what to do baseball head!"

"Please, Gokudera-kun—"

"But tenth! This person just went inside your house like she owns the place!"

What a lie.

"I actually invited her in, Gokudera."

Everyone's heads were now facing Reborn; the boys' eyes had the look of confusion in them and the girl well, was still waiting for his say to her request. Reborn wasn't an indecisive type of man, once he makes up his mind to do something or not, it was final. And so was his reply to the girl,

"Sorry, but you have to wait in line. I can't leave until I make a decent boss out of Tsuna."

Louise had no idea what he was specifically talking about but she knew the answer through those words of his. "But you're the strongest hitman, Reborn! I've heard of your countless works before, no one could possibly be better than you— I need you!"

Thankfully Bianchi wasn't around or else she would go on a rampage at the thought of her lover having an affair with another woman. The last thing they needed on a Monday was a hurricane of messes.

"Are you… confessing your love? To Reborn out of all people?!" Tsuna could only scream, to think that an infant was a better chick magnet than him was just maddening.

"Tsuna don't be dumb." As much as the arcobaleno wanted to shoot his student on the head for coming up with something so ridiculous, he decided to save it for later and immediately clarified things to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings,

"She wants me to shoot her fiancé dead."

"What?!"