"Any gift from you is important, Zichen." Xingchen doesn't hesitate to claim, then tilts his head in soft curiosity as Zichen tells him what the gift is, 'gold ring' having no significance to him beyond something far more expensive than he needs or can appreciate - he knows that gold is considered beautiful, but, well.

Zichen is the one who can see it.

Then the words follow and he freezes, tense all over again where the warmth of the embraces had just managed to ease him.

"Zichen..."

On the other hand, he can't find it in himself to ask why him. Xingchen himself knows that there could be nobody else, not that he'd even dared dream of marriage, even before.

On the other hand...

Before Heaven and Earth... Before their ancestors. Before each other.

Xingchen was the reason of the slaughter of the people Zichen considered ancestors. His was the hand that ended his dear life...

Zichen just asked that they leave the past behind, but - what was a marriage if not a union of the history, of the past, to make the future possible?

"Zichen, are you certain?"

At least his voice doesn't waver. There is no disbelief in it, either, merely...

Would he not condemn them both, if they should tie their fates together like this!

But even this is nothing like rejection. His voice is filled with wonder, his hands settle on the outside of Zichen's arms, not daring to reach for what he is offered, but not letting go either.

"It is what you want?"