Stars Waited Above Empty Streets by Lorin Wren 12

The Five Powerhouses Who Match the Unwilling Bride 

Chapter 12 Never Hope for the Unlikely 

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“Ava, have you ever thought about trying to find your birth parents? It’s been years, and it would take time, but it’s not impossible,” Elias asked. 

If Ava ever wanted to search, the Morrens would do everything they could to help her. 

Ava shook her head with quiet determination. “Thanks, Uncle Elias, but I don’t want to look for my birth parents. From the moment Grandpa found me, I’ve been part of the Morrens. I was 

then, I am now, and I always will be.” 

“I just can’t understand what kind of parents could be that cruel,” Jane said through gritted teeth. “Having a daughter is something most families dream of, and yet some people could throw that away like it’s nothing. The law should be changed. Abandoning a baby ought to be treated as a serious crime, and even the mother should suffer the harshest punishment.” 

This setting is purely fictional and should not be associated with real–world science or reality. 

In the Age of the Stars, giving birth to a baby girl was almost impossible. Male X sperm cells barely survived outside the body. They couldn’t be cultured or used to create fertilized eggs artificially. Unlike boys, girls couldn’t be grown entirely in labs. The only way was through natural conception. And even then, some women went their whole lives without ever having a daughter. 

Most women who managed to conceive would transfer the fetus into an artificial womb around the third month of pregnancy. Among those girls, only one in a thousand would later Awaken. 

Daughters of Awakened women had a much higher chance of Awakening than anyone else. 

“Jane, you’re an Awakened, aren’t you?” Ava asked, her tone leaving no room for doubt. 

“I Awakened when I was 28. Right now, I hold the title of third–tier viscount.” Jane didn’t sound surprised about it. Her mother, Margaret, was, after all, a countess. Which meant Jane had every chance of rising from viscount to count someday. 

“Ava, even ordinary women can still Awaken,” Jane replied. 

Ava met her gaze calmly. “Even the daughters of Awakened women don’t always Awaken themselves. I’ve never wasted time hoping for something that unlikely.” 

She had already missed her best window. Ava didn’t bother checking the profiles of the remaining candidates. She had made her choice–to walk away. 

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Back at the Match Bureau, she hadn’t had the heart to say no outright. There was no official marriage registration yet, but by law, their relationship was already considered a marriage. 

Now, if she wanted out, there was only one way–to file for divorce. And once she did, her marital status would carry a single label, divorced. 

Sometimes, Ava thought interstellar law treated women like they were nothing more than tools. It felt wild that the system could legally force a 25–year–old, barely an adult, into marriage. Even ordinary girls without any Awakened ability lived for more than two centuries, so there was no reason to bind themselves to anyone that early. 

The only thing that brought her a little comfort was the rise of artificial wombs that had completely replaced natural pregnancy. Without them, the lives of women in this era would have been pure tragedy. 

My so–called matches, those men I’ve never even met, are probably having a hard time eating or sleeping right now. After all, they got thrown into a forced pairing, and I just vanished. If I put myself in their place, I would lose sleep too if I were suddenly matched with some stranger out of nowhere. 

They are all impressive in their own ways, but that is precisely the problem. They are too good. Honestly, I think they deserve someone better. Sure, the interstellar population has more men than women, but the top–tier ones, the kind everyone wants, are just as rare and just as wanted. Guys like them could get married in a heartbeat if they wanted to. The fact that none of them even has a girlfriend tells me they are not looking for that right now. 

Ava stayed up all night going through the interstellar law again. She noticed there wasn’t anything explicitly stating that women had to take a certain number of husbands. Pondering it to herself, she realized this loophole wasn’t impossible to exploit. 

She just couldn’t bring herself to go along with the crowd. But the idea of not wanting to marry was absolutely unacceptable in this world. If anyone sensed such thoughts, the authorities would likely brand her a heretic in an instant. 

A few days ago, a girl named Lianne had sent her a message through personal comms, checking in to see how she was doing. Ava didn’t give a straight answer about her match results. She just said she had arrived on Capitol Planet and wanted to meet privately. 

Ava’s bedroom was over a hundred square meters, complete with a bathroom, a gym, a study, and even a small lounge. This was the kind of place she’d never even dreamed of before. She rearranged the gym slightly, clearing out a small area. 

For some reason today, she felt a spark of interest. Slipping into the training outfit she had made herself, she warmed up a bit and then began moving freely. 

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She danced with focus and pure enjoyment. It was a feeling she hadn’t had in a long time. In her previous life, her mother had enrolled her in countless classes, but dance was the one thing she stuck with the longest. After graduating from Northern Dance Academy, she was fortunate enough to join a prestigious dance company. By the age of 23, she had become the lead dancer and won multiple awards. 

But fate played a cruel trick when she was 28. She was in a severe car accident that ended her dance career. Her boyfriend of a year left her shortly after. She spent over half a year in quiet isolation before, with her family’s encouragement, she started a new chapter in life. She switched paths and began creating content focused on traditional culture. 

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