<div style="text-align: justify;">Mariya knew that she wouldn't be able to escape a confrontation forever. Yet, she wanted to keep away from it for as long as possible. She knew she would have to tell a lie at some point, as the truth would be a terrible choice. But she hoped to have some time to prepare until them.<br/><br/>Smiling when she noticed that Vitali perked up, Mariya allowed him to lead her to the park. It was a good idea to have a park to go to. Living back in England, she had gotten used to leaving the house to go to a local park and read a book, or something of the sort. It would be nice to have a place to do the same there.<br/><br/>She waited for Vitali to respond to her remark about marrying a heroic man, and laughed when he asked about what about him winning, her winning or them drawing, and her still getting to marry her heroic man. Still laughing, Mariya blushed a little as well. It was easy talking about marriage, of course. And it was a good solution for what she had gone there to do. But still, it felt a little awkward that she would have to be a <span style="font-style: italic">real</span> wife. At this thought, Mariya blushed again and tried to find something around to look at so Vitali wouldn't notice she was blushing really hard and ask what she was thinking about.<br/><br/>After her cheeks came closer to the normal color, Mariya turned back to Vitali and smiled. "I would marry you even if your most heroic action was to climb up a ladder to change lightbulbs", she joked. "You have no way out now, Viti", Mariya completed with a chuckle.<br/><br/>After reassuring Vitali that she would marry him, Mariya fell silent. Her hand would keep playing with his fingers while they walked to the park, and she would keep silent for a moment while trying to remember whatever she could gather in her memory about chess. She didn't think Vitali would cheat on her, but she wanted to at least be a good adversary to him, even if she was pretty sure that he would beat her easily, with how long it had been since she had last played.</div>