77.

I took Norma’s hand and awkwardly stood up. Just in time, the surroundings brightened. It seemed that Edio was burning the last of his holy power.

“I’m happy.”

“……”

“You kept your promise to watch the fireworks together.”

In the softly lit scenery, Norma Diazi kissed the back of my hand as if in response. I felt utterly despondent in this situation.

“….Would you really be happy being by my side? I really don’t know.”

After staying awake for two nights, my bloodshot eyes were on the verge of bursting as I mumbled in vain.

In this situation, there was no way I could recite the lines that Ektra had picked out so diligently. My head was pounding from all the shouting, and I couldn’t remember much.

Kano once said I was clueless, but I wasn’t bad at reading emotions.

Norma was certainly smiling, but he looked sad. Proposing to that face? He must realize by looking at me that everything was completely messed up.

“You heard it all, didn’t you?”

“…..”

Norma remained silent. Just how much did he hear? My fists clenched automatically.

He still said nothing, gently caressing the corners of my undoubtedly reddened eyes with his hand. Then, after a moment, he stared at my neck.

I remembered Kano biting my neck earlier and shifted my gaze awkwardly. Norma smiled gently and slowly rubbed his thumb over the spot on my neck where Kano had bitten. A familiar warm light flickered, and a brief tickling sensation followed.

Norma’s silence made me anxious. I studied his expression, but with a soft smile and his gaze wandering around the fragments of light Edio had created, it was hard to guess what he was thinking.

After a long moment of staring at each other, Norma finally moved his lips.

“Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“……Even I know this isn’t the right atmosphere for it.”

The realization that the proposal I had painstakingly prepared, cutting my sleep short, was a complete failure filled me with sorrow.

“Please, say it.”

Norma softly clasped both my hands as he whispered. He closed his eyes, pressing his nose to mine as if urging me on, and I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.

“It’s fine. Please, say it.”

As I hesitated, he whispered again, and during that time, even Edio’s holy power, which had been illuminating the surroundings, faded away. It seemed the old man’s strength had reached its limit.

On the dark tower, with the drunken ruckus of the revelers as background music, I finally opened my mouth with difficulty.

“Norma Diazi.”

My voice, hoarse from all the shouting, was dreadful. Damn it—how could this be such a mess? Even I felt that this wasn’t right and immediately shut my mouth again.

“Yes, Aisa.”

But Norma Diazi’s presence already felt like a perfect line from a romance novel.

It felt unfamiliar for him to drop the honorifics when addressing me. But I wasn’t so out of touch as to ask if he was speaking without permission at a time like this. Answering in such a tender voice, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut just because my voice was a little hoarse.

“Be my husband. I’ll take good care of you.”

Perhaps that’s why the raw, unpolished words burst out recklessly.

“Yes.”

He responded to my unromantic proposal with a bright smile. Though Norma Diazi always had a smile on his face, he had a different expression when he was truly happy.

‘Yes, he smiles like this, as if flowers are blooming, shining like the sun.’

All the tension, sorrow, and fear seemed to momentarily vanish at his smiling face.

“Even if you really are a witch, that’s fine.”

There it was again. Once more, that strange feeling as if Norma Diazi and I were the only ones left in the world. His gaze quickly captivated me. His golden eyes, like a collection of stardust, always left me in awe when I saw my reflection in them.

“You don’t have to love me.”

What is he saying? Foolish Norma Diazi, once again uttering words that only put him at a disadvantage. But, just like before, I didn’t tell him he was the one losing out.

One thing was certain though—his response was far more fitting than my awkward proposal. It felt like I was the one being proposed to.

“Do you really love him?”

“Do you truly love him?”

The voices of the Emperor and Kano, who had asked similar questions, rumbled in my ears like thunder. My mind was in chaos. My heart started pounding furiously.

‘Do I really look like I love him? But that’s impossible.’

As the head of the McFoy family, there was no room for such indulgence. Aisa McFoy must not do such a thing.

More than anything, Norma was clearly under the delusion that he loved me. That couldn’t be true. But if I ever gave him my heart and he realized his mistake, then left me and the McFoy family, that would be…

“Aisa.”

…Then what?

In the next moment, Norma’s large hands gently cupped both my cheeks. His careful touch, as if handling fragile glass, sent a shiver down my skin from my cheeks. Despite the still lively festival noise below, the surroundings felt completely silent.

I closed my eyes instinctively. It was that kind of timing. According to him, it was customary to kiss after promising marriage. And I learned quickly.

The next moment, Norma’s soft lips touched mine.

It was our second kiss.

* * *

“You look like you have money.”

At his not-so-honest words, I irritably twitched my left eyebrow.

“Oh, what!”

The boy, still going through his rebellious phase, shouted out loud. I knew Archie had been restless all day, but I wasn’t going to let this slide.

“….You look nice. Congratulations.”

Archie, unable to withstand my gaze, finally muttered in a barely audible voice.

“Congratulations, Lord McFoy.”

Sir Harry Forn, the most handsome man of the McFoy family, knelt on one knee and bowed his head just as he did the first time he offered me his sword. I gave him a light nod, then turned my gaze back to Archie, who had been scowling openly since earlier.

“So. It’s the day that the man you so love and respect, Sir Diazi, becomes part of the McFoy family. Why the face?”

“……”

“Isn’t Sir Diazi someone you like more than your aunt?”

“Ugh, it’s not the same! Aunt, you just don’t get it. You’re really such a fool.”

“There you go again, talking back to your aunt. Keep this up, and I’ll have to bring out a stick.”

“Ugh, whatever! It’s just… I don’t know what to do now that I’m going to have a real family. You were the only family I had, so what am I supposed to do…?”

Even on a day like this, Archie shouted, trembling with frustration at his stubborn aunt. He shuffled his feet awkwardly, as if the whole situation made him uncomfortable.

‘A real family? What is this kid talking about?’

But with my dry emotions, it was hard to fully understand the sensitive child, and all that stuck in my mind was the unnecessary word.

“……You used to always run off to find Sir Diazi instead of me. Now you’re playing shy?”

“That’s not it…. What if you both get close without me?”

When I pretended not to understand and changed the subject, Archie, his face red, rolled his eyes and mumbled so softly I could barely hear him.

Ah, I see. So now that the wedding is near, he’s feeling anxious about losing his aunt.

It was endearing how childish he looked, hugging poor Antoinette tightly, probably embarrassed by what he’d said. Lately, Archie had been acting more like his age, throwing more tantrums. All the adults looked at the only child of the estate with affectionate gazes.

‘No matter what, a nephew is still a nephew, acting cute like this.’

I clicked my tongue lightly and spread my arms wide toward Archie. It was my signal for him to come and hug his aunt, like last time.

“Ugh! What are you doing, being all mushy? I’m too old for that now!”

But Archie recoiled in horror, quickly stepping back, and Lady Seymour sternly warned me that my dress would get ruined.

“What? Last time, you hugged me just fine! And where did you pick up that tone?”

“From Sir Von Bains. The knight from Diazi said it’s cringe-worthy to hug family members like a baby.”

I frowned as I remembered that brat of a knight who often glared at me from behind Norma.

I didn’t know much about Von Bains, but I knew his family well enough. They were Ophelia’s allies in *Ophelia and the Night*. If my memory was right, the second son of that family was the one who had pulled me off Nicholas when I held a sword to his neck.

I didn’t know how that conversation had come up, but I never liked the Bains family members.

“And what’s with that face, Aunt?”

This time, Archie was the one to comment on my expression.

“What about my face?”

“Now’s not the time to be worried about me, Aunt. You don’t look excited at all.”

How could I possibly feel excited when this wedding was rushed? Without feeling it, there was no way I could look excited.

“Anyone watching might think you’re not a bride but someone holding in a bathroom emergency. Isn’t that right, Lady Seymour?”

To think he dared to compare his aunt to a dog needing to go! My face immediately scrunched up, and Lady Seymour scolded me again, warning me not to ruin my makeup.

But I couldn’t deny it. My feelings about the wedding were more complicated than ever. Even now, I kept wondering if this was the right decision, a thought that crossed my mind every few seconds.

‘The head of the family, unable to sort out her own feelings, so much so that even a child can see the confusion…’

I glanced out the window. The sky was perfect, almost unbelievably so. Today’s weather could be called the pinnacle of a radiant spring day.

Occasionally, cheers carried through on the warm spring breeze.

Following the carnival, McFoy had continued the celebratory atmosphere for days in anticipation of the family head’s wedding. It was a rare joyful occasion, and with the wedding between two great noble families, spectators had flocked from all over.

A wedding between high-ranking nobles often warranted the attendance of a member of the imperial family. This time, word had spread that Crown Prince Billinent himself would attend the wedding between McFoy and Diazi, which had only increased the excitement among the onlookers.

“Lady McFoy, it’s time.”

Erika informed me of the time. Thanks to the cumbersome ceremonial attire, I needed the maids’ help just to stand up.

I awkwardly began to move, with the maids following behind, gathering up my long, trailing skirts. I hadn’t walked far when I suddenly heard heavy breathing from behind me.

I turned around without thinking and found Glen, his eyes wide open, sobbing with tears and snot streaming down his face.

I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. For someone who cried so easily, I had wondered why he hadn’t started earlier—he must have been holding it in until now. Although everyone discreetly glanced at the weeping captain of the knights, no one was particularly surprised. Glen was known for being rather sentimental.

I didn’t bother to command him to stop crying. Watching the old man sobbing was amusing, but it also made me feel oddly unsettled, so I turned away again.

In the western empire, where belief in the goddess is prevalent, weddings are typically held in temples or nearby shrines.

For me, I had chosen a temple near the estate, but because of the distance, we had to travel by carriage. The road from the estate to the temple was the only route where spectators could catch a glimpse of a noble wedding.

I could see the luxurious carriage ahead, decorated so extravagantly that it almost appeared golden. In front of it stood a man wearing a ceremonial outfit embroidered with the same pattern as mine.

The man standing under the warm spring sun noticed me and smiled gently. My heart, already beating strangely fast, quickened even more.

Norma Diazi held out his hand to me.

I took a deep breath quietly and took his hand.
!