After Princess Elsius and Mary disappeared, the waiting room became quiet again. It was not until they left that the original servants came in and became busy again.
“I think you should wear a belt.”
I looked in the mirror because I thought it was unnecessary for a random maid to say. There were bloodstains in places, perhaps because my waist was pricked by a needle.
“Sure.”
Then the maid moved busily and tied a lace belt to cover up the bloodstains.
I had adapted to my appearance in the mirror so much that I thought I had possessed someone’s body.
Platinum blonde hair. It was a rare combination, but it was a color that resembled the hair of my father, Marquis Logias, and the eyes of my mother, the Marchioness. So I liked the color.
And I was to die in one month. It’s only a month away. I’ll be dead in a month.
Most of the original has changed, but it won’t change if I die of a heart attack a month later. Because I was seeing the premonitory symptoms of a heart attack that Evelina had in the original.
The sensation and dizziness of the left hand that is not often felt. And dizziness, chills, and nausea that come from time to time. This was known to be during the transition period that Evelina felt a month before her death.
“It’s done.”
“Yes.”
After finishing the preparations, I sighed and waited for the door to open.
When the door opened, the person standing there laughed as if he had been waiting for me.
“You’re finally out, Evelina.”
He was smiling freshly, looking at me like a trophy.
“It happened after all.”
With derisive remarks.
“That’s right.”
But just because he made fun of me, I wasn’t in a position to retaliate. I was the daughter of Marquis Logias, who pushed for the second prince, and I was the one who survived with the condition of accepting this marriage.
It was my destiny to live in gratitude for the kindness bestowed by the winner. Fortunately, my destiny is only a month away.
“Give me your hand.”
As I looked at his outstretched palm, his large palm felt threatening. His hands were covered with scars, and calluses were scattered like the skin of a warrior who had been holding a sword for many years. Besides, his hands were so big that if he held my wrists in his hands, it looked like they would break.
Suddenly, I was afraid, so the behavior of putting my hand on it slowed down. He was still smiling cheerfully, perhaps drunk on victory, and his hands were warmer than I thought.
After a moment’s daze at the warmth, he stared at me. I knew the reason, so I knew I didn’t deserve to look in the eyes of the Emperor.
It was my father who killed his mother. And it was my father who pushed him to the brink of death several times. He was almost killed by my father, but he lived, so I became his prize and had to stand by him.
“Evelina.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I want to see your eyes.”
Hearing his words, I raised my gaze from my toes and looked up at Kaiden.
Then he caught my eye again. His hair was pitch black even though the light of the chandelier had faded. Even in the sunlight, his hair was still dark, and his eyes were as intensely red as flames. It was as vivid and clear as a cross section of ice, yet intensely red like a flame.
My body trembled as if the coolness was freezing my heart.
“Evelina’s eyes are the color of violets. It’s a really subtle color.”
Looking at what he said with a smile, it seemed that his words were sincere. But the first time he saw me properly was on the day of the revolution, and now it’s only the second time.
“Thank you.”
It was hard to even mistake that for the truth. Because he couldn’t forgive the enemy’s daughter just seeing her twice.
“I wish you could hold my hand a little tighter.”
His grip on my hand looked somewhat uncomfortable. There was no force at all like a person who didn’t want to grab it.
As I said that, he held my hand very hard and looked. Then I turned my head the moment our eyes met.
He seemed to be a mysterious man.
In the original version, he was a psychopath. However, that gradually changed after meeting Serena. I had no dream or hope for that now.
“Is this enough?”
“… Yes.”
Even when he asked as if to confirm, he did not turn his head toward me again. So when we looked forward as if relieved, he walked forward first.
Strangely, there were no knights in the hallway. This was the temple where successive emperors were married. Perhaps that is why, unusual and round pillars of the temple were seen everywhere, and knights were supposed to stand between them, but the knights were nowhere to be seen.
“No one is here.”
“Why?”
“Well…”
As he turned to walk in front of me, our eyes met. Perhaps he didn’t like even that momentary moment, so he looked forward again and walked.
“Because I wanted to be alone.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I walked quietly.
When we arrived in front of the ceremony, loud music could be reverently heard. The music of the wedding hall, which was different from the music of the era in which he lived, was playing. It was like music made for a temple.
As the door opened, the music grew louder and louder.
“I really wanted to join you.”
Then he looked back at me properly. I smiled reflexively as our eyes met. Then he quickly turned again and walked away.
A red thin cloth was spread on the floor. Every time I walked on it, my steps seemed to get heavier and heavier.
At the end of it, the cardinal for the ceremony was standing with a gentle expression on his face, which was not surprising, as I already knew the cardinal.
Of the two cardinals, the surviving one was Johannes Bern Abellad, a supporter of the Crown Prince Kaiden. Kaiden’s maternal uncle.
“It would be nice if she becomes the Empress.”
He responded with a smile to Kaiden’s ridicule.
“The position of the Empress is too much for me, Your Majesty.”
But he didn’t laugh this time. So I had to laugh more happily. He brought it up to me because it seemed like he was trying to make sure I knew the subject well.
Suddenly, I saw my father in the distance, with tears in his eyes, wiping his tears with his handkerchief. That’s why it felt like my chest was getting heavier.
“Let’s go.”
He led me back with a bright expression on his face.
The dull sound of shoes, the suffocating sounds of the guests, and even the magnificent music. It was like listening to a requiem, and it was hard to even force a smile.
When I was adopted as the Marquis of Logias, I wanted to get married in a very large wedding hall. But now, as I am walking in the largest wedding hall in the Abelard Empire, I almost want to take back what I said back then.
Countless eyes were on me, and the carpet was very long. After walking for a while, my legs started to hurt, and I saw a staircase, and when I climbed it, my calves felt like they were going to burst. Probably because I was wearing high heels.
I took a deep breath and another. I glanced at Kaiden, who was next to me, and as our eyes met as he chuckled, he then frowned and turned away.
It seems that my pathetic stamina was funny. The ceremony began with the cardinal’s smiling face as I managed to calm my heart and look ahead.
“God made man and woman, and made them husband and wife…”
Maybe because I walked too much, my side was stinging. It was throbbing heavily, perhaps because I was stabbed by a needle earlier and covered it without proper disinfection. While frowning slightly at the displeasure, I felt Kaiden’s gaze staring at me, and soon I had to raise my head again with a smile and look at the cardinal.
“As important as the couple’s relationship is to raise their children….”
My ears were burning because I heard it so many times.
“The husband loves his wife, and the wife respects her husband and builds a gentle home…”
While smelling the scent of roses in the bouquet I was holding, my palm suddenly became itchy. When I tried to pull out the hand where I was holding him for a moment, he held it very tightly and made it impossible. The itchy palm soon died down because he was holding it so hard as if there was no gap in his hand.
He looked at me again with red eyes. He didn’t smile, and he looked very serious, so this time I avoided his eyes without realizing it.
Then, my heart began to pound with fear, perhaps because of his high nose and closed lips, which remained like an afterimage under my eyelids.
For a moment, I remembered that I was not smiling, so I tried to smile and looked at the cardinal again, and his gaze also directed at the cardinal again. Even though I wore high heels, he was as tall as my head. I was pretty tall among women.
“I hope you can trust and respect each other, and love each other forever, when you are happy and sad.”
The officiating ended around the time when I was exhausted from a long period of nervousness to the point of cold sweat.
“Now the two of them will exchange rings.”
When the cardinal had finished speaking, he and his servant with a box of rings stood behind me. I had to take out the ring first, so I handed the bouquet to the maid next to me and took the box. Then I pretended not to know and opened it.
“Ah… ”
Kaiden’s eyes widened when he looked at the empty box, embarrassed.
“What is this…”
His expression contorted, and then he looked at me intently. I looked at him, pretending to be very perplexed, covering my mouth with my hand.
“Ha.”
“Ah… Your Majesty…”
“There must have been a thief at our wedding.”
Saying so, Kaiden grabbed the handle of the sword he was wearing. And then he said.
“Catch him.”
As soon as his command fell, the knights nearby exchanged glances and moved in unison.
I searched with my own eyes to see where the maid, Mary, Elsius had given me was.
