Chapter 31 – Wedding
Francis further said,
“Come to think of it, there’s no reason for me to live as the Marquis Adele. It’s not that I don’t have the ability, but I feel like I don’t have any need for money or fame.”
“… … .”
“Besides, a prestigious family like the Marquis Adele has a lot of restrictions on my actions. I don’t want to live such a boring life.”
“Haa… … .”
Rosalind sighed with a bewildered expression and shook her head.
“Are you crazy? Or have you already forgotten how you lived before coming here?”
“I remember it very well.”
Francis said with his eyes widened like a bow.
“My mother ran away, and I lived in fear by moving from one relatives’ house to another. How could I forget that?”
“But why do you want to go back again… … .”
“I didn’t say I was going back there.”
Francis cut Rosalind off firmly.
“I’m just saying that I’m going to start over from the bottom with my abilities. As you know, I can do a lot of things.”
Francis gently grabbed Rosalind’s chin as she looked at him in disbelief.
“So Rosalind. You’ll still stay by my side, right?”
“… … .”
“You said you’d focus on me, isn’t it?”
The sunlight shone brightly on his face, who was smiling mischievously like a boy.
At that moment, the water in the fountain, which had changed it’s direction due to a sudden gust of wind, merged with the pouring sunlight to create a brilliant rainbow.
But it was shining only around Francis.
***
A solemn tension filled the grand banquet hall of the duke’s residence.
The long rows of chairs looked stiff like a military parade. A bleak atmosphere surrounded the nobles, who were seated with stern expressions and restrained demeanor.
If it weren’t for the colorful dresses and flower wreaths worn by the women, and the long virgin path stretching out in the middle, it was such a grand sight that it would have been a funeral for a high-ranking official rather than a wedding.
Ada Felton, who was watching this from the inner terrace, tilted her mouth to one side.
“There are too many attendees.”
Far more than the number of people who had been invited.
‘Well, the highest noble in the empire is getting married to a beautiful orphan girl, so they must want to come and see it.’
In any case, since they were guests, there was no way to kick them out. They had no choice but to be a spectacle. Ada Felton frowned as if she didn’t like it and turned away from the window.
She asked one of the attendants waiting behind her.
“Is Melissa ready?”
She blurted out the name without the slightest sense of awkwardness, but the attendants, who had not yet gotten used to it, tilted their heads in confusion.
Eventually, Sera realized that Melissa was Mellie and answered.
“Oh yes, she just finished. I went to see her.”
“How was it?”
Sera recognized the contempt in those words, but pretended not to notice and continued answering.
“She is very beautiful. I can’t even recognize her.”
“Yes. That’s right. She shouldn’t go out in front of people with that worthless face.”
“… … .”
Sera wanted to say that it wasn’t true, that the makeup only made her face look a little clearer, not a completely different person… … . But at the same time, she didn’t want to lose her good job for nothing.
“I don’t know if she has learned all the etiquette. She shouldn’t make even the slightest of mistake.”
A hint of anticipation crossed her face as she spoke.
It seemed as if she was secretly waiting for a mistake from her end.
‘After all, weakness can be a useful tactic that can keep the other person under your feet.’
“Let’s hope to see your best, Melissa. Until we realize that happy upward mobility only happens in fairy tales.”
Ada Felton left the terrace with a joyful face with the twitching corners of her mouth.
***
“This… … What kind of atmosphere is this?”
Mellie was embarrassed as she entered the hall.
The wedding she had dreamed of was not a wedding held in such a dark and suffocating solemnity.
She had always imagined a beautiful wedding where the autumn sky hung high as if painted in a single blue color, and a cool breeze blew and swung her veil. A wedding where colorful flowers adorned marble garlands gave off a gentle fragrance, and dry leaves rustled and fell in the wind.
Everyone present there had a smile on their face, and they blessed the newlyweds’ future with their faces. Wasn’t that a typical wedding?
But here, there were only hard, dark marble walls and the sharp gazes of people staring at her. There was not a single trace of warmth.
Mellie looked down and walked carefully.
She had been taught to do so in advance.
And she had also been taught not to laugh.
Laughter was said to be something that was only done at vulgar weddings held by commoners.
But even if she had not been taught that, Mellie was in no mood to laugh.
The whole atmosphere had made her nervous to the max.
Her new name, called before she entered, was still unfamiliar, and the cold attitude of Ada Felton’s second brother, who had grabbed her hand, had also made Mellie nervous.
If it weren’t for someone who had appeared at that moment, Mellie would have collapsed from suffocation.
“… …!”
It was when she was halfway down the aisle. Her gaze, drawn up along the smooth toes of her shoes, took in Edric, and Mellie’s tension was instantly relieved.
He looked even more handsome with his bangs pulled back, and he seemed to be the only living, breathing being in this stuffed, solemn space.
He, in his formal attire, took Mellie’s hand from his uncle.
Mellie’s body finally relaxed. Now she was trying her best to not to laugh. She had to force her happy face behind with an indifferent mask.
The two walked side by side and stood in front of the priest who was to officiate the wedding.
Mellie tried her best to listen to the wonderful words that the officiant was saying, but it wasn’t easy.
Her attention was completely focused on Edric, who was standing next to her with an upright posture.
‘I am marrying this man.’
This situation seemed like a dream to Mellie.
After the long speech, the two exchanged the wedding rings that the officiant had placed on a satin cushion. An elaborately crafted diamond ring was put on Mellie’s lace gloves.
Edric’s hand was covered with a thick gold ring with an oval-cut diamond embedded on it.
Seeing the sign that they belonged to each other, they finally began to feel that they were getting married.
A smile of happiness spread across Mellie’s face without even knowing.
‘No.’
Edric squinted his eyes and shook his head.
Mellie quickly lowered the corners of her mouth and pursed her lips.
“Now turn around and greet the guests.”
The two turned around as the officiant had instructed and bowed their heads to the guests.
The applause cut off sharply.
The officiant gave another order.
“March towards the new history of the Felton family.”
‘There’s no kissing?’
Mellie thought.
The wedding she had pictured in her head had numerous kisses. But dreams and reality are different, so she wasn’t disappointed.
Edric held out his arm to Mellie. And Mellie gently took his arm.
The two of them walked down the aisle together.
As they walked down the aisle, they could feel the arrogant and sharp gazes of people. They could also feel Ada Felton’s eyes, burning with fire in her eyes, trying to catch her mistakes. But Mellie was fine now.
She was too happy to believe it.
That her long-standing unrequited love had come true.
‘I didn’t even expect it, I gave up early, but it came to be true miraculously.’
‘I hoped it wasn’t a dream, but if it was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up. If I could keep from waking up, I didn’t care if I died here.’
‘What would my mother say when she saw this?’
Mellie suddenly wondered.
Would she be upset, saying that this marriage didn’t fit her theme?
She might be. No, she would definitely be upset. But my mother would be more happy then being upset.
But now, even that seemed okay.
This marriage might have been God’s reward for her.
“… … .”
She held back her laughter, and tears came to her eyes.
No, maybe she had wanted to cry from the beginning.
But just as she shouldn’t laugh, she shouldn’t cry either. Mellie bit the soft flesh on the inside of her lips. Maybe it was because of the pain, but the emotions that were pent up inside her were back in her throat.
Edric barely looked at Mellie because he was greeting people politely.
It was natural. He was the head of the duke’s family, so he had to keep an eye on who was coming and who was not.
Mellie, as she had been taught before, turned to face Edric and nodded with a rather dignified expression.
However, the guests were not at all friendly towards her. They looked her up and down, busy analyzing what charm she had that made the great Duke of Felton marry her.
‘She must have been quite satisfying to him at night.’
Perhaps they might have thought so.
At a family gathering just before the wedding, Mellie happened to hear his cousins chatting.
The insults made her feel a stabbing pain in her chest.
But now, nothing mattered.
At this moment, Mellie was so happy that even their haughty faces seemed kind to her.
Edric’s arms felt strong under her gloves.
She had no doubt that these arms, this strength and uprightness, and this love for her, would block everything.
There might be minor difficulties, but Mellie was sure that they would be able to overcome them with their full love.
Therefore, she never dreamed that one day, a few years later, she would say these words with her very own mouth.
“We’re getting a divorce.”
