Chapter 72
Barely managing to suppress her ulterior motives, she then closely examined the diamond ring, which was nearly the width of her finger. It was dazzlingly beautiful, but had a subtly classic design.
Come to think of it, where did such a ring come from overnight? Her brain, which usually worked just fine, seemed to be operating a beat slower than usual today.
“Is this perhaps your mother’s ring… or something? There are many noblewomen who pass on what they received to their daughters-in-law.”
Asked in a rather light tone, she received a reply that was anything but light.
“That’s right.”
Ugh. Suddenly, she felt like she had a heavy weight attached to her finger.
“This is awkward. I can’t sell it later……. mmph! My mouth! My mouth!”
Realizing too late what she had just blurted out, Hermia slapped her lips, scolding herself for the outrageous words that had flowed out uncontrollably.
“I’ll buy you another ring that you can sell, so I hope you won’t sell this one. It’s one of my mother’s few keepsakes.”
Walter lightly stopped her hand and chuckled.
Keepsakes. As soon as Hermia heard that word, she wanted to bury her head in the ground.
As everyone knew, his mother passed away a month after Walter was born.
It was called puerperal fever. At the time, the concept of infection itself was unfamiliar, and the doctors who preached about washing hands were all from the younger generation. The midwife who helped with his mother’s delivery happened to be an old woman, and an unfortunate tragedy occurred.
“I’m sorry. I spoke without thinking again……”
In Walter’s eyes, the woman who was always ready to run away had a sheepish expression.
He felt relieved, without any pride, that she had even a little sympathy for him. He even had the funny thought that if she wouldn’t leave because she felt sorry, he hoped she would continue to feel sorry for him.
“I’ll try harder……”
So that he wouldn’t let her go in vain like his father and mother. So that he wouldn’t resent her like he resented his grandfather, who didn’t even give him a chance to hate him properly before leaving.
He gently hugged the woman who he felt he wouldn’t be able to hate even if she sold his mother’s keepsake.
Whenever he looked at Hermia, whenever he held the woman who, unlike her cool appearance, had a warm body, he could finally feel his heart beating.
It was both amazing and desperate for the heir to the Duchy, who lived by winding the spring on his back, to feel this way even when he wasn’t on a fierce battlefield.
Perhaps Elisabeth’s words, “calculating person,” might be the best condition for him. Those words also meant that he could have this woman forever.
Hermia, who had been quietly embraced, seemed to be contemplating something and carefully asked near his ear.
“Um… should I go wash up?”
Unfortunately, he was currently swamped with things to prepare in order to hold onto her. He was so engrossed in those thoughts that he didn’t understand what Hermia was saying.
Walter simply rang the bell to call Emily and then abruptly left the bedroom.
* * *
“The weather’s insultingly perfect.”
Gerald, holding a slender champagne glass, looked out at the courtyard of the cathedral, which was entirely bathed in gold, like golden waves.
Hyacinths and ribbons decorated both sides of the white carpet, and the colorful stained glass of the cathedral behind the platform at the end of the path was dazzling under the sun.
It was already the day of that woman’s wedding, and he hadn’t done anything yet. Was he this bitter because he couldn’t do anything?
The thirst that couldn’t be quenched no matter how much he drank disturbed Gerald’s mood.
It’s okay. No matter how steadfast Walter Rockford was, he was just one man, and his interest would gradually fade after about a year. If he was lucky, she might disappear before that.
Wasn’t that usually the case with the marriages of those in high positions? They married based on their interests, so they could exercise generous tolerance no matter who their partner met.
So Gerald hoped that Walter Rockford, his longtime friend, would follow in their footsteps.
If he couldn’t stop the wedding, he would just have to wait until Walter inherited the estate. It was just waiting, nothing complicated or difficult.
So he had to smile. Today was a day for the bride.
Unfortunately, Elisabeth, who couldn’t smile like him, didn’t attend. His mother also didn’t come, using the excuse of nursing the princess.
It was nothing short of declaring that she disapproved of this marriage and would not treat Hermia as the Duchess.
Even as she got older, such childish aspects didn’t disappear easily. He was newly worried that Elisabeth seemed to resemble his mother in that regard.
Unlike Her Majesty the Queen’s expectations, his father and the Crown Prince and his wife, and himself were present, so there would be no talk of a hastily arranged wedding.
Besides, so many nobles wanted to attend the Duke Rockford’s wedding that if he had sold the invitations as tickets, he could have become a millionaire in an instant.
“It will start soon.”
A priest who appeared to be the manager of the cathedral slowly requested the guests to take their seats.
As the people who had been greeting each other all sat in the prepared seats, the military band appeared in the hall, stomping their feet. After the soldiers with instruments took their places, army officers in full dress uniform surrounded the hall.
As Gerald felt an unnecessary sense of tension, music flowed, and two people appeared at the end of the carpet.
The bride was entering, holding the hand of the groom, not her father.
While no one showed any emotion, Walter and Hermia walked slowly, receiving applause. Gerald’s eyes persistently scanned the woman’s expression, which was hidden under the veil.
As befitting a formal wedding held in the cathedral, Hermia’s wedding dress was neat and dignified. The train of the high-necked dress, which was not wide and fell straight down, followed the path she had walked.
The woman standing in front of the platform was beautiful even with her face covered. It wasn’t just Gerald’s eyes that saw it that way, but her posture as she walked, the way she stood, and the silhouette created by the veil all made it impossible to take his eyes off her.
The two people standing before the platform tilted their upper bodies at the same angle towards the elderly Archbishop. The old man, wearing a white cassock embroidered with gold thread as if the decorations of the wedding hall had been transferred to his attire, raised his wrinkled face.
The Archbishop’s voice rang out clearly in the silent wedding hall.
“There are many people who fall asleep when I open my mouth even during worship, so today, let’s have the bride and groom read the vows themselves in their pretty voices.”
He opened with a joke and handed Walter and Hermia, as they had agreed in advance, vows with annotations in the margins.
Gerald, with his elbows on his knees, anxiously watched Hermia. When he had gone to ask her when she was busy preparing for the wedding, she had said that she had found a way. That it was possible to read the letters.
Those words made Gerald smile today.
Because it meant that she couldn’t say she would love Walter forever unless she looked at the vows and read them.
Walter spoke first, and then Hermia read calmly.
Yes. She wasn’t speaking, but just reading the formal phrases written on the paper.
“Thankful for a life faithful as a wife and devoted as a mother… I, Hermia Vansen, solemnly vow before everyone here that I will live the rest of my life as Hermia Rockford.”
Had the woman’s monotonous voice ever been so pleasant to hear?
Gerald thought briefly.
After safely overcoming that hurdle, they exchanged rings. The diamond, symbolizing eternity, sparkled above the delicately shaped lace gloves.
“And now, the vow of a kiss.”
Gerald only watched Walter slowly lift the veil covering her face and then closed his eyes. It wasn’t that he was deliberately trying to avoid it, but he felt parched at the second hurdle.
He suddenly thought that it would be better if Hermia caused an accident right now and the wedding was ruined.
If she acted like she did last time in front of the King of a country and the Archbishop, who was right below the Pope. So that the wedding itself would be canceled.
He knew that the old priest had a mischievous side, but he didn’t like the fact that he was acting like a meek lamb today.
Gerald looked at the Archbishop with rather crooked eyes.
“Hermia, now that you’ve become the Duchess of Rockford, you’ll have to donate ten times more than before, right?”
That’s more like it. He lowered his head and hid a burst of laughter, and then looked at Hermia’s reaction.
Go on. Flip the altar. Throw the bouquet and push the platform. Just blurt out that it’s ridiculous.
Just as he was urging her in his mind, Hermia opened her mouth.
“…Yes.”
Wait a minute. ‘Yes’ as in yes?
The Archbishop seemed pleased with the obedient answer and laughed so hard that his beard trembled.
“Even if your husband makes you suffer sometimes, you must show the tolerance to laugh it off. That is how the peace of the family is maintained.”
Wasn’t this time a statement that was difficult to just let pass? Gerald didn’t miss Hermia, who was biting her lips tightly.
“Yes. Th, thank… you.”
This couldn’t be happening. ‘Thank you’ for that nonsense?
Was the curse lifted while he didn’t know? Had she become able to lie now?
He was confused by the answer that came out fine even though there was no vow to look at and read now. Gerald looked at Hermia with suspicious eyes, but it was still a mystery.
Before leaving, the two bowed to the King sitting in the seat of the marriage witness and turned around. There seemed to be nothing particularly wrong with the woman who only said, “Yes, thank you,” to her father’s blessings.
The honor guard lined up on both sides at regular intervals and raised their long swords. Colorful confetti and flower petals fluttered splendidly under the shining swords.
He was in a daze until Walter and Hermia walked under it and safely left the spot.
A little later, when the two changed from their formal attire to party clothes and came out to greet the guests, Gerald finally figured out her secret.
“Ha.”
He wondered why she was holding a bouquet in a dress.
Her gaze was busy glancing at the elegant bouquet with blue leaves mixed among the white petals. Hermia was looking at the bouquet and answering whenever someone spoke to her.
Hahaha. That’s more like it. As if the curse would be lifted.
“Congratulations on your wedding, you two.”
Gerald, who approached with a very cheerful stride, fixed his gaze on Hermia, who naturally lowered her head.
“Duchess.”
“Thank you… for coming.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
He took the bouquet and asked with a smile on his face. He had only taken the bouquet, but Hermia stretched out her hand in a hurry with a look as if she had lost her country.
“G, give it back.”
