Chapter 26
So, she had thought, that’s what kind of wedding it would be.
Even after hearing how rundown the venue was, the one the Emperor himself had appointed after tacitly approving their union.
Even as the designers secretly sent from the Imperial Palace brought her outdated fabrics, and the Grand Duke’s offerings piled up in the guest room where she was staying.
While they waited for the bruises and swelling on Kyrie’s body to go down, everything was moving forward as if toasting bread over lightning.
Rather, ever since the marriage had been decided, Kyrie saw even less of the Grand Duke.
‘His Grace…’
‘His Grace is busy with other matters.’
‘……’
‘He did say, however, to make sure the lady eats properly.’
The only one Kyrie dealt with in that time was an elderly butler who had served the Grand Duke for a long time.
Even that butler, at times, would look at her with unnervingly calm eyes. As though he were weighing the benefits of bringing her into the Grand Duchy.
Not just the butler, the majority of aides and staff walking through the Grand Duke’s residence were the same.
Their eyes, so similar to the Grand Duke’s, seemed constantly to be evaluating and appraising her.
Every time Kyrie met those eyes, she recalled the Grand Duke’s mocking words about her market value.
‘I need to heal quickly first.’
Instead of showing her anxiety, Kyrie held her head high and ate her meals with composure, applied her medicine without fail. If she didn’t recover quickly, she couldn’t get married. No matter how tainted her reputation might be, even she found the idea of a bruised bride standing at the altar an unpleasant sight.
Fortunately, the scratches on her body healed diligently, and faster than she had expected.
She paid no mind to what was happening in the outside world during that time. She didn’t even consider the possibility that someone might have noticed her disappearance.
‘No one would have been looking for me anyway.’
The dress designers from the palace took her measurements in silence, as if sworn to secrecy. Kyrie had no voice in anything concerning the wedding. She figured the Grand Duke likely hadn’t been allowed to express any opinions either.
It didn’t matter. Every moment of it felt like her blood was burning to ash. More than the design of the dress, more than what she would wear or where the ceremony would take place,
She just wanted to strip the name “Ehrenberg” off herself as quickly as possible.
And so, the day of the wedding arrived. Clad in a low-quality wedding dress tailored by the palace, Kyrie found herself pacing in the bridal waiting room.
What if the Grand Duke changed his mind again? What if he found a more suitable bride?
What if he had come to rescue her only to cast her into an even deeper pit?
“Sign here, please.”
Only after placing her trembling hand on the marriage contract in the bridal room and signing it did the anxiety in her chest ease, if only slightly.
The document contained everything they had briefly discussed.
That Dominic Roman Haswell would accept Kyrie Ehrenberg as his bride and bring her into his family. That Kyrie Ehrenberg would become Grand Duchess Kyrie Haswell and be obligated to produce an heir.
It was all as expected. The only clause missing was the one where she would agree to divorce him when the time came.
‘There’s no need to go over it again.’
She didn’t want to waste time negotiating with the absent Grand Duke. It seemed like something that could be settled later anyway.
Kyrie signed the document quickly.
Everything that followed moved just as swiftly.
“So you’re the bride?”
The priest, face stern as if unaware of the rumors in high society, declared that she would be walking in with him. That caught her off guard a bit.
‘Is this the Emperor’s will? Or the Grand Duke’s?’
She couldn’t tell whether they were trying to rush the ceremony or simply ruin it completely, but it didn’t matter.
She wasn’t some innocent fiancée eagerly dreaming of a once-in-a-lifetime wedding.
‘If anything, I hope it is a disaster.’
She didn’t care what form it took, so long as it was a wedding people talked about for years.
Enough that the entire empire would know the mad dog of Ehrenberg had married the most desired man in the land, the First Grand Duke.
So that at last, she could reclaim her freedom. So that the happiness she had lost might finally fall into her grasp.
That was all she had wished for.
And yet, once she actually stepped into the hall and saw the faces of those aghast around her, a strange giddiness began to rise.
There was just one thing that made it hard to bear.
The moment the priest declared they may now kiss, the lips of the man who seemed intent on devouring her breath came for her.
“Your Grace.”
Kyrie’s whisper melted into the soft flesh where their mouths met. She opened her eyes and locked gazes with the man kissing her.
His sharp silver eyes always felt as though they would claw out the truth buried inside her.
Feeling like she had been caught in his talons, Kyrie parted her lips silently instead of speaking.
Her appearance at that moment left many speechless for different reasons.
‘The mad dog who used to chase after the Crown Prince like her life depended on it…’
Not only had the missing Kyrie Ehrenberg returned as the Grand Duke Haswell’s bride, but she accepted a kiss from a man who wasn’t the Crown Prince without resistance.
That alone shook the social elite.
‘Didn’t she say all men besides the Prince were beneath her?’
‘Wasn’t there a story that she slapped a lowborn noble’s son just for touching her sleeve?’
But Kyrie Ehrenberg, accepting a wedding kiss before everyone’s eyes, didn’t look like the infamous villainess.
She looked just like any other bride.
Her flushed cheeks, red from the breathless kiss, could even be mistaken for a woman in love.
“Haa.”
With a soft breath, the kiss ended. The Grand Duke, Dominic, swiftly took her hand.
“Your Grace.”
Kyrie called to him, but he held her hand firmly and started walking toward the inner part of the hall. She wasn’t the only one surprised by the move.
“W-What is this?”
A reception was supposed to follow. But his action threw the guests into confusion.
It was a bold move that seemed to disregard all formalities of the ceremony.
Some couldn’t even tell whether this was a legitimate marriage or a complete mockery of one.
“Well, they did make their vows, didn’t they?”
“The priest acknowledged the union…”
Amid the flustered crowd, the first to shake off the shock was the Crown Prince.
“Wait!”
He shouted again and followed the bride and groom with visible anger, ignoring the growing unease of those left behind in the hall.
“Your Grace?”
Kyrie looked up at the Grand Duke leading her forward. That’s when he nonchalantly swung open the door to the bridal waiting room and led her inside.
Thud.
The sound of the heavy door closing behind them rang out like the snap of a steel trap.
“Ah!”
And then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, his hand slipped to her waist.
Feeling like a brand was being seared into her, Kyrie instinctively flinched.
“Tch.”
A short click of the tongue, and her field of view shifted instantly.
“…Your Grace?”
When she regained her senses, Kyrie found herself sitting atop a low platform in the corner of the bridal room. The Grand Duke whispered with a rather seductive smile.
“‘Your Grace’? Are we so distant now, wife?”
“But…”
“Shh.”
He pressed in closer. His large, solid frame moved directly between her thighs.
The wooden platform, meant for signing the marriage contract, creaked under them like everything else in this old, worn-out ceremony hall.
Creak.
The crude, explicit groan of the furniture sliced through the stale air.
“Ah…”
In an instant, the light, delicate wedding dress was bunched up above her thighs.
It was a bold, unhesitating move. As if he hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might resist.
Perhaps that was why,
When Kyrie stopped the large hand creeping between her thighs with her own,
“What’s the problem?”
The Grand Duke’s eyes bore into her, as though trying to read the prey he had just caught.
“…Doing this so suddenly, in a place like this…”
There were still people outside. And this place, used for the ceremony, was technically a temple.
“Ah.”
But before she could finish, Kyrie gasped. His hand had already slipped past the garter, between her thighs, pressing between her soft skin.
His fingers, bold and unashamed, traced slowly over her pale skin like flowing water.
“By our contract, this shouldn’t be so surprising.”
His voice was calm, but the hand gripping her bare flesh was burning hot. That heat made Kyrie’s heart pound off rhythm.
Different from the cold, calculating man she had first met and made a contract with,
His temperature was sometimes too hot to bear.
“Think carefully about what we agreed to.”
Just as he spoke, Kyrie’s eyes flicked over his shoulder.
Through the barely cracked door of the bridal waiting room,
A burning gaze stared in at them.
‘…Lexion.’
A man like melted gold from all the treasures in the world. A prince bathed in a sacred light, beloved by all.
The man Kyrie had once chased after madly, whether by choice or not, stood there, watching them.
Like a thief, peeking through the narrow opening.
The moment she saw him, Kyrie’s body flinched and flushed with heat.
