Chapter 013
On the day of the wedding.
“Phew. Ha…”
“May. Stop wandering around and come sit here.”
“But Miss, I’m so nervous I can’t stay still!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle as I watched May fidget restlessly since morning.
“If someone saw you, they’d think you were the one getting married.”
Ironically, I was the one getting married, but I felt rather calm.
May, who had finally managed her emotions, adjusted my dress and asked,
“How come you’re so composed? You look like someone who’s done this before.”
“Haha, that’s not true. I’m actually quite nervous too.”
I naturally brushed it off and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
Wearing a pure white wedding dress felt familiar, perhaps because I had worn it before.
I recalled how, when I married Delos, I was so nervous that I hadn’t been able to eat or drink anything the day before.
Moreover, the wedding marked the day my ties with my family were completely severed.
“Why does the bride’s face look so gloomy on her wedding day? Do you want to go back home?”
As I was reminiscing about the past, someone entered the waiting room.
“Father.”
“Just say the word. If it really comes to it, we can send Cesar out.”
At the offhand joke, I couldn’t help but laugh, and only then did my father’s face relax.
“It’s not like that. I guess I’m just feeling a bit melancholic.”
While the wedding was the same, seeing my family so different from the past made me feel somewhat strange.
Moreover, it was even stranger that my father seemed to quite like the duke ever since the day we had dinner together.
‘If I say I’m getting a divorce in a year, it’ll cause quite a stir.’
I could vividly picture my father’s face, questioning me relentlessly about why I would be getting a divorce.
However, I couldn’t explain the full details to him.
“Dahlia. Um, ahem, congratulations.”
In the midst of this, my father hesitantly spoke to me after clearing his throat.
His heartfelt congratulations shocked me.
Looking at me, my father continued with a hearty laugh.
“It feels quite strange that you’re the first among my children to get married. The weather is lovely today… It seems your brother is blessing you from somewhere.”
A fleeting, sad smile crossed my father’s face as he mentioned my brother.
“Yes, indeed…”
I responded with a similar smile.
The brother my father referred to was not Cesar, but my other brother, who had gone missing 11 years ago due to an accident.
Since that incident, our family had searched the continent for over 11 years, looking for him, but I had never received any news about him until the moment I died.
Most people assumed that my missing brother was effectively dead, but no one dared to voice that openly.
Who would dare speak such words to parents who have not given up searching for their child for so many years?
“Oh dear, I’m rambling. I shouldn’t have brought that up… The ceremony will start soon, so you should go sit down.”
Having broached the long-taboo subject of my brother, my father quickly tried to change the mood and was about to leave the waiting room.
At that moment,
“What’s with the atmosphere here?”
A new voice echoed in the waiting room.
I turned my head toward the sound and took a deep breath.
A pair of green eyes was looking down at me and my father while leaning against the door.
A woman boasts striking red hair, elegantly braided over one shoulder.
“Mother…”
“Silvia!”
It was my mother, Silvia Feldro, the other head of the Feldro family.
“Ugh…! Mother, let’s go together!”
Cesar rushed in from behind my mother, panting heavily.
“I thought you were definitely going to marry that scoundrel… I was surprised to hear it was someone completely different.”
My mother, slowly scanning me from head to toe, spoke softly.
“Yes, that’s how it turned out. It just happened…”
“I see…”
The conversation with my mother, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, felt incredibly awkward.
After the accident 11 years ago, my mother had left for the academy in the duchy.
It was a choice made out of guilt, feeling responsible for what happened to my brother.
‘If I hadn’t suggested going out that day,’
But the truth was, someone else was to blame.
“Silvia. A few days ago, you said you wouldn’t be able to come because you were busy.”
Seeing my mother, my father’s face brightened, and he hurried to her side.
My mother, who was originally a scholar, became the most famous doctor in the empire and a professor at the academy.
As a result, my mother could only visit the empire for four months a year, which coincided with the academy’s vacation.
“That was because I thought Dahlia was marrying that man.”
“Ahem…”
At my mother’s straightforward response, my father cleared his throat, glancing at me.
It seemed that my father, who sent dozens of letters each month to my mother, had likely filled her in on the general situation.
Except for the four months, they live apart but still remain a loving couple.
“I’m joking. Still, it’s my only daughter’s wedding, so of course I should be here.”
My mother, smiling at my father, shrugged her shoulders lightly.
Of course, the three of us—my father, Cesar, and I—knew that her words were not just a joke.
‘I remember how she got even angrier than my father when I said I was going to marry Delos.’
Recalling that moment made me shiver as if I had a chill.
It was the first time I had seen my mother make such a terrifying expression.
I must have been insane to insist on marrying Delos.
“Anyway, Dahlia.”
“Yes?”
With a calm expression, my mother called my name and opened her mouth with a small smile.
“I just want you to live happily; that’s enough for me.”
I froze, looking even more dazed than when I had received congratulations from my father earlier.
In fact, I couldn’t even remember the last time I had a normal conversation with my mother; we had grown distant. Of course, Delos was always in the middle of that distance.
As the number of days I spent with Delos increased, my father and Cesar actively tried to dissuade me, often becoming angry, while my mother silently watched me.
At some point, I began to feel uncomfortable with her presence, and eventually, we became the kind of people who only exchanged brief greetings.
Thus, my mother’s words just now were enough to leave me in a daze.
“Hmm. The ceremony will start soon, so we should head out.”
My mother, who had been quietly watching me, spoke her last words with a face that showed a mix of awkwardness and embarrassment.
She hurriedly led my father and Cesar out of the waiting room.
Watching the three of them walk away, I was suddenly overwhelmed by an unnamed emotion and bowed my head deeply.
I felt both joy and sadness.
It struck me again how much the future could change based on the choices I made.
“Miss!”
Just as I was about to get lost in my thoughts, May burst through the door, snapping me back to reality.
“The ceremony is about to start. Let me guide you.”
“Okay. Got it.”
I followed May, whose face was even more tense than mine.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
Inside the grand temple,.
Everyone gathered here attended the wedding with their own curiosities.
Regardless of what anyone said, it was the wedding of the two most talked-about individuals in the Empire right now.
The union of a commoner turned duke, who was currently the center of social attention, and Lady Feldro, known for being a puppet of the second prince.
Who could have imagined such a combination coming to be?
“Please welcome the bride.”
As the priest’s voice announcing the bride’s entrance echoed through the once chaotic hall, silence fell over the space.
