4. (1)

The wedding day was a busy day from before dawn.

Until yesterday it had felt like someone else’s affair entirely, but on the day itself, there was no shortage of things the person at the center had to do.

Guided this way and that by the hands of maids who moved in perfect unison, Ines could not quite gather her thoughts throughout. Being pampered in body and being mentally exhausted from nerves were two separate things.

‘……Doing it once before doesn’t make it easier.’

She had thought that having gone through the same wedding before, even if that time was now gone, she would be able to handle it with more ease. That had been a hollow illusion.

Having her makeup done and her hair arranged took a considerable amount of time. Putting on the dress was last.

With the help of several maids, the pure white dress settled perfectly against Ines’s body, unlike a few days ago when it had been slightly loose at the waist.

Throughout the preparations, Ines felt strangely off. It was because the bride in the mirror looked subtly different.

‘……Something seems a little different. What is it?’

The dress embroidered with silver thread and set with small jewels looked the same, and the hair pinned up with a dusting of pearl powder was similar. The makeup was the same as before, just a touch of color. Her face was obviously the same.

So why did the reflection keep feeling unfamiliar?

Ines looked at the mirror again and again, turning the question over, but nothing had changed.

By the time she gave up, the preparations were done.

The maids stepped back one and two paces, wearing the faces of artists moved by the work born from their own hands.

“Goodness……”

“You look so beautiful, Your Highness!”

“Thank you.”

Ines blinked in surprise, then smiled with mild embarrassment. In truth, Ines had no immunity to this kind of praise. Lena, who had occupied her side during the five years now gone, had been gifted at flattery, but those words had been empty shells with no sincerity inside.

While the maids made their final adjustments, Ines looked at the mirror again. The woman reflected in the spotless glass was, remarkably, wearing a very pleasing expression.

It was strange.

Her fingertips were cold with nerves, and the body dressed in the elaborate gown felt heavy. Thinking of what she would soon drink with her own hands, she told herself it would be fine, but a faint, unavoidable fear rose regardless.

And yet. Despite all of that, the face in the mirror was bright and clear. Her heart beat with a clean, steady rhythm.

The sense of strangeness she had felt earlier came back. What was different?

The answer arrived without warning.

‘……Killian.’

The moment she murmured his name out of habit, it came to her, just like that.

There was an emotion that had come first, ahead of the nerves and the discomfort.

‘I’m excited……’

The feeling of excitement.

Once she understood the reason, her heart settled.

“Your Highness, it’s time to go.”

At the same moment, everything was ready.

* * *

The wedding was held not in the main building of Rupert Castle but in the annex.

The annex standing firm amid the unmelted snow had a style so old it breathed a deep sense of antiquity. That impression was only natural. The building had stood for nearly a thousand years.

‘This building was built by the first Grand Duke for his wedding. And so the Rupert grand ducal family has held its weddings here in this annex from generation to generation. A tradition of our own, in a sense.’

Ines walked slowly down the aisle, recalling words Marisa had told her years ago and again just days ago.

A building said to have been built by the first Grand Duke and founder of Rupert, the black dragon Faisar, for his partner, the first Grand Duchess.

The last of the dragon clan remaining in this world, said to have possessed omnipotent power. Had he known? That someone would walk this path twice.

The idle thought stopped quickly.

Because at almost exactly the halfway point of the path, which was a little long, someone was waiting for her.

Killian Rupert. The man who would become her husband again from this day forward, and the man Ines already held in her heart.

Through the veil, his face seemed to carry a faint smile. She hoped it was not her imagination.

Killian extended his hand with a movement that was precise yet somehow soft.

“Ines, your hand.”

And a voice even gentler than the gesture urged her warmly.

Ines placed her hand in his slowly. Killian’s hand, held again, was warm and steady enough to bring tears to her eyes.

“Shall we go?”

“……Yes.”

Fortunately, only her voice had caught. The tears did not fall. She was glad she had worn a veil.

The two of them walked the remaining half slowly.

The sound of their shoes, which had been out of step, fell into the same rhythm at some point.

But by the time Ines noticed, there was no more path left to walk.

“From this moment forward, in the name of the gods……”

The high priest’s voice, one of the few in the Empire qualified to officiate a royal wedding, rang through the high-ceilinged space.

“Does Killian Rupert swear to take Ines Delcarion as his wife, to cherish and love her for all his life?”

“Yes, I swear.”

Killian’s vow was, like him, steady and warm.

“Does Ines Delcarion swear to take Killian Rupert as her husband, to cherish and love him for all her life?”

“Yes, I swear.”

Unlike before, Ines answered immediately.

“Then let the two of you share a kiss of vow, to prove the truth of that declaration.”

Ines’s eyes wavered for just a moment. It was a natural part of any wedding, yet somehow she had not thought of it until now.

Killian stepped closer and slowly lifted the veil. His face was clear to her now.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Killian whispered softly, then bowed his head with great care.

The moment their lips met was brief enough to be called an instant. But in that fleeting span, Ines could tell how soft Killian’s lips were, and how warm.

“Very well.”

The priest, who had been looking down at them with a benevolent expression, glanced to the side. A young priest came forward carrying a pure white cup on a pure white tray.

The heart that had been racing from the brief kiss gradually cooled.

Ines swallowed slowly.

“Let the two of you each drink half of the holy water, the fruit of divine grace. By tradition, Your Highness the Princess will drink first.”

The fruit of divine grace. ……What a joke.

That clear liquid was the poison that had destroyed Killian’s body, and was trying to do so again.

Ines slowly reached out and took the cup. The priest withdrew the tray and stepped back.

There were several fortunate things about this moment.

The cup holding the holy water was very small, barely half a palm. The officiating high priest was elderly. And the young priest who had just stepped back was hard of hearing and could not make out a thing.

Truly, all of it could only be called the blessing of the gods.

“……Just pretend to drink.”

After swallowing every drop of the liquid that had been half-filling the cup, Ines passed the empty cup to Killian in a way the two priests, who were the only audience for this wedding, could not see, and whispered. Neither of them could hear.

Killian took the cup from Ines and paused for just a moment, then slowly brought it to his lips. He tilted his head as though drinking. That instant passed very slowly, and without a trace of unnaturalness.

Clink.

Ines did not take her eyes off Killian until the priest came back to collect the cup and retreated with quick steps.

“Then let us now offer the blessing of the gods to these two……”

And as the final part of the ceremony began,

‘……He didn’t drink. He didn’t even touch his lips to the cup.’

Ines felt a joy more intense than anything she had felt before.

Killian would never suffer from an inexplicable illness again.

Behind closed eyelids, something faintly shimmered.

After the priest’s blessing concluded, Killian and Ines followed the designated path back toward the main building. That too was part of the ceremony.

Crunch.

The path, with no one passing through it, was very quiet. By now the servants would all be lined up in the entrance hall, waiting for the two of them to arrive.

It was somewhat different from a capital noble’s wedding, but Rupert’s weddings were neither grand in scale nor elaborate in process. Among noble families, it was particularly understated, even by the standards of high nobility.

Of course, that the ceremony itself was modest did not mean it was without luxury.

The annex where the rites were held was filled with fragrant flowers that seemed at odds with the snow blanketing everything around it, and the main building went without saying. But more remarkable than any of that was the value of what Ines wore and carried.