“Mmm…”
Charlie, her throat dry, fumbled with her hand in her sleep.
Soon, as if knowing what she wanted, cool water passed her lips and flowed down her throat.
Whew–
Finally feeling alive, Charlie let out a grand sigh.
“Charlie.”
Hector draped a blanket over her shoulders and nuzzled her face.
But Charlie, who had fallen back asleep, didn’t even stir.
“Charlie, aren’t you hungry?”
“Mmm…”
Charlie’s face scrunched up in annoyance.
But when Hector fell silent, her deeply furrowed brow smoothed out.
“……”
Maybe I should have done a little less.
Although he had given his all due to the opening of Miracle’s pheromones and the anxiety in one corner of his mind.
Seeing Charlie still not coming to her senses and in a daze, Hector felt a surge of guilt.
Charlie was usually a heavy sleeper in the morning, but the sun was already setting.
In fact, they should also consider the aftermath of staying up all night in the prayer room after her awakening.
However, Hector, unaware of this, awkwardly got up from the bed.
As he carefully left the bedroom, suppressing any noise, Tanner, who had been waiting outside the door, greeted Hector.
“Your mouth is about to split.”
Hector muttered in a low voice.
Tanner, with his mouth stretched to his ears, indeed looked like it might split at any moment.
Only after they had moved far away from the bedroom did Hector open his mouth.
“Is the Imperial Army still there?”
As if there was no need for a long explanation, Tanner turned his gaze towards the window.
There, Kaisis’s army surrounded the Grand Ducal residence.
But inside the Grand Ducal residence, protected by a black barrier, all was quiet.
Unless Kaisis came personally. No, even if he came personally, he wouldn’t be able to easily break through Hector’s shield.
Although they were both Grand Masters, their levels were different now.
“Don’t they know about the imprinting?”
“We informed them.”
“Is it pride?”
“Wouldn’t they want to be the first to congratulate?”
Hector, withdrawing his gaze from the lined-up Imperial Army, said,
“What about Cedric?”
“When the knights arrived, he was already turned to ashes, they say.”
“Must be Kaisis’s doing.”
“With that temper of his, of course.”
“Have you found out about the nature of the land where Charlie was confined?”
“It seems to be a defense formation created over a long time using earth ability and forbidden magic. According to the temple’s investigation, it appears holy water was used, which is why our abilities couldn’t reach it.”
“Crazy bastard.”
Tanner’s eyes rose slightly at the rare curse that escaped.
“Also, it seems a forbidden magic curse was used to prevent the Emperor’s ability from working.”
“Are you saying he gnawed away at his own soul?”
Using a curse can erase memories.
But as the name suggests, using a curse corrupts the soul.
And if it continues, eventually it leads to madness and rampage.
“Considering the forbidden magic in the defense formation, the only way is that he cursed himself to erase his memories.”
“He’s completely mad.”
Hector shook his head with a disgusted look.
“The Pope has been insisting on checking on Miss Charlie’s well-being, so for now, we’ve calmed him down saying she’s in deep sleep due to the imprinting, but…”
Tanner, glancing at Hector’s expression, continued.
“He’s even more furious that you imprinted without having a wedding ceremony… He seems ready to break into the Grand Ducal residence if this goes on another day.”
“One might think Charlie is his own child.”
“It seems he already thinks so.”
“Isn’t he about the same age as Charlie?”
“She can’t be called his child, but he’s still older than Your Grace.”
“What?”
Hector turned to Tanner in surprise.
“Priests generally look younger than they are.”
Tanner briefly bowed his head as if to confirm it was true.
* * *
“Emma, isn’t this enough?”
Charlie sighed deeply, looking in the mirror, wondering what was being done to her hair.
Quite some time had passed since then.
Michael, unable to contain himself, finally broke through the barrier with holy power and invaded the Grand Ducal residence.
Thanks to that, Charlie, who was forcibly awakened, had to show her face to Michael while still groggy.
[Sister, this is no place for you to be! That man is a beast!!]
Michael caused an even bigger commotion upon seeing Charlie. It was because of the red and purple marks engraved here and there on her snow-white neck.
Still, Michael left quietly after Charlie said that if it weren’t for Hector, she would have been r*ped by Cedric.
Tanner had a hard time stopping Hector, who wanted to find even the remains of his corpse and burn it without a trace.
The standoff between Kaisis and Hector ended peacefully.
There was nothing Kaisis could do about Charlie, who had already been imprinted.
Afterwards, Charlie’s saintess ceremony was also completed safely.
Noel also expressed regret but returned with Kieran without saying much.
‘If only Liliana had imprinted with just one person in the original story, it would have been fine.’
Charlie muttered, feeling the greatness of imprinting again.
The Edwards family was succeeded by Cedric’s cousin, Ailia Edwards, who took the position of family head.
In the meantime, the biggest change was in the relationship between the temple and the Hunt family.
The temple knight order that Rapha mentioned was officially approved.
With Charlie’s attack and kidnapping, and Cedric’s theft and use of holy water, even the imperial faction couldn’t oppose it.
And those who agreed to teach them swordsmanship were none other than the Hunt Knights.
[It must be that he couldn’t resist the pressure from his father-in-law.]
Charlie didn’t know since when Michael had become her father and Hector’s father-in-law, but since it was a good thing, she didn’t stop it.
[It’s fine to teach them. They won’t even come close to our level anyway.]
Leon coolly accepted Hector’s instructions.
Derek became the training instructor.
He was so happy that it seemed he would have been upset if he hadn’t been asked to do it.
[They have good bones, so with a little training, they’ll have decent endurance.]
[In professional terms, it’s called body checking.]
[It’s about taking down monsters with your body. Priest, hahaha.]
The Hunt Knights seemed excited at the thought of taking them along on expeditions.
[How about Holy Knight Order?]
Charlie casually suggested to Michael, who was pondering over the name for the knight order.
‘Is there any other name besides that?’
In any case, the fact that Hector was a Grand Master was also revealed to the world.
Fortunately, the empire’s peace was maintained by concluding a new alliance.
“Charlie, don’t cry.”
Emma, who was decorating Charlie’s braided hair with small diamonds, said as she dropped chicken-drop-like tears.
“Emma, you’re the one crying.”
“Me?!”
Only then realizing she had been crying, Emma wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
“But Emma.”
“Yes?”
“Since it’s silver hair, won’t the decorations not show up much even if you add more?”
“I-is that so… But a bride should sparkle. There are still many diamonds left.”
Decorating hair with diamonds, it was truly an idea expected from Hector.
“I think it’s already sparkling quite dazzlingly.”
As if her head was some flower vase.
Swallowing the words that it wasn’t very pleasant to have jewels stuck in here and there, Charlie smiled brightly.
“That’s true.”
Just as Emma nodded, deep in thought at Charlie’s words,
Knock knock–
“It’s Tanner.”
“Come in.”
Soon after, the heavy door opened, and Tanner entered the room holding a veil.
She received the veil from the butler. It was such an odd custom.
Tanner carefully placed the veil on Charlie’s head as practiced.
The pure white veil draped long over the wedding dress.
“Charlie, you’re so beautiful.”
Emma clapped her hands together, jumping up and down.
“Just like a pure white cat.”
A cat?
Charlie looked at herself in the mirror.
Perhaps because her silver hair and even her eyes had turned purple, she certainly looked more dignified than before.
“A cat…”
[It feels like holding a very small and soft pure white kitten.]
At that moment, Charlie’s head creaked as she stared at Tanner.
“Lord Tanner.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess.”
“Have you ever heard of regression?”
Tanner’s eyes sharpened at Charlie’s question.
“What do you mean by that now?”
Charlie asked back, not to be outdone.
“Coming back from the past.”
For a moment, Tanner’s stiff expression softened, and he smiled faintly.
“Are you talking about Liliana?”
“Huh…”
Charlie’s mouth gaped open in shock.
On the other hand, Tanner calmly helped Charlie up and guided her to Michael, who would be waiting outside the door.
“It’s not her anyway, is it?”
“……!”
* * *
There’s always a bigger fish.
Why did it feel like even this wedding aisle was part of Tanner’s plan?
‘He really is a demon.’
Then, hearing the sound of sniffling, Charlie turned to look at Michael.
Why on earth was he crying?
No, why was she walking in holding Michael’s hand when he wasn’t even her father to begin with?
After walking for quite some time, Charlie couldn’t help but be amazed as she reached Hector.
‘Wow… What is this?’
A well-tailored formal attire wrapped around his body, showing off his noble figure.
His hair neatly swept up and his red eyes shining…
“Gasp.”
Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise as she let go of Michael’s hand and took Hector’s.
Why are you crying too?!
“The wind is blowing.”
Hector blinked quickly, hiding his tears and gave Charlie a faint smile.
There’s not even a breeze, let alone wind.
Charlie let out a small laugh.
As she looked forward again, Michael, who had already gone up to the officiant’s position, was dabbing at his tears.
“……”
And that wasn’t all. Far away, Nova who had been invited and came with Thomas, Leon and Luke, and even Emma — they were all sobbing loudly.
‘Why is everyone like this?’
Isn’t a wedding supposed to be happy?
Is it a wedding culture here to shed a tear each?
Just as Charlie was making a disgusted expression, it happened.
“Charlie.”
Hector lifted Charlie’s hand and carefully slipped on a ring set with his dark red mana stone.
“It won’t be stuffy anymore.”
Hector’s teary eyes crinkled.
Well, what’s wrong with crying a little?
As long as the bride is happy, that’s all that matters.
Charlie looked up at Hector and smiled brightly.
/The End
- dorothea
feeling burnt out. updates for some novels will be slow please understand(ㅅ•́ ₃•̀)
lavender
I’m happy for them ♥️
Della Sama
Ntah mengapa endingnya terasa dipaksakan
Della Sama
Ternyata belum habis (´⊙ω⊙`)!