Chapter 45

“Move over a bit more.”  

Duke Lexion took off his jacket and pulled back Adelina’s blanket.  

A slight look of disappointment crossed his face when he saw Adelina in her modest pajamas.  

“Why?”  

“I couldn’t sleep at night either. I washed up and came straight here.”  

“Then… why didn’t you sleep at the Ducal house…”  

Adelina glared at him, refusing to make room.  

‘What a strange person. He could have just slept after washing his feet upon arriving home. Why rush over here?’  

“You know, I’m scared to sleep alone.”  

Lexion pushed Adelina aside to make enough room and perched on the bed.  

“Your Grace, that’s enough. We’re still legally strangers.”  

Hailyn, who had briefly left the room, hurriedly ran in, eyes wide open, and placed a cushion between Adelina and Lexion.  

+++

‘It’s warm.’

Adelina held the hand of Lexion, who was hugging both the cushion and her from behind.  

‘What if he wakes up because of my cold hands?’  

She momentarily recoiled her hand, but Lexion didn’t move, seemingly asleep.  

Adelina cautiously wriggled her body to press the cushion with her back.  

It felt as if Lexion’s body heat was passing through the cushion, making her even warmer.  

“Hmm.”  

Lexion, perhaps uncomfortable, hugged her and the cushion tighter.

‘Gasp!’  

Adelina held her breath and tried to gently release his hand.  

“Hmm.”  

Was he sleep talking?  

Lexion let out a short hum and grabbed her hand tightly.  

‘Is he awake?’  

Adelina froze, blinking her eyes.  

After waiting a bit, Lexion’s breathing remained steady.  

‘He’s asleep.’  

Using Lexion’s steady breathing as a lullaby, Adelina closed her eyes again.  

Tonight, she didn’t need to pull the blanket over her head to stay warm.  

+++

When Adelina woke up after a short two-hour nap, Lexion had already left the bedroom.  

“Lady, are you awake? You need to go out again in the afternoon to fit the wedding dress.”  

Hailyn lifted Adelina’s sleepy upper body to sit her up.  

Adelina took out the rosemary she had placed under her pillow.  

‘They said it only works if you sleep before midnight… I guess sleeping at dawn didn’t work.’

Adelina’s lips pouted in disappointment.  

Yesterday was Saint Agnes’ Day.  

It was a day when, after a clean shower, if you put rosemary under your pillow before sleeping, your future husband would appear in your dream to kiss you.

All the unmarried women in the empire must have slept with rosemary under their pillows last night.  

‘Well, I’ll have a legal husband soon anyway.’  

Adelina erased her disappointment and smiled brightly at Hailyn.  

“I dreamed of a ghost. A ghost dream.”  

She tried speaking in a cutesy voice.  

Since Hailyn said they might have been sisters in a past life, she thought this much cuteness would be accepted.

“Miss, that ghost seems to be hanging on your shoulder right now. I’ll do 100 bunny hops on the spot.”  

However, with a grim expression, Hailyn pulled Adelina from the bed.  

“Oh… Hailyn…”  

“Start.”  

Hailyn placed both hands over Adelina’s ears and sat her down firmly.  

+++

As Adelina was nearly finishing her 100 bunny hops, a letter arrived at the Empress’s residence.  

The Empress, having tea time with the Empress’ consort, looked curiously at the name on the letter.

“Did Duke Lexion send it?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”  

The Empress, showing her displeasure, ordered a maid to open the letter.  

‘Of all times! Lexion arrived at dawn!’  

Thinking that Leophris’s scheme had succeeded since Adelina hadn’t arrived at the palace by dawn, she was caught off guard.  

However, Lexion appeared a week earlier than expected. And at dawn, with the moon still out.  

• Leophris and the Imperial Knights were severely injured while clearing out bandits. –  

Even after waking the Emperor and herself, Lexion calmly reported, and the Empress clenched her fan tightly, maintaining her composure.  

‘Bandits?! They were all Imperial Knights!’  

The nephew and knights, who claimed to have fought non-existent bandits, were immediately hospitalized, and there was no news afterward.  

• My beloved was greatly frightened. I will report everything when the day breaks. –  

The sight of him confidently entering the silver palace with Adelina in his arms!  

The Empress, not wanting to think about it anymore, tightly closed her eyes and pressed her temples with her hand.  

“Empress… Your Majesty… You should read this letter yourself…”  

“What on earth is it?”  

She snatched the letter from the trembling maid.  

<You dared to kidnap my woman. Though deserving of death, I spared his neck, considering the grace I’ve received from the Empress. It’s a place that can be cut without affecting life.>  

“Aaaah!”  

Birds resting among the garden branches flew away startled by the Empress’s scream.  

“Your Majesty, please compose yourself!”

“Lexion Ernst! I’ll kill him! I’ll wipe out all of Ernst!”

The Empress, losing her elegance, screamed in rage.  

‘Oh dear… the Empress’s family might face extinction.’

The Empress’s consort, having glimpsed the contents of the letter, embraced the Empress, sharing in the sorrow while clenching her lips to keep from smiling.

+++

Emerald Street was as dazzling as ever, unaware of what had transpired last night.  

“Look, it’s Duke Lexion and Marquis Stephan.”  

“They’ve already returned after suppressing the rebels? Arriving before the Dragon Knights, how impressive.”  

Adelina, accompanied by Hailyn, went out again to fit her wedding dress on Emerald Street.  

People bowed and smiled as they passed by Lexion and Stephan, who were also on the street.  

“Once the Duke marries, he’ll return to Ernst, right?”

“Indeed, Prince Evans must also head to Iberis.”  

The island of Ernst, situated between two continents.  

Sufficiently fertile and beautiful on its own, it served as a stopover for merchant ships between the two continents.  

Once Lexion married, there would be no reason to separate Ernst from him.

Lexion would once again rule the island where money rolled in effortlessly.

People eagerly bowed their heads to catch a glance from Lexion and Stephan.  

+++

“All done, Your Grace.”  

At the tailor’s, Lexion tried on the wedding attire the Empress had prepared in advance.  

‘Petrus-style attire…’  

Though not entirely to his liking, he didn’t show it.  

The Empress probably prepared this attire hoping Leophris would wear it instead of him.  

‘Ernst-style attire has a slightly longer cloak with golden feathers resembling a swan…’  

Wearing a crown with a rose shape made of five leaves.  

Lexion imagined layering the traditional royal wedding attire of Ernst over this outfit.  

“Look! Lexion, don’t I look beautiful?! Clothes really do make the person!”

As the dressing room curtain was drawn, Adelina, fully dressed in her wedding gown, stood beside Lexion’s reflection in the mirror.  

Lexion turned to look at her.  

‘No… it should have golden swan feathers. Not a veil, but a tiara with a rose motif.’

Lexion imagined Adelina wearing the Ernst royal tiara on her head.  

+++

Unaware of Lexion’s furrowed brow, Adelina, excited about her pretty dress, moved closer to the mirror.  

‘So, Lexion, you have to buy me lots of dresses adorned with jewels like this!’  

Adelina, very pleased with her reflection in the mirror, kept her lips turned up, not planning to lower them.  

Though slightly concerned about the exposed chest and shoulders, the diamonds densely embedded along the chest line compensated for it all.  

‘Even the veil has diamonds!’  

This wedding dress, I would definitely take it with me into the mirror!

‘What if Lexion clings to my ankles and won’t let go? Hmph. Once I get the mirror, I’ll slip right in~’

Adelina happily watched the numerous jewels sparkle in the light as she subtly turned her body side to side.  

+++

“Everyone, leave.”  

Lexion, with a serious expression as in the previous tailor’s, spoke in a low, subdued voice, sending everyone out.  

Adelina momentarily stopped her swaying and looked at Lexion’s reflection in the mirror.  

‘Uh… didn’t he like it? I thought it was fine…’  

Lexion’s attire, which matched the dress, looked quite splendid too.  

Their reflection together in the mirror looked like a real bride and groom.  

Once everyone else left, Lexion turned Adelina sideways and held her shoulders.  

He didn’t relax his expression, keeping his brows furrowed.  

‘Is it because I’m not the real bride? Because I’m not a true Ernst noble?’  

Adelina’s eyelids drooped.  

She slightly wrinkled her nose and clenched the hem of her dress.  

‘You proposed first! I didn’t want this fake marriage either! I’m the one who should be upset!’  

The more the diamonds on the wedding dress sparkled, the more pathetic she felt for being excited about wearing a wedding dress, even if it was for a contract marriage.  

“An imperial-style wedding dress.”  

Lexion said in a calm voice, flipping Adelina’s veil back.  

He lifted her chin with a single finger.  

‘The dress? Oh… it wasn’t me he didn’t like, it was the dress.’  

Hey! No matter what, you shouldn’t do that to a bride in a wedding dress!  

“I didn’t choose it… The Empress did…”  

Feeling wronged, Adelina followed suit, creating small wrinkles on her forehead.  

+++

Lexion couldn’t erase the image of Adelina in the Ernst royal wedding dress from his mind.  

‘Adelina Ernst. A rose tiara suits you better than this veil.’

In his imagination, Adelina wearing the Ernst royal tiara was so beautiful.  

He wanted to introduce her to everyone he loved,  

to proudly show her to all the people of Ernst.  

“Who dared, without permission.”

Lexion removed the veil from Adelina’s hair and threw it far away.  

“Lexion?”  

“You’re so beautiful.”  

Lexion pushed the wide-eyed Adelina against the wall and covered her lips with his.  

Initially startled, Adelina tightly closed her lips, but when she relaxed them, he boldly invaded inside.  

+++

Adelina, struggling for breath, pounded Lexion’s arms and back with her fists, trying to twist her body to be released.  

‘Lexion… I can’t breathe…’  

No matter how much she hit his arms and back, Lexion’s lips didn’t release hers.  

Instead, when Lexion moved his head to change direction and parted his lips, Adelina seized the chance to gulp a breath of air.  

The hand that had been firmly holding the back of her neck slid down.  

His storm-like rough hand seemed to linger on her chest, then gripped the wedding dress and tore it.  

‘Lexion!’  

Adelina fiercely resisted, turning her head side to side.  

“Gasp… gasp… What are you doing!”