Dana Rowen and Hilda didn’t bother discussing the events of the previous night.

Until the bell ringer at Eluan Temple’s bell tower announced the time for evening prayers, Dana sat in the study, writing a letter to Taras. She filled the letter with unnecessary details about how handsome the man she had seen last night was, how charmingly he had extended his hand to her, and how many times they had danced together.

Dana couldn’t even begin to imagine how Taras would react to this letter. Regardless, she needed to seem completely smitten with the man named Kaiden, and fortunately, filling the letter with content wasn’t difficult. She had plenty to write about, and Dana felt like she had become quite the skilled writer.

She completed the letter while glancing at the bracelet on her wrist and the ring on her finger resting on the desk. After calling a maid to seal the letter with a wax stamp, she leaned back in her chair.

Now, she needed to prepare for the wedding. There was much to do. Preparations had to be rushed, and both the wedding and the conferment of titles needed to be completed.

‘A second marriage, huh…’

Her first marriage had, of course, been greatly assisted by Queen Bridget. As she reflected on this, Dana realized she should also send a letter to Queen Bridget. Back then, she had viewed the wedding as a mountain to climb. She had been overwhelmed and had left many decisions to Bridget.

‘From the wedding to the reception, everything… Yeah. That was a mistake too.’

Did Bridget really pay close attention to Dana’s wedding back then? Was Bridget involved in the poisoning of Prince Ergart? Or was that disaster the result of Bridget handling Dana’s wedding carelessly? There was no way to know.

At that time, Dana had thought that once the wedding with the prince was over, she would have crossed a significant hurdle and could easily glide through the remaining tasks. But in reality, marriage was an even higher mountain beyond that. This time would likely be no different.

‘Anyway, this is a marriage that will eventually become null.’

Prepare well but finish quickly. That’s what Dana thought.

* * *

After that, Dana received a few letters from Taras and Queen Bridget. She diligently replied to them. Sometimes, she even sent additional letters before receiving a response, eager to appear as anxious as possible to Taras.

Initially, she received a letter from Taras in an uproar, insisting that royalty must marry royalty. As expected, Dana filled half of her letter to Taras with guilt and shame for being an inadequate royal who had failed to contract with the divine beast. The other half was filled with her determination to marry a wonderful Rowen knight rather than live in disregard by marrying into another kingdom’s royalty.

Eventually, Taras agreed to grant Kaiden a dukedom and approved the marriage. Without much difficulty, the marriage of the love-struck princess and the commoner-born baron was decided. Though their flaws prevented it from being the wedding of the century, it drew attention for that very reason. However, since the wedding was to be held in the northern region of Khalid, that attention quickly faded.

Throughout the wedding preparations, Dana noticed that Hilda was more enthusiastic than expected. After Kaiden’s visit, Hilda stopped talking about him. Kaiden didn’t visit Khalid again during the wedding preparations.

Despite this, Hilda’s fervent preparations seemed to suggest she hoped the beautiful bride’s appearance would overshadow any flaws and blind the groom. Dana didn’t bother to stop Hilda from doing so.