Chapter 2

The North.

Cecia had never been to the North.

The North had a notorious reputation for many reasons.

It was cold, winters were long, it snowed heavily, and most critically, during winter, the region was completely cut off from the outside.

When the snow started falling in the North, people prepared months’ worth of supplies and locked their doors.

They didn’t leave the house until spring, when the snow melted.

Winter to spring—meaning a third of the year was spent locked indoors, making the North a place that inspired fear just by hearing about it.

And Marquis Sinclair’s estate was in Aeon, the most northern part of the North.

If she accepted Marquis Sinclair’s proposal, she’d have to live in Aeon.

Cecia’s current home in the southern capital never saw snow.

She lived in the South, where flowers bloomed year-round, but now would have to move to the North? Normally, she wouldn’t even consider it, but now she was desperate.

She had no choice but to go, North or anywhere else.

She couldn’t afford to be picky.

It wasn’t a remarriage, the family wasn’t declining, and the man wasn’t old.

In fact, it was strange—almost suspicious—that Marquis Sinclair proposed to her.

[However, the Marquis has a slight disability. It’s not serious, just a minor one.]

The agent cautiously mentioned this today.

A slight disability.

But didn’t specify what kind.

That bothered her a bit.

‘Disability… what kind of disability…’

[It doesn’t affect daily life, and he doesn’t need help from others. So you don’t have to worry too much about it.]

He said not to worry, but how could she not worry?

‘If it doesn’t affect daily life and doesn’t need someone’s help… it should be fine. I can’t afford to be picky right now…’

Returning the borrowed dress and thanking the lender several times, Cecia made up her mind on her way home.

‘Alright. Let’s go. I really can’t afford to be picky. If it doesn’t work out, I can divorce. I can endure a few years and then divorce if needed.’

Yes, divorce was an option in the worst case.

‘First, get married and solve the urgent problem.’

With her mind made up, walking home felt much easier.

Before heading to the polo club, Cecia wrote a letter to the agent who had visited her.

Of course, it was a letter of acceptance.

***

As soon as she sent the letter accepting the proposal, everything progressed rapidly.

Almost everything was handled by Marquis Sinclair’s side, so Cecia didn’t have much to do.

The agent paid off her father’s debts, bought a new house, and handled the move.

The new house was fully furnished, with a garden, much more luxurious and spacious than the previous mansion.

The wardrobe was full of clothes, and Marquis Sinclair hired a gardener and a cook.

Of course, their salaries were paid by the Marquis.

Her siblings’ tuition and her father’s living expenses would be paid monthly.

If given a large sum at once, her father would surely get scammed again, so Cecia preferred it this way.

Cecia’s only task was to get a wedding dress at a shop where the agent had already paid in advance.

She nearly lost her mind seeing the luxurious dresses at the most upscale shop in the capital, but managed to keep herself together.

The wedding dress would be worn only once, so paying thousands of silts for it felt wasteful—but it wasn’t her money, it was the marquis’s, so it didn’t matter.

She didn’t just get a wedding dress, but dozens of dresses for the North as well, and the shop even manicured her nails.

The agent relayed the Marquis’s instructions to buy everything needed before moving north, since there were no dress or shoe shops there. Since it all came from the agent’s wallet, Cecia bought everything she needed, and even things she didn’t.

Dresses, underwear, shoes, gloves, socks, hats, shawls, and all kinds of jewelry.

In the end, the boxes of luggage to be taken to the North after the wedding had increased so much that they had to be loaded onto seven carriages.

‘As expected, it’s beautiful…….’

Cecia admired anew as she looked at her hands, clad in white, clean silk gloves, turning them this way and that.

Cecia realized once again that she was a materialistic person.

In truth, she had never even thought about it before because she had never had the means to spend, but once she suddenly had money she could spend as much as she wanted—more precisely, once she had a patron—she became acutely aware of just how materialistic she was.

She was about to marry a man whose face she didn’t even know, and yet her entire attention was fixed on her beautiful gloves. What other kind of materialist could there be?

When she placed the veil made of delicately woven lace on her head and set the diamond-adorned tiara above it, she felt as if she had become a Grand Duchess.

The wedding dress made for Cecia was decorated with pearls and diamonds on white silk reminiscent of winter.

Even the tailor at the dress shop said it was the first time making such a splendid dress.

The pearls and diamonds used for the dress were all sent from the North.

Cecia still remembered how much the tailor had cheered upon seeing the box filled with the finest, carefully selected diamonds and pearls.

All of those were decorated onto the wedding dress.

The shoes were so beautiful, too.

It was just a pity that these beautiful shoes would be hidden by the dress.

“Are you all ready?”

Her father, who entered through the door, began to choke up upon seeing Cecia in her bridal attire.

“You’ve grown up so much already…… That your mother couldn’t see you like this…… Ugh…… sob sob…….”

It was Cecia who was more flustered because her father suddenly started crying.

If anyone should cry, it should be the bride, not the bride’s father.

In the end, Cecia was a little late for the scheduled wedding, as she had to soothe her father and wipe away his tear stains.

The wedding was held at the cathedral.

Apparently, Marquis Sinclair was a person of greater influence than expected, as people attended the wedding whom she could never have imagined.

Famous Dukes, Viscounts, Barons, and the wealthiest people of the capital, whom she had only heard of by name but never met in person, were there. Most of all, what surprised Cecia the most was that the Crown Prince and Princess attended her wedding.

The Emperor was not in the capital due to an inspection of the territory, so the Crown Prince and Princess attended in his stead, and Cecia was so genuinely shocked that she and her father just blinked at each other.

Like fools, they met the Crown Prince and Princess right in front of them but couldn’t even greet them with a smile.

And the officiant for the wedding was the Archbishop.

Cecia knew well how difficult it was to receive the Archbishop’s officiation.

The daughter of the Earldom, whom Cecia had tutored, got married last year and tried every possible way to get the Archbishop to officiate at the cathedral, but was ultimately refused—Cecia knew that story.

Beautiful melodies flowed, and Cecia, holding her father’s hand, walked down the wedding aisle prepared with flower petals, her gaze fixed on the man waiting for her ahead.

‘No way……’

The man in a tuxedo of black with golden embroidery was clearly Adam Sinclair, the Marquis, who would become her husband.

‘He’s so handsome……’

He was dazzlingly handsome.

In fact, Cecia had somewhat given up on her husband.

Ever since she heard from his agent that he had a disability, she had resigned herself regarding his appearance and other external conditions, but what in the world was this?

How could such a handsome man be her husband?

Watching him walk toward her, he didn’t limp and walked upright and straight.

His eyes were perfectly fine, and there was no sign of any disability anywhere.

‘Could it be that I’ve come to the wrong wedding hall?’

If there was a mistake, there could be no greater embarrassment.

The Marquis, having walked over, stopped in front of Cecia and extended his hand clad in white gloves.

Up close, he was even more handsome.

A tall stature, alluring gray eyes that could melt the hearts of all women, skin so white it seemed shadows couldn’t form, and hair blacker than the darkness of night.

She had never seen such a handsome man even at the polo grounds.

Why did a man like this urgently seek a bride, and why did he propose to someone as lacking in conditions as herself?

No, where exactly was this man’s disability?

“Miss Benoit.”

Cecia’s ears melted at the sound of the man calling her.

Even his voice was perfect.

In a daze, Cecia took the hand of Marquis Sinclair.