Chapter 2 – The Swapped Groom (Part 6)

On the much-anticipated wedding day, Sophia stayed up all night.

“My goodness, Lady?”

Emily, entering the bedroom in the morning, looked at Sophia’s dark-circled face with surprise.

“Ah, you’re here?”

Seeing Emily’s displeased expression, Sophia gave a sheepish look.

“All the care you’ve received has gone to waste. What do we do? We’ll have to cover it all with makeup. There might be some traces, though.”

Sensing Sophia’s gloomy mood, Emily moved more busily than usual.

“It’s okay. It won’t show from a distance.”

“We’ll only know once we try, right?”

Emily left the room immediately and returned with several maids, taking Sophia to the bathroom.

After a long bath, they dried her hair, brought the dress she had decided on after much deliberation, and checked if the chosen accessories matched.

When Sophia nodded, they set to work, styling her hair and applying heavy makeup. Feeling like a doll, Sophia followed their movements without a word.

Once they dressed her in the pure white wedding dress and placed the veil, the maids finally stepped back, leaving only Sophia and Emily in the room.

“Miss, you look so beautiful!”

“Thank you.”

Sophia’s voice lacked sincerity, and her expression was as dark as a cloudy sky.

She hadn’t thought much during the preparations, but seeing herself fully dressed, it finally felt real that she was being dragged into hell.

“Miss, you’ll be alright. I’ll be by your side.”

Emily smiled.

“You don’t have to look at me like that anymore. You’re following me, so your future is just as tough.”

Since they had to leave for the Loden family immediately after the wedding, Sophia was more worried about Emily than herself.

“As I said before, don’t worry about me.”

“You don’t have to worry about me either.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

When Sophia gave a bright smile, a gentle smile appeared on Emily’s lips.

As they talked with lighter hearts, Sophia’s family, excluding Annette, came to see her after hearing she was ready.

Annette had been too ill with a high fever since yesterday to attend the wedding. Upon seeing them, Sophia immediately asked about Annette’s condition.

“How is Sister Annette’s health? Has she gotten better?”

“She’s sleeping after taking medicine. It’s not serious, so she should recover by tomorrow or the day after.”

Unable to check on Annette herself, Sophia had to rely on the Duchess to hear about her condition.

“That’s a relief.”

Hearing she would recover soon, Sophia sighed in relief.

“It’s not the time to worry about Annette. Sophia, today is your wedding day.”

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

Sophia answered calmly, but the Duke and Duchess’s faces were clouded with concern.

“You don’t have to pretend to be calm. We know how you feel. I promise I’ll save you from hell, so don’t worry.”

“Thank you. I’ll trust you, Father.”

The determined look on Duke Dveshi’s face was reassuring. Though she didn’t know when it would happen, his willingness to help was both comforting and guilt-inducing.

After saying her final goodbyes to her family before the wedding, Sophia left the mansion to head to the carriage.

The sky was clear without a single cloud. If only it would rain, her heart might feel a little lighter, but even the sky seemed not to be on her side, making Sophia’s mood sink further.

As a result, every step toward the carriage felt heavy. She wished time would stop at that moment.

When Sophia finally boarded the carriage and found herself alone, tears welled up in her eyes. The reality of the wedding approaching seemed to stir her emotions.

She had thought she would have a happy wedding, blessed by many people, but what was this?

If she cried, her makeup would be ruined, so Sophia had to bite her lower lip to keep the tears from falling.

The only consolation was that she was wearing a veil. Except for the vow’s kiss at the end of the ceremony, there would be no need to remove it, so her reddened eyes wouldn’t be noticeable.

The carriage stopped in front of the bridal waiting room, and with Emily’s help, Sophia entered the room. She had to wait there quietly until the ceremony began.

Sophia anxiously awaited a knock on the door. At first, she hoped there would be no knock, but as time passed without a sound, she began to feel strangely uneasy.

Sensing something was off, Sophia asked Emily.

“Don’t you think we’ve been waiting too long?”

Though she couldn’t tell the exact passage of time, the wait felt long enough that the ceremony should have started by now.

“Indeed. It’s already past the time they should have come….”

Emily and the maids around her also seemed clueless.

“Should I go check?”

“No, the coachman will come soon.”

Sophia was supposed to take the wedding carriage, driven by the coachman, to the venue. She thought the reluctance about the marriage was making time feel slower, so she decided to wait a bit longer.

But oddly, it was too quiet outside. It was the time when court music should be playing, yet there wasn’t even a human voice to be heard….

It was when she felt a sense of discord that suddenly, there were sounds of commotion and screams coming from outside, as if something had happened.

“Did something happen?”

“I’ll go check.”

As Sophia looked at the door with a bewildered expression, Emily hurriedly stood up. She, too, seemed quite flustered.

“Alright.”

Could it be that a war between families had erupted on the wedding day?

Though it was unlikely with the King watching closely, the unsettling voices from outside made Sophia anxious.

“My Lady, well….”

Emily, who had cautiously opened the door and gone out, suddenly flung the door open as if something urgent had happened.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

Seeing Emily’s pale face, Sophia finally sensed that something was amiss.

“Well, Clive hasn’t shown up at the venue yet.”

And as expected, Emily’s words were astonishing.

“It must be an unavoidable situation. He’ll come soon, won’t he?”

Finding the story hard to believe, Sophia thought Emily must have misunderstood. Surely, no one in their right mind would flee from a marriage led by the King.

“Seeing the Loden family also looking flustered, I don’t think that’s it.”

As Sophia clicked her tongue, Emily, with a sense of urgency, spoke in a hurried voice, as if it wasn’t the time for such a relaxed expression.

“There’s chaos outside. It’s on the verge of a fight.”

“What?”

Hearing the word “fight,” Sophia immediately stood up, and with Emily’s help, she grabbed her cumbersome dress and left the bridal waiting room.

“Call the carriage.”

Though it was a walkable distance to the banquet hall, she couldn’t walk there in a long dress. So, reluctantly, she had to take the ceremonial carriage.

“Yes.”

Emily ran toward the direction where the coachman was, and shortly after, the carriage with Emily and the coachman seated at the front approached the waiting room.

“My Lady, let’s go quickly.”

“Alright.”