Perhaps because his own situation was similar, unlike people who wouldn’t believe it saying “no way,” he quickly deduced the situation.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Refuse.”

The man said immediately.

“Run away when you can escape. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”

Alkaid clenched his fist tightly. Spica quickly covered it and patted it. The man sneered even while watching that sight.

“It’s a big mistake to think you can control a beast-human. You’ll never be able to empathize with the emotions a beast-human feels.”

“That’s interesting.”

“……What do you mean?”

“Another beast-human told me something similar, and now Father, who’s an ordinary person, says the same thing. Of course, I probably can’t feel Alkaid’s emotions with perfect accuracy. But that would be the same even if this person wasn’t a beast-human.”

It wasn’t a problem that required dividing by race into beast-humans and ordinary people.

There was no one who could completely see into another person’s heart to begin with.

“I feel Alkaid’s love for me. I think that’s enough.”

“Love? That’s all an illusion too. They’ll do anything to seduce their target!”

“Why would Alkaid seduce me? Because he imprinted, right? Isn’t imprinting love? I think that’s also one form of love.”

Spica turned her gaze that had been directed at the man toward Alkaid.

“I feel it in the way he looks at me like this. When he’s jealous, when he says cute things, when he quietly holds me. I can feel it in every moment Alkaid treats me.”

“……”

“Because I love this person too.”

Alkaid’s tightly clenched hand relaxed. Spica interlaced her fingers between his thick ones and clasped their hands together.

The man’s face contorted seeing them look straight at each other like they were each other’s entire world. He wondered why Winterhold’s eyes, which he couldn’t even properly face, had no effect on that woman.

“……How nice for you. But you’ll soon find out. Their obsession is at a terrible level.”

The man stamped his foot like showing them. The gold chain clinked, announcing its presence.

But Spica was a stronger opponent.

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m also trying to put chains on your son. You might know it as legal restraints.”

“What?”

“We’re getting married soon. Right, honey?”

Spica smiled at Alkaid then spoke to the man again. The smile completely disappeared from her face that had been grinning and acting sweetly, becoming calm.

“I think both feeling something about a situation and accepting that situation are each person’s freedom. I don’t know what happened between Mother and Father, so I have no intention of adding my words.”

“……”

“I didn’t expect to meet you like this, but I wanted to greet you at least once before holding the wedding ceremony.”

Spica bowed her head slightly.

“Thank you for bringing Alkaid into this world.”

Even if this man hadn’t wanted it, he had gotten intimate with the Duke of Winterhold, and that’s how Alkaid was born. Spica was grateful for exactly that fact alone.

Having finished her greeting, Spica left the greenhouse with Alkaid. There was a loud sound of something being thrown from behind, perhaps because he had understood the meaning of her last words, but she didn’t look back.

The only person Spica looked at was Alkaid.

“I’m sorry, Alkaid. I really didn’t know that person would be here.”

Alkaid sighed long like someone who had been holding his breath the entire time and pulled Spica into his arms. On the way back from subjugation, hearing the report from the shadow knight monitoring around the greenhouse, he had to taste the feeling of everything collapsing. Of all things, for Spica to meet that man.

“I’m sorry…… You seemed to not want to bring up Father’s matter, so I was going to wait until you told me someday, but it ended up like this.”

“It’s not something you should apologize for.”

You must have been very anxious. Spica embraced Alkaid’s waist and patted him.

Then Alkaid hugged her with more strength. It wasn’t stuffy or painful. Rather, it felt good like her entire body was wrapped by him.

“Earlier, I was so grateful you came at the right time. I stopped Father, but I didn’t know what to do after that.”

“I’m also…… grateful.”

“Alkaid is grateful to me? For what?”

“For telling me you feel my heart. And……”

For not seeing Father and evaluating him as crazy for not accepting the excessive position of ducal consort, or saying he could do that because he wasn’t a beast-human.

Alkaid didn’t finish his words and just closed his mouth, but Spica seemed to understand his heart.

“I was lucky to be born to harmonious parents, and I want to build a family like that too. But not everyone lives in similar homes, like they were stamped out. I’m not qualified to judge those lives either.”

“Spica.”

“Still, I think it’s fortunate. That I got to meet you who knows how to love even in the midst of all this.”

Well, actually it was more like Alkaid had imprinted on Spica and come to find her rather than them meeting.

Alkaid groaned softly and swallowed the pain of conscience. Wasn’t it just recently that he had been looking at Spica and continuously thinking about where to confine her?

Whether she knew this or not, Spica lifted her head from his embrace and said.

“Can we hold our wedding ceremony here at Winterhold’s main castle?”

“Why specifically? If you want, I could even open the imperial palace banquet hall.”

“We don’t know when we might come back here to stay because of work. We could make a good impression on the people here, and I want to show the guests the beautiful appearance of this castle……”

“……Spica. You don’t have to do that because of Father.”

An exclamation mark seemed to sparkle above Spica’s head. Soon she smiled awkwardly.

“I got caught…… Were you displeased?”

“How could that be.”

Alkaid firmly denied it. Spica could make him happy or unhappy, but the emotion of displeasure couldn’t squeeze in between.

“That’s a relief. I want to be stubborn this time.”

“Do you really want to hold the wedding here?”

“Yes. Because I want to let you feel happiness.”

Alkaid’s father had continued to act like he excluded him from his sight. He did this even in front of Spica, an outsider, so it was easy enough to know what it must have been like when she wasn’t there, when Alkaid was young and small and not strong.

So holding the wedding here was Spica’s own form of revenge. She couldn’t evaluate that man’s life or his relationship with the Duke, but she could clearly see that he had been a bad father to Alkaid.

‘Alkaid in childhood looked lonely.’

That’s exactly what she felt while looking at all the portraits from his chubby-cheeked childhood to when he had just become an adult. The Duke of Winterhold also wasn’t the type to express emotions greatly, but what must that child have thought seeing even his father openly deny his child?

Just imagining it made her heart ache.

“That my husband grew up so well, that Father’s thoughts aren’t the only correct ones. I have no intention of saying it since he won’t listen anyway, but I want to keep showing him so he feels it himself.”

And she wanted to stay by Alkaid’s side so he would never be lonely again. Together with children who resembled him.

It was still too early a wish to voice out. When Spica smiled brightly, Alkaid kissed her forehead.

“I wish you wouldn’t think of other people in our marriage.”

“……The imperial palace is boring since we always go there, isn’t it?”

Only then did the lips touching her forehead curve into an arc.

“Fine. If that’s what you want.”

* * *

The one problem was that Spica worried whether Marchioness Denebola, who had agreed to help prepare the wedding, would find it inconvenient to travel back and forth to the north. However, she considered it a tremendous honor to decorate the castle that was famous for its beauty.

With the support of the Duke of Winterhold, who had seemed indifferent to the wedding, added on, the Marchioness truly displayed her artistic soul. The result was that exclamations flowed from the mouths of all the guests who attended the grand wedding.

Spica was happy throughout the wedding. Though she hadn’t directly invited Alkaid’s father to the ceremony venue, the castle had been bustling for months, and the sounds of the gathered people enjoying themselves would be enough for him to know.

“Hehe.”

On the wedding night, it was a northern tradition that the bride shouldn’t touch the ground. Accordingly, Spica, who was being carried by Alkaid toward the bridal chamber, suddenly let out a laugh.

“It’s not even really the first night we’re spending together, but because we held a wedding ceremony, the wedding night feels special.”

“It is special. Today I won’t let you go even if you faint.”

Sincerity dripped from Alkaid’s answer.

Spica suddenly felt like it was getting hot. Even his explosive behavior at the dress shop had been because he had been holding back for a while, but this time the period had been longer due to wedding preparations.

But she had no desire to run away or ask him to stop. She had learned through being with him that wanting to touch more and connect more deeply with the person you love was natural.

Spica brought up a different topic for no reason.

“His Highness the Crown Prince and Chertan liking me — you were jealous, but I was actually really happy about it.”

“The reason you’re bringing up that story now……”

“Being popular with children means there’s a high possibility our child will like me when born too.”

Our child.

Since this was the first time Spica had brought up such words, Alkaid couldn’t react hastily. In the meantime, she continued speaking gently.

“If they like me, they’ll naturally like you too, the person I love most. Though I can’t imagine any baby hating such a reliable dad.”

“……”

“Alkaid, answer.”

Only then did Alkaid smile slightly at her playfully glancing eyes.

“I hope…… so.”

“They will. So let’s live happily together for a long, long time.”

“……Yes.”

Alkaid suddenly became conscious of Spica’s weight filling his arms. If happiness were molded into human form, it would be Spica herself. So he knew that being with her, happiness would continue forever.

Then happiness kissed his cheek and whispered.

“So tonight, let me have a baby.”

Alkaid was someone who had never refused Spica’s requests, and this time was no different.

For several days after that, the bridal chamber door didn’t open, but Spica didn’t regret it.

〈The End〉