Please Divorce Me in This Lifetime! - ✿ dusk blossoms ✿

“Good thing you’re up early. Stop standing there in a daze and get moving.”

The room, still filled with dawn air, was quiet. Once Gwenn’s voice—jarring like a discordant note—settled down, only the ticking of the clock’s second hand remained.

Rayenne glanced at the clock with an indifferent face and tilted her head.

“Isn’t the wedding at 3 PM?”

All she had to do was wash up and grab the bag she’d already packed. If she started moving now, she’d just exhaust herself for no reason.

And if she accidentally dozed off, that would be truly troublesome.

“How foolish. You’re going to be the mistress of a ducal house starting today—did you really plan to arrive right on time? You need to prepare and be there early so there’s nothing to criticize.”

Even if she went early, she’d just end up sitting there like a useless sack of barley anyway.

There didn’t seem to be much point in volunteering for that treatment ahead of schedule, but Rayenne just pursed her lips without saying anything.

Gwenn, apparently thinking she had nothing to say in response, became even more flustered.

“Hurry up, Rayenne! Stop standing there like an idiot and get moving! Act befitting a duchess, just like you’ve been taught!”

Listening to the endless nagging with half an ear, Rayenne finally stood up from in front of her luggage.

‘If I leave early, I’ll just get tired. I should soak in some warm water and catch a quick nap.’

Whether Gwenn knew what she was thinking or not, today’s schedule kept pouring from his mouth without pause.

***

Even though it was supposed to be a modest wedding, the duke’s status meant it was completely different from the previous engagement ceremony, which had felt like a private gathering.

There were so many guests—seeing the line of carriages stretching in front of the ducal estate’s gate, Rayenne briefly wondered if she’d misunderstood the meaning of “modest.”

But the trivial concern didn’t last long. The carriage Rayenne rode in swept past that long line of carriages in one go and entered through the gate into the gardens.

Rayenne let out a small exclamation.

“Wow…! Now that’s a real free pass.”

“Hm?”

When Gwenn, sitting across from her, expressed his puzzlement, Rayenne smiled and played dumb.

“Sit up straight now. If you show the ducal household an undignified appearance, they’ll look down on you.”

“Yes.”

As Rayenne sat up properly, Gwenn turned his gaze away from her again. He was absorbed in reading some letter, looking deadly serious about whatever it was.

It was a strange attitude for the person who had orchestrated and most eagerly anticipated this marriage.

Shortly after, the carriage stopped and the door opened from outside.

“Welcome, Lady Rayenne Shellon.”

Led by the welcoming greeting from Stark, the butler of House Daihan who had attended the engagement ceremony a week ago, the ducal servants lined up behind him all bowed in unison.

‘No wonder everyone’s desperate for a position of power.’

Whether in her past life or in this world that had now become her present life, people lived the same way.

Catching a glimpse of Gwenn’s face covered in rapture, Rayenne clicked her tongue inwardly.

Thinking of the Rayenne from the original story who had been ruined by his scheming, Gwenn’s face as he savored power was downright contemptible.

“We’ll move to prepare for the ceremony. Please follow me.”

Receiving Stark’s courteous treatment, Rayenne and Gwenn followed behind him.

Befitting a ducal wedding, only after going through an exhaustingly meticulous and lengthy process of being dressed up could Rayenne finally stand before the doors of the banquet hall where the ceremony would take place.

“Please enter now.”

With Stark’s words, the doors opened and brilliant light, elegant music, and countless gazes poured out.

Rayenne walked along the path covered with white carpet, neither too fast nor too slow, just as Stark had instructed her beforehand.

And at the end of that path stood Jin.

With his still-striking appearance and indifferent expression, their gazes locked with each step she took toward him.

Finally, when Rayenne stood beside Jin, a smile flickered across his lips like an illusion before disappearing.

“We will now proceed with the wedding vows.”

The middle-aged man standing across from the two people side by side, with the platform between them, announced the beginning.

With his neat impression, he opened his mouth again once everyone filling the ceremony hall had quieted down.

“Do Duke Jin Daihan and Lady Rayenne Shellon of House Count Shellon vow to become husband and wife and live for each other’s peace and happiness?”

“Yes.”

Jin answered first, and Rayenne followed.

“Yes.”

But even after answering, Rayenne couldn’t shake the question that arose in her mind.

‘Is this how they normally make vows in this world? I thought they’d at least pledge eternal love, even if not until their black hair turns to white roots.’

But perhaps because they didn’t pledge love, it felt more like a realistic marriage.

A marriage for each other’s peace and happiness alone.

It seemed the most modest thing, yet it was also the hardest to keep.

And apparently Rayenne wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Small voices erupted here and there.

“Even if they’re keeping it modest, a wedding without even a single priest and not even a pledge of love…”

“People do get the temple’s certification separately, but… that’s what people who can’t afford to call a priest individually do.”

“I heard Duke Daihan prepared the wedding himself, but to say he didn’t know seems unlikely when the butler or someone would have told him.”

“The marriage announcement was so sudden too—is there something going on with this marriage?”

The murmuring voices all agreed that it was far too modest for a ducal wedding.

When the buzzing grew loud enough to become noise, the middle-aged man cleared his throat to quiet the crowd.

“Please exchange and place the rings as a token of your vows.”

Jin, who had placed the jewelry box that had been prepared on the platform onto his palm, slowly opened the lid.

A pair of rings embedded with diamonds the size of thumbnails—neither too large nor too small—gleamed from within.

Taking out the smaller ring from the pair, Jin set the jewelry box down on the platform and extended his hand to Rayenne.

“Your hand.”

As the low, calm voice whispered softly, Rayenne extended her hand to him, seemingly entranced.

The ring fit perfectly on her white, slender fingers—still unfamiliar to her.

Without Rayenne having to say anything, Jin’s hand extended right on cue.

His hand, nearly twice the size of Rayenne’s, had more small scars than she’d expected.

It was the moment when his past from the novel—how he’d made a name for himself as a commander at the border before coming here after the sudden deaths of the ducal couple—transformed from text into reality.

Rayenne’s violet eyes darkened deeply as she suddenly became acutely aware of her situation, having been possessed into a novel.

Nevertheless, Rayenne didn’t forget her current circumstances and slipped the ring onto Jin’s firm, straight finger.

The gazes of the two people, now wearing matching rings, met once more.

“The vow’s kiss.”

As the questioning murmurs subsided and everyone watched with bated breath, Jin gently grasped Rayenne’s hand with the ring on it.

Even knowing her hand was being slowly drawn toward his face, Rayenne couldn’t look away from Jin’s gaze.

Jin brought Rayenne’s hand up to his lips and kissed the finger wearing the ring.

The warm touch of his lips, lightly touching and slowly pulling away, imprinted the ring’s presence.

At the same moment she felt warmth settle into his blue eyes like sunlight descending on the sky—

Jin lowered his lips to Rayenne’s forehead, still holding her hand.

In Rayenne’s eyes, which had unconsciously closed and then opened, those spring-sky eyes still met hers from that same place.

“From this moment forward, I hereby announce that these two have become husband and wife.”

***

“Is it just the reception left now?”

“Yes. Still, you’ll be able to breathe easier than during the main ceremony.”

To Rayenne’s question after safely finishing the main ceremony, Stark offered what might or might not have been consolation.

But having already seen the scale of nobility that didn’t match “modest” at all, it wasn’t consoling in the least.

Returning to the waiting room, Rayenne listlessly put on the dress, shoes, and accessories the servants handed her.

Everything passed in a blur under Stark’s direction—finishing all preparations efficiently and entering the banquet hall where the reception was being held.

Upon entering the banquet hall, Rayenne looked for Jin, the other main character alongside her.

He wasn’t hard to find without much effort.

Since the usually unresponsive man was at least replying with a word or two today, everyone was clamoring to establish some connection with the new young duke.

Watching what looked exactly like a silent battlefield, Rayenne felt disgusted but considered herself fortunate that they weren’t particularly interested in her.

Of course, groups of young ladies and married women did cluster together and whisper while looking at her, but no one had approached yet.

‘More than that, the duke isn’t as cold as I thought.’

At both the previous engagement ceremony and today’s main ceremony, Rayenne hadn’t felt coldness or indifference from Jin’s gaze toward her—rather, she’d felt warmth.

Though his expressions didn’t change much, she’d seen him smile, and above all, when she looked into those blue marble-like eyes, they felt warm, like looking at a clear spring sky.

Tilting her head at his appearance that was completely different from the original story, Rayenne’s eyes suddenly sparkled at that moment when she discovered something.

‘This is…!’

Her violet eyes instantly flushed red with excitement.

The elegant form holding the brilliant light of the chandelier. That characteristic clear, transparent color.

“Mm—”

Lifting a wine glass and taking a full mouthful, Rayenne let out a satisfied exclamation.

A single sip wasn’t enough to quench her thirst—she’d done far too much today, and this was the first alcohol she’d had since possessing this body.

Rayenne took another sip into her mouth, careful not to look too eager.

As the refreshingly sweet flavor filled her mouth, satisfaction spread through her entire body like water seeping into parched earth.