Chapter 107: A Perfect Beginning (Final Chaper)

“With Jenesha admitting to aiding in the crime, Latte’s guilt was also established. There will probably be several more trials, but it won’t be easy for her to get away with it.”

“It’s fascinating that trials were already held while I was asleep.”

“Thanks to that, Jasmin testified as a witness.”

Indeed, to prove Latte’s guilt, either she or Princess Jasmin had to step forward.

“Latte’s family has been completely turned upside down too, so things will be noisy for a while. The sentence might end up being lighter than you expect.”

“Is that so?”

“Aren’t you disappointed?”

When Echo looked at her strangely, Bliss rested her chin on her arms on the desk. While gazing at the clear sky outside, she thought of Latte.

“I’m not disappointed.”

Latte’s sentence would be decided at trial. But even besides that, she had lost any chance of getting Caelan whom she had wanted so desperately. Wasn’t that the greatest punishment for Latte?

Thinking of Latte naturally made her think of another person.

“What about Olivia?”

As soon as she returned with Caelan, she was hit by the poison Olivia had sprayed. She didn’t know what had been done with her since she had lost consciousness after that. She could have asked Caelan, but since there were others who could answer, she had only told him she missed him.

“If you mean the woman who threw the poison, she’s dead.”

“…Dead?”

When Bliss asked in surprise, Echo approached her desk and tapped the book. It was a reproachful response since she had set up this study session as an excuse right after regaining consciousness but was only asking about what had happened.

“They say they left her alone when she was trying to escape to save you.”

Before coming to the imperial palace, Olivia had appeared before Caelan, and instead of catching her as she fled, he had rushed straight to the imperial palace.

“You must have seen how she used your body as a shield and rushed at Caelan when she saw him while hiding. She was cut by the sword then and eventually died.”

“Didn’t they treat her?”

“I don’t know the details either. But I don’t think Caelan would have deliberately withheld treatment. If he had meant to kill her, he would have done so from the start.”

“…That’s true.”

She had forgotten how she had married Caelan. Caelan had chosen to keep Olivia alive and imprisoned rather than kill her.

“Are you really alright?”

Echo’s gaze was skeptical since she had gotten up less than a day after regaining consciousness. Bliss tilted her head this way and that while considering her physical condition.

“I’m fine. I actually feel lighter.”

She wasn’t sure if this was the right way to put it, but it was true. Though it had been strong enough poison to make her lose consciousness immediately, she felt fine even though she had just received immediate treatment.

“Did you lose weight from not eating properly?”

Since all she would have been fed was very thin soup, it might be credible that she felt lighter from weight loss.

But Echo looked at Bliss’s face and shook his head.

“You haven’t lost weight.”

“You can tell that too?”

“There are traces of your hardship, but you haven’t lost weight.”

Grateful to Echo for pointing it out twice, Bliss stood up.

“Study’s over for today.”

“What do you mean when we haven’t even started!”

“I have plans to meet Caelan.”

Bliss waved and left. Suddenly left alone, Echo thought about Bliss’s face he had just seen. Her soul seemed to have settled properly in her body, as she had a quite stable atmosphere about her.

“The crisis became an opportunity.”

Muttering to himself, Echo closed the book that Bliss had left behind.

***

The place where Bliss went to meet Caelan was the rose garden. Though he hadn’t said where he would be waiting, Bliss thought he would be in the rose garden.

As soon as she stepped into the garden, she caught the rich floral scent. When she first came to this rose garden, the scent was also the first thing she noticed. She still couldn’t forget the shock she had received next from the roses that filled her vision.

With the sound of her steps on the grass, Bliss entered deeper. Though she hadn’t often gone to parks before and the thick flower fragrance felt unfamiliar, it wasn’t bad. Rather, she often found herself losing track of time, entranced by the beautiful sight.

Caelan must feel this way too. As soon as she went in further and saw the familiar back, Bliss unconsciously broke into a smile. She worried that if she kept smiling just from seeing Caelan, what would she do?

Such worries were brief as Bliss quietly approached him and hugged him from behind.

As she buried her face in his back and clasped her hands over his stomach, Caelan’s hands covered hers.

“How long have you been in the rose garden? You smell like flowers.”

“Since about two hours ago?”

Bliss breathed in deeply the flower scent coming from Caelan.

“What were you doing here?”

“Thinking.”

When Bliss rested her chin on his back and looked up at him, Caelan turned around.

“Being born into the Adrian family, learning about this world one by one, losing my mother, getting a stepmother…”

As Bliss let go of Caelan, about a step’s distance opened between them. Thanks to that, she could see his expression clearly. Various emotions rose and fell in Caelan’s eyes as he looked around the garden rather than at her. His face bloomed with many emotions – longing and pain, loneliness and joy, and many others.

“Becoming a Marquis and the captain of the imperial guard, marrying Count Bonita’s daughter, quite a lot has happened.”

“That’s true.”

Everything he had experienced until now had become the foundation that made Caelan strong.

“But during all that time that passed, what I experienced was more about preparing for and accepting the future that would come rather than any expectations…”

Caelan’s gaze turned from far away to rest on Bliss.

“Now I’m looking forward to the future ahead.”

Caelan took Bliss’s hand and kissed it.

“I think every day we create together will be thrilling. That’s what I was thinking about.”

Watching his soft lips touch and leave her fingers, Bliss smiled brightly.

“Me too.”

She was also very excited about the time she would build here together with Caelan.

Then feeling something cold touch her finger, she started and looked down to see a ring touching the end of her ring finger. Before sliding it on completely, Caelan paused and said.

“This is a new ring I had made. I ordered it from the same craftsman who made the necklace, and just in case, I tried it on my little finger first but nothing happened.”

Caelan met Bliss’s eyes and asked.

“I’ll make sure you never regret choosing to live as my wife.”

At his question of whether he could put it on, Bliss smiled happily. Now she wasn’t afraid of anything he would give her.

***

Many people gathered in the main palace, the highest building in the imperial palace. They were there to witness Marquis Adrian’s elevation to Duke. Through the title conferment ceremony presided over by the Emperor himself, when Marquis Adrian became Duke, it would create the empire’s second ducal family.

Since the current Blast duchy had closed its doors, he would effectively become the only Duke, so everyone focused their attention on Caelan Adrian.

Kneeling on one knee before the Emperor, Caelan looked down respectfully, and soon a sword came down on his shoulder.

“I confer the title of Duke upon Caelan Adrian, the Empire’s Sword.”

After touching both shoulders with the sword, the Emperor held it out and Caelan accepted it. At the same time, the nobles burst into cheers. Everyone congratulated Caelan on becoming Duke, and Caelan turned to face them.

After briefly scanning the crowd, Caelan’s eyes met his lady’s and he approached her.

“How does it feel to be a Duchess?”

“Very good. Oh!”

As if she had just remembered something, Bliss gestured for Caelan to come closer. When he bent down, Bliss whispered in his ear.

“I saw Count Bonita looking very excited earlier. He was saying he wanted to do something together with you.”

She whispered quietly enough that Count Bonita, who wasn’t far away, couldn’t hear. Though he had lost Olivia, he still seemed to be looking for opportunities since he was still on good terms with Caelan.

“Don’t accept anything from him.”

Though Count Bonita would be happy to become the Duke’s father-in-law, Bliss had no intention of fulfilling his greed. She warned him in advance in case Count Bonita might come looking after the ceremony, but even though she had finished speaking, Caelan didn’t pull back. As she looked at him wondering why, Caelan turned his head and stole a light kiss from her lips.

This wasn’t just anywhere but a place with so many people, what was he doing? As Bliss blinked in surprise, Caelan smiled and spoke to her.

“How about getting married again now that you’re a Duchess?”

“Marriage?”

“Yes, since you became Bliss after the wedding ceremony, I thought it might be good to do it again…”

Bliss, who had seemed surprised, smiled.

“Actually, I was just feeling envious watching Princess Jasmin showing off while preparing for her wedding.”

—Fin

Thank you so much for reading and supporting Please Don’t Kill Me. This was a novel I honestly enjoyed working on, to the point of translating the first 40 chapters in one sitting. LOL. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Once again, thanks and see you in my other works! Love, Adeline<3