“You look like you’re hiding something again. Don’t worry. Whether you lie to me with those eyes or hide something, I don’t particularly mind. Just don’t catch my eye. Hide it as much as possible. Hide it well so it’s not discovered.”

Lorendis uttered each word heavily. That weight was not something Catherine could take lightly. Also, Lorendis hadn’t spoken casually.

“Whatever it is.”

His words continued after that. Those words were calm and gentle, but they carried a force that couldn’t be ignored.

“The day I find out about it, it might also become difficult for you to leave this house. It’s just my intuition, but I have such a feeling.”

Catherine couldn’t answer Lorendis. She was lost in similar thoughts as him. She had an uneasy feeling that this contract wouldn’t proceed smoothly.

* * *

Time passed, and the wedding day approached. A messenger sent from the imperial family congratulated the Helen family’s marriage arrangement, and Helen’s vassals gathered at the ducal castle.

Catherine wore a white veil. The thin fabric of the veil fluttered before her eyes, and maids dressed Catherine in ceremonial clothes. The white ceremonial clothes suited Catherine very well.

“You look beautiful.”

“You’ve already seen it once.”

“Wedding attire always shines brightest on the day of the ceremony.”

The ceremonial clothes flowed down with the white fabric following the body’s contours. It was like waves. The body line was slender, and the tailor’s skill in preserving the body’s curves was excellent.

Small jewels sparkled between the white dress, and silver thread embroidery adorned it. So with each slight movement, the silver threads glittered and shone. Mesh fabric was added to the shoulders, making the delicate shoulders appear white.

The waist was slim, and the fabric added to the waist was thin. It suited warm spring weather more than the cold season of the north.

“But…… it will be cold.”

“The ceremony will end quickly. And you’ll wear a shawl with Helen’s seal on the shoulders. It’s fine.”

“Still…… since Miss isn’t a northerner, you might catch a cold if you’re exposed to the outside air in such attire.”

Nancy expressed her concern and handed Catherine a warm pack.

“For now, if you hold onto this, His Grace will come soon.”

“Thank you.”

“You look beautiful today. It will be the most wonderful day.”

Catherine sat quietly after putting down her veil.

In Helen, it’s customary for the husband to come personally to escort his wife to the wedding ceremony. So the ceremony will proceed according to these customs.

Helen’s vassals also arrived one after another.

“That person is Helen’s new lady……”

And crossing between the vassals, ‘he’ came.

“Lorendis.”

“Aren’t you cold?”

Lorendis approached in his uniform. The blue uniform had Helen’s seal embedded in it. It was the laurel leaf emblem representing Helen. Perhaps because of his basic physique, he carried the wedding attire effortlessly.

“Give her the shawl.”

Lorendis wrapped a shawl with Helen’s seal around Catherine’s shoulders. When the shawl covered her, warm heat spread.

“Helen’s blessing will protect you.”

“It’s gotten warm.”

“This is what we call Helen’s blessing. It’s like a ritual that gives outsiders the strength to overcome the cold.”

The north was isolated due to its regional characteristics. Surrounded by mountains and enduring constant snowfall throughout winter, Helen was particularly harsh for outsiders.

Fortunately, the weather is clear today. If snowflakes had been flying, they might have had to cancel the outdoor ceremony, but with weather like today, the ceremony seems likely to proceed as planned.

“Let’s go now.”

Following the white silk path, Helen’s knights drew their swords and raised them high above their heads. The ceremony, certified by the temple, proceeded, and they began reciting prayers.

‘This is a contract.’

A contract marriage based on mutual interests.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Just thinking that maybe we should have written a contract.”

With time, she would part from Lorendis.

Lorendis had agreed. After this war ends, he would let Catherine go. Then Catherine can leave Helen on that path.

‘Divorce by mutual consent.’

She’s worried because they didn’t get it notarized with a contract, but when the time comes, they’ll follow the contract and go through divorce procedures. Still…… is it okay without a contract? She should have written a divorce contract in advance. Somehow, she felt a strange feeling that she should have done that.

As the ceremony flowed to its final stage, Lorendis carefully lifted the veil. His fingers holding the white veil touched the nape of her neck.

“Eyes.”

“……Yes?”

“Close them.”

It’s the final procedure of the ceremony.

Lorendis removed the veil. And tilted his chin.

“I’ll do it, so close your eyes and relax your lips.”

It was very plain. At his unfiltered words, Catherine’s lips quivered. As Catherine blankly looked up at him, a large hand covered one of her cheeks. His hand was rough. Perhaps because it was a hand that held a sword, the hand with calluses was hard. Still, the grip that embraced her cheek was light. The fingers supporting her chin wrapped around her neck.

—Smack

A brief kiss followed. It was plain. They shared breath through their lips.

His tongue parted her mouth and entered.

This is a bit intense. More intense than expected. The tongue that brushed her palate and touched the root made her mouth tickle. The deep, intense kiss took her breath away. She thought it would just be a pretense and end quickly.

The grip around her neck supported her head, tilting her body backward. Catherine hid her trembling hands in her bosom.

He remained consistently dry. No emotion could be glimpsed in his deep eyes.

‘So it’s possible without emotion.’

It’s absurd to expect other feelings in a relationship that’s just for show.

The guests held their breath in shock. Gasps of astonishment were heard here and there, and some blushed and fluttered their fans.

“I thought she was just a wife for show since he’s leaving for the departure ceremony right away……”

“It seems that’s not the case.”

People gathered in their own groups and whispered. If they had held a simplified ceremony, they would have talked behind their backs about her being just a wife for show.

Her stiff body trembled finely. It’s a ceremony. Just part of the marriage process.

You’ve endured very well until now.

The ceremony ended. Lifting up the veil, Catherine groaned softly.

‘I don’t think I’m in my right mind right now.’

Maintaining sanity here would be more remarkable.

“You endured well.”

“I, I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

“That’s not allowed.”

She leaned against Lorendis as he supported her. Shallow breaths burst forth. The wedding is coming to an end. Then her stepmother’s pretext to approach Catherine as a guardian will also disappear.

‘Father, I’ve now escaped from the Milden viscountcy.’

A father she barely remembers from briefly seeing him in childhood. Now he’s so distant that she can’t even remember his face. Her birth father who shared, albeit very briefly, her childhood.

‘I truly have no family left now.’

Lorendis lowered Catherine’s veil and asked.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I feel like everything is over.”

Far across the ceremony hall, in a corner, stood her stepmother. Mother came too. Even from a distance, her mother is instantly recognizable. Catherine paused needlessly and met her stepmother’s eyes. Her stepmother fumbled with her lips, her face turning pale.

‘There aren’t many days left to see your face either.’

Family members can no longer pose any danger to Catherine. They can’t provide any value to her, nor can they give her any meaning.

* * *

Amanda gnawed on her lips.

‘How did things come to this!’

Right now, that child is dying from poison…… She’s dying day by day, poisoned by salsa. No one should know. That she tried to poison that child is a secret only Amanda knows.

At first, she wanted to get rid of that child. Thinking that she might as well get paid for her body before killing her, she even planned to sell the soon-to-die child to an elderly nobleman.

‘But why is she over there?’

It’s a trivial matter if a senile old nobleman’s concubine dies. Even if the child dies, she’ll be quickly forgotten. But it’s different if a duke’s official wife dies. Both the position and the weight are different.

If by chance that girl dies and it’s revealed to be poisoning, she might have to forfeit her life.

‘That child doesn’t know. Absolutely not.’

She doesn’t know. She definitely doesn’t know. The poisonous herb was obtained from dirty creatures of the shadows. It was a very malicious poison.

Catherine won’t live much longer. Then she can just say the child was sickly and bury that death.

“Mom, what if Catherine raises issues about Count Cavin later?”

“That will be fine. Being almost sold to an elderly nobleman is a shameful thing. She won’t bring up such a story herself.”

Count Cavin is already dead, so that’s settled. But Catherine, that child, remains.

“She won’t know. We just have to wait for that child to die. Let’s go quietly today. So that child doesn’t sense anything suspicious from us.”

* * *

“Please enter the bridal chamber.”

Catherine stood in front of the bedroom in a white nightgown. The nightgown was thin. So she wrapped a shawl around her body for cover. Catherine covered herself with the shawl and exhaled deeply. The shawl was the same one with Helen’s seal that she wore during the wedding. Perhaps because it had symbolic meaning, the maids were even more careful when dressing her in the shawl.

‘Hoo-‘

When she opened the bedroom door, Lorendis approached close to the door.

“You were here first?”

“I’ll have to wait a long time soon, so it seemed wrong to make you wait today as well.”

Lorendis was also in nightwear. He wore a white shirt and black cotton pants, which looked unfamiliar. He seemed freer now than when wearing his uniform. Perhaps because of his large build, even the casually worn shirt looked stylish. The white shirt made him look more languid, and the cotton pants fit his body crisply.

Just then, their eyes met.

“Why are you standing?”

Lorendis spoke as he sat on the bed. As if tired from the long reception, his eyes were also full of fatigue. They say he stayed in the conference room until just before the wedding, and that fatigue is transmitted even to Catherine.

“Don’t stand, sit.”

Lorendis’s straight gesture guided Catherine.

“How is it?”

“How is, what?”

“Your feeling right now, I mean.”