-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Splendid Pandemonium
-----------------------------------------------------------------
✵ ✵ ✵
This is everything that happened up until the day before my and Eric's 'first' wedding.
And everything that happened before my and Eric's... 'first' kiss.
*Flash—!*
*Click, click!*
*Flash—!*
*Click, click!*
Listening to the relentless noise of the cameras, I lowered the hand I had wrapped around Eric's neck.
Eric was looking down at me with a stiff expression, and I poked him in the side, threatening him.
“Smile. Just smile.”
At my words, Eric's face twitched as he forced an awkward smile.
He smiled so well when we were taking pictures in the royal garden. Ah, was that not a real smile? Was it just a facial spasm?
Just then, the reporters swarmed Priest Andrea.
“Is it true that you broke your vow of celibacy and enrolled your biological son in a boarding school?!”
“Your son has been revealed to be the jewel thief and assaulter and is now in prison. A word on your thoughts...!”
Bombarded by the reporters' questions, Andrea looked at Eric and me with a face full of despair.
Huh? Who leaked the information to the reporters? There's no way Eric would have been so careless...
Andrea screamed.
“Y-Young Looooord!”
His expression screamed, *This isn't what we agreed upon!*
“I said I'd give you money, not that I'd hide your son.”
Eric said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
I felt a chill run down my spine. Weren't you just showing him so much respect because he's a priest? You even acted like you were forced to kidnap him because of me.
And now...
“Wow... Even criminals have a code of honor...”
As I muttered, Eric chided me.
“If a priest breaks his vow, he must be punished. That's the law.”
I mean, he's not wrong... but I don't know if I should call this good or bad. I felt conflicted.
“What are you all doing! Uphold your chivalry!”
“I am protecting Young Lord Eric!”
And so, Eric's knights and the ducal knights were still in a standoff. My mother was glaring at me from between them.
*'You're dead if I catch you.'*
My mother mouthed the words. Last night, I'd been worried she would be sad, but seeing her so angry was actually reassuring.
*'They say being angry is a sign of good health.'*
I nodded. Mother clutched the back of her neck and collapsed into Philip's arms. Philip glared in my direction and mouthed.
*'Are you insane?'*
Ah, this splendid pandemonium.
I looked around the beautiful wedding hall and grinned broadly.
*Click!*
*Flash!*
*Click!*
*Flash!*
*'Take my picture! Take lots of them! Don't you want to make money, you damn reporters!'*
Seeing me laugh wickedly like a demon who had taken over the temple, Eric tightened his grip on my waist.
“Take it easy.”
Just then, the ducal knights stopped blocking the reporters and began to form a line.
Not just the knights, but the reporters too, all turned to look in one direction. Eric and I also stared that way.
There stood Baldeck Orleans, dressed as if he were the star of the show, wearing a beautiful lisianthus corsage and white gloves. He was staring our way, his red eyes flashing.
*'So you've come, Imeline. For a family of swindlers, you seem quite close. I suppose it was a good thing I used a gun instead of a crossbow. Now, give me those papers.'*
*'You'll kill me even if I give them to you, won't you?'*
*'I'll kill you even if you don't.'*
The moment I saw the Duke, the dream I'd had flashed back into my mind. Because the expression on his face right now was just like the one he had when he killed me that day.
The look of someone furious at a variable that had ruined their plans. And yet, the look of someone determined to bring others under their control, no matter what.
*'That's the face of a psycho.'*
Baldeck Orleans's furious expression suddenly softened as the reporters began to point their cameras at him. He offered a light smile and elegantly held up a hand to the reporters around him.
“That will be enough. I need to have a word with my son.”
Was it because of the aura emanating from Baldeck's words? The sound of the camera flashes gradually began to die down.
Baldeck slowly walked toward us through the path the reporters cleared. It seemed they knew well that defying the Duke would lead to dire consequences. Besides, they had probably taken all the pictures they needed.
Eric held out our marriage certificate.
“You haven't forgotten, have you? That I'll protect you now...”
“Yes, yes. I know, I know.”
After replying, I glared at Baldeck, who was now right in front of us.
Baldeck looked back and forth between Eric and me with an elegant expression, his lips parting as if to say something. But I moved first.
I quickly knelt before him and cried out.
“Father! Please give me your son! Please?!”
With those words, Baldeck's expression began to warp beautifully. Eric let out a dry laugh. The camera flashes, which had briefly subsided, filled the chapel like a thunderstorm.
“Write it down! Write it down! 'Please give me your son...'”
“'Please give me your son!' This is a scoop.”
“Write it down, quick!”
Baldeck leaned down toward me, still kneeling, his eyes flashing.
“What in the world do you think you're doing?”
Baldeck spoke to Eric, as if he didn't even want to converse with me.
“Come here, son. Such vulgar behavior is unbecoming of the future head of our family. I have a marriage permit from the king...”
Baldeck pulled the marriage permit from his coat, calling to Eric as if luring a hunting dog with a treat.
I suddenly realized something.
*'That bastard sees Eric as nothing more than his pet dog.'*
I seethed with rage.
Eric took my hand and pulled me to my feet. Lily and Eric's knights had gathered near the altar.
“We don't have time to argue here. We have to run.”
“Why...? Isn't it all over now?”
We have a permit that was issued earlier than his, and we just had the ceremony.
Our picture will even be in this morning's paper.
Eric looked troubled for a moment at my words. He glanced at Lily and the knights, then shook his head.
“There's one more thing.”
“What...?”
“The wedding night.”
“...?”
While I stared at him, unable to grasp the meaning of his words, Eric gritted his teeth, his face reddening.
“Haven't you heard that the marriage can be annulled if it isn't consummated?”
Ah, wait... I didn't see this coming...?
“Come on, but after everything that's happened...”
Surely Baldeck wouldn't be petty enough to try and stop our marriage over something like that...
Baldeck's knights approached Lily and the knights surrounding Eric and me. Baldeck spoke with a cold expression.
“Seize them.”
Eric's face twisted.
“You would resort to violence in a holy sanctuary?”
As the knights hesitated at Eric's words, Baldeck spoke.
“This is to protect the sanctity of the Central Temple and the authority of His Majesty the King. If any problems arise, I will deal with them.”
At his words, Baldeck's knights drew their swords.
*'Ah, I see. He's a very petty man.'*
I let out a dry laugh as I looked at Baldeck.
All for that Mermaids' Tomb. It belongs to my mother in the first place! What kind of bastard made a law that lets a husband claim ownership of his wife's property upon marriage?!
While I was thinking this, Eric pushed me behind the small altar on the dais and drew his sword.
When Eric drew his sword, Lily and the other knights on his side drew theirs as well. Hiding behind the altar, I surveyed the situation.
The wedding night!
No wonder Eric was hesitating until dawn last night with that uneasy look on his face. If this was going to happen, he should have just told me. We could have just gotten it over with!
...But how do they even check if you've done it or not?
Baldeck's plan is to prevent us from consummating our marriage, drag us to the royal palace, and somehow get this marriage annulled.
With a frigid expression, Baldeck ordered his knights to attack.
The clash of swords began in an instant.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The blows being exchanged had a weight to them that was on a completely different level from the duels, big and small, that I had seen before.
Of course they did. The only sword fights I had ever seen were back when I was growing up wild under Lord Violode. As a form of punishment, he'd made the young, unarmed bandits who tried to raid our merchant company fight his mercenaries.
To my ten-year-old self, those 'duels' were nothing more than a merciless, undignified slaughter.
But this was different. The sight of these knights, each a one-man army, clashing with heavy longswords that must have weighed half as much as I did, was overwhelmingly powerful.
The chapel began to fill with bloodlust, and the reporters stopped taking pictures and fled.
I felt my breath catch in my throat and gasped for air. The continuous sounds of groans and clashing metal made it hard to keep my wits about me.
Memories of my childhood made sweat trickle down the back of my neck.
This is so frustrating! Why do I start sweating and my hands start shaking whenever a situation like this happens?
A curse escaped my lips.
“Damn it!”
I fought to clear my chaotic thoughts and looked for something to use as a weapon.
Just then, I saw a small door under the altar and reached inside.
The small door led into the altar's interior. I tried to grab the heavy metal rod that priests used for rituals.
But someone else grabbed the rod at the same time I did.
“Oh, Lord...”
Another voice came from under the altar. The hair on my head stood on end as I peered inside.
Someone else was hiding in the altar.
Andrea. The corrupt priest who should have already been gone.
Andrea glared at me, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
“How could you break your promise?! You wicked people!”
The nerve. Look who's talking...!
“You're the one who did wrong first! You should have lived a good life...!”
I kicked Andrea. But instead of letting go of the rod, he thrashed about and bit my hand.
“Aaargh!”
As I screamed and fell back, Andrea pulled the rod toward himself. It slipped from my grasp.
With a triumphant expression, Andrea held up the heavy metal rod and made the sign of the cross.
“Indeed, God has not abandoned me!”
“...He's spouting nonsense to the very end.”
I muttered and squeezed my eyes shut.
Oh Lord, if you truly exist, even if I die here, please make sure that bastard goes to hell. So we can meet again and have another go at it.
*'I'm going to hell anyway, right?'*
I'm not expecting to go to heaven!
I clasped my hands in prayer and waited for the metal rod to come crashing down on my head.
One second. Two seconds.
No, a minute...
No matter how long I waited, the dull, throbbing pain I expected never came.
I cautiously opened my eyes and looked up.
And my vision was filled with Andrea, sprawled on the ground with a red, swollen forehead, and...
“...You. I told you, didn't I? Capricorns need to be careful around men and metal!”
...Philip, standing there holding the metal rod he'd snatched from Andrea.
My jaw dropped as I looked up at Philip. He slammed the metal rod onto the floor and pulled me, still crouched, to my feet.
“How come you never listen to your older brother!”
Hearing those words, I was dumbfounded.
Philip ignored my stunned silence, prodded the groaning Andrea with his foot, and said.
“The only one who gets to mess with my little sister is me!”
I don't know why.
But the moment I heard those thuggish words, I threw my arms around Philip's neck.
Hugging Philip.
This was a moment that would surely become ten years' worth of teasing material.
