Chapter: 08
Whether in my previous life or this one, it was still the same in that I had failed to fulfill my father’s wish.
But I should be grateful simply for having escaped that hellish life. Vanessa comforted herself with that thought as she looked over the contract once again.
Perhaps because the ink on the gold-trimmed paper had not yet fully dried? Each and every letter seemed to be moving as though it were alive.
Just as Vanessa was casually lifting the contract after reading through its contents once more—
“……Hm? A letter?”
Vanessa absentmindedly picked up the envelope that fit perfectly in the very center of the recessed compartment. The moment she unfolded what was inside, she had to draw in a deep breath.
[Items required for the ceremony]
[Assignment of personnel required according to the order of the ceremony]
[Auspicious and inauspicious dates]
[Expected weather and time required according to the schedule]
[Estimated expenses according to the number of guests]
The letter contained an endless list of matters that made her head throb just by looking at them.
‘……Good heavens, what is all this?’
This wasn’t even a marriage between two people who loved each other. It was merely a marriage based on a contract, so why……?
Wasn’t all they needed to prepare, at most, the date, location, and invitations?
Since he had said he would take care of everything himself, she had simply told her father that she would inform him once the schedule was decided.
But now there were dresses, jewelry shops, shoe stores, types of bouquets, florists…… Why on earth was a gardener needed?
‘And why is he preparing all of this himself?’
Even if he was one of the people getting married, preparations like these could normally be left to the servants.
Even if different people were assigned to each item and category, it would still take quite some time.
Besides, Vanessa had already said that she was fine with having a modest wedding.
Even Carlisle, who had worked so hard to swallow up all her wealth, had never put this much effort into their wedding.
But when she saw that even the individual gemstones to be set into the bride’s dress were listed down to the specific items handled by jewelers, Vanessa immediately hurried to get ready to leave.
“Dia, I’m going out for a little while.”
Just then, the maid arrived carrying some light refreshments. Vanessa informed her that she was going out and quickly walked past her.
“My lady! Where are you going?”
“At this rate, it feels like we’re going to have a funeral instead of a wedding!”
“What? What do you mean by that……!”
She had to prevent her future husband from collapsing from overwork on the day of the ceremony.
Leaving behind the dates listed one after another under [Auspicious and inauspicious dates], the wedding date Ian had chosen was exactly one month away.
‘He’s crazy.’
She had assumed he wasn’t interested in the wedding because he had piled on so many conditions.
What was more, the name written down for the officiant was one she could not possibly fail to recognize.
[Tessa Descartes]
He was making the Crown Prince of the Empire officiate?
A wedding ceremony officiated by the man who would become the Emperor.
At this point, didn’t it almost seem as though Ian wanted to marry her even more than she did?
‘It’s confusing…… and it’s overwhelming!’
Vanessa arrived without hesitation at the Ruscliffe Ducal Residence and raised the corners of her lips toward the butler, who flinched the moment he saw her.
“I’d like you to tell Ian Ruscliffe that the woman who will be his wife has come to see him.”
“My, Lady. His Grace is currently away on an outside engagement for a short while……”
“Did he go to the jeweler?”
“……Pardon?”
“Or perhaps the flower shop with the yellow sign in the capital mentioned in the letter? If not……”
“…….”
“Is he having a chat with His Highness the Crown Prince, who agreed to officiate the wedding?”
Vanessa deliberately looked toward the unmarked carriage standing just outside the residence, and the butler let out a sigh.
“……Please wait a moment.”
“Unless he intends to make himself a widower on the day of the wedding, tell him to stop.”
“Yes. I will make sure to tell him.”
Only after watching the butler’s quickly disappearing back did Vanessa finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The things that had come with the letter were pamphlets from salons.
They were from the ‘Sovina’ that Carlisle had mentioned to her.
If he had even enclosed the pamphlets, that meant he had already looked around practically every place nearby.
He had even singled out dresses that he thought would suit her.
And yet, when had he been pretending to have absolutely no interest, maintaining that bored expression?
‘Did he actually want to get married more than anyone else?’
For Vanessa, this marriage had been an unavoidable choice to escape marrying Carlisle, but Ian had no reason to put so much effort into the wedding.
That was why she would have been perfectly fine with a simple ceremony in the Holy Kingdom, where they merely declared before God that they had become husband and wife.
If they followed Ian’s plans, however, she would become the star of the grandest wedding in the Empire and remain the subject of aristocratic gossip for days on end……
‘Carlisle certainly won’t let that happen.’
The Leonard Marquessate, which had spent so long biding its time in order to swallow up the entire fortune of the ducal family, would not back down over something as trivial as this.
They would undoubtedly try to ruin the wedding.
And on top of that, her mother-in-law, who was still pretending to be such a kind and good-natured person, would surely join in and shed tears.
Vanessa already knew that her reputation among the ladies of high society was gradually being tarnished.
They were saying things like how she had seduced their innocent, good son only to abandon him in the end, claiming that it had never been true love.
Or that the behavior of the two of them was practically an affair.
Considering that people were even saying that she had been unfaithful and caused some sort of scandal, it seemed likely that the rumors would soon make their way into the newspapers.
‘They’re nothing more than rumors anyway.’
She could endure any number of rumors that were not the truth.
In the past, she would have tried desperately to correct them because she did not want to disgrace her late mother.
But perhaps because of her experience in her previous life, when she had been torn apart by countless pieces of gossip and rumors until she was practically reduced to rags?
She felt nothing.
‘No. In fact, it would be even better if they talked as much as they wanted.’
Rumors had a way of growing like a snowball.
For now, everyone would be distracted by the blazing fire right in front of them, but after a little time passed, they would remember that Duke Sharoz had been so strict about etiquette that he could almost be called excessively rigid.
When someone who was not expected to behave a certain way suddenly did something unexpected, people naturally turned their attention toward them.
So if people happened to start wondering whether there was something wrong with Carlisle Leonard, all those ridiculous pieces of gossip would quickly disappear.
Besides, the truth was that a grand wedding like this was something anyone might dream of at least once.
Of course, that was only if the person they were marrying was truly their ‘lover.’
If her married life was destined to be cold and barren anyway, it was better for Vanessa if there were as little trouble as possible and she did not become the subject of other people’s gossip.
‘Because I don’t want to get my hopes up and be disappointed again.’
Suppressing the unwelcome memories of her past, she sat in the room the butler had guided her to. When she saw the person approaching from a distance, she deliberately raised the corners of her lips.
“Ian.”
Ian stared quietly at Vanessa’s fierce smile, glanced at the papers in her hand, and then met her eyes again.
“Is there anything among the things I prepared that you don’t like?”
Seeing Ian indirectly offering to make changes, Vanessa let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s too much.”
“I’m glad to hear it isn’t lacking.”
“Ian. I said it’s too much.”
“Is there anything wrong with making it extravagant?”
“There’s no need to go this far. We could just have a simple ceremony in the Holy Kingdom……”
“It’s a wedding that happens only once.”
Ian cut her off casually and looked at Vanessa with unwavering eyes.
“I don’t mind, but you’re a woman, Lady. You must have at least some romantic ideal about your wedding.”
“…….”
“If you have a particular dream for it, you can tell me. It will make the preparations easier.”
Vanessa hesitated for a moment before finally opening her mouth.
“……If I tell you about my dream, can you actually make it happen?”
“I don’t know. Let me hear it first. I’ll decide.”
The tiredness remained in his voice, hidden beneath his indifferent tone.
Even so, his gaze as he looked at her was unwavering, and the desire she had never been able to speak of spilled out on its own.
“……A marriage between two people who love each other.”
Something she had failed to achieve in her previous life, and something she could not achieve in this life either.
Rather than worrying about superficial things like dowries based on differences in social status or obtaining permission to marry as stipulated by Imperial law, she wanted a marriage born of genuine love.
“A love so desperate that it feels like neither of them could live without the other.”
She wanted to be loved and to love in return. She wanted nothing impure to come between them.
A love that might grow old beneath layers of memories as time passed, yet would never fade.
A love that allowed them to smile happily simply because they could be together at the beginning and end of every day.
But not anymore.
She smiled at Ian, who was looking at her with a strange expression in his eyes.
“You can’t do that, can you? So let’s just have it in the Holy Kingdom……”
“Let’s try.”
“……What?”
“A love so desperate that it feels like neither of us could do without the other. If that is your dream.”
Ian sounded as though something like that would be easy enough to accomplish, and Vanessa found his attitude unfamiliar.
“Because I think I can make it come true.”
