FRL 8

Chapter 8

In this life as well as my previous one, I had failed to fulfill my father’s wish.

But I should be grateful simply for having escaped the hellish life I had once endured. Vanessa comforted herself with that thought as she once again looked over the contract.

Perhaps because the ink on the gilded paper had not yet fully dried, each letter seemed almost alive, as though it were moving before her eyes.

After scanning the contents once more, Vanessa absentmindedly lifted the contract.

“……Hm? A letter?”

She picked up the envelope nestled perfectly in the very center of the recessed compartment. The moment she unfolded the contents, she had to draw in a sharp breath.

[Items required for the ceremony]
[Staff assignments according to the order of ceremony]
[Auspicious and inauspicious dates]
[Expected weather and duration according to the schedule]
[Estimated expenses based on the number of guests]

The letter went on and on with an endless list of matters that made her head ache just looking at them.

……Good heavens, what is all this?

This wasn’t 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, Vanessa had simply told her father that she would inform him once the date was decided, leaving the matter at that.

And yet, from the dress to jewelry shops, shoe stores, the type of bouquet, and even florists…… Why on earth was a gardener necessary?

And why is he preparing all of this himself?

Even if he was one of the people getting married, preparations like these could easily be delegated to his subordinates.

It would take quite some time even if different people were assigned to handle each individual item and category.

Besides, Vanessa had already said that she was perfectly fine with having a modest wedding.

Even Carlisle, who had tried so hard to swallow up every last bit of her wealth, hadn’t put this much effort into their wedding.

But the moment Vanessa saw that the list even specified every single gemstone to be set into the bride’s dress, down to the individual pieces available at the jeweler, she quickly got ready to leave.

“Dia, I’m going out for a little while.”

Just then, the maid arrived carrying some light refreshments. Vanessa informed her of her outing and hurried past her.

“My lady! Where are you going?”

“At this rate, we’ll be holding a funeral instead of a wedding!”

“Pardon? What do you mean by—?”

The one thing she had to prevent was her future husband collapsing from overwork and dying on the day of their wedding.

Ignoring the long list of dates under [Auspicious and inauspicious dates], Vanessa noted that the wedding date Ian had chosen was exactly one month away.

He’s crazy.

With all the conditions he had piled on, Vanessa had assumed he wasn’t interested in the wedding at all.

And yet, the name written down as the officiant was one she could not possibly fail to recognize.

[Tese Descartes]

The Crown Prince of the Empire?

They were going to have the future emperor officiate their wedding?

A wedding where the man who would one day become emperor served as the officiant.

At this point, wasn’t it almost as if Ian wanted to marry her even more than she wanted to marry him?

This is confusing…… and it’s overwhelming!

Vanessa arrived briskly in front of the Ruthcliffe ducal residence. The moment the butler saw her, he flinched.

She smiled at him.

“I’d like you to tell Ian Ruthcliffe that his future wife has come to see him.”

“Er, Your Grace…… The Duke is currently away on an outside appointment……”

“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 looked precisely at the unmarked carriage standing outside the mansion.

The butler let out a sigh.

“……Please wait a moment.”

“Unless he intends to make me a widow on the day of our wedding, tell him to stop.”

“Yes. I will make sure to tell him.”

Watching the butler quickly disappear, Vanessa finally let out the breath she had been holding.

The things that had arrived with the letter were pamphlets from various salons.

They were for Sovina, the place Carlisle had mentioned to her.

If he had even included the pamphlets, that meant he had already looked around nearly every place nearby.

He had even singled out dresses that he thought would suit her.

And yet, wasn’t he the one who had pretended not to have the slightest interest, always maintaining that bored expression?

Had he actually wanted to get married more than anyone else?

For Vanessa, marrying Ian was an unavoidable choice to escape her marriage to Carlisle.

Ian, however, had no reason whatsoever to put so much effort into their wedding.

That was why she would have been perfectly satisfied with a simple ceremony in the Holy Kingdom, where they merely proclaimed before God that they had become husband and wife.

But if things proceeded according to Ian’s plans, she would become the heroine of the grandest wedding in the entire Empire and be the subject of aristocratic gossip for days on end……

Carlisle won’t just sit back and watch that happen.

The Leonard Marquessate, which had kept its head down for so long while plotting 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 still pretended to be a kindhearted woman, would surely join in and shed her tears.

Vanessa already knew that her reputation among the wives of high-ranking nobles was gradually being tarnished.

People were saying that she had seduced her innocent, good-natured son only to abandon him in the end, claiming that their love had never been genuine.

Others said that their behavior was practically an affair.

Given that rumors had even begun circulating about infidelity and scandal, it seemed likely that the story would soon make its way into the newspapers.

They’re nothing more than rumors anyway.

Vanessa could endure any rumor, as long as it wasn’t the truth.

In her previous life, she would have gone out of her way to correct such rumors, unwilling to let anyone disgrace the memory of her deceased mother.

But perhaps because she had already been torn apart by countless scandals and rumors in her previous life until she was little more than a rag……

She felt nothing.

No. Actually, it would be better if they talked as much as they wanted.

Rumors had a way of growing like snowballs.

Right now, everyone’s attention might be consumed by the blazing fire directly in front of them. But once a little time passed, they would remember that Duke Sharoz had been notoriously strict about etiquette—almost excessively so.

When someone who normally seemed unlikely to do something suddenly behaved in an unexpected manner, people naturally took notice.

So if people began wondering whether something was wrong with Carlisle Leonard, all those ridiculous rumors would disappear on their own.

Besides, the truth was, this kind of grand wedding was something anyone might dream of at least once.

Though, of course, that was only if it were a wedding between lovers.

If her married life was going to be bleak anyway, it was better for Vanessa to have as little noise and gossip surrounding it as possible.

I don’t want to get my hopes up and be disappointed again.

Suppressing the unpleasant memories of her past, Vanessa sat in the room the butler had guided her to.

When she saw the man approaching from afar, she deliberately pulled the corners of her lips into a smile.

“Ian.”

Ian stared silently at Vanessa’s fierce smile. His gaze briefly dropped to the papers in her hand before returning to her eyes.

“Is there anything among the preparations that you don’t like?”

Seeing how Ian was indirectly asking whether there was anything she wanted changed, Vanessa let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s too much.”

“I’m glad to hear it’s not insufficient.”

“Ian. I said it’s too much.”

“Is there anything wrong with making it lavish?”

“There really isn’t any 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’m fine with whatever, but you’re a woman. You must have at least some dream of what your wedding would be like.”

“……”

“If there’s something you’ve dreamed of, 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.”

His tone remained indifferent, and he still looked tired.

Yet his gaze toward her was unwavering.

And somehow, the desire she had kept buried deep inside slipped freely from her lips.

“……A marriage where we love each other.”

Something she had failed to have in her previous life and could not have in this one either.

Rather than worrying about superficial matters like the dowry required by imperial law according to their difference in status, or obtaining permission for the marriage, she had simply wanted to marry someone because they truly loved each other.

“I mean the kind of love where neither of us could bear to be without the other. The kind that’s almost desperate.”

She wanted to be loved and to give love.

She wanted nothing impure to find its way between them.

A love that might grow worn beneath layers upon layers of memories as time passed, yet never truly fade.

A love where simply being together at the beginning and end of every day was enough to make them smile with happiness.

But not anymore.

Vanessa smiled at Ian as he looked at her with an unreadable expression.

“You can’t do that, can you? So let’s just have a simple ceremony in the Holy Kingdom……”

“I’ll try.”

“……What?”

“A love so desperate that it feels as though neither of us could live without the other. If that’s your dream.”

Ian sounded as though something like that was easy enough to accomplish, and the unfamiliarity of it left Vanessa speechless.

“I think I can make it come true.”