Chapter 134
[Don’t you think you’re overworking me?]
Elaina clasped her hands together and faced Kist with a displeased expression.
[Sorry… but please, you have to help me. If this keeps up, we’ll really have to get a divorce.]
Stomping her feet anxiously, Elaina’s reaction made Kist glance briefly at Lyle. Even Lyle, who always carried an air of authority, lowered his head slightly toward Kist.
[See? Even Lyle is asking for it.]
[…So, what exactly do you want me to do?]
[It’s simple.]
Elaina spoke with pride.
[Could you use magic to make some letters appear in the air? Like clouds or light.]
[Sure.]
Asking him to create letters? It was a strange request, but Kist silently nodded. Elaina’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him.
[Kist, what I want you to do is write huge letters above the Grand Duke’s mansion. “DIVORCE DENIED!”]
The high-ranking priest who claimed he could undo a divorce if a divine miracle occurred was an extremely obnoxious man. Thinking that he might still deny it unless there was a clear demonstration, Elaina came up with a very simple and direct solution.
[You mean to have the divine make letters in the sky to show the miracle happened?]
[Why not? Priests never admit their own mistakes. We have to use whatever we can.]
[The “whatever we can use” is me.]
[Please… are we really going to do this between us?]
Kist gazed silently at Elaina and finally shrugged his shoulders—a silent agreement. Elaina hugged him tightly, overjoyed. Watching this, Lyle’s expression hardened. Kist’s lips curved into a smile. Just seeing Lyle’s sour expression made the “miracle” well worth performing.
A few days later, a massive cloud appeared above the Grand Duke’s mansion—large enough that anyone could see it. The weather had been perfectly clear, so a single cloud appearing above the mansion was already extremely strange, but the truly shocking event came next.
As if writing on a blackboard, a flashing light began to shine from within the cloud. The sun wasn’t blocked, yet the light radiated out so that the letters could be read from anywhere in the capital. It was absurd—but it was happening.
DIVORCE DENIED.
Such a clear divine miracle hadn’t been witnessed since the founding of the empire, when the gods had manifested to help the first emperor. Even more incredible, the letters remained above the mansion into the evening.
By the next afternoon, the temple had no choice but to surrender to the overwhelming inquiries.
“Oh my… I didn’t expect the priest himself to visit the mansion.”
Elaina went out to greet the priest as he descended from the carriage—and witnessed something unexpected.
“What… are you doing? Why are you… taking off your shoes?”
The priest got out of the carriage, removed his shoes, and prostrated himself on the ground. He stayed like that for a long time. Finally, he rose with a solemn expression and explained to the bewildered Elaina:
“This is hallowed ground where a miracle has occurred. Showing reverence to the divine is only natural.”
Compared to the last time they met, his demeanor was drastically different. Elaina gave an awkward laugh.
“Hahaha… yes, of course. Well, please, come inside.”
Even after entering the mansion, the priest was overwhelmed by the divine presence. The Grand Duke’s mansion had become a sacred place where the glory of the gods seemed to descend.
The high-ranking priest only explained his purpose after reaching the reception room.
“To put it plainly, the divorce that had been decided cannot be undone.”
“What? But if a miracle occurred…”
“Yes, that is correct. I did say that if the gods did not wish for the divorce, a miracle would be performed.”
Elaina listened silently as the priest continued.
“Therefore, after an emergency meeting yesterday, His Holiness the Pope personally decided to amend one clause of the marriage law.”
He explained the clause the Pope had changed: the one that previously stated that remarriage with a former spouse was impossible, as Lord Henet had mentioned.
“So…”
Elaina trailed off. The priest nodded.
“Yes. You may file your marriage registration again. The temple will be ready to accept your registration at any time.”
Elaina explained what had happened during the day to Lyle. He listened with a gentle, proud expression.
“Are you listening? They said we just need to submit the marriage registration.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I had the priest visit me too.”
He confessed that the priest had come to the newly built Grant Knight Order building during the day.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because I enjoyed hearing your story first.”
Blushing, Elaina waved her hands.
“Anyway! It’s over now. Submit the marriage registration quickly.”
“No… I won’t do that.”
Elaina froze, bewildered.
“You won’t?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Why not? You don’t mean… you don’t want to marry me?”
Her anxious question, trying to appear nonchalant, only made Lyle’s smile deepen. Elaina pouted, frustrated at his silent teasing.
“Stop smiling and answer me! Do you not want to marry me?”
“No.”
“Lyle!”
Lyle’s gaze toward Elaina, who was shouting, was warm beyond measure. He didn’t want to upset her by explaining too soon.
“Elaina.”
He slowly rose from his seat. Elaina’s lips pouted, silently daring him to speak. She noticed only then the box he had placed on the desk earlier.
“Lyle…”
“When I first proposed, I brought my mother’s ring.”
He slowly opened the ring box. Inside was a ring with a large yellow diamond in the center, surrounded like flower petals by small pink teardrop-shaped gems.
“When did you prepare this?”
“As soon as I returned to the capital. I didn’t know if the marriage would even happen then.”
“Even if the temple didn’t permit it, it didn’t matter. You are already my one and only wife.”
Unlike other titles, the Grand Duke could, if he wished, make his territory independent and rule it as a ‘Duchy.’ None had actually exercised that right before, but Lyle would gladly do it for Elaina.
“Elaina.”
In the stillness of the room, Lyle’s voice echoed clearly. Elaina remembered the same time last year, when she first met him in the cold winter, wearing the orange dress Sara had prepared, secretly waiting in the corridor.
None of them could have imagined things would turn out like this. Who could have guessed that the man she had thought of as a villain to Diane would become the man she would fall so deeply in love with?
“Our marriage was a complete surprise for both of us.”
Perhaps thinking the same, Lyle murmured the same words he had said when proposing. Elaina and Lyle both laughed.
“You probably regretted your previous marriage. You made promises to take responsibility but still put me in danger, and I nearly died too.”
Elaina looked into Lyle’s eyes silently. They reflected the red glow of the sunset, straight and unwavering.
“Love… wasn’t written in our contract. You never asked for it. But it was inevitable. By the time I realized it, I was already in love with you.”
Lyle slowly knelt on one knee.
“I promise you once more. As long as you are my wife, I will be a faithful husband. This time, no conditions. I ask for only one thing.”
“And what is that?”
“Love.”
The man who had once claimed no such soft, warm words could ever relate to him had finally spoken the word “love.”
“If the contract lasts a lifetime, I’ll consider it.”
Elaina’s playful answer made Lyle smile.
“A lifetime. Then I promise beyond that as well. In the next life, and the next after that, I will find you.”
Looking at the sunset outside the window, Lyle’s face was truly magnificent. Elaina thought she would never forget this moment.
“Will you be my wife?”
Instead of answering, Elaina leapt into Lyle’s arms. He caught her safely as they fell to the floor, smiling broadly—a rare, radiant smile for him.
