It was I who became flustered at his unexpected words.
“What?”
“It is true that contact with you helped ease the curse, but honestly, I liked being able to use that as an excuse to kiss you and hold you.”
Without realizing it, my lips, now slightly moist, parted a little.
Seeing me like that, the color of Rastan’s eyes seemed to deepen slightly.
“Now that we are truly engaged, not by contract, and soon to be married, I intend to follow my heart freely without needing such excuses.”
“Follow your heart…?”
The proper image of him I had known clashed slightly with this side of him, leaving me momentarily dazed as I repeated his words.
“Sleeping beside the woman I love every day has been very difficult. From now on, I do not intend to hold back.”
“Hold back… what… Ah!”
The moment I understood what he meant, my face burst into flames.
“Come, let us go to the bedroom.”
With a seductive smile, Rastan took my wrist and led me out of the greenhouse.
“What is this, suddenly…?!”
Even as I allowed myself to be led along, pretending I couldn’t resist, my heart pounded honestly with anticipation.
***
All the servants of the ducal estate were informed that we would soon be getting married.
Since they had already believed our engagement to be real, no one was surprised.
However, what excited them was the fact that the wedding date would soon be set.
Among nobles, engagement periods could last several years, so they had thought of our marriage as something in the vague, distant future.
“Wow, you are really doing it! Now truly, truly, my Lady will become the Lady of the House!”
Sally and Ris jumped excitedly, hugging each other and bouncing up and down.
“They say words can become reality! All that time! Calling you Madam on purpose was worth it!”
Since I had already broken off an engagement once before, it seemed they had secretly been anxious, even if they never said it aloud.
Thanks to everyone being so happy, the ducal estate remained in a festive atmosphere for several days afterward.
The main topic at dinner, of course, was the wedding.
“Evelyn, I have secured the earliest possible date for the ceremony at the Temple.”
“When is it?”
“Exactly two months from now.”
“Only two months…? Is that not too short of a preparation period?”
The date was much sooner than I had expected, and my mouth fell open without realizing it. I had secretly expected it to be at least six months to a year later.
“Do not worry. I will take care of all the preparations. You need only look them over and give your opinion.”
It was reasonable, since Rastan’s information network and decisiveness were far superior to mine.
‘Right, since it’s at the Temple, we’ll only need some floral decorations in the hall, and I can just quickly have a suitable dress made…’
That was what I thought, but only a few days later, I realized that had been a naive assumption.
After taking charge of the wedding preparations, Rastan brought new arrangements every single day — dresses, jewelry, hall decorations, and even the guest list.
But every single one of them, without exception, was unbelievably extravagant.
‘What, he wants to line both sides of the aisle carpet with luminous magic stones that glow on their own? Is that even reasonable?’
Dizzy from the dazzling display of outrageously expensive items, I held my forehead and finally spoke to Rastan.
“Thank you for preparing everything so diligently, but our wedding does not have to be the most beautiful and grand in the world. I would be fine with something more modest…”
However, Rastan, unusually, cut off my words firmly.
“No. I regretted how I handled the proposal the first time, so at the very least, I want to do the wedding properly, in a single perfect attempt.”
Hearing that, I could somewhat understand why he was preparing things so excessively.
But even so, this was far too much.
No matter how wealthy the Ducal House was, being one of the greatest in the Empire, wouldn’t this level deserve to be criticized as reckless extravagance?
“I understand how you feel… but then how about setting the wedding date a bit later?”
After all, to prepare all these absurd things within such a short period of two months, an enormous rush fee would have to be paid.
But Rastan was firm once again.
“I do not want that. When I pressured and pressed the Temple as much as possible, and still heard that the earliest available date was two months away, I was in despair.”
I gently took his hand and spoke in a soothing voice.
“If you really want it on that date, then you will have to give up some things. Do not push yourself too hard. For the sake of the people who will have to work for it as well.”
I meant the servants of the ducal estate who would be worked to the bone to make this schedule happen.
“I think it would be enough to prepare only the essentials and hold a solemn ceremony. What matters is that we have each other by our side.”
In the end, Rastan reluctantly nodded.
“…Understood.”
For some reason, his response didn’t sound entirely convincing. Still, I thought we had agreed to keep things minimal…
“When was this added? It definitely wasn’t here the last time I checked.”
A few days later. While doing the final review of the wedding dress design draft with the designer who had come to the estate, I noticed something strange.
An option had been added without my knowledge.
“Setting tiny diamonds all over the entire dress?”
It would certainly make the dress shine brilliantly on its own. But no matter how small, they were still diamonds.
“Would this not make the budget skyrocket? Why did I not know about this?”
Since it was the wedding of the immensely wealthy House Blake, had the atelier quietly slipped it in to take advantage of us?
However, the designer’s answer was different from what I expected.
“It was a direct instruction from His Grace the Duke.”
“What? This too?”
I turned to look at Rastan, who was sitting beside me pretending innocence, and my mouth fell open.
Even though we had agreed on a minimal wedding, Rastan had been quietly adding expensive options here and there.
At first, I let it go, thinking he just wanted to do so, but at some point, the added options reached a level beyond imagination.
‘At this point, isn’t this basically a fully extravagant, large-scale party — the wedding of the century?’
Dumbfounded, I held my forehead.
Then suddenly, my head spun. I had only staggered slightly, but Rastan hurriedly caught me and shouted.
“Evelyn! Are you alright?”
The head maid standing nearby quickly issued orders.
“Sally! Call the physician immediately! Ris! Come and escort Madam to the bedroom!”
“No, this is nothing serious…”
I felt a little dizzy, but it wasn’t something to make such a fuss over.
However, no one in the room listened to me, and I was immediately moved to the bedroom.
The diagnosis from the ducal physician was brief.
“Congratulations. You are pregnant.”
“…!”
Rastan’s eyes widened as far as they possibly could.
“What…?”
My face turned bright red with shock and embarrassment.
“Kyaaa!”
Sally and Ris, standing behind the physician, let out cheers.
The physician smiled and added a warning.
“You are healthy, but since it is still the very early stage, you must be extremely careful.”
With just those words from the physician, everything changed in an instant.
From that day on, I was treated like a delicate glass ornament.
Thanks to that, most of Rastan’s endlessly extravagant wedding plans were tearfully canceled.
The reason was that I must not overexert myself on the wedding day, and that I must not be stressed during the preparations.
In the end, compared to the original plans, the wedding became quite simple.
At least the reception was still planned, but Rastan kept insisting that I didn’t need to attend it.
***
While discussing the list of guests to invite to the wedding, Rastan spoke with a slightly troubled expression.
“About your father and your brother. Are you truly alright with not inviting them to our wedding?”
He was worried that I might feel sad that my family wouldn’t be present on such an important day, one that came only once in a lifetime.
But I truly didn’t mind.
“Rather than that, please just strengthen the security at the ducal estate so those people cannot barge in and cause trouble that day.”
Perhaps finding it amusing that, instead of wanting to invite them, I was asking him to keep them away, Rastan let out a soft laugh.
“Very well. If that is what you wish.”
“How are those two living these days?”
“I heard they are living in a small country mansion with a single servant acting as both butler and attendant. But they are still indulging in drinking and gambling, so I suspect even that servant will be dismissed soon.”
Even after losing everything, the fact that they couldn’t break those habits was impressive in its own way.
As I thought about my father, something from the past came to mind.
“By the way. When you went to my father before to obtain his consent for our engagement…”
