Chapter 12

Thanks to that, I could see the silk blackout curtain adorning the side of the ceremony hall and the marble floor fully carpeted with deep red luxurious carpet a day ahead of the wedding ceremony.

‘Wasting money….’

Only then I could understand what Mother meant by ‘if you don’t have it, you can live without it.’

Although she was someone who could spend grandly like this, she had been living while holding back in her own way.

‘So that was her way to hold back.’

I was in wonder at the new learning while looking around the empty ceremony hall, and then,

“Ahem.”

When I turned my head around at the cough, I saw someone wandering around the door that wasn’t supposed to be used for entry yet.

‘I heard that this place has been vacant on purpose since yesterday.’

Right as I started to wonder if he was a worker who was employed for the ceremony preparation, I stopped for a moment after seeing the blinding golden hair beyond the pillar.

There was no way for me to not recognize the owner of that rather noticeable hair even if I wanted to. ‘Well, the Young Duke… will also be a partaker of this wedding.’

Of course, that must be the reason he could come here and check on the progress.

Because Mother had been very enthusiastic in preparing the wedding ceremony, and the Duke hadn’t shown himself to partake in the preparations, I had thought the Young Duke would be the same as him.

He really was a hard-working person.

‘I guess I better pretend not to know and just leave for our sake, right?’

The moment I turned my body, a cough that sounded like it was coming deep from someone’s throat was heard from somewhere.

‘Wait, is that even a cough?’

In the end, I turned my body because the repeated ringing sounds in this wide hall sounded like a threat—it was telling me they weren’t going to let me off if I didn’t turn around.

There, he was looking at me with his extraordinary eyes. “It has been a week since we met.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

The Young Duke strode closer as he continued the talk. “Looks like you have been very busy in this meantime.”

“Sorry?”

When I tilted my head at the unexpected words, he hesitated and then replied. “The crystal ball. I couldn’t reach you—at all.”

“Ah!”

“Did it accidentally break?”

“Maybe.”

That day when I received the crystal ball, after I left it somewhere in the corner of my room, I had never thought about using it even once.

I bet it was somewhere in the room.

‘Better look for it when I get home.’

I didn’t want to make any strong complicated emotion happen.

“If the crystal ball is broken, shouldn’t it get repaired….”

“I never thought I would get any call so I never checked on it.”

Orion stared at me with a confused expression then refuted. “Even though this is something that happened out of nowhere, this is an affair about merging two families. What is there for us not to discuss?”

“….”

This time, the one with their mouth blocked was me.

So that was the reason.

So everyone normally thought of marriage like that.

Suddenly, I could imagine that this person had lived a sheltered life.

“Ehm, I, about ‘Mother’s remarriage’….” I hesitated for a moment then I sincerely told him what was on my mind. “I have never thought of it as an event for welcoming a new family.”

Until now, it wasn’t like there was a big difference even when Mother had remarried.

Those men were thoroughly ‘Mother’s man’, not my ‘stepfather’, so there weren’t many occasions for them to bump into me.

Now that I thought of it, for someone like the Duke of the empire, to remarry in such a hasty way was really odd.

It must be that I was being overly complacent.

“For real, how did Madam….”

“Pardon?”

He spoke but then shut his lips tightly. It looked like he was holding himself back from saying something.

Orion Miller was silent for a moment then he brushed his hair back and was about to open his mouth back.

But right at that time, a familiar person who was entering the hall greeted me.

“So you’re here, Marianne.”

I bent my knees and greeted the old priest who had a dignified appearance with his grizzled hair neatly combed back.

“To meet you again, I feel….”

Happy? Honored?

Both were strange words.

Every time he officiated someone’s wedding, he gave blessings for the groom and bride—to build their family under patience and sense of responsibility, and to live happily.