“The bride enters!!!”
The elderly priest’s voice rang out loudly as if cutting through metal.
Harchen extended his hand to Carolina. She placed her hand that wasn’t holding the bouquet on top of his, but it was shaking severely.
Uh… why are you trembling?
Harchen bent his upper body to look down at her. Carolina’s long raised eyelashes inside the wedding veil trembled, and she bit her lower lip.
As they passed through the Gratia golden arch, the sound of flapping bird wings was heard. White birds flew chaotically between the high ceiling and chandeliers.
The celebrants seated at the tables, the servants carrying food in the hall, and the maids attending all looked up at the ceiling.
The elderly priest standing on the platform grabbed the back of his neck with one hand and held his monocle with the other to look.
Whisk.
At the low whistle, the birds flew to the golden arch and dropped the flower petals they were holding. Some birds flew over the tables where the celebrants were seated, spreading thin resin-made cloths.
Flurry, flower petals fell. A subtle fragrance emanated from the white and pale pink petals.
A few white birds sat on Carolina’s wedding veil and exposed shoulders as if delivering a message to her before flying off again.
The celebrants marveled, thinking the white birds and scattered petals were prepared by the imperial side, but Carolina and Patricia recognized Bark’s white birds.
Patricia raised her upper body, gripping the armrest of the chair, following the direction of the birds flying away after scattering petals.
Bark, dressed in a white suit with a white cape, was surrounded by a flock of white birds as he left the hall.
The white bird that had sat on Carolina’s wedding veil flew around Bark’s face.
The bride’s scent is nice.
He stopped walking in the corridor. He put both hands in his pants pockets and tilted his long waist crookedly.
That bastard Patrick, so unlucky.
Harchen stood motionless in front of the golden arch, staring at one spot.
Patricia…
Nothing could block his straight gaze, not the flying birds or falling petals.
He was surprised that Carolina’s hand trembled when she grabbed it in front of the virgin road, but he was shocked to see tears flowing under her trembling eyebrows inside the wedding veil.
The celebrants picked up and touched the moist and delicate petals that fell on the tables. Jeina cleared the flowers piled up in front of Carolina’s dress and checked her veil.
“Jeina, wipe under her eyes.”
Carolina liked Patrick and wanted to rush the royal marriage. Yet she trembled and cried in front of the virgin road.
Then Patricia, what about her?
Ah… Harchen realized he had always prioritized only his own feelings and became irritated with himself.
The day before the royal marriage, when he went to the Duse Palace to meet Emperor Kazan, she didn’t answer when the emperor said he would hold her hand on the virgin road, nor did she mix in any other words.
From the moment he saw Patricia in a wedding dress during the parade and walking the virgin road, he was filled with desire to hold her. He only cared about other bastards looking at her.
How afraid must she have been. That’s why you hesitated and answered late during the wedding vows. Ah, Patricia.
Harchen walked halfway down the virgin road and saw Patrick waiting with an anxious expression.
With each step he took, he lowered his gaze to see Carolina’s expression.
As Carolina took each step, she suddenly gripped Harchen’s hand tightly as if making a firm decision.
With a resolute expression, she looked at Patrick standing right in front of her.
As Harchen gave Carolina’s hand to Patrick, he put his head close to Patrick’s cheek and murmured softly.
“Patrick, if that crow cries, you’ll die by my hand. Be happy.”
Patrick looked at Harchen silently before smirking.
“Look who’s talking.”
Then he walked the rest of the virgin road.
Harchen wanted to grab Patrick’s shoulder, turn him around, and tell him not to listen halfheartedly but to listen seriously and put it into practice.
Instead, he clenched his fist in his leather glove until it made a creaking sound.
Diana, in her role as the bride’s mother, created a gentle smile while staring at Carolina.
At the same time, she busily ate the dishes set on the table.
Tane’s cuisine was famous throughout the continent, and true to its fame, it had elaborate plating with deep and rich flavors.
She paused as she was picking up thinly sliced truffles.
“Alesia, over there.”
Diana gestured to the maid standing in front of Carolina, lifting her wedding veil and wiping under her eyes.
“That child, wasn’t she Lina’s maid in Karsik?”
Diana had told Carolina, just as she had with Isabella, to leave behind her maiden maids and servants.
A person’s mouth could differ from their will, and one slip of the tongue could make them step on their own foot for life, living while clutching that stepped-on foot.
Especially Isabella, thinking it was sending away the flaws of her maiden days, sent her maid all the way back to her rural hometown.
“That maid is Jeina.”
“I urged her so much to leave her behind.”
“Is Lina the same as Bella? It seems she secretly brought her back without mother knowing.”
“I see, so that’s what happened.”
Diana didn’t become enraged like before.
She always instructed and ordered the maids and servants to be careful with their words, but she herself had uttered words to her eldest daughter Isabella that couldn’t be erased.
“Isabella, wear this. You look pretty, smile more brightly.”
“Yes, Mother. Yes, thank you, yes, yes, yes.”
Isabella was that kind of child. No, she had raised Isabella to be like that. She raised her to be a good and obedient child by picking on small mistakes and flaws and pressing them further.
Even after arriving in Rubelin, she made mistakes repeatedly. Recalling that time, she wanted to cut out her own tongue again.
“Isabella, the wound on your wrist won’t be big. The scar can be covered with a bracelet. More importantly, it’s the child in your belly that’s the problem.”
“Mother, what do you mean?”
“I’m asking if that seed is truly Prince Henry’s seed. Did you meet that William fellow again?”
Diana wanted to return to Liswan quickly. She wanted to apologize to Isabella and tend to flowers in the garden together like before.
Harchen sat down next to Patricia with a serious expression and reached his hand under the table to touch her elbow. He felt he needed even the smallest contact to feel at ease.
Patricia was cutting celery garnished with foie gras using her cutlery when she turned her head to look at his hand holding her elbow, then looked at Harchen with a cold expression.
“Huh? Why… am I mistaken, or are you glaring at me?”
She didn’t answer and just turned her head abruptly, then chopped the foie gras into pieces. Harchen pulled his chair close to her side.
“That rustic man I saw in your office on that rainy day.”
Harchen, who had been looking down at her, straightened his upper body.
He watched the two lovers facing each other on the platform, following the instructions of the hunched and short priest. Patrick put the wedding ring on Carolina’s finger.
“Patricia, your guess is correct. It’s Eden Patterson.”
“I see. I thought so. But why did you hide it from me?”
“There are many complicated reasons. But the biggest cause is probably… jealousy? Are you going to meet that bastard now?”
“It’s enough that he’s alive. I’ll meet him someday. The sooner the better.”
“Is that… the end?”
“What, should there be more?”
Harchen drew close as if he was about to enter her sapphire blue eyes, staring into them, but when Alesia coughed, he straightened his upper body and turned his head forward.
Patricia also put down her cutlery and raised her head to face forward.
Harchen took her left hand and placed it on his thigh, then removed her glove.
The aged priest spoke.
“Now then. Now, the bride… place the ring of love and vow on the groom’s finger.”
Carolina put the ring on Patrick’s hand.
Harchen removed the ring from Patricia’s ring finger and put it back on. She turned to look at him.
Harchen took the ring off his hand and placed it in her palm, then spread his fingers and held out his hand. Patricia smiled as she put the ring on his hand with thick knuckles, then stroked the back of his hand with prominent bones.
The old priest cleared his throat and said.
“N-now, for the vow of love, seal it with a kiss.”
There was a cheer of “Woah!”, and the servants symbolically turned off a few lights on the chandeliers at the front of the Gratia Hall.
“Little crow, close your eyes.”
In an instant, Harchen covered Patricia’s eyes with his large hand.
Her vision went dark. She could only hear the sounds of the celebrants. Then, following a moist breath, soft lips engulfed her lips.
When Harchen’s large hand came down, the first thing Patricia saw was the Empress Dowager with a flushed face.
She was clearly angry, but Patricia pretended not to notice and gave a bright smile.
Embarrassed, Patricia picked up a piece of the chopped foie gras and put it in her mouth. Before she could even remove the cutlery from her mouth, nausea rose.
Patricia covered her mouth with her hand and tried to slowly chew and swallow the meat.
“What’s wrong? You don’t look well.”
Diana, who had been closely observing Patricia, immediately noticed from the dry heaving. She had been pregnant five times herself.
“I’m fine.”
Patricia chewed and swallowed the meat with difficulty. She picked up a crystal glass to drink water, then took a bite of walnut pie, then picked up a cherry to eat, and each time nausea rose, she lowered her head, covered her mouth with her hand, swallowed, endured, and suppressed it.
Why are you enduring so much?
Diana looked at Patricia with a pitiful expression. It must be hard to bear, but she was forcibly suppressing and enduring it. Her large blue eyes were brimming with tears.
“Harchen, take Patricia outside for some fresh air.”
Harchen looked at Diana with a pleased expression and grabbed Patricia’s arm to help her up. As they left the Gratia Hall, the priest’s still clear voice could be heard.
“Bride and groom, march vigorously!!!”
Harchen went to the end of the corridor. He lifted Patricia and placed her on the black warhorse Khan. Then he swiftly mounted behind her and rode off.
“Haa, Harchen. They’ll look for us.”
“We’ve done it before. Now those two will be busy changing clothes. There’s plenty of time until the reception.”
“Where are we going?”
Harchen rode towards the Tane Academy. He passed through the shrubbery behind the academy building and stopped below the terrace railing. Without dismounting, he lifted Patricia and placed her on the terrace railing.
Patricia stood on the terrace after crossing the railing and realized his intention. There were two chairs placed on the terrace.
It was that place.
Harchen also leaped from the horse onto the terrace.
Patricia raised her large eyes to look up at the sky.
Yes, that day she saw Empress Pamila at the banquet. She thought she wanted to use a sword.
“My lady, excuse me for a moment.”
Harchen actually reached for a cigar box in the space below the railing and grabbed her arm. He lowered his long eyelashes and looked down at her with decadent deep green eyes.
“You were crying then, weren’t you?”
Patricia silently gazed back into his deep green eyes.
Harchen grabbed the railing instead of her waist. He gripped it so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand looked like they might burst.
“Don’t cry alone. When you want to cry, only cry in front of me.”
Patricia stood on her tiptoes and stretched out her arms to wrap around his neck. Harchen bent his upper body low to match her eye level.
“I will.”
“I won’t insist only on my love, I’ll respect your way of loving.”
Their eyes, reflected in each other’s at a distance close enough for their noses to touch, intertwined and became blue-green.
“I love you, Harchen.”
“I’ll complete an even deeper love. Patricia, I love you.”
Patricia felt the confession of love spreading to her ears, Harchen’s deeply resonating voice, more expansive than usual. The sensation of love was amplified.
『Captured in the Enemy Emperor’s Bedroom』 The End
My Ex-Girlfriend Is The Regent In The Female-dominant World (Male lead transmigrates to the matriarchal world)
Two years ago, Gu Sui picked up a homeless woman in ancient costume from the street.
Apart from occasionally claiming to be a princess from a female-dominant country due to illness, her figure, appearance, intelligence, and martial arts skills were impeccable.
Naturally evolving from roommates to girlfriends, as time went on, Gu Sui found it increasingly difficult to tolerate her queen syndrome.
“Mu Jiulu, can you stop controlling me inside and out? Let’s break up.”
Gu Sui made a breakup call, and since then, he couldn’t find any trace of her.
A year later, Gu Sui, who was planning to move, woke up the next day and found himself in a different place.
“Young Master, today is the day you choose your Wife-master through martial arts competition at Jade Dew Pavilion. Please get up quickly.”
Gu Sui: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
As the only son of a general’s mansion in a female-dominant dynasty, the young empress personally issued a decree allowing Gu Sui to select his Wife-master through martial arts competition. Whoever could defeat him could marry him.
Gu Sui: “……”
He didn’t inherit the original owner’s martial prowess, so anyone could defeat him! And what the hell is a Wife-master?
Forced to come to Jade Dew Pavilion, the densely packed women below made Gu Sui’s agoraphobia act up, and his face was full of resistance.
Until he saw the Regent sitting on the second floor, with a smile on the corner of her lips, her eyes wicked and nonchalant.
Hmm… she looked a little familiar.
It turned out that the Regent also found him a little familiar.
Mu Jiulu fiddled with her bone clasp, her deep gaze locked on the man who was out of place in this world.
“Finally, I found you.”
Male transmigrates into female-dominant world
One-sentence summary: What goes around comes around, taking turns in the crematorium