Originally, the principle was to immediately offer a vow as if in response.

However, I felt I couldn’t answer with the same insincere vow as before.

Whether it was simply guilt towards him, or an expectation that this time would be a little different, I wasn’t sure.

I slowly spoke the words that came to mind in a slightly subdued voice.

“…I will do my best to give you only the best things while we are together. I will do everything I can to protect your safety and stability, and I will live only for you until the day my breath stops.”

I felt his hand, still holding mine, tighten.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t bring myself to face him and just stared at the captured hand.

“In the name of Amelia Jenit Vermerian, I swear before God only for you.”

The first sincere words I ever gave him in two lifetimes.

A belated atonement that I would somehow live for him in this life.

Even with his gaze touching the side of my face, I kept my eyes fixed on the Bible without turning my head.

The high priest looked at us for a moment, then shouted the next order in a resounding voice.

“The vows made by these two before God will end with a sincere kiss. May God bind your hearts as one forever.”

Finally, the last step.

The final stage to declare before everyone that we two have become husband and wife.

Without letting go of the hand he was holding, he slowly lifted my veil with his other hand.

At this moment, I could no longer avoid his gaze and turned to face him.

There was a strange heat in his eyes, which I had always thought were like cold jewels.

There was no time to think why.

He lowered his head, neither slowly nor quickly.

Contrary to my expectation that it would be a light kiss on the forehead that would touch and leave, he tilted his head just like that.

And, like any married couple, our lips met.

A small cheer erupted from around us.

Before I could grasp the situation, I realized that my hand, held by Leoprick, was placed on his waist as if being led.

He kissed me in a posture as if pulling me in.

His lips, sitting on top of mine which Betty had applied thicker than usual, lingered longer than expected and more blatantly than ever before.

His other hand that wasn’t holding mine came up to cup my cheek.

It was hiding my eyes, which I couldn’t close in surprise, from people’s view.

With the warmth of his hand large enough to cover my whole face and then some, I momentarily forgot that he was exploring my lips as lovers do.

No, maybe it’s more accurate to say I couldn’t think because it was so unexpected.

He wasn’t just giving a simple peck, but a kiss.

Not as intense as one might do in a private space, but still inappropriate to do in front of others.

Leoprick clearly knew that I had someone I loved.

He was someone who didn’t touch me at all after marriage and pretended not to know about my meetings with Lloyd.

The kiss lasted as long as the confusing moment.

Only when the high priest cleared his throat softly from above did I come to my senses and pull back.

Even in my bewildered and confused state, what caught my eye was his languid face and his lips the same color as his eyes.

The same intense red as my lips, which must be a mess by now.

As I realized my face was flushing, the veil that had been lifted covered my face again.

“Ahem, with this, I declare the marriage of Leoprick Baldini Reinhart and Amelia Jenit Vermerian before God!”

As the high priest shouted in a thunderous voice, a loud cheer erupted from around us.

Words of congratulations and how romantic it was flew to my ears.

Even as the church bells rang and applause continued all around, he was still looking only at me.

Or more precisely, at himself reflected in my eyes.

“……”

“……”

There was no exchange of words.

But there was an unnamed emotion conveyed through our gazes.

It was the greatest stimulation to me, who was momentarily losing my mind due to guilt towards him and confusion from the changes.

Because everything in my head flew away in an instant.

“It’s time to go back.”

He naturally turned and started walking, holding my hand that couldn’t say anything.

Was it because of the kiss, no, the unusually passionate kiss?

I felt different gazes piercing me.

In that place full of nothing but congratulatory greetings, I forgot that I should look around and instead examined his face under my veil.

Those bright red lips kept catching my eye.

The harmony of those reddened lips with his angelic features that seemed to have just descended from heaven.

“Um, Your Highness. On your lips……”

For some reason, feeling embarrassed, I whispered quietly while glancing at him from the corner of my eye.

Leoprick glanced at me like that and then touched his lips with his finger.

“Is it very red?”

“Um…, yes. You should wipe it off a little……”

Clearly, this was something that didn’t exist between him and me before.

I didn’t know where to look because of our behavior so different from our past selves.

And it got worse after I saw Leoprick running his thumb across his lips.

I felt even more embarrassed at the erotic sight I had never seen before.

When I raised my gaze a little higher, I could see his earlobes had turned red.

Is he aware of how bold and unbelievable his actions were?

As his earlobes seemed to be getting redder, I turned my gaze forward again.

Because he didn’t let go of my hand, he and I had to walk back down the virgin road side by side, holding hands.

It felt strange, neither escorting nor the posture for official occasions.

The kind of thing that made me wonder if I had ever walked hand in hand with someone like this.

As I lowered my gaze to our clasped hands, I suddenly realized how ridiculous treatment I had received from Lloyd all this time.

Lloyd always held my hand fleetingly and let go as soon as he finished speaking.

A brief and light contact, just enough to tease.

He always ignored my longing with skinship and a bit of atmosphere that one might do with a younger sister.

And at parties, he always held someone else’s hand instead of mine and did the things I so desperately wanted.

Calling even that love.

I made appropriate responses to people who wanted to make an impression on me and Leoprick one more time as we made our way through the crowd.

Every time I realize how foolish my past self was, it’s hard to resist the urge to crumple my face no matter the current situation.

The urge to kneel down and confess my sins kept bubbling up.

Although my face was covered by the veil, those with keen eyes would quickly notice the shape of my mouth.

I pulled up the corners of my mouth until they cramped while making eye contact with each person cheering.

I had to maintain this uncomfortable state at least until we reached the carriage.

As the number of people gradually decreased with each step, when we were just a few steps away from the entrance:

“Ah…!”

At the end of my gaze, which I had carelessly thrown thinking it was really the last, a familiar color caught my eye.

The color I liked the most, that fully captured the night forest.

No, the dark and cool color that made me like it the most.

Lloyd Alois.

The one who made me vow to make myself regret for a lifetime, no matter what, was there.

The one who made me bitterly regret my foolish past.

In my previous life, he didn’t come, making excuses about his health, saying how could he come to my wedding.

That person was standing at the very back of the guests, looking uncharacteristically disheveled.

‘How……’

What whim had struck Lloyd at this point?

For what purpose was he here?

My chest, which had been full of confusion, turned cold as if ice had been poured into it.

As I was about to turn my gaze away, our eyes met.

His gaze that didn’t leave me, and my gaze that couldn’t leave him, continued tenaciously.

One step, another step.

Getting closer and closer to him.

In the familiar face, familiar scent, and familiar longing, my heart began to cool.

Because I remembered again how ruthlessly those all too familiar things had abandoned me.

Nothing would change.

Only that he was there, attending this place unlike in my previous life.

Ignoring the low throbbing of my heart, I passed by him.

I broke the tenaciously continuing gaze.

The distance between us gradually widened.

And so, in this life, I turned my back on Lloyd.

* * *

The wedding of Leoprick and I was nothing special, rather ordinary.

Throughout the wedding preparations, I had shown such a strong aversion to getting married, and he wasn’t sensitive enough to pay attention to such things.

Like any newlywed couple, we returned to the Imperial Palace, leaving behind numerous guests offering congratulations.

Following the empire’s tradition, we should have gone to the bride’s home, the Marquis’ residence, but unfortunately, Leoprick, who became my husband, was the only Crown Prince of this country.

And my father was a man with exceptional loyalty to the Imperial family.

Perhaps if my mother had been alive, things might have been a little different.

The wedding ceremony, where the opinions of those around us had more influence than the bride and groom, was regrettably carried out in a very typical manner.

‘Now, are we going to the bridal chamber?’

I clenched and unclenched my hand, feeling the warmth that still remained.

If my memory serves me right, the bridal chamber would also be typical and ordinary, just as everyone knows it to be.

Without any particular emotion, I headed towards the bridal chamber following the guidance of the Imperial Palace servants.

However, as if mocking my expectations, a completely different scene unfolded before my eyes.

In my memory, our bridal chamber was just like that of any noble family.

It was certainly just white sheets and a bottle of low-alcohol wine, but…

Now, the bridal chamber had somehow been transformed into an incredibly elaborate setup.

“What… is this……”

Budget waste.

That was the word that immediately came to my mind upon seeing this sight.

The white sheets and wine were fine.

Well, that much is done everywhere.

But the flower petals scattered on the sheets, the lace canopy draped around the bed posts, the flowers and scented candles decorating various parts of the room……

Even couples known for their good relationship rarely do such things.

No, I heard such people don’t care about the place as long as their eyes meet.

As far as I remember, the budget Leoprick could use now wasn’t much.

His Majesty Emperor Gerald was quite frugal, and Leoprick himself was quietly helping those who couldn’t be aided by policies alone as he traveled around the empire, using the Crown Prince’s palace budget.

While I thought this showed his dedication to his role as Crown Prince, it was also frustrating that he couldn’t even take care of his own share properly.

In my previous life, there were times when I couldn’t stand Leoprick, who had little interest in adorning himself, doing just the bare minimum even at official occasions.

So I occasionally secretly handed over part of my trading company’s profits to the head servant without his knowledge.

The wealth of the Vermerian Marquis family was, needless to say, the best on the continent.

Whether Leoprick liked it or not, I had to make sure he didn’t harbor any suspicious feelings towards me as his wife.

But that was the story after he and I got married.

But now……

I sat down at the small table set up next to the bed without even fully surveying the room.