Clea looked at the door.

How many doors had she opened and walked through in her life so far?

Though it must have been countless, Clea trembled.

It was thrilling to imagine what expressions people would have beyond this door.

“I will support what Your Highness intends to do.”

“Thank you for saying so.”

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke who would walk down the aisle with her wore a worried expression.

Clea knew why he had such an expression.

But what could be done? The die was already cast, the glass of water spilled.

The situation had reached a point of no return.

He knew that well too, so he didn’t make any useless struggles.

The only regrettable point was that the guilt from parents completely abandoning their child still remained.

Clea expressed gratitude to the Grand Duke.

For choosing her, who was not his own child.

Of course, complex factors including the family were involved in that process, but Clea prioritized results over anything else.

“If there’s anything I need to do, please tell me now.”

Clea intended to leave him as a thorough bystander.

Seeing his tired appearance now, she didn’t want to give him anything more to feel guilty about.

However, he still had things left to do.

“Your Grace just needs to follow through with what’s planned.”

The planned thing.

Because of this, she had even gone to Odin before the ceremony to get permission.

The ‘planned thing’ she mentioned was properly concluding the matter of announcing the successor.

The Grand Duke also knew well what this meant for Lloyd.

It meant Lloyd’s political life would be completely cut off.

Since it was officially declaring he would no longer receive protection from the Grand Duke’s family, it also meant even the lowliest nobles could now look down on Lloyd.

“I will keep that promise. It’s also an agreement with the Crown Prince.”

The Grand Duke showed resolve, as if to say not to worry about that part at all.

Apart from his personal feelings as a parent, he was ruthless when it came to family matters.

Relieved by this, Clea extended her arm.

Realizing it was time to enter, the Grand Duke escorted her.

“Congratulations on your marriage, sincerely.”

“You’re quite late, but I’ll accept your congratulations.”

As soon as those words ended, the tightly closed doors opened.

The aisle soon unfolded before her eyes.

Though she felt the gazes of countless people on her, Clea only looked at the man standing at the end of the aisle.

His expression softened for a moment upon seeing her.

She hadn’t expected to see such a foolish expression from him at all.

She thought there wouldn’t be much reaction since it wasn’t the first time he’d seen her in a dress.

‘But that dazed expression is cute.’

Holding back the laughter that threatened to escape, she took a step forward.

With each step she took, countless gazes followed.

Those gazes contained various emotions.

Surprise, puzzlement, wonder, fear, and so on – they were diverse.

Among them, the most noticeable was anger.

As Clea could easily guess where that anger came from, a smile spread across her lips even more.

And then what next entered her sight was Lloyd’s face.

‘Ah, why did you do that?’

If he had just let her go easily, there wouldn’t have been a day like today.

Unfounded confidence had been his only unique strength, but now even that couldn’t be seen.

Lloyd was shaking with a pale blue face.

Clea could tell right away what he was thinking now.

The Grand Duke beside her seemed to know as well, as his expression hardened further.

Meanwhile, people finally focused on the Grand Duke’s presence beside Clea.

“Why is the Grand Duke there…”

Someone finally voiced the question out loud.

Though someone should have told them to be quiet in a place where they should have remained silent, no one pointed it out.

Because others were curious too.

Especially the expressions of the Odoi family members watching from afar were souring.

‘Truly, this is the best day.’

Some might say this wedding is ruined.

After all, attention was focused on people other than the bride and groom.

But Clea thought differently.

To her, this was truly the best wedding.

She liked this moment when all the people who tried to use her and those who tried to cause her pain were suffering.

This moment where blessings and happiness intersected was exactly what she wanted.

“May I make an announcement here before proceeding with the ceremony?”

The father of the bride, who should have stepped away after walking down the aisle, asked Hayden without leaving.

At his action, the gazes that had been dispersed among Lloyd, the Duke and Duchess of Hersher, Grit, and Steve all focused on the Grand Duke.

“It’s unprecedented, but I’ll allow it.”

Normally, acts that delay the ceremony are not accepted.

But Hayden said it was fine and allowed it.

Lloyd, who was already anxious and trembling, tried to leave his seat as if he couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Get out of the way.”

“I apologize, but please remain in your seat.”

“I said move!”

But there were knights Oberon had planted beside him in advance.

Cornered, he looked like he was about to have a fit.

Feeling embarrassed by Lloyd’s behavior, Aria tried to distance herself from him.

But Lloyd didn’t miss that.

He grabbed Aria as she tried to move away and wouldn’t let go.

Aria told him to let go, but he was immovable.

The Grand Duke was bothered by their behavior, but deliberately ignored it and continued speaking.

“I wish to announce the rightful heir to the Percy Grand Duchy here.”

“By rightful heir, don’t you mean Grand Duke Lloyd?”

“But why announce that here?”

People focused on him at the unexpected words.

Lloyd’s strange reaction played a part, but curiosity arose as to why he, who hadn’t announced an heir until now, was trying to announce it at the Crown Prince’s wedding ceremony of all places.

So people held their breath and listened intently to what the Grand Duke had to say.

“I hereby announce that Clea Percy, who is present here, is the rightful heir who will succeed the Grand Duchy.”

People were shaken upon hearing those words.

No matter how much Lloyd had fallen out of favor, people had believed without a doubt that he would succeed the Grand Duchy.

He was the Grand Duke’s only blood relative, and recently he had even become engaged to the Hersher family, as if to shore up his lacking position.

So people even wondered if the Grand Duke had misspoken.

The nobles who had calculated that walking down the aisle with Clea was simply to uphold the Grand Duchy’s dignity were at a loss.

In that brief moment just now, some nobles had realized she had been adopted into the Grand Duchy, but they hadn’t known she was made the heir.

After the Grand Duke stepped back, people’s gazes naturally turned to Odin.

Odin remained silent without saying a word.

‘It was all approved.’

Everyone who saw that thought so.

It had all been discussed with the imperial family already.

Otherwise, no matter how grand a duke he was, it would have been impossible to step forward like this at an imperial event.

In that sense, people came to look up to Clea even more.

She who had fallen from villainess to commoner had now become the Crown Princess as well as heir to the empire’s only Grand Duchy.

At this moment, Clea was shining more brightly than anyone else.

“I can’t accept this.”

Meanwhile, Aria watching this was extremely flustered.

She couldn’t accept that people were looking up to someone like Clea.

She should have been the one in that position originally.

Aria had thought that even if they got married, Clea would never be recognized as Admund’s match.

She had thought that just like in the academy days, Clea would end up not being recognized by people.

But reality was different.

“Since both of you are standing in front, we will proceed with the ceremony.”

At Hayden’s words, the unsettled atmosphere soon calmed.

He proceeded with the ceremony in order.

As Hayden spoke about various things related to the sacred ritual, Clea and Admund faced each other.

“Aren’t you staring too much?”

“It’s because I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than this.”

“You’ve seen me in a dress before, haven’t you?”

Clea asked with an incredulous face if he didn’t remember the previous time.

Admund smiled and answered her question.

“Sometimes I lose my memory when I see something too beautiful.”

Clea almost furrowed her brow for a moment. She wondered who had taught him such cringeworthy words.

Of course, she wasn’t displeased.

She knew he wasn’t being sarcastic like Aria, but truly saying she was beautiful.

But wanting to erase this feeling of having been caught off guard, she continued.

“That’s too bad then. I’ll be the only one remembering this moment.”

It was meant to tease him for saying he loses his memory when seeing beautiful things, but Admund burst out laughing at her words.

“Can I take that to mean you’ve admitted you’re beautiful yourself?”

As he didn’t back down at all, Clea lost the will to converse further.

So she finally furrowed her brow and turned her gaze towards Hayden.

If others had seen Clea’s expression, they might have thought there was something between the two.

But since they were standing in front of the officiant, others had no chance to see Clea’s expression.

Admund found even this side of her lovable.