Ivan smirked and casually looked ahead, while Bialet, finding no value in responding, just hoped he wouldn’t speak to her again until the mass was over.
As the Archbishop’s mass concluded, the ceremony of Bialet and Ivan’s engagement proceeded.
Standing in front of the Archbishop’s pulpit, they presented the prepared vows to each other.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, do you swear to faithfully fulfill your role and responsibilities in your engagement to Lady Ruschev?”
‘This vow seems a bit different from what I know.’
Bialet, noticing a slight difference in the vow from Geizen’s engagement ceremony, glanced at her father.
Catching her eye, her father winked elaborately, and Bialet turned her head back.
It seemed the Duke, anxious about giving his daughter to the notoriously ill-behaved Crown Prince, had devised a small scheme.
To the Archbishop’s question, Ivan responded with an uncharacteristic gentle expression.
“From now on, I shall devote myself to only one person.”
Bialet stiffened at his words, keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead, trying not to show any reaction.
In her mind, she just wanted to cleanse her ears, tainted by his filthy words, with holy water as soon as possible.
Was it her imagination, or did Geizen’s angry mutterings from behind sound so close?
Then, clearing his throat, the Archbishop hurriedly turned to Bialet and presented her with the vow.
“Lady Ruschev, do you swear to faithfully fulfill your role and responsibilities in your engagement to His Highness, the Crown Prince?”
‘Responsibility…’
Bialet planned to deceive everyone perfectly and fulfill her role during her engagement period with Ivan.
She had determined long ago that when the Crown Prince was at his happiest, she would bring him crashing down.
“I swear.”
Following this, the Archbishop offered them a simple blessing.
“O Ekarto, bless and prosper His Highness, the Crown Prince, and Lady Ruschev, who have engaged today, and watch over their union.”
Finding each word difficult to hear, she tightly closed and then opened her eyes, earnestly wishing for this moment to pass quickly.
Meanwhile, behind them, the sounds of a middle-aged man and a young man sobbing mingled together.
Turning around, Bialet saw the Duke dabbing his tears with a handkerchief and Geizen crying beside him.
‘What is everyone doing here at this moment…’
With an awkward smile, she tried to manage her expression when Ivan glanced at them and commented,
“Anyone would think the Lady is getting married right away.”
“……I have nothing to say to that.”
She hadn’t expected even his brother to be crying like this, let alone her father.
“Lady Bialet is fortunate. There are those who cry for you.”
As she lightly dismissed his chuckling and teasing words, the Archbishop announced,
“With this, I declare the engagement of these two individuals officially established.”
With the completion of the vows, Bialet and Ivan were now formally engaged.
It was the beginning of her plans for revenge.
That afternoon, having finished all her duties, Bialet sat by the window, gazing at the crimson-stained sky.
It was as if in the fading sunset, there was a shape she yearned for.
‘Why can’t I let go of you?’
Despite deciding herself on the engagement with the Crown Prince, she thought of Dension throughout the ceremony.
She even indulged in the ridiculous fantasy of how happy she would be if the person beside her were Dension.
His presence always filled her thoughts to that extent.
‘I must not let anyone discover that Sion is my weakness.’
Therefore, she couldn’t let anyone find out about her feelings for him.
Now that Bialet had a new fiancé, exposing her feelings would put Dension in danger once again.
‘I won’t let that happen.’
She didn’t want to thwart the plans and efforts he had made over time.
Thus, Bialet resolved to not see Dension anymore.
To protect something, one must also know what to give up.
Even if she missed him, Bialet decided to be grateful for the time they had shared.
Though they couldn’t be together, they would still exist in the same world, no matter how much time passed.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
