~Chapter 28~
The Gap Between Relationships
Katrina’s birthday banquet was the first banquet the two attended as husband and wife.
According to the original plan, the New Year Festival banquet should have been their first, but because demonic beasts had appeared, the banquet scheduled afterward had been canceled.
Because of that, Rina and Meli poured their hearts into dressing Blair as if it were a mission.
“Rina, how about this style?”
“Oh, that looks nice.”
The two seemed to have grown quite close, sharing opinions and working together to style Blair.
Blair watched the two through the mirror.
Seeing Meli helping with what Rina alone had handled in her previous life made a pleased smile naturally appear on her face.
‘Even if I leave this place, Rina will be able to live well.’
Thinking that reassured her.
“My lady, it’s all done now.”
“What do you think?”
At last their work was finished.
Blair laughed when she saw their two pairs of eyes shining with anticipation.
“I like it very much.
Thank you, both of you.”
It was not just polite words. Perhaps because both of them had put effort into it, she liked today’s styling quite a lot.
When Blair appeared at the stairs after finishing her preparations, Heredin, who had been waiting on the first floor, sensed her presence and raised his gaze.
The moment he discovered her, his eyes froze briefly before following her as she descended the stairs.
If Blair in her wedding dress had looked like a fairy of snow, today she looked like a flower blooming out of season in the middle of winter.
Heredin approached Blair and extended his hand.
After looking at him for a moment, Blair placed her hand atop his large one.
“Have a pleasant evening, Your Grace.
My lady.”
The two boarded the carriage as Mason and the servants saw them off.
Soon the carriage began to move.
Blair gazed at the night scenery passing by outside the window and fell into thought.
‘What happened today in my previous life?’
Two years of memories were not something she could recall every trivial detail from.
Only large or intense events had remained in her mind.
But no matter how she searched her memory, nothing particular came to mind.
‘Fortunately, nothing major must have happened.’
While retracing her memories of the past, Blair suddenly remembered telling Heredin about the future.
Since the day he met Miela, he had not brought up the topic of the future again.
‘Well, from his perspective right now, it must be something impossible to believe.’
And perhaps something he did not want to believe.
In any case, she was relieved that she no longer had to talk about seeing the future.
Thinking that, she casually turned her head—and met Heredin’s eyes beside her.
It seemed he had been looking at her for quite some time.
‘…Since when was he watching me?’
His blue eyes, immersed in the darkness of the night, quietly observed her.
They were eyes so deep that they seemed overwhelming whenever she looked at them.
At that moment, Heredin leaned his upper body closer to Blair.
The distance between them closed instantly.
Close enough that they could feel each other’s breath.
Blair unconsciously held her breath.
But the approaching Heredin simply closed the window behind her and moved away again.
As if he had read Blair’s embarrassment, Heredin looked straight into her eyes and asked,
“What were you thinking about?”
“…I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“It didn’t seem like you weren’t.
You turned someone into a pervert before as well.”
“That was because you spoke ambiguously…”
“Oh, so you did have that kind of thought?”
At his teasing tone, Blair glared at him with wide eyes before quickly turning her head toward the window.
If she kept talking, she would only be swept along by his pace.
Behind her she heard his low laughter.
Since that night, her relationship with him had changed.
Unlike before, they now shared at least one meal a day, and sometimes he teased her when she revealed a weakness.
To be honest, Blair did not dislike that change.
‘But whenever memories from my previous life resurface, I hate this person and don’t know what to do.’
He was the one who had given her an unerasable wound, yet the Heredin of this time had not committed any wrongdoing.
The painful memories of her previous life belonged entirely to her alone.
The fact that resentment and hatred toward him could not be justified created a sense of dissonance within her heart.
The greater that dissonance grew, the more she hated him, who remembered nothing.
Even though she knew in her head that the current him had no fault.
While these thoughts filled her mind, the carriage stopped.
“The Duke and Duchess of Delmark have arrived!”
When the two entered the Empress Palace, nobles who had arrived earlier approached them.
A war hero and the empire’s only princess.
Their combination inevitably attracted attention.
As the two exchanged greetings with those approaching them, the main figure of today’s banquet appeared.
“His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Grand Empress Dowager have arrived!”
Katrina appeared escorted by her son Ivan.
Now that Blair had married and the position of Empress was vacant, she was the only person who could receive the escort of the emperor, the supreme ruler of the empire.
It was her way of displaying what she possessed and what she had achieved throughout her life.
“A banquet is meant to be enjoyed.
Since we are celebrating Mother’s birthday, I hope everyone will enjoy themselves.”
With Ivan’s congratulatory speech, the banquet officially began.
Each house approached Katrina in turn with gifts to present to her.
The gifts were both a way of expressing loyalty to the imperial family, including Katrina and Ivan, and a way to display their house’s prestige.
Because of that, the nobles competed to offer more valuable gifts.
It was a ridiculous scene where they spent their own money while Katrina reaped the benefits.
Blair worried that Heredin, who despised Katrina, might reveal his resentment openly, but fortunately that did not happen.
After the two finished presenting their gift and were speaking with other nobles, it happened.
“Your Grace, Duchess.”
A middle-aged woman dressed in splendid clothing and jewelry, just like Katrina, appeared before them.
It was Countess Magrid, Katrina’s lady-in-waiting.
“Her Majesty the Grand Empress Dowager is looking for the two of you.”
Blair hesitated.
She had always found Katrina difficult to face, but today she felt even more reluctant.
Because every time she had faced Katrina right before and after the wedding, they had clashed.
“Heredin.”
Blair lightly grasped Heredin’s arm.
Heredin leaned slightly toward her so she could speak into his ear.
Surprised by his unexpected consideration, Blair paused briefly before speaking softly.
“You don’t have to force yourself to comply with any unreasonable demands from Mother or my brother.
You only need to avoid creating grounds for disqualification as a husband.”
She said this because she remembered Ivan and Katrina subtly urging Heredin toward war at the luncheon after the wedding.
“I want you to suffer no loss because of marrying me.”
“Don’t worry.
I don’t make deals that cause me losses.”
Blair let go of her worries as she looked at his relaxed answer.
As he said, he was not the kind of person who would be dragged along by their absurd suggestions.
When the two approached, Katrina was with Marquis Valtain, one of her closest supporters.
He had been one of her strongest allies, supporting her even though she had no noble background.
Blair greeted Katrina respectfully.
“You called for us, Mother.”
“It’s difficult to see your face these days, Blair.
If you came, you should have visited me first.
Even during the New Year Festival we parted like that, and you have no idea how disappointed I was.”
Even though she could not possibly have forgotten how they had parted previously, Katrina made an innocent expression of disappointment.
It was a familiar sight to Blair.
No matter what she truly felt, her mother never lost her elegance and dignity in front of others.
“…There were many guests around you, so I thought it might be disturbing.”
“No matter how busy I am, I should still see you.
We’re family, aren’t we?
And now the Duke is part of my family as well.”
By including Heredin as family, she simultaneously criticized him for not coming to see his family.
Marquis Valtain defended the two of them.
“I do not have a daughter, so I may not fully understand, but I have heard that when newlyweds visit their parents less often, it is considered a good sign.”
“That may be so.
If the two of them are living happily together, that is the best outcome.
But a mother’s heart cannot help but worry when the child she raised in her arms leaves.”
Blair half-listened to Katrina and Marquis Valtain while retracing her memories.
No matter how she thought about it, in her previous life nothing particularly significant had happened with Katrina on this day.
‘Or perhaps so many variables have appeared that things are no longer the same as in the past?’
While Blair was thinking that, several young ladies approached from the distance.
Their target was Blair.
Katrina noticed this faster than anyone and grabbed Blair’s hand.
“You should go, Blair.”
Blair exchanged greetings with Marquis Valtain and walked toward the young ladies.
Heredin naturally followed behind her.
At that moment, Katrina’s voice came from behind them.
“No matter how beautiful your wife is, it is a husband’s virtue to step aside from women’s conversations, Duke.”
Heredin’s steps paused.
Though she spoke indirectly, the meaning was that she had business with him.
Heredin looked at Blair, who was already surrounded by noble ladies and smiling, then remained beside Katrina.
Soon several of Katrina’s close associates approached.
They looked at Katrina and Heredin beside her and spoke to please them both.
“It is admirable that the two of you have decided to break free from the shackles of the past and become family.”
“Indeed.
It could not have been easy for both of you—no, for His Majesty the Emperor and the Duchess as well.”
Listening to their words, one corner of Heredin’s mouth curved upward.
Now he seemed to understand.
Why Katrina had kept him by her side.
