Chapter 002: A Lightning-Fast Wedding
“It’s a marriage proposal Mother looked into for me, so I’m sure it’s a wonderful place.”
At that, even her father’s mouth fell wide open.
“You’ve finally come to your senses!”
Her step-siblings, her stepmother’s son and daughter, also joined in the chatter.
“You really made a good decision, Sister!”
“That’s right! It’s a Count’s family, of all things!”
Count or whatever. Sending me to a complete scoundrel, yet they talk like this. They’re all in it together.
Watching them instantly brighten up the moment she said she would marry, Roanne stifled a laugh inside. It was clear that if she foolishly tried to hold out here, she would be the only one suffering. For now, it was better to step back and then slowly set other plans in motion.
“I think so too.”
If she held out and refused to marry, she might eventually end up being sent to a monastery. She had heard that noble daughters who lost their minds or became troublemakers were often locked away indefinitely in strict and demanding monasteries.
Roanne shuddered inwardly, thinking she had to prevent that at all costs. It would be better to escape this house first, whether the destination was a Count’s estate or a slave’s quarters.
Having never had a family, she had longed for one her whole life, but she also knew well that once family becomes the enemy, there is no foe more difficult to deal with.
Roanne gulped down the delicious grape juice and smacked her lips. At any rate, since they said it’s a Count’s family, the food should be better than here.
* * *
Once Roanne’s mind was made up, their wedding happened in the blink of an eye. No, is it really okay for things to proceed this fast? It’s still a marriage between noble families, isn’t it? Everything was accomplished in an absurdly short amount of time.
If it was to this extent, Roanne thought, that man must be quite a headache even within the Glister Count’s family. To think they planned to bundle the troublemaker of this house and the troublemaker of that house together and toss them away—he must have been quite a nuisance to deal with. Roanne couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
“What are you so happy about?”
Leila, the daughter her stepmother brought along, prattled by her side.
“No matter how hideous that man looks, today is your wedding day, so please, just don’t faint.”
Was this a consolation or a provocation? However, such words are only effective if the person listening is shaken by them. Roanne was unfazed.
“That won’t happen.”
The task for today was to get this ridiculous wedding over with and leave the Heartwood family for good.
However, Leila seemed to think it was just Roanne’s bravado, as she giggled and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Sorry, Sister. I just suddenly remembered that time.”
‘That time’ must refer to when that man showed up completely wasted and covered in blood.
Roanne hadn’t actually seen it, but she could more or less imagine it. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t dealt with a few drunken nuisances while working various part-time jobs.
Roanne swallowed a dry laugh. Whatever the case, she just hoped he wasn’t the type to hit women. She wanted to finish this wedding quickly, unlace her dress, and enjoy some fragrant, flavorful food.
“Noona, congratulations on your wedding.”
Her stepbrother, Raiki, came over to greet her. Roanne glanced at Raiki. Judging by his smirking face, his congratulatory spirit didn’t seem much different from Leila’s.
“Take care, Leila. Raiki.”
Well, she couldn’t disappoint them. Roanne gave her farewell in a faint, sorrowful voice. She then picked up her bouquet and headed to the ceremony hall under the guidance of the maids.
Since the family’s prestige was not insignificant, the wedding took place in the largest temple in the territory. The priest presiding over the marriage looked down at them from atop the altar.
‘It’s not particularly different from a modern wedding.’
Worried she might make a mistake, Roanne approached the altar with her head bowed modestly like a shy bride. Today was a marriage symbolizing the union of the Glister and Heartwood families, yet there were fewer attendees than expected. It was clear there was only one goal: to quickly tie up the family’s nuisance and be done with it.
‘Both you and me.’
Roanne felt a fresh wave of pity for the man who would be her partner. While her family here wasn’t real, the person opposite her had been treated this way within his household all along. By his own ‘real’ family.
‘But then again, he brought it on himself.’
She let out a sigh and kept her mind tense, wondering if the groom would show up wasted again today. That was when it happened.
“Gasp…!”
“What the…….”
Suddenly, the hall began to buzz. Standing before the altar draped in her bridal veil, Roanne felt the atmosphere turning unusual but had no way to confirm why.
‘What’s going on?’
She tensed up, wondering if that libertine was causing a drunken ruckus, but she sensed no dangerous aura. Unable to contain her curiosity, Roanne stealthily lifted her veil a little and looked back.
‘My goodness…….’
Peeking her head around to look back, Roanne couldn’t help but take a sharp breath herself. The man entering the hall was walking in his formal attire with a face full of immense dissatisfaction.
Elegantly shining silver hair, blue-violet eyes, and on top of that, delicate yet sturdy features and physique. Roanne instinctively turned to look at Leila, whose mouth was hanging wide open. She and Raiki were frozen in shock, their faces filled with disbelief.
‘No way.’
Roanne hurried to turn her head back toward the altar before making eye contact with them.
‘What a stroke of luck.’
For starters, she was just grateful he didn’t return wasted and covered in blood. Just how bizarre must that first meeting have been for the ‘real’ Roanne to be scared out of her wits and think of eloping at night with a low-life childhood friend? Furthermore…….
‘No matter how rotten the inside might be, if the shell is that good, I can endure anything.’
His appearance was breathtaking, even if just for display. The libertine possessing those looks, her husband Alexis, stomped over and stood beside her. Roanne felt like she was suffocating from the sheer presence of Alexis standing next to her.
‘This energy.’
What is this extraordinary aura?
Experiencing a sensation like this for the first time in her life, Roanne instinctively felt anxious and stole a glance at Alexis. Since her face was covered by the veil and she couldn’t look closely at the man standing right beside her, the energy radiating from him was overwhelming to the point of making her body ache.
‘What is it?’
Since this was a first, Roanne could only end up tilting her head in wonder.
‘It might be because I’m in another world… in someone else’s body, so I’m feeling things differently.’
Roanne closed her eyes and just gripped the bouquet in her hands tightly. For now, she had to get through this moment.
“Priest.”
Just then, a mid-to-low-pitched voice resonated. Roanne’s eyes flew wide open.
‘Oh my stars!’
She swallowed her admiration.
‘His voice is amazing, too!’
Alexis spoke.
“Regardless of the procedure, neither I nor this woman care, so please finish this as quickly as possible.”
Ha, what great momentum!
Whether he knew what was on Roanne’s mind or not, Alexis was speaking lightly, as if spitting the words out.
“It’ll be a hassle if this woman faints again in the middle of it.”
Roanne let out a hollow laugh.
‘The fact that the real “Roanne” fainted back then must have left quite an impression.’
Right now, I feel like fainting for a different reason. If I had known he possessed such looks, I could have come to get married with a much happier heart!
The priest, unaware of Roanne’s complicated thoughts, looked at her with pitying eyes as she was about to become a poor sacrificial lamb, and then recited the blessing as if he had no choice. In truth, even for him, officiating such a hollow and loveless marriage was something he truly didn’t care for.
“Then, considering the bride’s condition, I shall proceed as swiftly as possible.”
As if speed-reading a scripture, the priest blurted out the blessing rapidly. Roanne, wearing a tightly laced dress and with her face covered by a veil, was so overwhelmed by Alexis’s presence that nothing entered her ears. She just repeated “Yes, yes” to the priest’s words like a parrot.
“…With this, I proclaim to all that under the solemn blessing of God, the two have become one……”
The priest’s voice felt distant. At the same time, Roanne felt a chilling sensation.
‘Could it be…….’
She felt her vision spinning.
‘No!’
Leila was bad enough, and now Alexis was mocking her for fainting; if she fainted one more time here…
‘Seriously, why is this body so incredibly weak!’
Even when she was struggling alone in a single room, no matter how malnourished she was, she had never fainted once! This body, at every turn!
“No…….”
She tried her best to hold on, but it was useless. And what she happened to grab as she reached out in a desperate struggle was, of all things…….
“What do you think you’re—”
It was Alexis’s forearm.
‘Man, his forearm sure is solid.’
With that final thought, Roanne lost consciousness. As she collapsed, her last memory was a bewildered, handsome young man with silver hair looking down at her through her displaced veil.
