DDW 7

The day of the wedding.

Mirane woke up earlier than scheduled and prepared himself. He received visitors and dressed in his knight’s uniform.

Having finished his preparations, Mirane gazed silently into the mirror. Regardless of his inner thoughts, the young man reflected in the glass appeared utterly serene.

After staring at himself for a moment, Mirane turned his head to look out the window. He gazed upon the castle of Wicker, where a blue breeze was blowing.

“The Grand Duke is not coming, even until the end.”

An old butler with a gentle impression responded.

“If the two of you meet at the most beautiful time, with the most intense impression, in the most sacred place, what could possibly be the problem?”

“You certainly have a way with words.”

Unexpectedly, Raisa did not respond to those words visit our siteimmediately. visit our siteFeeling [unauthorized copy]puzzled, Mirane looked at Raisa, only to find her face pale.

Sensing his gaze, Raisa looked at Mirane with quiet eyes and opened her lips.

“Do you hate me?”

A strange expression flickered across Mirane’s face.

He remained silent for a long while.

Raisa was the Grand Duke’s closest subordinate. She likely managed every surveillance network in this house. Perhaps, even at this very moment, she harbored a secret desire to keep him in check.

‘Then why is she saying this to me?’

Why reveal her inner thoughts so foolishly?

Swallowing his confusion, Mirane replied.

“If I hated every person Read on Read BL Novelsfor stolen contentsuch reasons, how would I have become the captain [unauthorized copy]of the royal guard in the capital?”

Raisa’s expression became subtle. Mirane let out a small chuckle and continued.

“I dislike hating people. Because I also dislike being hated. I try my best to like them as much as possible.”

Then he added,

“No, actually, I just like them.”

A playful smile lingered on the young man’s lips. Raisa could not take her eyes off that face for a long time.

As time passed, a cracked voice escaped her lips: “I am sorry.”

Mirane did not respond, merely shaking his head.

The butler sighed.

“Beautiful.”

“Is it? That’s a relief.”

“Are you not afraid?”

“I am.”

His voice was soft.

“Overcoming that is what makes us who we are.”

‘Us’ referred to knights.

The butler fell silent once more.

After a while, she continued calmly.

“To be honest, I worried a great deal.”

“Worried?”

“……Hehe.”

Mirane looked up.

A whisper followed, sounding as if it were scattering in the wind.

“But thinking about it now, I suppose I was worrying needlessly, just like back then.”

The old butler’s face looked relaxed. Or perhaps it looked full of regret. Looking at the wrinkled face, Mirane suddenly realized that the old woman’s eyes were incredibly beautiful and clear.

“Still, I cannot help but ask.”

And then, the words flowed out.

“I ask the young lord of Count Raster.”

At the following words, Mirane’s face could not help but stiffen.

“If you could avoid this marriage, would you?”

A moment of silence followed.

Without blinking, Mirane met Raisa’s clear eyes. Raisa’s face was the picture of serenity.

‘Avoid? The marriage?’

That was absurd. The wedding was right before his eyes. Could he possibly escape from the castle of Wicker, where some of the strongest forces on the continent were stationed?

Yet, at that ridiculous question, Mirane found himself unable to answer for a long time.

‘If I could avoid it, would I?’

Then, suddenly, Mirane let out a low laugh.

“A leading question… though I don’t think it is. Somehow, you don’t seem like the type.”

Raisa was the mansion’s butler. The woman closest to the Grand Duke. Therefore, this question was likely a trap she had set. A sharp trap that would crush one’s foot the moment it was stepped on.

However, Mirane read sincerity in her quiet eyes.

“I will not run away.”

He made his choice.

His calm voice continued.

“Even if it becomes a painful thing for me. Thinking of my people in the capital, I will live a new life in Wicker.”

He had concluded his previous life without regrets.

“I am not despairing……. My future will not be as worst as you think.”

The choice was now irreversible.

“I will live in Wicker.”

Mirane smiled quietly.

If he ran away, bringing great shame to the Grand Duke and enjoying an ordinary life, would he truly be happy?

Many people in the capital had already shed tears for him. This marriage was like gunpowder sent by the leadership of the Emperor’s faction to the Grand Duke. If he fled now, his own safety would be secured, but many others would bleed. Perhaps a war would break out, or it would cause a massive upheaval.

To ignore them and live peacefully.

Mirane was not the kind of person who could live such a shameful life.

“It is already out of my hands. Who knows how life in Wicker will be? Even God wouldn’t know. And even if my life is unhappy……. That is, even if this marriage brings me sorrow.”

Taking a breath, Mirane uttered his final words.

“I must endure this.”

Because it was already too late to turn back.

Having finished speaking, Mirane gazed at Raisa with a serene face. After a long time, Raisa opened her lips.

“It will not be that unfortunate.”

At that not-so-delicate consolation, Mirane only let out a small chuckle.

Originally, it is proper for people from both families to attend a wedding. Even for a marriage with a provincial monarch, it was courtesy for the elders of the family to attend.

However, the people of Wicker, who held great suspicion toward the House of Count Raster, demanded a wedding where Mirane Raster traveled alone.

Partly because they did not wish to publicly announce the marriage to a bastard, and partly because they followed the traditions of Wicker. Wicker, where the traditions of the Oberte Empire remained deeply rooted, still held modest wedding ceremonies.

In the very distant past, marriage ended with lovers exchanging vows. Even now, with the unauthorized copyfaith of unauthorized copyEloi accepted, marriage was permitted unauthorized copylegally as long as there was sexual intercourse and recognition by a priest.

Wicker sought to follow those old traditions.

In a modest cathedral, Mirane held a wedding that was quite mismatched with the prestige of the House of Wallenstein.

As the hymns echoed, Mirane’s eyes sank deep.

He was recalling the conversation they had just shared.

—It will not be that unfortunate.

But Mirane knew.

That those words were nothing more than an illusion to comfort him.

He had no intention of ignoring reality by indulging in fantasies.

Mirane was a wise man. At least, he was one who did not evade the things that befell him.

He expected that his future would be quite unfortunate.

Regardless of the rumors, this was a gateway to hell.

‘I might be poisoned one day, or stabbed in the back and killed in secret.’

No one would care about the assassination of a bastard disguised as an accident. Though the people of the capital cherished him, the power of an individual is helpless when it comes to the political affairs of the Empire.

Furthermore, if the rumors were true, Mirane’s future was bleak.

But he could not avoid it.

With a composed face, he proceeded with the ceremony.

Until the Grand Duke appeared, Mirane Raster did not lose his calm expression.

Rather, it was when he faced the Grand Duke that he lost his composure.

‘……?’

The moment he first encountered the rumored Grand Duke Wallenstein, Mirane felt a shock as if a hammer were slamming into his head.

“With the blessing of God, may the glory of the Grand Ducal House of Wallenstein be infinite and unending…….”

The bishop recited the history of the Grand Ducal House of Wicker and praised its glory, but Mirane simply stood there, frozen in place. The words didn’t register. The words entered his left ear and flowed out the right.

It took quite some time before Mirane Raster could regain his senses.

‘This is the Grand Duke?’

Before him stood a man wearing a silver mask.

His slowly blinking eyes were as clear as the sea and sparkled like stars.

The scent of cedarwood, something one might only smell in Read on Read BL Novelsa deep forest at dawn, brushed past his nose. The alluring fragrance, combined unauthorized copywith the sacred [visit our site]sound of the bells ringing in Mirane’s ears, pushed Mirane’s consciousness far away.

His gaze was calm yet intense. Intense enough to make the viewer tremble in that moment, enough to ensure he could not be erased from the mind.

Enough to stop one’s thoughts.

At least on the surface, the Grand Duke did not look like a monster. Not at all.

‘This is…….’

Mirane’s lips parted slightly and then closed. He was currently feeling quite bewildered.

His upright posture, with a center of gravity that did not waver an inch, looked like a slender rapier, and his calm, deep eyes were cold. Exuding the prestige of a high noble, he was indeed quite intimidating, but that was all.

Where in this was there a monster?

Only then did Mirane realize that Raisa’s words—that it would not be entirely unfortunate—were true. And in that moment, he ended up with a strange expression, caught between laughter and tears.