IX.

Epilogue

A clear sky and a blazing sun watched over the imperial capital in midsummer, and the Empire of Tyrenia’s social season was far from over.

“I think I need to impose one condition on the dressmaker you’ve signed an exclusive contract with, Beatrice.”

“—Oh? What condition?”

“That if you wish to continue doing business with them, you require gowns that at least partially conceal your dazzling beauty.”

The Valentin couple’s passionate newlywed bliss showed no sign of ending either. In a corner of the crowded banquet hall, they were lost in their own world.

It was the first imperial ball held since the New Year’s ball. The nobles gathered to celebrate the crown prince’s engagement excused the Valentins’ public displays of affection.

Everyone knew that the couple had just celebrated their first wedding anniversary—a fact impossible to ignore, given the capital’s gossip.

“Word has spread that Margrave Valentin sold off his entire fortune from his years as a mercenary to purchase a fifty-carat diamond.”

That once-envied jewel now adorned Beatrice Valentin’s neck, and countless smaller diamonds circled in elegant pattern.

Yet even in the capital’s merciless social scene, a husband buying his wife such an eye-watering gem would scarcely have made their anniversary quite so widely known… if not for the equally extravagant gift Beatrice had given in return.

Once the celebrated youngest daughter of Duke Estern, she’d bestowed her husband a family heirloom pocket watch from generations past and personally ordered a lavish coach of the finest mahogany trimmed in gold. It was such splendor that even the crown prince’s imperial carriage might envy.

Rumor had it that at a recent gentlemen’s gathering—where Caesar had briefly attended in his simple mercenary garb—a certain nobleman had snickered at his origins. Beatrice, long since schooled in the truth that what lay within matters far more than outward trappings, was nonetheless incensed that her husband had been scoffed at in such a place.

So, she headed straight to her father’s residence, persuading the normally doting Duke Estern to present his youngest son-in-law with the family’s treasured pocket watch, then funded the grand carriage with her own considerable fortune.

Now, under Duke Estern’s proud—if somewhat coerced—patronage and escorted by a coach to rival the crown prince’s, no one in the capital could dare mock Caesar Valentin’s appearance.

Of course, anyone unaware of these backstories still couldn’t miss the scene.

In the corner of the ball, a pair so magnetically glued together that they might have been the very model of newlywed devotion.

“It’s rare enough how we’re attending a ball like this,” Beatrice murmured, “but if we stay huddled together like this, people will start talking.”

Caesar tightened his arm possessively around his wife’s waist.

“Better that they gossip than let some lecherous men leer at you.”

His protective display felt different from before—more deliberate, more certain.

Beatrice laughed softly, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

“With you staking such a bold claim to territory, who would dare approach me? Even if I distrust men, at least trust this gem, Caesar. Unless a man brings me something more expensive than this, he won’t win me over.”

If she disliked such a husband, she didn’t show it. Her smile was warm, her manner equally free.

“…You mean if someone outshines the gem, you might be swayed?”

At her husband’s predictable response, Beatrice nestled against his shoulder, giggling. He still needed practice at recognizing her jokes, but he was getting there.

“Hm? And you, why are you shining so brightly tonight? Trying to impress someone?”

“I have only one lady in the Empire to impress.”

As Caesar gently kissed the back of her hand with solemn devotion, the only thought in Beatrice’s mind was one thing.

“Of course, me too. Then shall we not linger here, occupying our seats? How about we find somewhere just for ourselves…”

To the relief of the nobles around them—who were on the verge of openly speculating on the couple’s ardor—the Valentins left the banquet hall in time, demonstrating proper decorum even in their passionate honeymoon.

They were, indeed, the very paragon of newlywed bliss.