Chapter 73
At that moment, Lilien was watering a flowerbed in the corner of the garden.
“Who are all these people?”
Spotting the burly men moving about, Lilien whispered to Cairn.
“Don’t worry about it. Just finish what you’re doing, Lili. You missed a spot over there.”
Cairn picked up the hose from the ground and handed it back to her before striding straight into the house as if it were his own. A sense of foreboding swept over Lilien, and she hurried after him.
Inside, men began filling up the small study next to Lilien’s room, while women filed into her bedroom, all moving with military precision. Cairn stood at the center of the second-floor hallway, overseeing the operation.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“We’re moving your things.”
“What?”
“Well, we’re married now, aren’t we? It’s strange for a married couple to live separately.”
With Christian nowhere around to rein him in, Cairn did as he pleased, leaving Lilien helplessly watching the absurd scene unfold.
“But you can’t just barge into someone else’s house like this!”
“Someone else? There’s no ‘someone else’ here.”
Cairn’s brow furrowed deeply.
“So, what, you think this isn’t my home?”
“This is our home.”
“What?”
“Your house is my house, and my house is your house. That’s how it works when you’re married.”
His argument left Lilien at a loss for words. She could only sigh in exasperation—until suddenly, a critical thought flashed through her mind.
She needed to hide her manuscripts and drafts that she’d left in the drawer, and rushed into her room.
“Not that one!”
She shouted at the maid who’d just touched her desk.
“I’ll pack everything on the desk myself and bring it to the palace. There are… important documents in there!”
The maid bowed her head and moved on to the dressing room. Lilien followed, raising her voice again.
“Leave the summer dresses, please! I’ll be staying here for a while. Just take the winter clothes.”
Even though they were legally married, the ceremony hadn’t been held yet, and Lilien had no intention of moving to the palace right away. While she was busy fending off the moving crew, her belongings steadily disappeared from her room. All she could do was sigh as she watched.
Standing in the center of her room, Lilien glared at Cairn as he approached.
“Cairn, this isn’t right.”
“Why not?”
His shameless expression left her speechless.
“I’m not leaving this house until after the wedding. I want to stay until Father is discharged, too. Besides, we can’t get married until autumn at the earliest, so what’s the rush?”
Weddings required lots of preparation—especially the emotional kind. Cairn’s insistence had swept her along, but now that she’d signed the papers, it still didn’t feel real.
Was she really no longer Lilien de Bermore—just like that?
“What do you mean, not until autumn?”
“There’s so much to prepare—dresses, flowers… Besides, you have no idea how much a bride has to do.”
“I’ll take care of all the wedding arrangements. You just need to show up. Oh—except for the dress. I heard most brides want to pick that themselves, so you can do that however you like.”
He spoke as if letting her pick her own dress was a generous concession. Lilien frowned in disbelief.
“And permission—I suppose you’ll need your father’s blessing. I’ve already spoken to him.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Fresh off his victory over Lilien, Cairn had marched straight to the hospital. He decided that notifying the Count was the proper thing to do, now that he’d already secured approval from the Grand Duke and Duchess.
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