Chapter 88
“What if I trip walking down the aisle?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.”
“What if there’s a carriage accident and I arrive way too late?”
“Then just stay at the palace the night before.”
“What if some lady who likes you suddenly appears and ruins the ceremony?”
“I’ll throw her out.”
Lilien kept coming up with worries, but Cairn calmly answered each one, his voice always reassuring and even.
“What if my corset’s so tight I can’t breathe and I faint?”
“I’ll just take it off for you.”
That response actually shocked Lilien into silence. The thought of being stripped down in the middle of the garden as a bride was enough to make her forget her worries.
“Lilien, I just finished fixing up your room—do you want to take a look before you go?”
She was curious about her new place, but her eyes stung a little and her whole body felt heavy. More than anything, she just wanted to collapse onto a bed.
“No, I’m too tired.”
“You could just stay here and rest, you know.”
Most of her furniture and clothes had already been moved, so it would have been easy.
“…No. Christian would worry.”
She didn’t have the courage to face Christian’s wrath.
‘Lilien, I know you’re technically married on paper, but until the actual wedding, be careful with yourself.’
Lately, Christian had been giving her more and more advice—and it was all reasonable, so she agreed with everything he said.
Cairn looked down at Lilien with a sly smile, as if he were hiding something.
“Really? That’s too bad. I have a few apricot flans left.”
Lilien, who had been craving something sweet all day, found herself swallowing unconsciously.
“Apricot flan?”
“Yeah. Made from the last apricots we harvested at the palace. I guess you’ll have to wait until next year to taste them.”
“The last apricots… Well, I guess it can’t be helped.”
Lilien tried to hide her disappointment, but it was obvious.
* * *
Lilien took Cairn’s hand and tiptoed across the stepping stones over a small pond.
“Careful.”
When they reached the end, she could see into her new room through the big windows. She paused in front of the door and took in the building where she’d soon be living.
The annex was a square building wrapping around a small inner courtyard. The first floor was mainly for guests, but it had been remodeled for her. Cairn’s room, originally upstairs, had been moved to the first floor, directly opposite hers. From her room’s large windows, she’d be able to see Cairn across the pond.
“Does this really count as an independent space? I mean, isn’t it too open? And wasn’t this wall solid before?”
Lilien tapped the glass and voiced her concerns.
“So you don’t like it?”
“No… it’s not that. It’s really beautiful.”
The little pond in the courtyard, the dark stepping stones, the hawthorn tree in the corner—she loved it all. There were even a few of her favorite books set out on the sofa beneath the pergola.
Lilien glanced around their private little garden, then turned to check out her new room. The warm colors of the wallpaper and floor matched her own furniture, which had already been moved in.
Everywhere she looked, she could see Cairn’s careful attention to detail.
“Sorry for complaining. It’s just that we can see right into each other’s rooms. But honestly, I really love it. Thank you.”
Cairn looked as if he hadn’t even heard her complaints. When she reached for the doorknob, she glanced at him, asking for permission with her eyes.
“Let’s go in together, Lili.”
He put his hand over hers and pushed the door open. It swung open smoothly, freshly oiled.
“Um… so…”
Any resolve Lilien had to avoid complaining immediately crumbled. What came out wasn’t a complaint, exactly, but a question she figured Cairn would take the wrong way.
“Isn’t this bed a little… big?”
It was twice the size of her old one.
“Well, we’ll need the space for two on special nights, won’t we?”
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.