Wildflowers Bloom on the Grand Duchy’s Wall - Chapter 91

The villa in Chesner, which had belonged to Lilien’s maternal grandfather, Baron Grenor, had been inherited by Carlin de Bermore, and was eventually meant to pass on to Lilien de Bermore.

“In that case, I’ll stay until we’ve finished selling the villa in Chesner…”

Christian and the Count continued their conversation as if Lilien couldn’t possibly have a say in the matter.

Feeling left out, Lilien poked her fork into her sponge cake in silent protest. She was about to bring a neat bite to her mouth when her hand slipped. The piece of cake tumbled to the floor, scattering crumbs everywhere.

“Lilien.”

“…”

“Tsk.”

The Count let out a long sigh.

“You need to be more careful.”

Lilien understood why her father was always so strict. As a daughter raised without a mother, even the smallest mistake was enough for him to scold her.

When she was transitioning from girlhood to womanhood, there had been noblewomen who criticized her poorly finished dresses and clumsy table manners. Ever since the Count found out, he’d kept an even stricter watch over his daughter.

It was a stifling sort of love, but love all the same. Knowing this, Lilien accepted it with humility.

“…I’m sorry.”

Sensing the tension, Christian quietly gathered up the documents and brought the meeting to a close, while the exhausted Count left the parlor.

Once the Count’s footsteps had faded into silence, Christian was finally able to give Lilien’s shoulder a gentle pat. The Count didn’t like even this sort of casual contact between a man and his daughter.

“Lili, maybe your decision was the right one after all.”

Christian said in his usual offhand tone. It wasn’t exactly meant to be comforting, but to her, it was enough.

“Maybe Lord Headington really is the better choice.”

He shook his head and then looked at Lilien’s eye. The two of them burst out laughing at the same time. They giggled for a while, and only after darkness had fallen did they finally head to their respective rooms.

* * *

At the very beginning of summer, when Baltan was at its greenest, Cairn and Lilien’s wedding took place without a hitch.

As the violin music began, the guests gathered beneath the cream-colored tent all turned to watch the entrance to the garden. The bride and groom, holding hands, exchanged nods and slowly made their way down the white aisle.

Stopping beneath an archway adorned with pastel wildflowers, they turned to face each other. Standing side by side, the soon-to-be-wed couple looked like a scene from a blissful dream—a picture-perfect pair, at least on the surface, matching any couple in their beauty.

During the bishop’s prayer, the bride lowered her gaze, earnestly listening, while the groom gazed at her with loving eyes. Whenever the bride’s hand trembled around her bouquet of pink lisianthus, the groom would gently clasp her hand, stroking the back of it. Not even the bishop’s sharp glance could stop his open displays of affection.

When it came time for their vows, Cairn’s answer stood out from all the other weddings—people would talk about it for years to come.

“Do you swear to fulfill your duties as husband and wife?”

“Yes, I do.”

They both answered the bishop’s formal question with the same dry ‘I do’ phrase. But then:

“Do you swear to love and respect each other for the rest of your lives?”

The summer sunlight shone brightly in Cairn’s blue eyes.

“Yes, in front of everyone here, I swear to love you for the rest of my life.”

Cairn added a small flourish to the vow he’d been repeating like a parrot. Lilien, a bit puzzled, nonetheless trusted him implicitly and followed his answer.

“…Yes, I swear before everyone to love you for the rest of my life.”

As the word ‘love’ left Lilien’s lips, a satisfied smile appeared on Cairn’s face.

They exchanged platinum rings, and their union was declared official.

With an uncharacteristically nervous expression, Cairn lifted Lilien’s veil. Her clear, sky-like eyes looked up at him and curved into crescent moons.

For a moment, he was at a loss for words as he gazed blankly at his new wife.

He’d already seen her in her wedding dress and had tried to prepare himself, but none of it mattered. Facing the woman who was now truly his, he felt his heart plummet straight through him.