Chapter 88: The Wedding Day
After closing the iron gate Kael let out a long breath, one that lingered in his chest for a moment before he reached for the polished wooden box where rested the magnificent Love Blossom.
For a while he stood still, staring at the box as though it carried some sort of hidden weight, his eyes gleaming faintly in the dim light. Tonight the moon had refused to appear, hiding itself stubbornly behind the thick curtain of clouds, leaving the night darker than usual.
"Ugh… I bought it without thinking. What am I supposed to do now? Should I just give it to her? But then again, will she even take it?"
He lowered his gaze, almost as though ashamed of his own thoughts, and murmured again, "Perhaps I should wait until I win the bet. Yes, that might work. I was planning to change her hairstyle anyway. Or should I simply give it to her as it is?"
Leaning against the gate, he sank deeper into thought, his expression uncertain. Never in his life had he given her a gift, so the very idea of it felt oddly new and unfamiliar, like stepping onto ground that did not quite hold his weight. That in itself was not the real problem; he knew well enough that he could make something dramatic of it, he could wrap it in his own flair and hand it to her with the charm he carried so often. What truly worried him was far more simple and far more terrifying: would she accept it?
After countless small thoughts that chased each other in circles, in the end he simply tucked the box away with a soft exhale, sliding it back into his pocket. His eyes lifted to the mansion before him and he whispered under his breath, "We'll see."
He walked forward and soon reached the doorway. His steps slowed as his hand hovered over the door's handle where the key should fit. Yet, before he could insert his own, he realized that the door already stood slightly ajar.
Without thinking much, he pushed it open and slipped inside, closing it lightly behind him. But as soon as his eyes shifted toward the table in the living room, he froze. The first thing he saw was a glimmer of silver hair, glowing faintly beneath the magic light, and it was resting in the chair.
Kael's heart skipped a beat.
He nearly called out, yet stopped at once, she seemed deeply absorbed, her attention bound tightly to something before her. He moved forward softly, each step placed carefully so as not to stir even the faintest sound. Her slender figure leaned toward the paper in her hand, her eyes drawn to it with rare concentration.
"A letter? She's reading a letter."
Like a thief moving in silence, Kael inched closer, and it seemed she had not noticed him. It was not as though she had let her guard down completely. It was more the strange fault of his own mana core, that twisted thing which often made it difficult for her to sense him unless her instincts were sharpened toward him. Whatever the reason, tonight her mood seemed strangely calm, perhaps even good.
But when he came near the sofa, his heart jolted as her voice broke the silence, soft yet edged with venom, though not meant for him.
"Retire? So early? That man who never spared a moment for his family, who drowned himself in duty just to escape every bond, now dares to speak of retiring? How utterly ironic."
Kael stiffened. For an instant he thought she had noticed him, but it became clear that she had not. Her words had been for herself alone. He held his breath and thought to himself, "Retiring? Who's retiring? Her father? But isn't he still in his early forties or something like that? So, why would he want to retire?"
Moving closer with slow steps, he leaned in to see what kind of letter she was reading, but just as he did, she tore it apart, the sudden rip of paper nearly stopping his heart. Then came words he could never have expected.
"So you want a grandchild so desperately, father? Very well, then I shall give you one. But..."
Kael leaned in, dramatic as ever, his voice cutting in at the worst possible moment, "Uhm… Seraphina. Do you truly wish to bear my child?"
Her head snapped toward him instantly, her sharp blue eyes glowing with rage. Before Kael could even process her reaction, her fist was already flying toward him. It slammed into his face with such speed that the world blurred, and his body rolled across the marble floor until he found himself sitting clumsily against the ground, his legs spread in a most pitiful fashion. Her fist had felt deceptively soft, but the power behind it was like the strike of a monster.
Groaning, Kael clutched his cheek, his eyes shimmering with the threat of tears. "Dammit… that hurts."
Rubbing at his reddened face, he looked up with a pained, sorrowful expression, his voice dipping into his usual dramatic sorrow. "Um… darling. This is not what I was expecting after a long journey. I had hoped for a warm embrace, maybe even a sweet welcome. But instead this is what I get? Truly unbelievable. How could you do this to such a poor man?"
The sound of a chair scraping back filled the room as Seraphina rose to her feet. She tilted her head, her gaze cold as ice, and looked down at him as though he were something that had crawled into her mansion uninvited. "What did you just say, you bastard? How did you sneak up on me? And how dare you say something so disgraceful?"
Kael remained seated, still rubbing his cheek with exaggerated misery. "Did I say something wrong? You were the one who shouted about giving your father a grandchild. So, naturally, I asked if you truly wished to bear mine or not. I was only stating the truth, and you strike me as though I were your sworn enemy. How could you treat your poor, innocent husband like this?"
She crossed her arms, looming over him, her voice cutting with venom. "Innocent? You speak of bearing your child and then call yourself innocent. How very ironic of you, Kael. You are nothing more than a shameless pervert."
He gave a short laugh, tilting his head as he looked up at her with playful defiance. "Hey now… I am not a pervert. I am a good boy. A very good boy, in fact. And tell me, how does talking about children make me a pervert? That does not make any sense at all. Actually, since we are speaking of it, I have been meaning to ask you something. Why is it that you are not pregnant yet?"
Her head tilted sharply at those words, her fingers curling into tight fists at her side. She drew in a breath, slow and dangerous, before her voice slipped out, smooth as venom. "What do you mean by that, Kael? Do you dare to imply that I have cheated on you?"
Kael raised both hands at once as if surrendering before a blade. "No, no, nothing like that. I do not know the full details of your life, that much is true, but I only wondered. After all, we have kissed, have we not? Shouldn't that be enough for you to be pregnant already? That is all I meant."
Her eyes widened, the words catching her entirely off guard. In her mind a single thought struck her like lightning: "W-what is wrong with him? Does he truly not know how a child is born?" She dismissed it at once, shaking the idea away, her fists tightening even further. "No… that cannot be. He knows. He is only acting innocent, trying to play a game with me. If not, then how could he moan in his sleep, whispering honey as though he were already practiced in such things?"
Her sharp gaze locked onto him with a fire that could have burned him alive. "So that is it. You were playing this act all along. You bastard. If I did not already know, I might actually have been fooled. Very well then… let us see how you act when I decide to hurt you directly."
At the same time Kael found himself staring at her expression, cold and angry yet carrying within it something strangely cute, and he wondered in silence, his thoughts circling as though trying to catch up with her mood, "Why is she so quiet all of a sudden? Did she really not understand what I meant, or is she simply refusing to acknowledge it?"
Yet to his surprise she did answer, and her voice carried no hint of hesitation. She spoke evenly, with a smirk curling slowly on her lips, the kind of smirk that always unsettled him, "Huh? You called that thing a kiss? Kael… are you even hearing yourself?" She lingered on his name with deliberate sharpness, and before he could even attempt to defend himself, she released a soft laugh, so unexpectedly light and melodic that his heart nearly stopped in his chest.
"I'm sorry… but now that I remember it clearly, I simply cannot stop laughing. Oh, Kael, you poor soul. The way you embarrassed yourself in front of everyone, only because of your height, it was just too much…"
His eyes widened faintly, yet not because of her words, he had heard worse, but because of the sound of her laughter, that rare and precious thing he almost never witnessed. She was laughing, truly laughing, not out of cruelty but as if she was genuinely amused and enjoying herself, and this alone stirred something within him.
Without realizing it, his lips curved into a smile, unbidden yet sincere, and he turned his gaze aside as if trying to hide it. "Laugh as much as you want," he murmured in defiance, though the warmth in his tone betrayed him, "but no matter how you twist it, I still kissed you, and that is something you cannot erase, so do not dare try to bury it."
Her eyes softened for a moment, and her smile too shifted, becoming lighter, gentler, though still carrying the edge of her mockery. "I will not bury it, Kael, because it was not even a kiss to begin with. At least not the kind of kiss you are so desperate to claim. You only kissed my jaw." Another ripple of laughter slipped past her lips, soft and sweet, and she shook her head as if unable to contain herself. "Forgive me, but you were far too short back then. Truly, it was hilarious."
Kael knew he ought to feel embarrassed, perhaps even humiliated, yet strangely he did not. Instead, he found himself smiling still, not the forced or fleeting kind he often wore but something genuine, drawn from the depths of his heart, a smile that carried warmth he could not easily disguise.
In truth, he was glad, deeply glad, to see her smile in such a way, to hear her laugh with such unguarded ease. And as he gazed at her, memory returned unbidden, carrying him back to that moment, their wedding, the day that had once seemed to him the most humiliating in all his life, and yet now, through her laughter, it felt different, almost precious.
---
The day was about three years ago, a day that marked an unexpected turn in Kael's life, though at that moment he could not have guessed how much it would change the path ahead. He stood at the end of the platform, which rose slightly above the rest of the room with its long white walls in the Sanctum.
The Sanctum was a place where people usually worshipped gods or goddesses, and though it was one of the most despised places in all his memories, he was still there, draped in a white coat trimmed with gold, its collar dipped in crimson, paired with white trousers. The attire was fitting for the occasion, though it felt heavy upon him.
Before him, however, stood a tall woman, her figure enclosed in a pale gown that bore the shape of a bridal dress yet was adorned with unfamiliar designs that refused to reveal any form of her body. From her waist downward the fabric swelled, folding with a weight that made her seem even more distant, and her hair, golden or perhaps a wig, was braided neatly and tied behind her head.
Her lips glimmered with a crimson hue so perfect that they seemed painted with care, while her face shone with a pale whiteness almost ethereal, though her eyes were hidden beneath a thin veil of cloth, sheer enough to hint at what lay beneath but not clear enough to reveal the color of her gaze.
When at last the Keeper, the worshipper of the Goddess and the caretaker of the Sanctum, began his recitations, filling the silence with solemn words, Kael deliberately avoided them and raised his eyes toward the woman before him. What was it about her, exactly, that drew his attention so sharply? His own eyes, gray and cold as though dulled by countless winters, lifted to meet her, yet the most immediate thing that struck him was her height.
Beside her, Kael looked no more than a child. Yet he did not allow the thought to weigh him down; such matters had long ceased to trouble him. It was, after all, his own fault. He had believed that this height, this modest build, would be perfect for a boy his age, yet in that moment, he realized how utterly mistaken he had been.
The Keeper broke through his thoughts, his voice soft, meant only for Kael, though Kael already knew the reason. The Keeper did not want the few seated nobles across from the platform to hear, so they would remain unaware of the bride's identity. "Do you accept Seraphina Valthrone as your bride?"
Kael's gaze shifted from the Keeper to the tall woman before him, then beyond her to her father whose eyes weighed heavily upon him, and after only a moment's pause he gave a simple nod and answered without much thought, "Yes, I do."
The Keeper then turned to the pale figure and asked, "Do you accept Kael Ardent as your husband?"
The beautiful woman did not move. Not at all. It was as though something within her had frozen in that instant. Kael's curiosity fixed on her as he searched for some sign of life, until at last her lips parted and her voice, sweet yet lined with bitterness, trembled softly into the air. "I… I accept."
The Keeper's words soon followed, sealing the moment, "Now the groom shall kiss the bride and take her as his own."
Kael stared at the Keeper, though he should have expected those words from the very beginning. It was a wedding after all, and such traditions were part of it. Yet an uneasy feeling lingered within him, for as far as he knew, the kiss usually came after the marriage was concluded, depending on whether the couple wished to share it before the crowd or not. Perhaps it was simply a noble custom, since they had traditions of their own. Still, his thoughts did not linger there. Without hesitation and without much thought, he began to step forward.
Slowly, he closed the distance until he stood only a step away from her, his head tilted upward to meet her lips which seemed so close yet so far. He thought little of the difference in height, though it was plain that she towered above him, her presence casting its own shadow over his smaller form.
Drawing closer, he lifted himself slightly as though to reach her. Yet in that instant his eyes caught her expression. From his shorter stance he could see her face clearly, and what he found struck him deeply. Her eyes were not beautiful at all, not in the way one might expect of a bride on her wedding day. They were cold, brutally so, their light merciless and unwelcoming.
But then he noticed something else, something that startled him. A shimmer in those eyes, not of warmth or affection, but of sorrow. Her sadness clung to them like a silent scream, and within a second he was certain of it. The beautiful bride standing before him, wrapped in pale cloth and painted lips, was crying. But why was the bride crying?
He could have ignored it. He told himself it did not matter, since he too had been forced into this union, and if he had no choice in the matter, then why should her tears make a difference? He was no more willing than she was, so what reason was there to pause?
Yet as the first tear slipped free, tracing her pale cheek before falling to the ground between them, something within him stirred. To press his lips against hers in that moment felt wrong, though he had come so near that it would have been easy to finish it.
But Kael had one advantage, one that allowed him to escape. His height. He knew that without pushing himself further he would not be able to reach her lips. And so, just as the distance closed, he shifted his balance deliberately, letting his body tilt forward as though he had lost control.
Instead of falling outright, his hands lifted and pressed against her cheeks as if to steady himself. Her skin was cold, almost cruelly so beneath his palms. Their eyes met, and her face broke with a strange expression as though her tears could no longer be held back. Choosing the moment carefully, Kael let his lips fall not on her mouth, but just beneath, grazing the edge of her jaw where the gesture could still pass as truth in the eyes of the crowd.
He pressed harder than needed, enough to convince the watchers, but because of his balance he could not hold it long. The next instant he slipped and fell properly, his body striking the floor with a small thud. It hurt, of course, and on his wedding day of all days, the humiliation of it spread quickly among those gathered. Laughter echoed around him, whether at his height, at his clumsiness, or at the foolishness of the moment itself.
"What kind of groom stumbles at the very moment of the kiss?"
"He cannot even stand on his own."
"Too small for her."
"Imagine falling flat at your bride's feet. What a shame, what a humiliation."
"Hahaha! I did not know there was such a beautiful mate in the Valthrone family. She deserves better than this stumbling wretch. She could have been my personal slave as well. What a pity she is getting married now."
"You may be right about that. But I would rather die than suffer such humiliation."
Yet Kael was not troubled. He looked up once more at the tall bride before him, who now lifted her hand and wiped the trace of his lips from her jaw, disguising it as though it had been a true kiss on her mouth. And in that sight, strange as it was, Kael felt a small, unexplainable spark awaken within him.
After that moment, they exchanged rings beneath the statue of a goddess, though he did not know which one. In the end, he did not care, and with the exchange of rings, their marriage was finally concluded.
---
Now, remembering that day, Kael realized a bitter truth. In the moment of deepest darkness, when he had believed himself bound to nothing but despair, it was through his own humiliation on that day he had preserved the precious smile of the woman who would one day become the light of his life.
"Umm... what kind of light, exactly?"
---
(Chapter Ended)