Andre blessed the Duke and Duchess Claymore till the very end and saw them off as they left the abbey.

“The original plan was to parade in a carriage with the townspeople’s cheer… but it would make the guests at the mansion wait too long. Your Grace, you must use the mana stone carriage.”

Carl carefully spoke as he led Edgar and Rubica to the mana stone carriage. Stars were already shining up in the sky. Using a horse-carriage would, instead, make them arrive on the next day.

“But the people will not be happy. Carl, give them the proper compensations…”

Ann replied quickly at this.

“Lady… no, Her Grace has already given orders to give flowers, candles, and cookies to the people. According to the children who went running the errand, they were delighted to go home with good gifts without waiting for long.”

Edgar’s stiff lips relaxed and warmly took Rubica’s hand.

“When did you prepare such a thing?”

“What? Oh, haha, I just…”

Rubica wanted to be an extravagant duchess who didn’t care about the family’s economic situation and gave away expensive goods. So, she was surprised to see the others, including Edgar, look at her warmly. Without realizing it, she had become a ‘wise’, ‘kind’, and ‘generous’ duchess.

‘But this is not what I was after…’

***

The interior of the carriage had been changed for the newly wedding couple. Edgar looked at Rubica over the table with refreshments and champagne.

‘My face is becoming feverish, the cold must be getting even worse.’

Edgar didn’t want Rubica to misunderstand about his face turning red, so he poured out the champagne in a glass. Trying his best to look as natural as possible, he took a glass of champagne that was still cold thanks to the ice.

“Hey, why on earth did you do that during the wedding?”

He almost spewed out the champagne when hearing Rubica’s sudden question.

“What?”

He knew what Rubica was talking about, but he pretended to not know and put the glass on the table.

Then, he quickly hid his shaking hands under the table.

Thanks to the duties he had as a duke, he knew how to control his facial muscles to his will to some extent.

He looked as if he really didn’t know what Rubica was talking about.

“That, that kiss during the pledge. Our lips just had to meet. You didn’t really have to…”

That made Edgar recall the moment he had been trying to forget.

He didn’t know why he had done that.

He just thought Rubica’s lips were soft and, at a close distance, she smelled so sweet. He wished to stay that way forever.

Then, Rubica tried to get away from him.

-I am in love with someone else.

Suddenly, he recalled what she had said two days ago. Then, he only thought ‘It would make things complicated.’

However, at that moment, a surge of emotion came up to his pounding chest.

And by the time he came to his senses, he had been kissing Rubica for a long time.

His head ordered him to stop that disgusting deed immediately, but his body refused to follow that order. Her waist was soft, and her breath was sweet. Him giving in to the pleasure, it couldn’t be happening.

“Oh, you must be talking about the kiss during the pledge.”

He felt his face getting hot beyond his control and quickly drank more champagne.

Rubica, who was still glaring at him, nodded. That accusing glare made Edgar feel constrained again. Did she hate it so much?

“Was it unpleasant?”

“Yes.”

Rubica replied firmly at the question. Actually, it hadn’t been 100% unpleasant. Edgar’s kiss was as charming as his beauty.

However, she decided to choose the unpleasantness over the thrill she had felt. Even if it had been thrilling, that had been only a momentary passion and impulse. Love is not impulsive. Love must stand on faith to be firm.

Rubica wasn’t an idiot who couldn’t tell impulse and love apart.

“… but I liked it.”

“What?”

Oh no, was it the champagne?

Edgar abruptly said his true feelings without realizing it. He was surprised to hear himself say that and looked at Rubica. For better or worse, she looked like she was wondering what kind of joke it was.

Edgar didn’t like it.

“Oh, okay, fine. Then apologize for kissing me like that.”

Rubica thought Edgar was being sarcastic as usual. She decided to have him apologize and finish it there.

“Rubica, according to the Hue’s holy book, when making a pledge of marriage in front of god, it must be finished with a kiss. That is exactly what I did. Surely you must know about Hue’s holy book…”

“But it just had to be a contact between lips. You didn’t have to…”

Rubica couldn’t bring herself to say the word tongue, and her face reddened. Edgar thought her red cheeks looked good with her splendid dress and red-brown hair.

The golden veil lightly trembled as she spoke. Most beautiful things didn’t impress him, but he had to acknowledge that beauty.

“But a peck and a kiss are different. The holy book says the pledge must be finished with a kiss, not a peck.”

Edgar was so impressed for actually saying that.

He had just responded instantly, but it sounded reasonable enough. Rubica looked like she couldn’t think of anything to counter that. So, she just glared at him and trembled.

Victory.

He won perfectly.

He didn’t give this strange woman the time to refute his claim, but it felt so weird. He was victorious, but he didn’t feel good about it at all. Rather, cold sweat ran down his back. Rubica was accusingly staring at him, and he felt like screaming, ‘Don’t look at me like that!’

Was it because he had arrived at the palace late at night yesterday and had a meeting till early in the morning? He had slept enough in his carriage, but he really was not feeling well today.

‘… is he drunk, after just one glass of champagne?’

At the same time, Rubica was having a totally different guess as she looked at Edgar. His cheeks had turned slightly red. It could be because of the champagne he had drunk. The champagne didn’t seem to contain much alcohol, but there were people who got easily drunk in the world, and Edgar could be one of them. Moreover, having a serious conversation with a drunk person was never good. He could forget or pretend to have forgotten by the next morning, and Rubica would be able to do nothing.

Rubica decided to discuss it again when Edgar was in his right mind.

“Hu. Okay, fine. Let us say we had a different interpretation of the holy book.”

Rubica looked away while Edgar silently sighed in relief. Next, he gulped hard and said, “Then can I do it again from time to time?”

Rubica was now sure. He was absolutely drunk.

“Are you crazy? Of course not.”

Edgar’s face turned dark at her firm refusal. Actually, he regretted saying that as soon as he said it. He couldn’t understand why on earth he was saying such a thing…

He had drunk a glass or two of champagne to make his red face look natural, but normally, he could stay sober even after four bottles of wine.

‘It must be the flu.’

He must have gotten drunk fast after drinking champagne in the bad situation. He thought what he had said was rather absurd. He had barely managed to make the accusation go away from Rubica’s eyes, and he couldn’t undo that now. He decided to apologize for being rude.

“I think it would be better for you to show others that we are close.”

However, what he said was contrary to what he was thinking. He was just as surprised as the shocked Rubica.

“What are you talking about?”

Her hands shook. She probably wanted to slap him again but seemed to be barely restraining herself. As things had gone this far, Edgar decided to convince her with this chance.

“My relatives… to be honest, I cannot really say they are nice. They will certainly despise you because of your family. But if we show them that we are in love, they will not be able to ignore you as they fear me.”

Edgar started to glance at Rubica. She clenched her shaking fists and took a deep breath while closing her eyes.

‘Good. What I said wasn’t completely wrong. If she thinks thoroughly, she will reach the conclusion that doing so would be better.’

That was what Edgar was hoping for. However, the first thought Rubica had as soon as she closed her eyes was ‘what is this bullshit now?’ She was taking a deep breath to recall what had happened in her past to get courage before she had a proper fight with Edgar.