Chapter 148

With the wedding bouquet fortuitously decided as a gift, I stopped by a flower shop along with Dominic to inspect the flowers in advance.

Amidst countless flowers emitting fragrant scents, I unconsciously turned to look at Dominic.

“By the way, what brings you here? Aren’t you busy?”

“Totally busy…”

I had simply asked out of concern, but Dominic muttered with a thoroughly haggard face.

“I had to get permission to go out today, and Duke Valencia tried to kill me…”

“Th-That bad?”

“Yeah. He said he even left his full-term duchess behind, so where on earth was I trying to run off to?”

“Ah, ha, hahaha…”

I only let out an awkward laugh.

Regaining his energy in an instant, Dominic smiled gently.

“Still, I wanted to spend time with you, May.”

‘Wow, how can he say something like that so calmly?’

Making my heart flutter like this.

Pretending as best I could to be unfazed, I changed the subject.

“So, what are you preparing for this wedding, Dominic?”

“Normally, when a high aristocratic family has a wedding, the imperial household sends a congratulatory message and gifts at the state level.”

Dominic slightly narrowed his brow.

“Still, since it’s the wedding of Master and Lady Sabina, I wanted to personally prepare something for them, but…”

“Ah, so you’re planning to piggyback off me?”

Feeling playful, I retorted teasingly on purpose.

“No, I’m not piggybacking! I’m obviously going to prepare a separate gift, too!”

Alarmed, Dominic flusteredly offered his excuses.

That flustered appearance somehow felt so cute that I couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter.

***

After strolling through the flower shop for a long while, conversing chitchatly, Maybel and Dominic listened to the florist’s explanation regarding the bouquet design.

Among them, the one that caught my eye was—

“How about this?”

It was a wedding bouquet punctuated with blue cornflowers and blue roses.

Pale violet and white blended together to give an elegant feel.

Examining the bouquet closely, Dominic asked me.

“Ah, did you deliberately choose blue flowers? Because of that superstition?”

“That’s right.”

Nodding, I briefly sank into a sentimental mood.

Come to think of it, back in the past, Dominic had given me a bouquet of blue flowers.

This time, I ended up preparing a bouquet of blue flowers for Sister Sabina.

“It reminds me of my birthday from before.”

I flashed a sheepish, smiling look toward Dominic.

“You gave me a bouquet of flowers back then, too, didn’t you?”

“Ah, that?”

Dominic faltered.

As if he fell into deep, earnest thought for a moment—

“Uh-May.”

Suddenly taking on a resolute expression, he turned to look at me.

I tilted my head.

“Yeah?”

“You see, I…”

Fumbling for words, trying to figure out what on earth to say, Dominic simply kept clicking his lips.

Hey, Dominic.

…Somehow, his face seemed a little red?

Right at that very moment, however—

“Thank you for waiting.”

The employee, who had briefly stepped away to grab the design catalog, strode back toward us.

With a cheerful voice, she asked: “Well, have you decided on this bouquet design? Or would you like to see other designs?”

“No, we’ll take this one.”

I hurriedly answered the employee.

Conversely, Dominic looked a bit dejected.

Gazing blankly at him, I opened my mouth.

“Dominic, I think I left my wallet in the carriage. Could you go fetch it for me?”

“Sure.”

Nodding, Dominic departed.

Waiting for him to completely vanish, I spoke confidentially to the employee.

“Um, by any chance…”

***

Thus, booking the wedding bouquet, on the way back home.

Dominic escorted me right up to the front door of our house.

“Get inside safely, May.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Nodding, I rummaged through the handbag hanging on my arm.

Pulling out the item I had requested from the employee earlier, I pinned it to Dominic’s chest.

“This is…”

Dominic’s eyes widened slightly.

“It’s a boutonnière.”

Tapping lightly on the chest where the boutonnière was pinned, I gave a light shrug of my shoulders.

“I heard that along with the wedding bouquet, they match the groom’s side with a boutonnière? So while I was ordering Brother Adrian’s share, I thought of you.”

“…”

A violet gaze stared at me as if spellbound.

That gaze was hot enough to scorch.

‘What do I do?’

I wanted to act as unbothered as possible, but I couldn’t stop the tips of my ears from burning hot.

Biting down slightly on my lower lip, I pressed on with my words, trying hard to stay calm.

“Thank you so much. For treating me so well up until now, and for not giving up on me until the very end… everything.”

“…May.”

“W-Well then, I’ll be heading inside now!”

What should I do?

By now, even my face was flushing burning hot!

I scrambled around to turn away.

At that moment, however—

Dominic gently caught me by the wrist.

“That thing I couldn’t say earlier.”

Hesitating for a moment, Dominic spoke to me cautiously.

“Actually… I want to gift you a bouquet of flowers every single day.”

Instantly, my eyes widened a fraction.

That didn’t simply mean he’d gift me bouquets.

Rather—

At the same time, Dominic lowered his head and carefully pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“It means I want you to have me by your side every single day.”

“Dominic…”

I trailed off without realizing it.

How should I describe this sensation?

The feeling of something warm and soft completely filling my heart.

This overwhelming feeling surging in my chest was…

Gazing into my eyes, Dominic smiled softly and said, “Give me your answer later. Alright?”

And just like that, he strode away.

With a bright red face, I stared blankly at Dominic’s retreating back.

W-What is this?

Why does he keep coming on so strong like this out of nowhere?

Making my heart flutter, huh?!

***

And so, on a clear spring afternoon.

In the mansion’s garden where my sister and I had lived together for a long time.

Brother Adrian and Sister Sabina finally held their wedding.

“Do you two take each other as partners, and swear to love and respect one another for the rest of your lives?”

“Yes, I swear.”

“I swear.”

My Sister and Brother nodded side by side.

“Good grief, I kept wondering when on earth they were going to get married.”

Duke Valencia shook his head with an exhausted expression.

Still, a smile he couldn’t quite hide hung at the corners of his mouth.

The Duchess sitting beside him stroked her rounded, full belly and spoke teasingly.

“For someone saying that, you’ve been smiling this whole time.”

“W-Was I?”

The Duke awkwardly stroked the corner of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Dominic and I whispered quietly to each other.

“Sister and Brother look truly happy.”

“Right. Master’s mouth is going to split from smiling.”

Giggling side by side, we turned our gazes back toward the two holding the wedding.

“Now, the kiss of vows.”

Beneath an arch made of roses, Brother Adrian trembling shivered as he lifted my sister’s lace veil.

Even then, he was so nervous he kept stammering…

Unable to watch any longer, my sister wrapped her arms around Brother Adrian’s neck.

A bold kiss followed.

“Whoaaa—!”

Clap, clap, clap!

Cheers and applause burst out noisily.

The two newly born as a married couple exchanged gazes and smiled sheepishly.

Watching that scene, I abruptly opened my mouth.

“Say, do you remember the fairy tale of the Fox and the Lily?”

“Ah, that fairy tale… the one Lady Sabina read to us when we were little?”

Violet eyes drifted into fond nostalgia.

That’s right.

When we first visited the Valencia Duchy and inspected whether Sister Sabina’s magic circle was operating properly.

When receiving gratitude from the people, my sister’s overwhelming expression was still vivid before my eyes.

After that, we watched the festival together.

We even danced with Dominic in front of a giant bonfire.

“I think the ending of that fairy tale goes like this. After enduring a long hardship, the fox finally reaches the edge of a cliff and meets the lily. And so…”

Trailing off for a moment, I smiled brightly toward Dominic.

“It lives happily ever after with that lily.”

“…May.”

“How is it? Does it sound like too cliché of an ending?”

“No.”

Shaking his head, Dominic answered with conviction.

“I think it’s a very good ending.”

The hand that reached out cautiously grasped mine softly.

With his gaze fixed on the two traversing the wedding aisle, Dominic asked carefully.

“Someday, can I… reach the lily, too?”

“You dummy, you still don’t get it?”

I squeezed our interlocked hands tighter.

My smile grew a little deeper.

“The fox had already met the lily a long time ago.”

As if recounting the biggest secret in the world,

I whispered softly.

“You know, the lily says… the lily wants to receive a bouquet of flowers every single day.”

<End of Main Story>