I Will Become the Ex-Wife of the Beast - Chapter 36

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

I fidgeted with my finger as if pointing it out, and Kiers didn’t hesitate. He raised his hand, clearly meaning to slip that dazzling diamond ring onto me, but a different ring was already sitting on my finger.
The very one he’d given me yesterday. The one he’d called all he had.
“…I-it’s not that I mean anything by it. You gave it to me, so…”
“It suits you.”
For the first time today, a flicker of satisfaction crossed his face. He held the new ring and studied my hand as it lay there, and his gaze burned.
I can wear them stacked. I’ll make it a trend. Q-quickly, please.
While I was itching over that enormous diamond, Kiers seemed to have forgotten it even existed.
“…I’ll do this later.”
No, why?!
In the end, Kiers set the diamond back on its velvet cushion. I was just about to be happy for once today!
Torn up inside, I lowered my head and bit my lip.
Still, he did mean to give it to me, so he’ll hand it over someday. If I kept staring, I’d only grow more attached, so I lowered my eyes.
“Then before the vows are sealed, is there anything either of you wishes to say separately?”
“….”
After dragging things this far, what could I possibly have left to say?
All I wanted was for the ceremony to end so I could go lie down. But my hand was still caught in his, and there was no room to turn away.
“Eliya.”
Only my hand was held, yet it felt as though my whole body had been caught. At that distinctive voice ringing in my ears, I lifted my lowered eyes.
“In the course of a life, everyone is bound to face things they never expected.”
“…Hm?”
“But the past is only the past, and there is nothing more foolish than clinging to it. Even if you’ve taken a long road to reach your place, from that moment on you need only put down roots.”
“….”
What is this sermon? I thought I was marrying a beast, but am I marrying the headmaster instead?
Unprepared for this unexpected second part of the homily, I could only stare back at him, but Kiers was more than earnest, he was fervent. Heat seemed to pass from those crystal-clear eyes into me, and my body tingled.
“Y-Your Highness.”
“Eliya, from now on this will be your home. A place you will belong to, forever, whether you live or die.”
His eyes flashed sharply. It wasn’t merely a warm sentiment; at the end, a strong warning surfaced along with some unreadable emotion that swept through his voice.
Why would I die?
Suddenly dazed, I forced a clumsy smile, but Kiers was clearly not satisfied with that much. I hadn’t asked, yet I sensed it instinctively.
“Hmm, then as a final step, please sign the marriage certificate here.”
“Sign it?”
“Yes. Your marriage will now be placed under the protection of the goddess Teia, by my authority as bishop.”
“….”
The bishop raised both arms with confidence, as if he had finally found his own purpose.
Teia? Why is this getting so big?
It isn’t as if I’d never attended a wedding before, and I’d been to a few, but now that I was the one about to sign, the weight of responsibility pressed down on me.
“….”
Scrawl, scrawl. Kiers had already finished signing his own name, in a hurry as always. I took the pen and drew the document toward me, and his elegant handwriting on the bottom caught my eye.
Kiers Ferraise Valencia.
I murmured his name under my breath. It was awkward, yet somehow it suited him, just as he did today. Then, as my gaze slid further down, my hand trembled slightly.
Eliya Mayfield.
“….”
Oh no.
I gripped the pen tightly, forcing myself to stay upright lest my legs give way. It wasn’t a name I didn’t know, but seeing my eldest sister’s name written right beside his, I couldn’t simply get through this.
Yet why does my chest ache like this now?
Life really is the real test, and so is a wedding. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I should have said something from the start. Regret crept in belatedly, but back then I had trusted only Kiers’ notorious reputation and believed I simply had to keep the promise I’d made with my father.
Before long I’d be cast out anyway, and I had to live a new life. Besides, using Eliya’s name seemed like the better option.
“…Eliya.”
“Y-yes!”
At my hesitation, Kiers’ voice grew ominous. As if to help me, he lifted his hand, and I signed on reflex.
Eliya.
The name I wrote with my own hand left a mark as deep as a brand.
I wondered whether the goddess’s curse had been so terrifying, but at this very moment, meeting his eyes was the hardest thing of all.
“Well then, that’s everything.”
“…W-wait.”
“….”
No, it’s nothing.
Under Kiers’s sharpening gaze, I mumbled the words I hadn’t managed to get out. That scorching stare would not let me drag this out any longer.
I stared blankly at the contract, but the bishop’s hand was already moving across it. A blue glow flickered at his fingertips and spread over the paper.
“In the name of Teia’s divine power, I hereby grant this betrothal.”
…I never even thought of this.
Even if he had been cast out, he was still a royal by blood and a Grand Duke. He gazed at the documents as if they were nothing, then smiled a faint smile I couldn’t read. Part of me thought I understood it, and part of me desperately wished I never would. A deep, unsettling smile.
“…So you’re truly the Grand Duchess now, Eliya.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Now that all the formalities are complete, you may return…”
“Hardly. There’s one left.”
He closed the distance in an instant and pulled me in by the waist. The movement wasn’t large, but it was enough to hold me in place, and his head dipped down before I knew it.
“…Mm!”
The moment his lips touched mine, heat spread through my entire body. I couldn’t fathom how anyone could carry that much warmth inside them. His faint scent mixed in with it, and I couldn’t keep hold of my senses.
“Didn’t you say you’d focus?”
Above our joined lips, his crimson eyes narrowed. Yes, just like this. At his low warning, meant for my ears alone, my breath caught and stopped.
“….”
Right before our tongues could touch, before Rose could lean in curiously, he pulled away, so it could hardly be called a long kiss. Yet the long sigh he released against my lips lingered unusually long.
I couldn’t bring myself to lift my head, and I flailed about in my hazy, overflowing mind.
…I know this man. Oh, I know him well.
He had seemed unusually unfamiliar today, and now he had become familiar again in this way. It was exactly the kind of kiss I’d read about in novels, the kind that steals your soul and leaves you feeling like you might melt away entirely.

5. Becoming the Grand Duchess

Is marriage always like this?
The ceremony, which had started off rather jittery, unexpectedly ended brimming with nothing but warmth. Still, not being able to show that warmth to anyone was the greatest source of distress for me. Holy Power, kisses, and now marriage, everything was a first for me.
Ah, I’m dizzy.
The protagonists can build the Great Wall in a single night and still smile sweetly, but I’m clearly a supporting character through and through.
Even after leaving the temple, which had been overflowing with heat in every way, my breathing still felt awkward. Judging by how unusually quiet he was, Kiers seemed to feel the same.
“Hm-hmm, strawberries like cotton candy… two, three. Hmm. Four. Hmm.”
“Our Rose seems thrilled, having tasted cotton candy once?”
Children really are the perfect remedy at times like this!
Just as I’d hoped, I lowered myself to Rose’s level as she hummed a tune. Ever since she’d tasted cotton candy, Rose had decided everything sweet in the world was cotton candy, and she’d changed the lyrics on her own.
“There are two roses as pretty as cotton candy! Hmm.”
Goodness. Is there any child who makes buying her treats feel more rewarding?!
“Aww, so pretty. My little puppy.”
I smiled with pride and smoothed Rose’s hair. Following my doting-older-sister instincts, I glanced around for someone to show off to, and my eyes landed right on Kiers, who had just happened to stop walking.
“….”
…There he goes again. That wistful look on his face.
I pretended not to notice and rubbed Rose’s cheek, but the more I did, the stranger his gaze became. Still, as I touched the soft, plump cheek of this child, the tension that had hardened my heart began to melt away little by little.
Surely nothing eases an awkward mood like a child’s innocence! Since things had turned out this way, I brightened my face as much as I could and raised my voice a little.
“Rose, do you like being outside?”
“Yes, I do! It’s cool! It’s awesome!”
“Did Rose feel stuffy inside the temple?”
“Where’s the temple? Oh, so that was the temple!”
Rose, who had been tilting her head without even knowing where she’d just been, only brightened once I pointed toward the temple with my hand.
Maybe it’s because she’s my sister, but even a gesture like this is incredibly adorable. If I turned it into an emoji and sold it, I might make a fortune.
“The temple! The temple where Big Sis kissed!”
“…R-Rose?”
Emoji canceled.
My face, smiling with my mouth and glaring with my eyes at the same instant, was tangled up in a mess of expressions. It was worth paying good money for.
Still, why did I forget? Babies remember every place as a memory.
“Big Sis, why did you kiss just now?”
“Hm?”
And she’s just as skilled at crushing the mood as she is at lifting it.
“…Our Rose, what was that song you were singing earlier? Strawberries like cotton candy. Shall Big Sis sing it with you?”
“No, it’s fine. But why do you keep kissing?”
…Obsession is off the charts.
“Rose has never seen anyone kiss before!”
“M-me too.”
I’ve never done it myself either, so I don’t really have any advice to give.
Neither here nor there, I bit back the urge to cry, and Kiers’s lips twitched. Look at that man! It’s not even his problem, and he’s laughing at a time like this! I shot him a sharp glare, and he quickly turned his head away.
That was when the moment our eyes met during the kiss came rushing back to me.

“…Focus, I said.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————