We agreed to stay in the palace only until we held the joint wedding ceremony, and during that time, Princess Veronia and her spouse also decided to stay here together.

Therefore, we planned to rehearse from the wedding entrance to the procession before the wedding… but it didn’t go as smoothly as we thought.

Unlike Valije, who was simply enjoying himself, Veronia was practicing walking down the aisle with a stiff, hardened expression, as if marching in formation.

“Veronia. Do you think we’re heading off to war? It’s just walking down the aisle. Couldn’t you relax your expression a bit more?”

Perhaps only Valije could speak to Veronia in such a way.

Whenever Valije said something, Veronia would pretend she couldn’t resist and adjust to match him—it looked quite affectionate.

We also practiced walking down the aisle in step with Sikar, but since we had already held a wedding ceremony once before, it didn’t feel too awkward.

It was only slightly difficult to synchronize our procession with Veronia and her spouse.

Once the practice reached a certain point, Veronia spoke with a dazed expression.

“At this point, we’ve synchronized well enough. We’ll enter first, then you follow. As long as you stick to this order, it’ll be fine.”

Actually, keeping the entrance order wasn’t difficult at all. The problem was Veronia’s excessively awkward expression.

Valije, who had been continuously pointing out Veronia’s expression, now seemed tired and said nothing more.

“We’ve sweated a bit—we should go for a walk. Will you join us?”

“We’d also like to accompany you for a stroll to cool off, but since His Grace hasn’t fully recovered yet, perhaps we should rest here.”

“Very well.”

Watching Veronia leave affectionately with Valije for a walk, Sikar sighed regretfully.

“Aren’t you treating me like too much of a weakling?”

“The King said you’ve recently endured too many physically taxing events, so you must recover properly now.”

“It’s just because the King has become unnecessarily worried lately.”

Though he spoke as if the still-young King was being overly peculiar, Sikar’s lips curled upward pleasantly—it seemed he wasn’t displeased at all that Kian was concerned for him.

“How about having a cup of tea instead of a walk? I quite enjoy sitting on an outdoor bench, catching a gentle breeze while sipping milk tea.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“I brought that milk tea!”

Turning my head, I saw Hersia holding a picnic basket in one hand and waving the other.

We sat on garden benches and sipped the milk tea Hersia had brought.

“Not bad at all.”

“But Hersia—you said you’d be on your honeymoon for a long time. You’re already back?!”

Hersia waved her hands dismissively, as if telling me not to even mention it.

“Don’t even start. Rumors flew that His Grace had passed away. That the Consort was alive. That Princess Veronia and her spouse were on bad terms with the Blake Dukedom couple. All sorts of wild rumors reached me—I was so unsettled I couldn’t properly enjoy the trip.”

Sikar and I exchanged bewildered glances.

So those rumors had been circulating. Aside from the false rumor that we were on bad terms with Veronia’s couple, everything else Hersia mentioned was true.

Listening to Hersia, I realized why Kian had arranged our joint wedding ceremony.

He must have felt bad that we never properly held our own wedding, but above all, he likely intended to quell those baseless rumors.

Sikar, apparently thinking the same, smiled contentedly as he sipped his tea.

“The King is quite astute.”

Hersia, nibbling on dessert, continued explaining just how shocked she’d been by the outrageous rumors.

“Among them, the rumor that the Consort was alive struck me as the most absurd. Of course, publicly, it was only rumored that the Consort had passed away, but we know the truth—that the Consort truly did pass away. How could a deceased person possibly come back to life?”

You’d be shocked anyway. Might as well get shocked sooner.

“Hersia.”

“Yes, Duchess.”

“The Consort is truly alive.”

Hersia’s mouth, which had been casually reaching for a cherry, gaped open—the cherry fell to the ground and rolled away.

“Oh my. So they didn’t pass away?”

“They were resurrected.”

Hersia stared at me with blank, stunned eyes, as if time itself had frozen.

“What?”

So I explained everything that had happened. Hersia listened with a dazed expression and couldn’t close her mouth afterward.

“S-so all those rumors were actually true…?”

“Everything except the rumor that we’re on bad terms with the Princess.”

Hersia covered her still-gaping mouth with both hands, as if utterly helpless to control it.

“I can’t believe it even after hearing it…”

“I’m still dazed myself, so your reaction is perfectly natural, Hersia.”

“I’m shocked, but this is such a touching event. How overjoyed His Majesty the King must have been.”

“He was beyond words with joy. Oh, and soon we’ll be holding a joint wedding ceremony with Her Highness the Princess and her spouse.”

“A joint wedding ceremony?”

“Yes, that’s how it’s arranged. You’ll come, won’t you?”

“Of course! Absolutely! What wonderful news! I’ve been so troubled that I couldn’t attend your wedding before. This is truly, truly wonderful!”

Gratefully, Hersia was rejoicing as if it were her own personal celebration.

“By the way—may I gift you your dress?”

“Then would you also help choose one for Princess Veronia? Of course, we’ll cover the cost.”

“No, no. How much we owe you, Duchess! Without you, we couldn’t have opened our café, nor received the fortune Gillian had hidden away. In every way, you’re our benefactor. For such a benefactor, giving two dresses—or even two hundred—wouldn’t feel wasteful at all.”

Buying two hundred dresses might drain her entire fortune, but I could sense just how deeply Hersia cared for me.

I grasped Hersia’s hand tightly with tearful, moved eyes.

“Honestly, just your attendance at the wedding will mean so much to me.”

“You’ve always been such a great strength to me, Duchess.”

“Hersia.”

As we affectionately held hands and exchanged tender glances, Sikar pulled me away from Hersia.

“I’ll send the invitations soon. You should go now.”

“Oh, yes. Your Grace. I’m sorry.”

Sikar stared at Hersia with a murderous gaze, causing her to flee the palace as if running for her life.

“Sikar, why are you treating Hersia like that?”

“I intend to guard against everything you love, so I can keep you by my side for life. That’s the only way I can better prevent you from vanishing.”

Apparently, Sikar still harbored the fear that I might disappear at any moment.

A few days later, Roen and Jeremi came to visit us, carrying luggage bags.

“Your Grace was mistaken. The High Priest has expelled Lady Roen.”

Sikar scratched his nose, looking faintly embarrassed.

“What was the reason for expulsion? Did she disobey the High Priest’s orders?”

Jeremi shrugged his shoulders and replied incredulously.

“She violated the Temple’s directives and failed to assist the priests—after an internal Temple trial, she was expelled. Now we have nowhere to go, Your Grace.”

“We came because you said if we were expelled, you’d set up even a small altar for us. You won’t turn us away, will you, Your Grace?”

Actually, earlier that morning, we’d received a cooperation request from the High Temple asking the Recador Royal Family not to accept a certain expelled priest.

Kian and Sikar already knew at that time that the priest being expelled was Roen.

Sikar mentioned the cooperation request he’d received that morning and informed them that the royal family wouldn’t be able to assist Roen.

Fortunately, Roen didn’t look disappointed.

“I had no intention of working for the royal family anyway.”

But she did seem very regretful about being expelled from the High Temple.

“Oh, I aimed to become High Priest.”

“Since you were expelled for helping me, Blake will take you in.”

Roen, who already knew Sikar would take her in, pretended ignorance and nodded.

“If our master knows gratitude, we’ll trust you with our lives.”

“You won’t suffer any loss. Once you become part of Blake, I’ll ensure you never need to worry about making a living. Also, to support Jeremi’s magical research, I’ll provide access to the Blake family’s training chambers and regularly supply mana stones.”

These were such extraordinary conditions that Jeremi’s eyes widened.

Roen poked Jeremi’s side, teasing that she must have planned for this exact scenario when she helped the Duke—but she didn’t refuse, clearly pleased with Sikar’s offer.

“But first, you must do something for me.”

“Whenever Your Grace asks us for something, you always grant generous rewards. Will this task also come with a great reward?”

“Of course. And above all, I need your help, Roen.”

“What is it?”

“The King has agreed to my request on the condition that he pays the High Temple one hundred drachma of Sacred Grass.”

Roen’s mouth fell open as if questioning whether such a quantity could even exist.

“O-one hundred drachma?!”

“Yes.”

“Where on earth would they use so much Sacred Grass?!”

“That’s not our concern to intervene in. The King said only those possessing sacred power can find Sacred Grass.”

“Yes, I’ve harvested it a few times while traveling the continent. But even one unit grants quite potent healing power—needing a hundred drachma…”

“We need it. Can you obtain it for us?”

Roen smiled confidently, more certain than anyone else.

“Of course.”

“Soon, we’ll hold the joint wedding ceremony with Her Highness Princess Veronia. The Princess intends to begin searching for Sacred Grass immediately after the ceremony ends. You can start moving then as well.”

Roen, who had been listening quietly, widened her eyes dramatically at the mention of the joint wedding.

“Oh! A joint wedding ceremony? Goodness! How romantic!”

Right. This was the kind of person Roen was?!

Roen clasped her hands together and smiled, looking utterly thrilled at just the thought.

“Then, naturally, the bouquet tossed at the wedding will be mine, right? How would it feel to receive two bouquets?”

Roen’s remark left all of us flustered.

“Um, Lady Roen? Since you’re already married, perhaps you should leave the bouquet for unmarried guests?”

“Oh. So you can’t receive a bouquet if you’re married?”

“Yes, Lady Roen.”

Roen drooped her eyes sadly, looking truly disappointed.

“I really wanted to catch a bouquet at least once…”

“Mr. Jeremi will surely give you a gift prettier than any bouquet, won’t he, Mr. Jeremi?”

Jeremi, who had been wearing a dumbfounded expression, gave me an awkward smile.

“I suppose I must, Duchess. And above all, congratulations on your wedding.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jeremi.”

Sikar, looking slightly embarrassed, pulled out invitations and handed them to Roen and Jeremi.

“Then we’ll all see each other at our wedding.”