Chapter 92
His reaction was slow.
“……Ah, yes.”
The answer slipped from his lips as if he had barely managed to squeeze it out. Sasha, still looking indifferent, was holding the guest list and carefully checking the names of the Works family. Then she lifted her head and glanced at him.
“Yes. I know. That.”
When his eyes met Sasha’s, Isaac darted his blue eyes uneasily and answered stiffly. It was a vague, strange reply. It sounded as though he did not really know what she was talking about, but had been put in a situation where he had to pretend he did and was trying to bluff his way through. Isaac did not even realize he was answering like this.
Sasha turned her head to keep the laughter from escaping. Then, staring at an innocent flower bed, she desperately rolled her lips inward.
I wasn’t asking whether you knew what a kiss was.
Sasha almost replied that way, but stopped herself. His face would surely turn red as if he had been humiliated, and he would be unable to bear the embarrassment and storm out of his seat. And then, for a while, no matter what Sasha said to him, he would not even look at her and would answer halfheartedly. Sasha had now figured out this entire routine.
Suppressing the mischievous urge to tease him, Sasha took a deep breath and turned her head back toward him. Then she said with a gentle smile,
“It isn’t obligatory like the vows or exchanging rings, but.”
“We should do it if we want it to look natural.”
Before she had even finished speaking, Isaac impatiently cut her off and answered.
Sasha blinked for a moment, her eyes round. Isaac, regardless, raised a hand and roughly rubbed his face.
“Then let’s do it.”
Then, with an exceedingly grave expression, he said they should “do it.” Then let’s do it.
For some reason, Sasha did not like his answer. It sounded as though he were saying, “It isn’t a duty, but I will try to endure it.”
Resting her chin in her hand, Sasha glared at Isaac with an unwittingly sulky expression.
“Captain, have you ever kissed anyone?”
Sasha asked without meaning to, her tone somewhat sharp. Isaac rolled his blue eyes again and answered, “No.”
“Neither have I.”
“…….”
“Neither of us has ever even dated anyone. I’m not trying to say something romantic at this point, but I don’t think having our first kiss like this is quite right. Especially for you, Captain. I feel like it would be a terrible thing to do to you. You don’t need to endure everything that way.”
Sasha spoke calmly, as if explaining. Isaac only blinked as he listened to her lengthy words.
Seeing Isaac look at her with eyes that seemed to ask, Then what are we going to do? Sasha let out a small laugh.
“So let’s use a trick.”
Sasha said, as if settling the matter.
“A trick.”
How, exactly?
It was just as Isaac was about to ask. Her gloved hand approached and cupped one side of his cheek.
Frozen in place, Isaac stared at her with a bewildered expression. Her face was right in front of him. Truly, right in front of him.
It felt as though their lips might touch.
“You cup the cheek like this to hide it, and pretend to kiss.”
“…….”
The hand cupping his cheek was absurdly small, and also ridiculously soft. Even so, Isaac could not move an inch, as though he had been caught in a firm snare.
Right before his eyes, he could see her long eyelashes fluttering. Each time she blinked gently, her eyelids folded once and then opened again. The green eyes within them were even harder to bear.
She smelled nice. Probably of soap. Isaac could not stand how repulsive he found himself for noticing even that in this brief instant.
“It’s a trick actors use now and then. There’s a certain fun in spotting things like that with opera glasses. After watching the same play dozens of times, you discover that sort of hidden amusement.”
As if she had never come close at all, Sasha casually drew away. Continuing her explanation, Sasha realized that Isaac was not listening to her words at all. Isaac was looking only at the floor, his face red enough to burst.
“Captain Pinscher.”
“Yes.”
“……You can’t be like this at the actual wedding.”
I should have just explained it in words. Sasha belatedly regretted it. But the problem was that lately, without realizing it, she kept reaching out and touching this man here and there. If one were to be precise, he had been the one who had touched her first.
Sasha still found herself thinking, from time to time, of the moment when he had cupped her cheeks in his large hands and taught her how to breathe. Perhaps it had been since then.
The contract the two of them had written before had included such a clause as well. Do not make more physical contact than necessary without the other party’s consent. It was an article Sasha had added after much deliberation, and one Isaac had read before quietly nodding and moving on.
……Truly useless. Its effectiveness is even weaker than a verbal contract.
“…Ah. Of course. Of course. I tend to be strong in actual situations, so you needn’t worry.”
Isaac said this without the slightest grasp of Sasha’s frustration.
Sasha stared intently at his face as the redness gradually faded. When I first saw him, he was busy glaring at me. It was a face that always wore such a fierce expression that one wondered if he smiled even once or twice a year.
Was it unpleasant when I touched you? Sasha swallowed the question she had been about to ask carefully back down her throat. Because she could already predict the answer.
He would shake his head. He would answer that it was embarrassing and flustering, but not unpleasant. With not even the slightest lie, only the stubborn truth.
And Sasha did not want to hear that honest answer.
“……All right. Then I can feel relieved.”
Were people’s feelings always this hard to control? Even knowing she had to keep her distance, she would come to her senses and find herself teasing him, and not only that, crossing the line and provoking him like this again.
Aversion toward herself and guilt toward him raised their heads at the same time. Hiding the complicated feelings inside her, Sasha spoke in a businesslike tone, as if wrapping things up simply.
“All right. Then……. I should go. I’ll speak to Mrs. Sheffield myself. Keep resting.”
Then she quickly stood and left as if fleeing.
＊＊＊
Fortunately, the weather was clear on the day of the wedding. Rain that had suddenly begun falling the previous night had continued until dawn, so Isaac had been in low spirits the entire time out of worry. Sasha had tried to cheer him up by saying it was not as if they were holding an outdoor wedding, so what did it matter, but that was beside the point.
Isaac did not like rainy days. It might have been a distortion of memory, but to him, terrible days always overlapped with rainy ones.
In any case, thankfully, by morning the dark clouds dispersed as if none of it had ever happened, revealing a blue sky. Only then did Isaac finally feel relieved.
The wedding was held in the chapel within the manor. The count’s original plan had been the indoor garden, but Caroline insisted on the chapel, saying the garden lacked too much solemnity. Thanks to that, Sasha had to choose all new interior decorations suitable for a chapel.
It was a ceremony that had made one wonder whether it could possibly be prepared in such an absurdly short time, but after somehow rushing through the preparations, it came together splendidly. The ceremony began at two in the afternoon, and Isaac had not felt it was real until just before two, only belatedly realizing it then.
Most of the guests were relatives of the count’s family. Or else they were only those on very close terms with the count. There were roughly a little over twenty of them.
The Works family arrived last, and soon the ceremony began. The officiant was the local bishop.
“Ladies and gentlemen. And the esteemed Count Pinscher, Your Excellency, and all members of the family.”
Among the guests, Sir Joseph whispered to his wife, “I’m yawning already,” when the bishop began his greeting in a drowsy voice, only to receive a glare and fall silent.
“Today, we have gathered at this glorious Pinscher family estate to celebrate the union of Sir Isaac Pinscher and his fiancée.”
Rachel Works, seated near the front, looked around the chapel with displeased eyes, her legs crossed.
How rustic. How cramped. How dreadful. Her eyes seemed to say something along those lines.
“Captain Isaac Pinscher, as a proud son of the Pinscher family, entered the military academy at a young age and graduated with excellent marks. Thereafter, he devoted himself to serving the nation, rose to the rank of captain, and elevated not only his honor as a soldier but also the honor of his family.”
At the bishop’s continuing words, Rachel’s cool gaze turned toward Isaac, who stood over there.
Wearing a ceremonial uniform that had miraculously been altered to fit his body within just a few days, even his untidy hair combed back, he stood before the bishop and listened to the officiation.
Isaac stood with an expression that seemed somewhat detached. When the bishop recited his history and connected it to his family, he could not hold back a hollow laugh and forced himself to look far away. He felt as though he had been stripped naked and made to stand before the people he most wished to avoid.
His mood, which had been slowly sinking through the floor, changed abruptly with Sasha’s appearance. Sasha appeared elegantly, splendidly carrying off the old dress Caroline had once worn.
“The tailor did good work.”
Caroline’s younger sister, who was sitting beside her, whispered. Caroline shrugged.
“Today’s union will add yet another shining chapter.”
The officiation went on at length, but Isaac heard nothing. Sasha, who had been standing opposite him the whole time with her eyes lowered, suddenly lifted only her head and stared straight at him.
Only then did Isaac realize it was time for the vows. When the bishop cleared his throat and called his name once more as if to confirm, Isaac finally managed to answer, “Yes.”
Then, when it was Sasha’s turn, she made her vow without hesitation, even more smoothly than Isaac had.
Next came the exchange of rings.
Isaac slipped onto her finger a ring bearing the signet of the count’s family, old-fashioned in appearance. Receiving the lady of the house’s ring, she slid onto his finger, turning it as she did, the ring engraved with the count’s signet. It was the ring his father had always worn.
Only now did it feel real.
“……Isaac.”
At her quiet call, Isaac realized the time had come.
Do it the way we practiced yesterday. Her eyes said so.
Isaac stepped close to her, bent his upper body to match her height, and, as they had practiced, cupped her cheek with his large right hand. Then he lowered his head and approached until just before touching her lips, as if he were truly kissing her.
When he came that close, something did touch. Not their lips, but their noses, brushing against each other at an angle.
It was a natural mistake that came from not having gone through a proper rehearsal. Fortunately, however, the guests seated in front could not see it.
“…….”
So. What exactly.
……How long am I supposed to do this?
At that thought, the fingers cupping her cheek twitched, and she lifted her own hand to place it over his.
This should be enough. It seemed to be that sort of signal. Isaac slowly pulled away his nose, which had been pressing against hers.