Chapter 5. The Snow Fairy
2023.09.05.
"Your Highness, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is waiting for you."
Having heard the news from Lina, Blair immediately returned to the Princess's Palace.
As soon as she stepped into the reception room, Blair was greeted by Katrina's hand.
Slap!
Blair's body staggered from the sudden slap.
"Y-Your Highness!"
Lina, who had followed her in, caught the staggering Blair in her arms.
Katrina raised her hand once more, but unable to bring herself to strike again, she erupted in fury.
"There's a limit to ignoring your mother! How could you visit that woman the day before your wedding? That woman who tried to kill you, no less!"
Her struck cheek throbbed, but Blair looked at Katrina with calm eyes without letting out a single groan.
Katrina, who had a complex about her own lowly birth, cared deeply about how others perceived her. No matter what she thought inwardly, she tried to act as much like a noble as possible—elegant and refined.
For someone like her to resort to physical violence was a rare occurrence.
Blair had touched a nerve.
"I am your mother! I carried you in my womb for ten months, I suffered to give birth to you. Not that woman!"
Fierce madness swirled in her violet eyes, which looked exactly like Blair's own.
Blair watched her and sneered inwardly.
The Empress Dowager, who despised Blair following Esmeralda, ultimately thought of her daughter merely as a chess piece for her son.
From the time Blair began to develop a woman's figure, Katrina started strictly managing her daughter's weight.
If she weighed even a little more than the target weight, she would punish and starve the maids of the Princess's Palace until their calves bled, claiming it was their penalty for not serving their mistress devotedly.
Katrina whispered that all of it was for Blair's sake.
'Think of that unloved woman's end. Jealous and envious of the one who is loved, only to bring about her own ruin—what a pathetic and useless life.'
'…….'
'You must become a loved woman, Blair. Just like your mother.'
And so, you must become a fine backing for your brother and me, for the imperial family I have built…….
On days Blair felt she had gained even a little weight, she would stab her throat and vomit everything she had eaten.
It was so painful that the overwhelming nausea brought tears to her eyes, but it was still okay. She thought it was okay.
Because this was all because Mother thought of me, worried for me.
If only I endure, the maids won't have to be punished in my stead, Mother won't hate me, and everyone will see me as beautiful and pretty.
Everyone will love me.
Yes, it's okay.
If only I can be loved, this much is truly nothing…….
But the moment she held the newborn Asiel in her arms, she realized.
'You must make Hertin Delmark fall for you. Thus, making him a steadfast ally for your brother. Understand?'
If she truly loved her, she could not worry about her son before her daughter who was about to be married.
If she truly loved her, she could not help but find the sight of her beloved child eating messily endearing.
No matter what others said, in her eyes, he was such a pretty and precious child.
It broke her heart, but she could no longer deny it. Katrina's love for her was not love at all.
That was why.
Why she was now able to talk back to Katrina's words.
"Since when have you ever cherished me, Mother."
Blair's calm but resentful voice and gaze pierced Katrina.
"You……!"
Speechless at her daughter's sudden change in attitude—a daughter who had always hungered for her love and clung to her—she raised her hand again.
At that moment, Blair opened her mouth.
"Wouldn't it be troublesome if the bride's face were to be scarred?"
At Blair's words, Katrina's hand, which had been about to strike down at any moment, faltered.
Quivering with rage, Katrina eventually lowered her hand.
"You insist on driving a stake into your mother's heart. Insolent girl……."
Katrina brushed past Blair and Lina and walked straight out of the reception room.
Blair closed her eyes as she listened to the sound of the receding footsteps.
The sound was a little heartbreaking, yet at the same time, a relief.
It was the end of a bitter one-sided love.
* * *
The wedding was held at the temple located on the outskirts of the capital.
A massive crowd flocked to see the wedding of the Emperor's only sister and the Duke of Delmark. Not only nobles, but even commoners.
In the bride's waiting room, the dedicated maids were bustling about, finishing up the attire of today's main character, Blair.
"It's a relief that the swelling has gone down a lot, at least."
The maid organizing her makeup carefully brushed over the cheek Blair had been struck on yesterday by Katrina, sighing in relief.
"It's all thanks to your arrangements. Mother should bestow a hefty reward upon you."
"Her Majesty the Empress Dowager was truly too much. Look at the bride's face."
Blair merely smiled softly at the maid, who confessed it as if she were the more upset one.
Just then, Lina, who was approaching with the veil, happened to look out the window and let out a small exclamation.
"Oh my, it's snowing outside."
"It seems the gods have come to congratulate Your Highness's wedding as well."
Looking out the window, small white snowflakes were indeed fluttering down. It was the same snow that had fallen during her first wedding.
Back then, Blair had watched that snow with a mix of anticipation and fear, but this time, she watched it with calm eyes.
What broke that peace was the sound of a knock.
"Are you ready?"
Hearing Ivan's voice, the maids quickly placed the veil over Blair. For the bride's beauty could only be seen first by the groom.
The maids bowed their heads at the sight of Ivan entering the bride's waiting room.
"If you're ready, let's head out."
Ivan approached Blair and held out his hand.
Blair stared blankly at the hand for a moment before placing hers on top of it.
As they left the waiting room together, Ivan spoke.
"The most certain way for a woman to establish her position in her marital home is to bear a son for that family. You know this, right?"
Blair gave no reaction.
Ivan was quite displeased with his sister's silence, even after hearing his concerned advice.
"And as your older brother, let me advise you—you're too stiff for a girl. Being a demure lady is fine, but in bed, you have to act like a temptress to be loved."
"……."
"Mother worried a lot."
Blair, who had kept her mouth shut the entire time, opened her mouth at the word 'Mother.'
"Please tell her not to worry too much, Brother. Her daughter will live well anywhere."
Anywhere on this continent.
Once this contract marriage was over, Blair planned to be free of her responsibilities as a royal and live traveling freely. With her beloved son, Asiel.
As Blair came out holding Ivan's hand, the massive crowd waiting for her welcomed her.
The nobles could not withhold their admiration upon seeing Blair's silhouette beneath the veil.
Even though she wore a veil, her face was not entirely hidden.
"Goodness, she looks just like an angel descending from heaven."
"Like a snow fairy, too."
Hertin let the nobles' praises go in one ear and out the other, watching Ivan and Blair approach him.
To him, this was a wedding devoid of any emotion.
Before he knew it, Ivan had reached him and handed Blair over to Hertin's hand.
"She is a precious child raised with care. I trust you will cherish her."
"How could I refuse a royal command?"
The two holding hands stood side by side in front of the Pope, Gerard, who was officiating.
He looked at the two and smiled with satisfaction.
"It brings joy to my heart to see the Princess grow up safely and celebrate her marriage."
He was the savior who had treated Blair's injuries during the Empress's Palace fire incident.
He had also attended the funeral of the previous Duke and Duchess in his capacity as the Pope and personally delivered a eulogy.
Their connection with the two had continued to this day, leading him to volunteer to officiate the wedding himself.
The ceremony soon proceeded.
Amidst the people who were more excited than the Empire's best couple themselves, only the two parties involved were indifferent.
"Then, please share the kiss of vows as your final pledge."
Hertin lifted Blair's veil. At the same time, their eyes met.
At that moment, his eyes, which had been as still as a winter lake, trembled slightly like a rippling wave.
Her pure white dress and fine platinum hair accentuated every color upon her.
The slightly flushed pale face beneath the veil, the transparent violet eyes like amethysts resting upon that face, and her bright crimson lips.
Added to that, the fluttering snowflakes falling beyond the window served as a backdrop.
A snow fairy.
A woman in pure white, to whom those words fit perfectly.
Hertin thought that the nobles' praises were not entirely unfounded, and willingly pressed his lips to the fairy's.
* * *
After the wedding at the temple, a banquet was held at the imperial palace.
It was a banquet thrown by the Emperor to share the imperial family's auspicious occasion with everyone. At the same time, as if considerate of the newlywed couple, he allowed Hertin and Blair to return early.
After organizing the documents that had arrived for Hertin throughout the day, Rus opened the door to leave the office.
At the same time, he collided with a large shadow.
"Argh, you scared me!"
Standing before him was Hertin, dressed in a gown. His hair was still damp, as if he had just washed and come over.
Rus patted his chest in relief and looked at him.
"Why are you here at this hour?"
"Do I need a reason to come to my own office?"
"No, that's not what I meant. Isn't today your wedding night?"
"There are documents to process."
"There's nothing so urgent that it must be processed on the day of your wedding."
"You seem to be hoping I wouldn't come to the office."
"Of course. Who would want to be alone with their boss late at night? Especially a boss who just got married today."
A boss who visits his office with his adjutant instead of the bride's bedroom on his wedding night.
It was a combination that could easily spark strange rumors.
Passing by Rus, who was struggling with dreadful imagination, Hertin sat at the office desk and placed a cigar in his mouth.
So harsh, so bitter. That workaholic.
Rus clicked his tongue at Hertin genuinely reviewing the documents, then cautiously asked.
"…Anyway, what are you going to do from now on?"
The object was omitted, but Hertin knew what Rus was talking about.
"I told her I would fully cooperate in finding the memories related to the incident ten years ago."
"Really?"
"Yes. I don't know if she truly lost her memories, or if she has another purpose and is pretending to have lost them."
He had accepted Blair's proposal and married her, but he still could not trust her.
'…Well, it doesn't matter.'
Whatever her purpose, she was now in his grasp, and as long as she was in his hands, he just needed to use her to the fullest to dig out the truth.
Rus, who had been watching Hertin lost in thought, carefully asked.
"But are you really not going to the bedroom?"
Hertin suddenly recalled the face of the woman who had spent the whole day by his side, wearing the same expression like a doll.
A cold aura settled in his blue eyes as he remembered that pale face.
She would have passed out from exhaustion anyway. It must have been an arduous march for such a frail woman to endure.
And above all, wasn't there no need to observe a ritual like a wedding night for a contract marriage? She would feel the same way.
Reaching that conclusion, his mind suddenly changed.
Hertin, who had been stroking his lips while lost in thought for a moment, stood up from his seat.
"Are you leaving?"
At Rus's question, Hertin answered casually.
"I suddenly became curious."
What kind of expression that doll-like woman would make at the unwelcome visit of her husband.