It was the night of a banquet celebrating victory.
The nobles could not easily tear their gazes away from the man standing impassively in one corner of the banquet hall, clad in his uniform.
His neatly trimmed hair was a lustrous black, his shoulders broad, his frame slender and his limbs long, so the black naval uniform suited him extraordinarily well.
Countless medals and commendations were pinned above his left breast, and perhaps because of that, the nobles stole glances at him yet did not dare approach.
Or perhaps it was due to the dangerous, razor-edged aura emanating from a man who had crossed between life and death countless times on the battlefield.
Just then, the one who had been watching for an opening at his side finally seemed to run out of patience and addressed him.
“You stand there so intimidatingly, but why not have a drink and try some social conversation?”
“I will.”
“That does not mean right now, I take it.”
Edward listened half-heartedly to his aide’s grumbling as he directed his gaze toward the banquet hall entrance.
But the one he was waiting for showed no sign of appearing.
Edward posed a question he had already asked several times.
“No word from the duchy?”
“Your Excellency sent a letter as soon as you arrived at the imperial palace, so it should have reached them by now. Please wait just a little longer.”
The aide soothed Edward, as though accustomed to his superior’s impatience.
“So when, exactly?”
“I mean, ten days ago.”
“It’s been ten days since I sent the letter?”
“Yes. Did I not explain yesterday as well? I did not wish to say this, but Your Excellency, please… cannot you calm yourself even a little?”
The aide, Baihern, was at his wit’s end. He could not dare tell the hero who had led the war against Iota to victory to hold his tongue.
‘Why on earth is he acting like this when he was nothing but coldly composed on the battlefield?’
Despite Baihern’s anguish and worry, Edward could not calm down.
He was considerably exhausted from the victory banquet that had lasted a whole week.
The Emperor wished to take Edward anywhere nobles gathered and show him off, and Edward, who had commanded soldiers on the battlefield, fully understood the Emperor’s feelings.
But he no longer wished to play along with the Emperor’s political displays.
The greedy gazes of nobles that followed him everywhere, and the subtle glances of noble ladies, were nothing short of exhausting for a man who had a fiancée.
“Please wait here a moment. I shall bring champagne.”
Edward could not refuse his aide’s ploy of daring to placate his superior with alcohol.
As time passed, his throat grew parched and his nerves raw; he felt he needed to drink even hard liquor to settle his stomach.
Just then, the banquet hall entrance grew noisy, and a woman in an elegant dress and a white veil walked into the hall.
As people’s curious gazes turned toward her, Edward’s eyes naturally followed.
“……”
For an instant, the surrounding noise seemed to vanish.
She was a woman so beautiful that one could not help but admire her at a glance.
Her red hair, cascading to her waist, was luscious; her small, pale face and long, slender nape were elegant and beautiful.
Her slender waist and delicate wrists exuded the ample charm of a mature woman.
But whether she was aware of the people’s gazes or not, the woman glanced about with restless, fidgety movements, as though uncomfortable with the banquet.
Each time she moved, her vivid red hair swayed gently.
‘……Hmm?’
In an instant, Edward’s eyes narrowed.
The small, pale face and the curling red hair were strangely familiar.
Yet the woman’s silhouette seemed far too mature to belong to the woman he knew.
‘Who on earth is she?’
At that very moment, as though guessing Edward’s question, the woman lifted her heavy veil.
“……!”
When eyes vividly green as fresh foliage were revealed beneath her long lashes, gasps and admiration burst from the onlookers.
Edward gazed at her, mesmerized. The uniform that had felt like a second skin suddenly felt suffocating, as though it were too tight.
Edward called his fiancée’s name with a bewildered expression.
“Yellodia?”
As though hearing that voice, Yellodia turned. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide.
“Ed……!”
Her lips moved before she pressed them firmly shut again. Then she stared blankly at Edward.
The sweltering heat of midsummer reigned even inside the imperial palace, and beads of sweat dotted Edward’s nape.
Yet he could not feel even the slightest warmth.
“Yellodia.”
“……It has been a long time, Count Temeder.”
Yellodia grasped the skirt of her voluminous cream-colored dress and bent her knees in greeting. Her rose-flushed cheeks looked as though nectar would stain one’s hand at the slightest touch.
Edward took in each of her features—her blushing cheeks, her enormous, luminous eyes, her pert nose, and her full lips—one by one, as though studying them in detail.
During the two-year void, his young fiancée who had radiated cute and lovely charm had become a woman in full bloom.
Suppressing an inexplicable longing and impatience, Edward slowly approached Yellodia.
“……”
Yellodia looked up at Edward, stifling even the sound of her breathing. Her long, elegant lashes fluttered.
When he discovered the faint anxiety in her gaze, Edward’s chest tightened.
“Am I… making you uncomfortable?”
“……It is not that.”
Yellodia could not continue. Edward stared intently at her lips, as though he wished to kiss them.
He had imagined this reunion countless times over the past two years, but he had never expected it to be like this.
During the war, Edward had transformed into an even more mature and attractive man.
The uniform tailored to his body revealed his firmly trained physique as it was, and his deep, dark blue eyes looked as sharp as a well-honed sword.
Edward politely extended his right hand to her.
“Then will you give me your hand… as before?”
“……”
Yellodia swallowed dryly and slowly extended her left hand.
At last, Edward took her hand.
“Ah……”
The murmuring of the crowd grew louder again.
As though paying reverence, Edward pressed a kiss above her engagement ring.
Her heart thumped loudly.
“I missed you.”
Edward whispered in a low voice, looking up at her.
When his vivid, dark blue eyes beneath long lashes turned to her, she caught her breath.
Before she knew it, a deep light flickered in his gaze.
“I wanted to see you, Yedi. Every single day for the past two years, without fail.”
“……!”
Yellodia held her breath. Edward pressed his lips to the back of her slender hand and her wrist as well.
The sensation of his lips against her wrist was scorching, as though she would be burned, and her fingers trembled intermittently.
Suddenly, Yellodia wanted to hide somewhere.
She wanted to flee entirely from emotions so unfamiliar and bewildering they were almost bizarre.
As though peering into her heart, Edward clasped her hand tightly. As though he would never let go again.