Chapter 140: CH 141

Episode 141

Side Story 3. Spring Day (3)

Stepping to Astra’s aside, a man with a deep robe appeared behind her.

It’s been years since I saw him, but I recognized him at a glance.

Surprised, I looked at Cassius who was standing next to me.

“Cassius, don’t tell me…….”

Instead of answering, Cassius grinned.

Then the man in the robe spoke out.

“Yes, His Majesty did help me.”

The man said, taking off the robe that was covering half his face.

The hair that’s become a little more shaggy than before and emerald eyes that look tired but haven’t lost their old light.

A black necklace, a symbol of a prisoner, was hung around his neck.

“Long time no see, Yerine and Your Majesty.”

Seeing him smiling as brightly as he did in Academia days, somehow I was choked up and speechless.

Cassius wrapped his arms around my shoulders and talked softly.

“You said you missed him, so I tried my best.”

Then he glanced at Rayl, who was smiling softly and said.

“And apparently, he just missed us, too.”

I bit my lip and tried to swallow the tears covering my eyes.

It’s a good day, so don’t cry.

“Thank you very much, Cassius.”

Despite being busy preparing for the wedding, Cassius secretly worked hard for me, who really missed Rayl.

I was so grateful to him.

“No, we both have to be the happiest today.”

Cassius replied with a bashful smile.

Smiling at him, I approached Rayl.

Seeing me approaching, Rayl took a breath and inhaled as if he were nervous.

Standing in front of him, I looked at his face for a while.

I thought in my mind that the colour of those green eyes with a calm light was darker than before.

“Congratulations.”

It was him who spoke first.

“I really wanted to tell you this.”

I shook my head as I watched him add in an awkward voice.

“Okay, thanks for coming.”

“This is nothing.”

Rayl smiled back.

“I’m…… I’m afraid it’ll be difficult for me to attend the ceremony in person.”

Rayl’s hand, conveying the words in a subdued voice, was on the necklace.

“I’m glad I could congratulate you like this.”

I realized that when I heard that.

That this person standing in front of me is a Rayl Diamond.

“How have you been?”

Unknowingly, this word popped out of my mouth.

The order of the conversation seemed a little off, but it didn’t matter.

“Well.”

Rayl looked back at Astra and replied.

Astra smiled gently at the sight.

“Fortunately.”

He said with a wide smile.

Warmness spread through my chest and I felt as if my body was loosening up.

Somehow I was relieved to hear from Rayl that he was doing well.

“It should be like that in the future.”

I patted him on the shoulder as I said.

“Listen well to Astra.”

Then Rayl laughed out loud for the first time.

It felt as if Rayl had returned from the time when he teased Eugene with Astra or when he played with me and Astra.

“Don’t worry, Yerine, I’ll live with her forever.”

“Hey, wait a minute…!”

Astra cried out in embarrassment at the sudden confession.

But Rayl smiled leisurely and looked at Astra.

“What’s the matter, you and I, and everybody here know we’re that kind of relationship.”

“Oh, really, Rayl, you….”

Astra turned red and bawled, but Rayl just chuckled.

I also burst into laughter and spoke in a pleasant voice.

“Yes, very good.”

Indeed, everything was good.

Astra, Rayl, Rachel, Erica, Eugene.

I scanned their faces carefully.

All the people who sincerely wished me and Cassius happiness were gathered in this room.

And next to me, there was someone who would make happiness with me.

“Once again, congratulations.”

A heartfelt congratulation was heard again.

“Thanks, Rayl.”

Upon hearing my answer, Rayl hesitated for a moment, clapping his lips.

“And I’m sorry.”

It was a simple apology without any unnecessary.

And yet I knew at once what he was sorry for.

Even without a word of rhetoric, I felt the weight of guilt he had built up over the years.

“……..”

I was about to answer and soon shut up.

“Rayl, you know my position well, don’t you?”

His eyes as if they had embedded emeralds glistened sadly.

“Yeah.”

I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.

So that my heart can be conveyed.

“I can’t forgive you.”

To forgive Rayl, to answer that it’s okay here.

I couldn’t do that.

Because it was an act of abandoning people who lost their lives in a coup.

Rayl, looking down at me still, replied in a cracked voice.

“I know.”

Nevertheless, he smiled.

“It’s okay.”

A shadow cast over a sad smile.

But this wasn’t the end of what I wanted to say.

“However.”

Rayl raised his head at the words.

“I’m so glad you came today.”

Rayl, staring blankly at me with startled, slightly enlarged eyes, soon laughed.

“Yes, that’s relieved then.”

His emerald eyes were gently bent.

“You have to live happily ever after.”

“Oh, that’s what I’m most confident about.”

Everyone began to laugh when I joked, grasping Cassius’s arm standing next to him.

“Right, Yerine. So…..”

The look on Rayl’s face as he broached it, somehow very mischievous.

“I and Astra have prepared a small gift to help you and your Majesty happy honeymoon.”

“What?”

I tilted my head and looked at the pile of presents he had left in the corner for a moment.

Astra has already given me a present.

Looking at the number of gift boxes, I wasn’t mistaken either.

“You already gave me presents.”

As Astra looked alternately at Rayl, Astra giggled.

“Well, we’ve prepared a small gift as a bonus.”

She flicked her finger, and a huge white bed appeared in the corner that had never been there before.

“What’s this?”

No matter how hard I look at it, it doesn’t look like a ‘small gift’.

It’s obviously a big gift.

‘No, it’s more like a giant gift.’

When I screamed in surprise, Rayl replied in a low voice.

“I heard about the villa bed incident.”

“Oh.”

“It’s made of a special material that never breaks, so feel free to use it.”

Astra, who stood next to Rayl, smiling brightly with her white teeth, also proudly added, raising her thumb.

“We even put on a ribbon that looks like a honeymoon bed. I did a good job, right?

As she said, the white bed had a huge pink ribbon, which stood out very much.

“Oh, Your Majesty, you have to take off the ribbon when you use the bed, okay?”

“You guys are so….”

I shook my head looking at Astra, who was twitching at Cassius.

Meanwhile, Cassius was looking down at the bed with his eyes glistening.

“You’re telling me it won’t break, right?”

“Yes, I asked the craftsman to make it special. They say it’s going to last a hundred years.”

“A hundred years….”

“Hey, Cassius, why are your eyes so sparkling?”

Looking at him like that, Rayl said.

“I’m glad you seem to like it.”

His clear emerald eyes turned to us.

Now when the ceremony begins, he has to leave here.

For a while again, it will be difficult to meet him in person.

“Because we bought you a big bed like this~~”

That’s why he looked at us with such deep eyes as if to engrave all of us all in his pupils.

“Be happy.”

Looking into his eyes, I answered without hesitation.

“Yes.”

***

“Does the groom swear to care for, respect, protect and love the bride for the rest of his life?”

“Yes.”

Cassius, who was clapping his lips even before the officiant’s question was over, answered faster than a bullet.

‘I already knew it, but you really wanted to marry me…….’

Even this look of him looks cute, so I feel like I’m stuck in a bean pod.

“Does the bride swear to care, respect, protect and love the groom for the rest of her life?”

The moment the officiant question was over, it seemed like a very long time to me.

My heart thumped.

If I answer, I and Cassius really become a real couple, a husband and wife.

It’s about building a stronger relationship than before.

Now there will be no loss of each other, no need to swallow loneliness alone and suffer alone.

We’ll be together from now on.

“Yes.”

When I nodded and answered vigorously, Cassius looked at me as if he were moved.

The expression as if seeing the lovely things in the world.

I knew he’d look at me like that for the rest of his life.

“Well, as of today, with the power bestowed upon me, now I declare you husband and wife.”

Along with the officiant’s words, thunderous applause broke out in the audience.

“Now, I want you two to exchange rings as a token of your oath.”

From the moment we entered the ceremony together until we heard the officiant, Cassius, who had never let go of my hand, gently lifted my hand.

With his big hand, the touch of carefully putting the ring on was gentle.

The ring’s jewel shined in the sunlight.

Beautiful jewels can be seen in red or purple depending on the angle.

The golden ring went well with him.

The ring, which brings the colours of our eyes together, symbolized our relationship that would never break.

I put the ring on Cassius’s hand and a smile formed around my lips the moment I saw the ring shining red on his finger.

“Lastly, share the kiss of the oath.”

The golden eyes of Cassius, who had rolled the veil in the warm breeze, radiated a soft glow.

“I love you.”

Before I could brood over the loving words, I could feel a warm touch on my lips.

As the frozen snow melted in the spring, a gentle atmosphere hung over the whole body.

When the kiss with the scent of dandelion shyly hung out, Cassius was shining brightly.

‘Ah.’

I could speak with confidence.

Now he has the look of a happier person than anyone else in the world.

I replied by looking at him like that.

“I love you, too.”

All those moments were spring.

And I would say that every summer, autumn, and winter with him is a spring day.