# 89
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“A chapel?”
“You probably couldn’t go there because you were constantly fixing up this and that. I heard that everyone involved was crying and begging to be spared, so I’m curious just how high-level you decorated it for them to react like that.”
As Ares shrugged his shoulders, Grace laughed out of habit. At her laughter, Ares quickly gestured to Jesse, who hurriedly brought out a fur coat. She was just about to egg Grace on to cheer herself up anyway.
Grace wore the silver-gray fur given to her by Eliza and went to the chapel with Ares.
If the chapel at Duke Taylor's castle resembled a priest offering devout prayers, the chapel at Duke Richmond's castle resembled a knight willing to face death for God. The knights guarding the chapel hurriedly greeted the Duke and Grace, who had arrived suddenly, and then opened the door.
And as soon as the door opened, Grace's eyes widened.
I don't know what they did, but it smelled as if a field of fully bloomed flowers had been transplanted there. It wasn't the scent of artificial perfume, but the colorful fragrances reminiscent of a real outdoor flower garden that lingered softly throughout the massive chapel. Just when I thought I smelled the rich, sweet scent of acacia, a captivating rose scent wafted from somewhere else, and then, along with clear herbal and woody notes, the smell of wet earth emerged.
If the invisible fragrance is this intense, one can only imagine what the visible things must be like.
There was not a single thing in this place that was not touched by Eliza's hand. Not only the chapel, but everything else was prepared without care. The dress, the bouquet, and even the veil to be worn on the head.
The steps, which had been gradually slowing down, came to a halt at the end of the virgin road.
To me, who had regarded Richmond merely as an essential weapon, Richmond gave me something more than I deserved.
The reason I could not touch the treasure Eliza bequeathed to me, the reason people’s kindness filled the void in my heart yet overflowed as if melting my stomach, and the reason I was reminded of the man who stood by my side whenever that happened…
Grace.
A low call held onto the consciousness that was sinking into a deep abyss.
The deep, hard black eyes caught the green eyes that were becoming dazed and blurry.
Grace.
Grace asked without realizing it.
How did you manage to hold out?
How could I have considered acting while concealing my intentions to be the same as wearing the name of a dead person? My heart, which had been pleasantly warmed by people's kindness, melted away the moment I realized that such kindness was not actually something I deserved.
If I am in this state, I can only imagine how he must feel, having been branded with the name of a dead person.
At the unexpected question, Ares quietly blinked his eyes and laughed.
"well."
“…….”
It seems your wish reached me.
It seems your wind reached even that cold, freezing place.
My face was reflected in eyes that were endlessly deep and black, like the deepest night sky.
wind.
Could it be that the wish she couldn't confide in anyone was conveyed to him?
Grace stared at her reflection in his eyes as if entranced. She had the illusion that she and he were the only ones left on a black path with neither front nor back. Yet, strangely, she felt no fear.
Just then, he took out a palm-sized blue box from his bosom. As he examined his right and left hands, Grace quietly extended her left hand. He paused for a moment, then supported her hand with his left while slowly sliding a ring onto her ring finger with his right.
"What is it?"
"ring."
“No, it’s not that I don’t know...
What I'm giving.
Grace understood the meaning behind those words at once.
The gold ring of moderate thickness, set with a tiny green emerald, fit my finger perfectly, as if it had been custom-made to my measurements. Since it was my first time owning a ring set with a gemstone like this, I examined it closely and found it to be very pretty.
Meanwhile, as Grace silently examined the ring from every angle, Ares felt his mouth go dry. Everything here belonged to Walter; the only thing truly of his own was the pouch of gold coins the attendant had handed him when he left the imperial palace.
I bought Grace a ring with the gold coins I had been carrying around for over a decade, but when I put it on her finger, it looked incredibly simple. In fact, it was more modest than any jewelry I had ever seen, and looking at it now, it seemed inferior even to the jewels worn by the ladies-in-waiting.
“If you don’t like it, take it out.”
Grace lifted her eyes.
“If you don’t like it, take it out. It doesn’t matter.”
His nape seemed red for some reason in the golden light. What I had realized while spending time with him was that both Eliza and Ares were kind people, even if they were not good at expressing themselves. My heart, which had been gradually growing cold, was warmed up again, and the warmth that had nowhere to go eventually spilled out as laughter.
As Grace quietly burst into laughter, Ares, who had been staring elsewhere for no reason, was drawn to her as if by magnetism. Grace, who had been giggling to herself, bit her lip and then released it, speaking softly.
"thank you."
“…….”
I like it.
The moments of excitement over a marriage that wasn't mine, followed by heartache from guilt, seemed to vanish like a lie. As she gazed quietly at the light green emerald, which looked exactly like the color of her own eyes, she suddenly realized that she hadn't prepared anything.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t prepare anything.”
As Grace leaned in to look at him, Ares raised his head and looked up at the marble statue of the god.
The sight of his sharply protruding Adam's apple bobbing several times was strangely eye-catching. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I lowered my eyes, but then I heard a hoarse, cracked voice.
“Then, please call my name just once.”
It felt as if goosebumps were creeping up on her ears and the nape of her neck. Holding her breath in surprise, she looked up to find him staring at her. His elegant features, bathed in a golden light, seemed to be pressing down tightly on something. Grace felt as if her neck were being crushed by the large, slender forepaws of a tiger.
He took a step closer. I should have stepped back, but the reason I couldn't was the large, warm touch I felt on my left cheek. His thumb lightly pressed against my chin.
Don't hold your breath.
As I exhaled the breath I hadn't even realized I was holding, he lowered his head. And I pleaded so that no one could hear.
“Please, just once.”
name.
How much meaning does that name I call you hold for you?
Is there as much meaning as me clinging to your words?
The name, which suited him terrifyingly well—delicate as if drawn swiftly with a sharp pen—would slip out from between his lips as quickly as a winter wind passing through dry branches in an instant. Grace very carefully let out the name she had articulated hundreds, thousands of times alone.
Ares.
He whispered urgently.
Just one more time.
The name, whispered very softly as if afraid someone might hear, was like a spell. I could not think of anything, as if my mind had been rubbed clean, and perhaps due to the faint, dim wall lights, I felt as though my body were floating in the air. Instead of the scent of flowers, his wild fragrance consumed everything, and his red eyes, as if pleading, were incomparably sensual.
“…Ares.”
So, even though I knew he was getting closer, I had no choice but to call out to him, and even though I felt his large, warm hand wrap around the nape of my neck, I had no choice but to helplessly surrender my whole body to this moment.
"again."
Ares.
The final call shattered in a rough, hot mouth and flowed down the back of the throat, and the world was stained with it.
Ares Decan,
As a man like winter who unleashes his fury to freeze everything, and on some days bestows beautiful snow incomparable to anything.
* * *
I'm going crazy.
I quickly turned around and lay down at the sudden surge of thought.
However, he eventually sprang to his feet and wiped his face with his hands. No matter how hard he tried to shake it off, he simply could not, so he had no choice but to surrender himself to that moment as it poured down like a tidal wave.
A dimly lit chapel.
After putting a simple ring on his hand, my heart couldn't help but race.
If you don't like it, take it out. It doesn't matter.
After blurting out childish words I didn't mean, I couldn't bring myself to look at Grace, so I turned my eyes away. My heart was pounding so loudly that I was filled with worry that she might hear it, when I heard the sound of snickering.
When I turned my head as if entranced, the world stopped.
Who I am, what I am running for, and how this moment came to be. In a world beyond time and space where even I myself have vanished, the only thing with meaning was that person's laughter.
Grace is smiling.
Her beautiful eyes were crinkled, and there were concave dimples at the sides of her lips. Looking at her that way, she seemed like someone standing not at the boundary between winter and spring, but at the boundary between spring and summer.
Thank you. I like it.
When Grace said that, he thought.
What's so special about that? I should give you something better next time. If you like it, I feel like I wouldn't mind giving you the world.
Then, a realization quietly crept up from behind and plunged a knife into his back. The fact that this ring might be the only thing he could give her in this life penetrated deep into his back and pierced his heart.
My heart, which had been beating happily, sank. It felt as if a thick swamp was dragging me in from beneath my feet.
Ares raised his head and looked up at the statue carved from marble.
It won't get in your way of getting Taylor back. It's a marriage that's going to be nullified anyway.
The words that had been stuck deep inside me like a thorn pierced my heart again.
Invalid. The name of all the time Grace and I spent together.
Ares couldn't stand it. So he spoke impulsively.
Please call my name just once.