Chapter 151

The principal, seeing Aiden suddenly rushing in, couldn’t hide his surprised face.

Aiden, undeterred, began to detail why he had to go to the Empire.

“Reynard is a rare genius who graduated early from the academy, isn’t he being watched not only in the Crohn Kingdom but also in the Empire and other kingdoms? The news of Reynard’s wedding is already spreading in the Crohn Kingdom.”

While talking about the wedding, he vented his anger from writing his graduation thesis, and his voice grew louder.

“If the academy doesn’t react at all when many people are paying attention, what kind of talk will spread? Wasn’t Reynard unfairly treated in the academy, didn’t he reject all proposals from the kingdom or the academy, and wasn’t it because of such unfair treatment that Reynard returned to the Empire after graduating early?”

Although this wasn’t a story that should come from Aiden, who knew best why Reynard graduated early and returned as soon as possible, he shamelessly continued to insist.

Meanwhile, Aiden didn’t talk about his and his roommates’ graduation theses at all. It seemed that the point would be blurred if he said he rushed to make this proposal because he didn’t seem to be able to write a graduation thesis.

The principal, listening to Aiden’s passionate speech, blushing his face, agreed after a long contemplation.

It was decided to form a congratulatory group centered around students and professors who were close to Reynard and send them along with gifts.

In the process, even if the graduation thesis wasn’t passed, he was specially allowed to leave the kingdom this time.

“Reynard, he would have known that we couldn’t come.”

Yurina couldn’t dare to answer that.

“Rey said he’d be happy if you guys could come.”

He said he would be happy if they came, but he didn’t say he expected them to come. Aiden, reading the hidden meaning in those words, crossed his arms and chuckled.

“So I came quietly without saying anything. I’m going to surprise him. Actually, I arrived in the capital a few days ago, but I purposely visited only on the day. I look forward to seeing his reaction when he sees me!”

“Isn’t he going to cry again?”

Nathan chuckled behind Aiden’s back. Alex and Thomas agreed with his words by nodding.

After hearing everything from start to finish, Yurina was finally able to laugh with relief. Even though he didn’t pass his graduation thesis, he was so happy because he came here officially, not secretly crossing the border or threatening a professor.

The number would still be small compared to her own guest seats, but she felt relieved thinking that people would fill Reynard’s guest seats.

Moreover, if it were those four, they would congratulate him more enthusiastically than Yurina’s guests.

“Thank you so much for this.”

Aiden scratched the back of his head and laughed at her sincere words.

“Of course. But I’ve been late to congratulate you. Congratulations on your wedding. You look beautiful today.”

He nonchalantly complimented her, hesitated for a moment, and added.

“Thank you for being by Reynard’s side.”

Just then, the butler Robert came to tell them that time was up. Yurina, helped by Betsy, stood up from her seat and answered quietly.

“Thank you.”

* * *

Unlike Yurina, Reynard didn’t have much to prepare.

With the help of the maids and servants of the Carthia mansion, he had finished preparing for the wedding early, but he had to listen to various stories from Yurina’s three older brothers, especially the twins.

These various stories were mostly nagging and complaints.

“Don’t treat us as unwanted guests just because we visit often, and don’t stop Yurina if she wants to come here to play.”

“If you have a problem with that, don’t get married. It’s not too late to cancel, the ceremony hasn’t even started yet.”

Facing the twins who looked as if they would really cancel the wedding if he said no, he firmly answered.

“That will never happen.”

Even while dealing with the twins, his mind was focused on the room where Yurina was.

In the Empire, there was a superstition that if the groom sees the bride in her dress before the wedding, the couple will be unhappy.

This was due to a myth about a groom who saw his bride before the wedding ceremony, said she was more beautiful than the goddess of beauty, and was cursed by the goddess.

Reynard didn’t believe in that superstition, but he couldn’t just ignore it because it involved Yurina and himself. Because the Carthia people told to hold off until the wedding, he couldn’t see Yurina’s face all day.

In fact, not just today, but during the preparations for the wedding, he had been unable to properly see Yurina due to various interruptions, so he still longed for her.

He could do as he pleased without anyone’s interference after today, but it was still torturous.

With not much time left until the wedding ceremony, why was time passing so slowly?

Reynard, who had been waiting for Yurina to come out at the entrance of the wedding hall, suddenly saw Yurina, who was helped by Betsy, walking out and smiled brightly.

The twins, who had been talking to Reynard, couldn’t control their emotions as they saw their little sister and grimaced.

Reynard extended his hand to Yurina, bypassing the twins. Yurina, in her white dress and holding a yellow bouquet, looked much more lovely and beautiful than he had imagined all day.

“You look beautiful.”

Yurina, with a dazed look as if she were entranced by something, looked up at him admiring her and pointed to the back.

“I have a present prepared.”

From behind her, a deep voice rang out.

“Reynard! I’m here!”

Reynard immediately recognized the owner of that voice. It was a voice he could never forget in his life.

Taking his eyes off Yurina and looking in the direction of the sound, Reynard saw a familiar redhead. Aiden, who was well-dressed compared to the casual days at the academy, almost ran towards him.

“Look at your face. Anyone would think you saw a ghost!”

Aiden laughed at Reynard, who had a blank expression because he didn’t understand the situation right away. Nathan, Alex, and Thomas, who followed, also stood behind Aiden and observed Reynard’s face as if it were fascinating.

“I knew Reynard was handsome, but he’s definitely different when I see him like this.”

“True.”

“The Empire must be a lot better than the Kingdom. Your face looks brighter than when you were at the academy.”

“No, it’s probably because he has someone he loves!”

Nathan, who answered while looking at Yurina, nodded his head as if he was satisfied with his own answer. Reynard, who had been looking at Yurina and the academy quartet alternately, managed to open his mouth.

“No, how did you get here?”

“We graduated and came!”

“There’s no way.”

At the immediate response, Aiden stuck out his tongue with a shocked look.

“Hey, isn’t that too much? I’m right in front of you and you have to be so direct?”

“They came with special permission. They said they absolutely had to come to your wedding.”

At Yurina’s additional explanation, Reynard finally nodded.

“What did I say? I said I’d come no matter what, right? How about that? You should be happy. Stop being surprised and pretend to be happy. You can’t cry, but you’re asking how we got here.”

Aiden spread his arms wide towards Reynard.

“Come on, come here. It’s been a while, let’s hug.”

When Reynard hesitated, Aiden clapped his hands a couple of times and spread his arms wide again.

“My arms are going to fall off. Hurry up.”

Despite his persuasion, Reynard couldn’t move readily. Yurina lightly nudged his back, and then he finally took a step and embraced Aiden tightly.

“Welcome. Thank you for coming.”

“You should have come out like this earlier. You’ve been so hesitant.”

As Aiden patted Reynard’s back and winked, the other three who were watching stuck to the two like cicadas.

“Congratulations, long live!”

The sight of five burly men huddling in a tight hug was funny yet also heartwarming. Drawing the attention of the guests, Aiden, who wouldn’t let go of Reynard, came to his senses at the sound of butler Robert’s cough and released him.

“It’s good to see you, but today’s not about me, you know. You should go now.”

The four people followed Robert’s guide towards the guest seats. As the four people and the Academy professor took their seats, the guest seats where Dave and Aunt Marie’s families were sitting started to become noisy.

Reynard approached Yurina and held her hand.

“Shall we go?”

Yurina looked at Reynard smiling with a clean face, then suddenly looked down at the white shoes that shone subtly in the sunlight. Seeing the faces of friends congratulating Reynard, she remembered someone.

‘Lydia…’

She didn’t have a special friendship with her, nor was she sad or upset that she couldn’t see her. She just wondered what it would have felt like if Lydia had been there.

Yurina raised her head and looked around. She had a hopeful feeling, but as expected, she couldn’t see anyone who looked like Lydia or Karion.

Instead, other faces came into view.

Reynard, who was laughing next to her, his family who were sitting in chairs making expressions of happiness or sadness, Betsy and Aunt Marie sobbing, the Academy children who were as happy as ever.

A story never mentioned in the original.

The female lead who dreamt of love with the prince, the sub male lead who only looked at her from afar, the sub female lead who was angry for losing her lover, the orphan boy who shivered alone in the orphanage on a particularly cold winter day, longing for the warmth of people, are all gone now.

But everyone was moving forward in their own way.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Yurina stepped forward with Reynard, her foot in a white shoe. Or, she tried to. But before she could, Reynard bent his head and kissed her.

At the sound of the twins’ astonished, choking noises and Aiden’s words of admiration, Yurina closed her eyes.

The beginning was about the villainess of the original story who was destined to die and a character not even mentioned in the original, but what does that matter now.

The protagonists of the story to unfold were entirely themselves.

( Epilogue: THE END )