Chapter 91

Chapter 91

Looking around the garden, which was decorated with rose bushes of the same color as the one that decorated the hall, and hydrangeas in a round shape below, Min-ha sat down on a bench and muttered admiringly.

“So pretty… all the flowers have changed.”

“Do you like it? The last time we came here, you liked the flowers, so I instructed them to decorate them with new ones every season.”

“Eh? It’s true that I like flowers, but you don’t have to. Gardeners must have suffered…”

Min-ha, who naturally listened to Seth’s words, turned her head to look at him. She was so distracted by the flowers at the moment and forgot about it for a while, but the reason they came here was to hear why he was acting strange throughout dinner.

Glancing at him, she opened her mouth again.

“Ah, that’s not what I meant to say…”

“Well?”

“Now tell me, Seth. You’ve been weird since earlier, staring at me as if you have something to say. What is it? What do you want to say?”

“That’s…”

“Do you have any concerns? …Is it something I shouldn’t have heard?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

As she was about to ask another question about Seth’s hesitant attitude, he smiled awkwardly and stood in front of her before getting down on one knee and kneeling down. Perplexed at his sudden appearance, Min-ha stretched out her head towards him.

“…Hold on, give me your hand.”

“Huh? Oh… okay.”

He soon reached out, grabbed her right hand and pulled it slightly to his lap.

Seth carefully caressed her left hand and kissed it briefly on the fourth finger of her left hand, which had a blue diamond ring on it. Then, taking out a small box from his chest, he placed it on his palm before slowly holding it out in front of Min-ha.

“Ah…”

Min-ha, who had been watching Seth’s actions with a bewildered face, let out a short exclamation the moment the small box opened and saw what was inside. What was in the box was a beautiful ring with a ruby about the size of her ring finger.

She gazed at the ring in front of her with a surprised expression.

Looking at the ring, which left traces of someone’s care for a long time, she parted her lips.

“…What is this?”

“Min-ha… will you marry me?”

“What?!”

Surprised by Seth’s unexpected marriage proposal, she asked back with no honorifics without realizing it.

‘…What is this situation?’

Since she didn’t understand what was going on, Min-ha gazed at his nervous face she hadn’t seen before.

“…Uh. Seth, weren’t we already married? Why are you suddenly proposing?”

“The one I married three years ago was ‘Minase Persen’… not you.”

​​

“…Ah.”

“There had never been a word of such a proposal or feelings between Minase Persen and I, only one written oath with each other’s signatures and the diamond ring you’re wearing right now… That was enough for me at the time, when I was full of the humiliation I received because of my status and the feeling of inferiority that resulted from it. For me, marriage was only a relationship established for mutual understanding, not for love.”

“…Seth.”

​​

“I used the status of Minase Persen while she used my property. Even if there was no love, it was a relationship that only needed to protect their place as a family. That was the marriage she and I wanted, and deep down I was comfortable with that kind of relationship because I had a lot to protect… the old annex that was like my mother’s keepsake, Noah who needed my protection, and the knights who gave their lives by believing in my father and me… A small estate left by his father, that was enough.”

Looking up at Min-ha, he calmly confided in his past as he held her left hand tightly with the hand that wasn’t holding the box. As she felt deep loneliness and resignation in his calm words, she held his hand without saying a word, and Seth smiled bitterly and continued.

“But, even though I understood that, there was always an emptiness inside me that couldn’t be filled… Now that I think about it, I might have hoped for something else. Like my parents, who were happy even when they turned their backs on the world because they fell in love that transcends the difference in social status, a person who wouldn’t feel regretful even if they lost everything they had.”

​​

“…Yes.”

“Was that why? I was outraged by Minase Persen’s betrayal, but on the other hand, I was also relieved… I felt relieved at the thought that the person who had no feelings for me would abandon me and go to Rupert. I thought I could get away from the people who hated me, and find someone who would love only me.”

“…I see.”

“And at that moment, you appeared in front of me like that.”

“….!”

“At first, I wondered what she was up to. Didn’t she like my terms? Was she still trying to use me when she broke the promise we made to each other? It was humorous, honestly. I just thought you were acting out of order to squeeze me through to the end.”

​​

“…I understand.”

“However, as if laughing at my suspicions, you treated everything sincerely… In addition, you gave me affectionate consolation to me, who was called the ‘Emperor’s Sword’ from the front but a ‘murderer’ behind my back.”

“….”

“…I couldn’t help but love you. I thought that this kind of heart was dangerous, that I might be betrayed after pouring my heart into it… because of that, I didn’t want to go to Loengram Castle with you. The truth was, I thought that if you and Rupert ever met, your heart might go to him again.”

“…You didn’t have to worry like that.”

“Haha. That’s right, I didn’t have to.”

At her words, Seth laughed briefly and kissed the hand he held again. He then released Min-ha’s hand from his and carefully brought her hand to his face, tucking the flowing golden hair behind her ear and continuing his words in a sweet voice that seemed as if it would melt.

“At that time, I didn’t know that this body had such a pretty soul.”

“….!”

“That night at the lake, when you told me all your secrets, I made up my mind. I’ll risk everything I have from now on to protect you for the rest of my life.”

“Seth…”

“My dear Min-ha, my one and only lover. I swear on you with this ring. To live as your husband, companion, and knight for the rest of your life… will you marry me?”

Min-ha gazed blankly at Seth, who affectionately met her gaze as he proposed to her. When she first met him after falling into this world, he seemed taller and stronger than anyone else in the world. He looked confident, and she thought he was a man who didn’t know how to bow down to anyone.

….Yet this man wanted her heart, got down on one knee and waited for her answer.

When she thought that all these changes were because of his love for her, she felt her heart swell with heat.

‘Ah…’

It was strange. She wasn’t sad at all, but rather, she was so happy that she was about to burst into tears. Her tears welled up in her eyes.

Perhaps, that was why? Min-ha opened her mouth to Seth with teary eyes.

“…Even if you didn’t do this, I’m already your wife.”

“Of course, I could’ve trusted the relationship between us recognized by the imperial law and let it go, though I thought that shouldn’t be the case. Because the person I want to be with for the rest of my life isn’t ‘Minase Persen’ in the marriage declaration, but ‘Kim Min-ha’… you.”

“….!”

“That’s why I wanted to propose to you all the more. Your answer… I wanted to hear it.”

“Se-Seth…”

​​

“So answer me now, Min-ha. Will you be with me for the rest of our lives?”

After saying that, Seth took out her ring from the box he had placed on his palm and put it on the fourth finger of Min-ha’s left hand. The moment she saw his fingertips that were holding her hand to put on the ring was trembling with tension, it was difficult to contain her throbbing heart.

So, as soon as the two rings were placed on the fourth finger of her left hand, she rose from his bench and hugged Seth’s neck tightly.

“Of course! I won’t leave even if you tell me to!”

“Min-ha…”

“I love you, Seth. I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

Tears dripped from her eyes as she confessed her love for him passionately.

At the same time, Seth looked at her with an affectionate gaze before stretching out his hands to carefully steal the tears which had fallen onto her white cheeks. Min-ha’s tears, which were brushed away by a gentle touch, didn’t know how to stop.

Seth, who had been wiping the tears that wet his fingers, soon moved his lips.

Kiss, kiss.

​​

Climbing up her wet cheeks and kissing her blushing eyes, Seth smiled affectionately at her flushed face as she closed her eyes again while he slowly brought his lips to hers. Min-ha responded to her lover’s lips touching her own and hugged his neck tighter.

Then, as the kiss deepened, she dug deeper into Seth’s arms.

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