The crowd erupted in cheers.
Mainly the members of Divinity Clan.
Amidst all this noise, all Dhein could hear was his beating heart. He was lost, replaying the last few seconds inside his head several times. Her answer really shocked his whole system.
’What did she just say?’
Confusion filled his mind.
On one hand, he couldn’t get a grasp why Shina would agree to marry him. Wasn’t the whole point of her escape being to avoid it?
But on the other hand, he asked himself:
’She had the choice to marry the person she loves...’
Dhein blinked, he felt his cheeks heating up.
Interrupting the noise, Shina spoke.
"But please, d—do not forget."
Although embarrassment was clearly written all over her face, she tried desperately to appear dignified and composed.
The crowd quieted down and listened.
"This decision is not only mine to make."
Taking a deep breath to muster her courage, she looked Dhein in the eyes.
"Dheinyrus," she uttered, anxiety was evident in her voice. Nonetheless, she forced a smile on her lips.
"You can... r—reject me, if you want. I w—will respect your decision!" she stammered with a fake smile of confidence.
But the longer Dhein stared at her silently, the more that facade melted from her tense face. Losing in the staring contest, Shina’s gaze dropped.
Dhein wanted to ask her so many questions, but right now, all eyes were on him.
Before he could even respond, the emperor walked forward. They all gasped in shock when he took off his golden crown and lowered his head.
"I apologize for the things I’ve said back in the capital. I was just worried about the safety of the empire."
"Lord Theocheirós, it will be my honor if you marry Shina. Please accept her as your wife."
The last words echoed endlessly in Dhein’s head.
Dhein stood still, the implications of the events slowly sinking in his brain.
And so, he searched himself.
Should he marry Shina?
Or more aptly, did he want to marry Shina?
Everyone looked at him with eager eyes.
Suddenly, Neral and Axerion rushed towards the emperor and urged him to put his crown back on.
"The honor is ours, Your Majesty," Axerion blurted with forced enthusiasm.
"How could we refuse?" said Neral jokingly before giving Dhein a questioning look. She then whispered angrily to Dhein:
"Don’t make a lady wait!"
Swallowing, Dhein looked at Shina.
His heart wouldn’t stop racing!
And every time he looked at her beautiful face, his heartbeat grew even faster.
Dhein couldn’t understand. He tried to think about what the best course of action was. What would be the most beneficial choice. All his life, he kept acting according to what would benefit him the most. He was a pretender, a fraud, and he made his decisions very carefully this way.
What things would be detrimental to his schemes and what would help solidify his masquerade. His decision-making revolved around this framework.
So, right now, he thunk. Really, really hard.
In the end, he couldn’t figure it out.
Maybe that was the wrong way of thinking after all.
’Damn it... how did I end up ...’ he thought before taking a deep breath.
After mustering his resolve, he walked past his parents and the emperor.
As he stopped his tracks, the girl looked up at him with widening eyes.
All this time, Dhein couldn’t speak. He couldn’t freely voice out his thoughts to clear his confusion, probably thanks to the crowd watching them.
His one hand was clenched into a fist, and with the other, he grabbed Shina by the hand.
Though she looked shock, Dhein didn’t feel any resistance from her at all when he suddenly pulled her away and ran outside the gate. As they ran, Shina followed without questioning. Dhein didn’t know where they should go, but they ran anyway.
Though the crowd let out gasps of surprise, they didn’t follow the two. All they did was produce these weird, excited screams which Dhein found extremely annoying.
And with that, the two ran from the manor, away and deep into the woods.
Zarria could only watch their backs disappear behind the trees, and as the sky began to darken, all traces of them had completely vanished from their sights.
Her thoughts were drowned in the noise, everyone seemed to be celebrating this occasion.
Her brother was about to get married.
’What does that mean?’ she asked in her mind.
When the tournament was announced, she already knew that her brother would win and he will be the princess’ husband.
She really didn’t feel anything then. Maybe she didn’t give it much thought at the time.
But now... now that it was all about to happen...
There was this foreign sensation biting at her heart. It was a bit similar to when her father left for business trips when she was little, and she was crying by the door as she watched him leave.
However, this feeling was different. It was new.
She felt as if something infinitely precious to her was about to disappear forever.
Before she could process her thoughts, her attention shifted to Fiorelle who walked out of the place. She went to one of the horseless carriages lined up by the yard and no one had noticed except Zarria.
She then looked at the crowd before her. Axerion was discussing something with the emperor, Neral was giving some instructions to the servants, the scions were talking among themselves and the crowd chattered about the wedding that was about to happen.
But Dhein didn’t even say ’yes’ yet!
’Is Dhein... going to marry the princess? Is it really happening?’
It was all too fast. Just a moment ago, they were dealing with traitors and the curse. Now, the mood had shifted so much that no one even cared about that anymore. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ noⅴelfire.net
Come to think of it, the shift was unnaturally abrupt, as if someone deliberately wanted to bury that matter dead. Now, everyone was preoccupied with the current situation.
’Am I going insane?’ Zarria thought, shaking her head.
’I must be... This is all too much.’
Taking a deep breath, she decided to go inside the mansion to gather her thoughts.
And as she walked, she noticed one more thing.
Julius was nowhere to be found.