Chapter 1.2

Chapter 1.2

As the not-so-short silence stretched, a subtle ripple spread through the wedding hall. The nobles present began to murmur once more.

Regaining her senses belatedly, she managed to open her mouth with a trembling voice.

“I-I do.”

“Bride and groom, please share the kiss of vows.”

Caesar slowly lifted the bride’s veil.

As the thin fabric receded, her pale face was revealed. Her expression was slightly stiff, and her cheeks were flushed all over. Her face was clearly hot with tension.

He gazed at her face for a moment, then lowered his head and lightly kissed her slightly parted lips.

It was a brief touch, but that only made the lingering impression stronger. A myriad of emotions surged through her, realizing she had truly crossed a point of no return.

“With this, I declare the union of these two houses.”

Amidst the grandeur intertwined with a strange lingering sentiment, the splendid wedding finally drew to a close.

After the wedding, the bride had finished her preparations at the hands of the attendants.

A negligee, sheer enough to hint at transparent skin, and a silk gown draped over it. The intoxicating scent of alluring oils, applied all over her body, stung her nose.

She, who should have been eagerly awaiting her new husband with excitement, was instead restlessly pacing the room, unlike a bride on her wedding night, filled with anxiety.

Clutching her throbbing head, she suddenly turned and looked at the mirror by the sofa.

Just as she thought…

“What should I do?”

It wasn’t because her cheeks were flushed as if with fever, nor was it due to the risqué attire befitting a wedding night.

The problem was the face reflected in the mirror.

Adelia.

The fact that she was in Adelia’s body meant she couldn’t relax for a single moment throughout the wedding.

Countless thoughts chased each other, but no matter how much she thought, no way to overcome this bizarre situation came to mind.

She was not Adelia.

To be precise, the soul inhabiting the body—that is, the core of Adelia—was not Adelia, but Luna Ellen, the maid who served Adelia.

Luna had no idea how she had ended up inside Adelia’s body.

All she remembered was that the day before Adelia’s wedding, Luna had simply finished her usual tasks, shared tea and snacks with Adelia as they talked, and then returned to her own quarters.

Adelia, who cherished her like a sister, often spent time with Luna, and it was a perfectly normal part of their daily routine.

The only thing that was different from usual was…

‘Yes, it’s like… wearing clothes that don’t fit me. I always wanted to leave somewhere, Luna. But if I become the Grand Duke’s wife… I’ll have to live constantly watching my husband and the Imperial Family.’

Adelia, who often lamented her situation, saying that her seemingly splendid life was actually an empty, hollow shell, knew this fact well.

Adelia’s dissatisfaction reached its peak, leading her to meet various men, casually socialize with people, and sometimes even act out, eventually earning her the nickname “the filly of the aristocracy.”

Anyone might have criticized her, saying she was spoiled from a privileged upbringing, but Luna, who had always watched Adelia from beside her, knew that her innermost feelings were sincere.

However, Adelia’s slightly strange behavior didn’t make the current situation understandable.

Was the body swap Adelia’s doing? But how could one swap bodies, and who would think of stealing another’s body just because they didn’t want to get married?

In any case, Luna was absolutely frantic. Not only had she stood in for Adelia at the wedding, but she was now facing her first night with Grand Duke Wallenstein.

‘The most handsome man in the Empire, and a wedding, no less.’

The usual Luna might have been amazed.

Luna recalled Caesar, who had caught her when she nearly stumbled clumsily on the wedding aisle.

The short kiss they shared after the officiant’s address.

His straight nose bridge and sharp jawline. The keen eyes resting above them.

His face, sculpted with intricate precision like a masterpiece, was less like a human and more like a work of art crafted with a master’s soul.

Every moment, even the subtle scent that wafted by when he drew near, remained vividly clear in her mind.

But that wasn’t the only memory swirling in Luna’s head.

The fact that he was Adelia’s husband. And the reality that she would soon have to face him, pretending to be Adelia, sent waves of anxiety crashing over her.

Recalling it again, her heart pounded wildly, perhaps from tension.

“I-I have to… calm down.”

It was a marriage made under imperial decree.

The union of the two houses was already an irreversible course.

Refusing it would undoubtedly bring disaster upon the Marquisate, which had taken her in since childhood. And if she revealed the truth, they would surely dismiss her as a madwoman and lock her away, rather than believe her.

In the end, Luna had no choice but to step into the wedding hall in Adelia’s form, unable to do anything else.

Now that things had come to this, she couldn’t escape, nor could she annul the wedding.

As she fretted, her gaze fell upon the refreshments and wedding wine set out in the bridal chamber.