Rather Than The Son, I'll Take The Father

The bedroom was empty. Besides, the fireplace had been left unlit, so it felt chilly even with the temperature control magic working.

Thump.

I couldn’t deny it. It seemed like a lot of time had passed since I disappeared. I hurriedly changed my clothes.

Then, I went down to the hall on the first floor, and on the way I found three cats huddled together in the corner of the stairs.

“Hi. Is there anyone in the castle by any chance?”

“Meow.”

The tuxedo cat vigorously swung its clawed paw. As I was about to try to interpret the gesture, I finally heard someone’s voice.

“Oh no. Today is the wedding day, but Her Grace is still…….”

“Sarah?”

I raised my voice a bit.

There were a few seconds of silence. Soon, a thumping sound came, and Sarah appeared from the stairs.

Sarah was on the verge of bursting into tears.

“Your Grace!”

It seemed Daisy had been having a conversation with Sarah as she also appeared with a teary face. I asked.

“What are you talking about? Is today the wedding day?”

It was only yesterday that I fell asleep in Regen’s bedroom. But Sarah acted as if I had been away for several days.

“Where have you been? How worried is His Grace……. No, this is not the time!”

Sarah couldn’t even wipe her tears as she ran up the stairs and grabbed me.

“Less than six hours until the wedding! We have to prepare now!”

I was dumbfounded, so I followed Sarah’s order.

“Less than six hours left? Not three days?”

Sarah shook her head.

“You have been away for three days, Your Grace.”

Not one day, not two days, but three days! It felt like being covered in cold water.

“I need to see Aedis right away…….”

But Sarah wouldn’t let me go.

“Later! Daisy, hurry and call the chief handmaid!”

Daisy rushed out at once without taking time to answer.

“You need to take a bath first. Don’t worry. Because I will make Your Highness your most beautiful.”

Sarah led me to the bathroom. She was militant as if she had just lied about worrying about the wedding.

Considering that the most important thing for Sarah was the wedding, it seemed that there had been major incidents with the castle.

As Sarah poured hot water into the bathtub at lightspeed, the bathroom instantly filled with steam.

While I was quietly entering the bathtub, the chief handmaid arrived.

As soon as the chief handmaid saw me, she stroked her chest.

“Oh my God. I’m so glad you came back safely, Your Grace.”

“…… Sorry to startle you. Still, you managed not to postpone the wedding.”

I muttered, feeling like a runaway teenager.

The chief handmaid managed to smile after several attempts.

“There was an instruction from the Master to act as usual. If Your Grace hadn't returned today, Master would have set out to find you himself.”

“Is Aedis okay?”

The chief handmaid suddenly got very quiet.

Sarah exchanged glances with the chief handmaid and replied instead.

“No, no problem. Not yet.”

I could tell why Sarah was stuttering.

I curled up in the bathtub.

“Tell him that I didn’t disappear because I wanted to…….”

I didn’t regret meeting 19-year-old Aedis at all, but I was slightly afraid of the aftermath.

* * *

I was allowed by Sarah to see Aedis just ten minutes before the wedding.

In the mirror, my reflection had a slightly nervous expression. The sweet scent of flowers that stung my sense of smell did not ease the tension.

Still, I liked the wedding dress. It was a design that emphasized the waist and then swelled up like a pure white flower turned upside down. My pinkish hair stood out even more than usual thanks to a tiara studded with diamonds.

As Sarah had promised, she decorated me very beautifully.

It was fortunate that I had already finished preparing the dress. If I had to choose a dress, I would have started the wedding without enjoying even a moment of leisure.

As I was fluttering my eyelashes in the mirror, Aedis came into the room.

He still had a face that was harmful to my heart. It was hard to believe that it was made of the same blood and flesh as mine, and the body that looked so hard matched the formal clothes perfectly.

―Did you marry me because of my face?

Now, if asked, I might say yes…….

But unlike me, who was touched, Aedis set his face even before our eyes met.

Oh, he must have been very angry.

That was obvious. Aedis had no idea where I had spent the three days.

I didn’t say anything, so he might think that I ran away.

The chick must have erased his memory of meeting me when he was 19.

I gave Aedis an apologetic look as he walked in.

“Aedis, did you wait a long time? I’m really sorry, uwah.”

Suddenly, Aedis lifted me by my waist.

“My authority is of no use whatsoever. When my wife was taken and disappeared, I could not treat a single wound.”

His voice was thick with rage, and his eyes pierced.

Aedis sat me down at the table, taking care not to wrinkle my voluminous dress.

I stared at Aedis as he wrapped his arms around my feet.

“Where have I been?”

“I know. The wife was very far away.”

It was a voice that made it difficult to guess what he was thinking beyond worrying about me.

I spoke in a voice full of apologies.

“I didn’t expect to be away for so long.”

“Regen said so. That I misbehaved, and the wife left.”

Huh?

I tilted my head.

Oh, come to think of it, I had told Regen that Aedis said he didn’t want children. I was trying to reassure Regen, who was afraid of a younger sibling’s existence, but it backfired.

“I want to see Regen soon. Before that, I want to tell you where I was.”

“The treatment is over.”

Aedis cut me off.

I asked just in case.

“Aedis, are you interrupting me on purpose?”

Aedis neither affirmed nor denied.

As if he was just happy just to be reunited after three days, he greedily stared as if to imprint my face on his eyes.

“I’m glad you came back before my patience ran out. I don’t have the hobby of beating up my past self.”

What.

“…… From where to where do you remember?”

Didn’t the chick erase Aedis’ memory?

If his memory had remained, there was no way Aedis wouldn’t have recognized me.

He must have reacted completely differently the moment we first met.

“I don’t really remember what happened back then. Just a vague idea of where the wife was.”

Aedis gave a proper explanation, yet my suspicions only deepened.

“I don’t think so…….”

It was true that he lost his memory for 500 years, but did his memory come back when I disappeared?

The chick could have returned it, or Aedis could have retrieved it himself.

Aedis smiled as I tried to think of several hypotheses.

“I missed you, too, Eve.”

“…….”

It was a sweet voice that scratched the inside of my heart.

With my head turned, I could tell that my face was flushed even without looking in the mirror.

As expected, I liked the current Aedis the most. My husband, who will be with me every moment in the future.

“I was waiting patiently as promised.”

“…….”

Look at this, you remember it correctly.

Aedis spoke boldly without moving an eyebrow even as I glared at him.

“Will you give me a reward?”

“Let alone a reward, I hate it so much that I want to punish you.”

It was a threat that would not work because my face was red. Nevertheless, Aedis listened intently as if it were a revelation from God.

“That’s good, too.”

Aedis lightly bit the tip of my finger.

The stinging feeling was soon dispelled by a soft soothing kiss.

“Ex, Excuse me.”

Our wedding was starting soon.

Aedis set my heart on fire and walked away casually.

“As expected, I like rewards more. I put up with it really hard, not wanting to disappoint the wife.”

Yes, I lost.

I decided to postpone the investigation for a while and relish the joy of our reunion.

“I’ll give you a reward or whatever.”

A smile crept across Aedis’ lips.

I was content to press his lips with my finger. A reunion kiss is nice, but he can’t leave marks on my mouth anymore.

“I thought you wouldn’t have an accident and wait.”

“You always trust me too much, Wife.”

“You know what? Trusting you is the best thing I have ever done in my life.”

I smiled broadly. There were many things I wanted to say and many things I needed to hear, but just being together in the same space gave me satisfaction.

“It was probably the best thing that I did not betray the wife’s trust.”

I remembered my promise to make nineteen-year-old Aedis happy.

“Aedis, are you happy now?”

“It’s hard to put into words.”

Aedis gave me a satisfactory answer.

“So do I.”

Then the sound of the trumpet announcing the start of the wedding was heard.

“It’s time to go.”

“Thank you so much for arriving before the wedding.”

Aedis held out his hand.

I was greeted by Aedis and stepped down from the table.

Umm, I wondered why I had arrived six hours ago. I shouldn’t be too hard on the chick.