He had always expected it.

Valentin had eyes too. Someone once said, have you ever seen the moment a person falls in love? Valentin recalled the moment they first met while looking at Reynard, who was always with him lately due to wedding preparations.

‘Perhaps that instant gaze and attraction was the beginning of love?’

That moment when only that one person came into view amidst the crowds of Emerald Hall, which had gathered all of Eldon’s high society. When everyone around was invisible. Perhaps that lightning-like shock and attraction was the beginning of this heart-fluttering?

Perhaps the flushing cheeks whenever he looked at him with heated eyes were a precursor to this atmosphere?

Valentin had such thoughts even amid the busyness. That perhaps, even if it seemed too uncertain and smelled of immaturity, this was a piece of that passion.

But he didn’t expect him to confess out loud so quickly.

They had already reached the end of the virgin road.

Reynard carefully unwound his arm and held both of Valentin’s hands.

With the boys’ choir’s elegant hymn of praise as background, he spoke in a low voice that only Valentin could hear. His eyes were still fixed directly on Valentin.

“Everything happened so quickly for us.”

“Yes…”

“Forgive me for never properly telling you.”

The alpha he thought would be in the midst of a forest of ambiguity like himself had already found the path.

No, I don’t even know when he found it. Perhaps not now but from before, while Valentin was still wandering in the maze of uncertainty, he was waiting for him at the exit.

Because he was someone for whom everything was certain. His life always seemed to have no hesitation.

And now he was calling Valentin from that exit. Saying ‘Come here.’ Reaching out his hand with his always intense voice.

Some feelings don’t need proof at times. There are times when you just believe by seeing that person’s expression and gaze, the energy itself. And now was such a time.

Valentin wanted to have the same certainty as his mother. He wanted to fill the path of an already irreversible choice with hope rather than regret.

‘Yes. Let’s give a chance to the one speaking of love.’

Valentin lowered his eyes somewhat coyly and said.

“From now on…”

“Yes?”

“I’ll keep watching you from now on.”

Reynard smiled, raising both corners of his mouth at the mumbling sound that seemed to have popped out of an ant hole again.

“Alright. I’ll keep proving it to you from now on.”

At the end of the wedding where official vows and promises had been exchanged, it concluded with another promise. Perhaps it was the finale of all the vows. Like applying glaze to pottery that had already been fired once and firing it again to make a solid vessel. Thus they were reaching the end of the wedding with a complete form of vow.

A voice full of certainty continued solemnly.

“I’ll make sure you never regret marrying me.”

It was a smile overflowing with confidence. Valentin nodded, seeing Reynard’s face full of certainty.

Trust and love filled his heart that had been tired, anxious, and empty like an abandoned house.

As said before, human emotions are contagious. When Valentin saw Reynard’s smile full of affection, he felt affection filling up in himself too. As his heart warmed, his face naturally brightened. Valentin smiled broadly without realizing, his eyes crinkling.

As soon as he saw that sparkling smile that had been rare lately, the alpha lost his senses.

Reynard unconsciously lowered his head close to the pink lips. Valentin, who had always known to shrink shyly in front of people, now raised his head higher towards him, smiling like a flower again. His willingness to receive that kiss was evident.

The two kissed like that at the end of their procession, and the child attendants in dresses and formal wear scattered the flowers from the white baskets they were holding. A light pink rain fluttered down over the heads of the two.

Bright fragments of white and pink were scattered over the newly married couple.

The sound of dozens of bells rung by the bell ringers echoed louder than the choir’s beautiful hymn. Radiantly throughout all of Eldon, centered on the cathedral.

The guests marveled at them kissing while looking at each other with loving gazes. They exclaimed that, as the recent rumors said, the two must truly be in love, passing from mouth to mouth again the sight of them embracing and whispering love to each other that had been witnessed on Queen’s Road.

Thus they became each other’s husband.

Eldon’s high society will remember it as the most sacred, beautiful, and perfect wedding of all.

* * *

Pitter-patter.

As soon as they arrived at the mansion, Valentin quickened his pace and hurried up to the room. If someone had seen from behind, it would have looked like his buttocks were wiggling as if doing speed walking, but in his haste, he was completely unaware of this.

“Phew… Ah, I can finally breathe.”

As soon as he closed the door, the sense of liberation burst out from the one who started unbuttoning his waist first.

F-freedom…! Master has given Dobby clothes—, no. This isn’t right. Valentin shook his head and grabbed hold of his mind that was trying to slip away in the intense sense of liberation.

The wedding ceremony wasn’t over with just the nuptial mass at the cathedral.

There was still the wedding reception to go. The reason Valentin came straight up to his room as soon as he returned to the mansion was to change into another formal wear for the reception.

But this sense of liberation. This lightness. How much he had longed for it throughout the ceremony… He thought he would die while imitating a beautiful and solemn face like a doll during the ceremony.

When fitting the formal wear, there certainly had been no change in size. But now was a month later than then.

‘I didn’t know my belly would swell this much in the meantime…’

This fool, he miscalculated. Valentin teared up slightly, recalling himself from last month, thinking he should have requested a more generous size then.

As time passed, his belly had finally started to swell a little. It was no longer the flat belly from before. Though not enough of a difference for others to see with the naked eye, it was a definite difference that he could feel himself.

“Was it too much for you after all?”

Dawson, who had quietly entered to help with changing clothes, asked worriedly. He answered, startled by the strange sound Valentin was making.

“I thought I was going to die…”

Unlike a belly that had grown from eating a lot, a belly swollen from pregnancy wasn’t something that would go in even if you applied force. Moreover, it was trousers made to fit even more tightly for the wedding’s appearance.

“Surely it didn’t protrude more than one finger joint to look at?”

“Young master, you should look at the circumference, not the height…”

It’s a look of seeing a fool.

“The fact that one vertex of a triangle rising 1cm doesn’t mean the sum of all sides increases by 1cm…”

Dawson started explaining as if rescuing some corner idiot.

“No, I know that! But clothes stretch!”

“This?”

Dawson grabbed the waist part of the formal trousers he had just taken off Valentin. And he showed by pulling on both ends with his fingers, making a ‘pop pop’ sound.

Damn… That inelasticity showing not an inch of give… Valentin lowered his head, looking at the material of the trousers as tough as his newly wedded husband’s iron will. It was the appearance of a loser accepting the result.

“I was foolish…”

“It’s fortunate that we increased the circumference of the reception formal trousers at the end.”

Dawson said, handing over the trousers to change into.

His appetite had increased dramatically after receiving pheromones. Is this what others call pregnancy cravings?

Just in case, he had recently asked Madame, “Can you make the party formal trousers a bit looser so I can eat comfortably at the reception?” Fortunately. When she heard that, Madame gave Valentin a secretive wink with an understanding look, saying she had heard rumors about the national treasure-level chefs invited from Blanche. Along with a raised thumb.

And the very next day, clothes with a more generous circumference than the wedding formal wear arrived. I’m glad my appetite has increased recently… Valentin stroked his chest, admiring his past self who had loosened the trousers to eat to his heart’s content. All’s well that ends well.

“Would you like to rest a bit before getting ready?”

Dawson asked carefully, watching Valentin slowly put on the new trousers.

“No, it’s fine.”

Valentin shook his head firmly. His appearance of clenching both fists while looking like a boiled asparagus was pitiful.

“I can’t get discouraged already.”

The reception party was also an important event.

Traditionally, the reception was held at the bride’s or omega groom’s home. After the mass ended, all the guests invited to the reception would move by carriage. And the order was to arrive at the mansion and enjoy the reception party together.

Most wedding receptions had fewer invited guests than the nuptial mass. It was common to invite only family, relatives, and important or close guests.

Dawson undid the cufflinks of Valentin’s formal wear. Valentin asked him:

“By the way, why did the reception get so big?”

The scale he had initially heard was certainly not like this.

Valentin recalled the outdoor reception venue he had seen while coming up to the mansion. There were far more tables and chairs than expected. All sorts of things covered with white satin were overflowing even after filling the Wiche family’s large rose garden.

Peonies and hydrangeas decorating the center of the tables, silver candlesticks and silverware. The garden was about to burst with large ribbons and banners wrapped around decorative pillars.

“Who invited all the neighbors like this?”

“Your husband, young master.”

Valentin put his hand to his forehead.

He had thought there was some concert going on from the cathedral earlier. Wondering who had turned his wedding into an open concert hall, it was this man again…