The End - A Long Admired View

The residence in the de Broy lands stood on slightly elevated ground.

Having been told not to look outside, Marguerite obediently kept her eyes away from the carriage window, and even when they arrived at the manor, she kept her gaze lowered.

“Close your eyes.”

Lucien’s voice sounded buoyant, almost like that of a mischievous child, Marguerite thought.

With her eyes still closed, she was led by the hand and guided into a certain room.

She heard the curtains being drawn.

Riding on the breeze came the scent of salt, stirring Marguerite’s anticipation.

“You can open your eyes now.”

At Lucien’s laughter-tinged voice, she opened them—

“Oh…!”

As far as the eye could see stretched the open sea, and Marguerite let out a breath of awe.

The room, with its balcony, led directly down to a small beach, and at the foot of the stairs a pair of sandals had even been prepared just for her.

“May I go down?”

“Yes. You want to touch the water, don’t you?”

Without a moment to worry about propriety, Marguerite gathered the hem of her skirt and walked onto the sand.

The fine grains slipping into her sandals felt pleasantly ticklish.

The color of the sea was like emeralds spread out in a carpet, and farther out it deepened until it was hard to tell where the blue of the water ended and the blue of the sky began.

“So this is… the sea.”

There was nothing as far as she could see—only sea and sky.

With the sound of the waves, it felt as though her heart itself were being washed clean.

She thought of how very small she was.

“Look! There are little fish!”

Spotting flashes of red and yellow among the waves, Marguerite turned back toward Lucien.

“There’s feed, too.”

At Lucien’s signal, Anna appeared holding a small box.

The moment the contents were scattered, the fish gathered in a flurry. Reaching out to touch one of them, Marguerite—

“Ah!? It bit my finger!”

“It must have mistaken it for the feed. Let me see.”

Lucien caught her hand as she hurriedly pulled it back. He examined her reddened fingertip intently, and at the touch of their hands, Marguerite’s heart skipped.

They had confirmed their feelings for one another and were now happily in love, yet she was still not used to being touched like this.

Because Lucien treated her as though she were something that might break at any moment.

“This should be fine.”

“…?”

As Marguerite tilted her head, Lucien suddenly smiled and took a small box from his pocket.

“I meant to give this to you tomorrow, but it wouldn’t do if your ring finger got bitten.”

“This is…”

Inside the box lay a matching pair of rings. They were not flashy, but a wave-like design beautifully set off the clear blue sapphires.

“Our first wedding was… like that, after all. I never had the chance to give them to you.”

Lucien slipped the ring onto Marguerite’s ring finger as she stood frozen.

With royal witnesses present, they had made their formal oath, and so the wedding ceremony itself could not be redone.

But the vow of love that had been omitted then had been spoken before Noel the other day.

‘To think I would ever want something like this…’

To want to hold proof together with his wife.

Lucien himself was surprised by how much he had changed.

And it was only because the one beside him was Marguerite.

“Go on.”

A ring, likely two sizes larger than Marguerite’s, was placed into her palm.

Holding it with trembling hands, she looked up to see Lucien smiling at her, eyes softened.

Lately, Lucien smiled often.

Again and again, he showed his affection for Marguerite—so much so that she hardly had time to feel anxious.

Carefully sliding the ring onto Lucien’s ring finger, Marguerite noticed that the same ring gleamed on her own supporting hand, and her cheeks flushed.

‘I’m happy.’

A happiness she could never have imagined a year ago.

But she was no longer afraid.

She no longer thought it unfitting for her. Thanks to Lucien, Marguerite had gradually learned to be a little selfish, too.

“Tomorrow, let’s go out on a boat. If we’re lucky, we might see whales. We can have dinner while watching the sunset from the deck.”

“That sounds like a wonderful day. …Lucien.”

Leaning against him, Marguerite smiled.

“Please stay with me forever.”

“Of course. —You are my wife, after all. Marguerite.”