LUCIA

Chapter 7 First Night (1)

There was no wedding procession(1), no guests to congratulate them, nor any blessings. They sat facing each other at a table, where Hugo Taran and Vivan Hesse signed their certificate of marriage.

She signed her full last name, 'Hesse', on the documents while writing down only the initial for her first name, 'Vivian.' That was the norm for marriage certificates. But for this marriage certificate, she signed her full name on top, and used the standard signing method just below.

Vivian. That was her name. She had lived as Vivian while she was with Count Matin for over five years. Following her divorce, she had lived the rest of her life as Lucia. But now, she would need to live the rest of her life as Vivian.

She had never thought that the name Vivian belonged to her. When she had lived by this name, she had felt nothing but agony and suffering. Lucia and Vivian felt like two different human beings. She was distressed whether the name written on the marriage certificate really belonged to her, or not.

She was frustrated that her fake shell as Vivian would be stuck for the rest of her life due to this marriage, but at the same time, she felt a sense of relief. On one hand, she felt a small hope that she would be able to break past her outer shell and escape to the outside world. On the other hand, Lucia could not see the lowest point of the dark hole she was about to fall into. Lucia could not express her feelings with one word.

Two men she had never seen before in her life stood as their witnesses; the process was simple and she was quickly promoted as the official Duke of Taran's wife. That was how their wedding ended.

Lucia didn't have any attachment toward things like weddings, but she was a little sad that the classic kiss upon marriage had been omitted. Following that first kiss, he had never made any sort of physical contact with her. She pretended to look somewhere else as she stole a glance at his lips.

His closed lips lied in a straight line, his stubborn nature seemingly reflected upon them. They weren't too thick; when his lips had pressed against hers, they felt very soft. He had sucked onto Lucia's lips as his tongue had entered her mouth...

"Tomorrow morning we'll leave for the North."

"Yes...Okay!"

When his mouth suddenly opened, Lucia jumped in shock. He watched her with strange eyes, so she quickly distracted herself by looking into another direction. She worried whether her face was flushed red at the moment.

'Aah, I must be crazy. What are you doing? Seriously.'

"If you wish to remain in the capital, that's fine."

Her racing heart suddenly died a little, and a cold wind blew past, howling into the distance. The ink on the marriage contract had yet to dry, but he was already thinking of separating as something trivial.

She realized he didn't see her as a woman. She didn't have any expectations of a warm and loving married life, but she couldn't help feeling bitter.

Her heart squeezed with pain. He was declaring that their marriage would never become something that would tie them together. Lucia, who had a little bit of hope at first, threw all that away.There wasn't even a bit of frustration in her heart at the moment.

"...I will follow you. But if Your Grace wishes that I remain here, I will do so."

She lowered her eyes to the floor and spoke in a soft voice, trying her best not to mix emotion into her words. She wasn't trying to defy him or anything. There were no benefits to staying here. She felt his gaze on her with her whole body.

Lucia hoped to live with the flow, calm and relaxed as much as possible. She didn't see him as a man who would physically abuse a woman, but there wasn't anything bad about being extra careful. She had already experienced how hopeless a woman would be against a man who was physically abusive.