Anastasius watched the uncanny seriousness gleaming wonderfully on his son's eyes and that was when he was sure, not even heaven and earth can ever separate him from Adira.
He could only sigh in defeat and shrugged his shoulders. No matter what was said to this new Casimir in front of him, nothing can ever change his mind about the lady he chose.
"Do you know what your fiancee answered me when I asked what she could give in exchange for you rejecting Latifolia's power? Don't get me wrong for asking this. I was just genuinely curious.
She said that she doesn't have anything. She even said that she will eventually cause destruction upon this kingdom. Do you think I would allow her to be wed to you and pave the way for her to sit as the Queen after knowing that?"
Anastasius said and he could feel the air getting chillier—that was enough to know Casimir was very upset. He didn't need to look at him like that—a frosty rage cracking and nipping even him, the king.
So before Casimir could even utter or do anything else, he added,
"But, I was wrong. I could see heartbreaking sorrow in her beautiful eyes as she reluctantly told me that she was gonna give you up to the Latifolia lady. And that's when I was sure, she definitely was the perfect Queen.
To surrender what your heart wanted the most for the sake of the greater good is something that no power can ever defeat. Don't let her go, my son."
Anastasius said and patted Casimir's shoulders to calm him down. It was bad enough that he misunderstood him and misinterpreted his words—perhaps Adira too.
It wasn't that he didn't like Adira—nor felt she was lacking in anything or that Iris Latifolia was better anywhere.
Heck! He wouldn't have forced that stingy idiotic bakaoya to tie his beloved daughter with his son if he was just gonna toss her aside just like that—he really only wanted to know if his son's overwhelming love was returned.
And it seems it really was.
Casimir calmed down as the bitter frost on his platinum eyes subsided and he smiled slightly.
He was genuinely happy to hear how sad Adira felt thinking about giving him up to that Latifolia woman—not that he would even give her the leeway to do that.
He would tie her to him even more tighter. He'll claim her future and spend it with her and their son and many more children to come.
"Of course, I won't. In fact, I'm marrying her tomorrow."
Anastasius wasn't even surprised by now. Even though his son just raised a flag as calmly as that, he was too used to him doing such schemes that he doesn't really care what he does anymore.
As long as the other party has agreed, then why not right?
Casimir always was one who liked to jump the gun and he was used to it by now.
"As long as the bride knows."
"Yes, Father. I properly asked her yesterday. Well then, if there's nothing else, please excuse me."
Casimir promptly removed himself from his father's presence to return to his own family—to his wife and son's side.
And Anastasius just wistfully watched that broad back finally supporting not only their empire from such a young age, it made him terribly guilty, but also his very own family.
Caelia, our little crystal's shining brightly for someone else now. He's really grown up.
...
Adira, while Casimir was with the king and speaking with him, was at the buffet picking sweets for her little child when she felt a soft tap on her shoulder.
She whipped her head towards the direction the tap came from when a finger suddenly poked at her cheeks coupled with a happy and deep chuckle.
"You never fail to fall for that trick."
"It has been a while since you did that. Of course, I'd fall for that prank of yours."
"What are you doing grabbing all of these sweets? You really need to control that sooner or later or else you'll grow into a fat pig!"
He joked which earned him an annoyed yet playful punch from the lady.
"How dare you! At my birthday even!"
And he just smiled at her lovingly. A smile he never once showed her from her past life. The smile that she would kill to see. He never gave it to her. But now, everything was different.
She doesn't love him anymore and there's Casimir now. She was loved as much as she loved him. She was happy and contented.
And she was willing to do just about anything to keep her family safe.
Even leaving them.
"May I talk to you privately, Adira?" He spoke gently. His voice was brimming with loving soft warmth he didn't care to hide.
Might as well clear it out to him.
She thought and so she nodded her head and followed him out. He navigated towards a garden, a little bit away from the hall—having a little quiet in their surroundings.
He sat on the fountain's edges and reached out his hand to help her settle down comfortably. It was then that she saw the white lily flower that was booming in popularity in the capital amongst the young ladies right now.
And, of course, Adira knew this. She once bought this for him back from her past life. Because there was a rumor that said,
Should you offer this to the person you love and they receive it, then your love will be reciprocated.
And who maiden would not fall for a sham like that, right? Especially someone like Adira, who was madly in love with Triton.
But now, things went the other way around. It wasn't her who fell for such a trick like that. Instead, it was the man she once offered that flower to only to be rejected and thrown away.
So Adira chose to act as if she didn't notice and sat about a meter away from Triton—to avoid what happened at Casimir's birthday banquet to happen again.
If the man does it again and her jealous great demon lord husband sees it, someone will definitely be murdered in her birthday banquet.
And that is scary.
"Adira, do you love him?" Triton spoke first.
And as quickly as she could, without the slightest doubt in her heart, she answered,
"Yes, I do."
"Why can't it be me?"
"You are a great man, Triton. You might just be every girl's dream... But you aren't mine."
Adira spoke truthfully and turned to face Triton. She wanted him to see her heart reflect in her eyes. She wanted to show him that it wasn't possible now. That he was a lifetime too late.
"And Casimir is?"
"Well, no, not really. That guy's practically emotionless most of the time and forceful, jealous and sly—basically, your typical bastard. But he gave me what I wanted the most, Triton.
All my life, all I wanted was to be loved back by the man I loved the most."
She answered him for her poor pathetic past self, whose cries weren't heard by anyone, and for the her right now, who was blessed with so much love from the people around her—especially from the man who her heart chose this lifetime.
Notes:
... I am giving you guys a double update~~! Yaaaay! Banzaaaaiiii! 🎉🎉🎉 I hope this can make up for my absence this whole week! We fell behind our ranks a little bit because of that and I was so sad 😣 but! We can do this and get it back again, right?
Anyway, *bakaoya means stupid parent. It's basically what they call to those overdoting parents—especially a father to his daughter.
P.S. it's good to be back. I missed you guys!