WBWB | Chapter 60 | End

Seeing Jeanne’s incredulous expression, Baldr was reminded of how much he had missed her.

He had missed her terribly. Fighting the urge to embrace her, he sat down, struggling to find the right words. But once he started speaking, the words tumbled out, mostly without passing through the filter of his mind. Even as he spoke, he thought to himself, ‘I’ve ruined it. My own mouth is ruining everything.’

Who would agree to return to Skadi with him after hearing such a plea? Now that she was no longer an exile?

But Jeanne’s response was unexpected.

“You’ve… you’ve seen the state of my home, right? My family is ruined. I can’t offer you a dowry that would satisfy a Duke.”

She spoke of a dowry. Did she think he didn’t know? If he had wanted a dowry, he would have married a princess, not her.

“If you marry me, you’ll be ridiculed by the other nobles for marrying beneath your status. And not only that, but I… my family name will effectively cease to exist with my generation.”

“I don’t care.”

“If you weren’t planning to marry at all, I would understand, but if you intend to marry… there are many women more suitable than me. Even if not a princess of Lances…”

“Didn’t you tell me to find happiness by marrying someone I love?”

He desired nothing else, only her heart.

“Were those empty words?”

“No.”

“Then have you changed your mind? Do you no longer love me?”

Jeanne shook her head.

“Is there any other reason besides what you’ve already mentioned?”

She shook her head again.

“Then that’s all that matters.”

Baldr finally managed to rein in his racing heart.

‘I see.’

Jeanne truly loved him. And she had accepted his proposal. The realization filled him with a joy and surprise he had never experienced before. It was a strange, unfamiliar feeling, almost flustering him. It didn’t take him long to realize that this strange, ticklish feeling was happiness. He savored it for the first time, with Jeanne before him. It was incredibly sweet.

‘I didn’t regret it.’

His brother truly wouldn’t have regretted his decision, if he had felt this way about his wife.

He stood up, knelt before Jeanne, and looked up at her.

“I ask for your hand in marriage. Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

Her answer sent another wave of euphoria through him. He felt like he could do anything to preserve this feeling.

“I won’t let you regret this decision.”

Jeanne had accepted, but a formal proposal and preparations would take time. He wanted to give her something before he left, a token of his love, a promise that he wouldn’t change his heart. 

At that moment, he remembered the ring on his finger, the signet ring he had inherited along with his title. He took it off and tried to slide it onto her finger, but it was too big, fitting only on her thumb.

“I will return soon to formally ask for your hand.”

“No, I’ll go with you now.”

Jeanne’s firm words surprised Baldr, then filled him with overwhelming joy. Could he be this happy? He almost began to question reality.

“You will?”

And so, that afternoon, they boarded the carriage together. As the carriage rattled along the road, he asked,

“When… when did it begin? Since when did you… start to like me?”

He had been too afraid to ask before, but now that he knew she loved him, he had to know. At his question, a blush crept up Jeanne’s cheeks, coloring them like ripe apples.

“Do you… remember the book you gave me?”

“Book?”

“My grandfather’s book.”

He remembered. He had given her a book, searching his library for one that might have belonged to her grandfather, based on her description. But it had been such a trivial act for him.

“The book of fables.”

He had completely forgotten about it.

“Yes.”

Jeanne nodded, her gaze dropping to her lap, her cheeks still flushed.

“That book… led me to love you.”

Baldr was surprised. He had never imagined such a thing.

“That book?”

“…Yes.”

He frowned. He couldn’t understand how a book of fables could lead to love. It was just an old book. Moreover, if he remembered correctly, she had rejected him shortly after he gave her the book.

“How?”

He had to ask.

Jeanne recounted one of the fables from the book.

“After reading that story, I realized… that I was in love.”

“…”

Baldr still didn’t understand how the fable connected to her love for him. But if that book had led her to love him, he was, for the first time, grateful to his father for leaving him his vast collection of books.

“When did you start to love me?” Jeanne asked.

Baldr thought about it carefully. When had it started? 

He couldn’t pinpoint a specific moment, but countless moments he had shared with her flashed through his mind. In fact, they had only known each other for a year, and even then, they hadn’t seen each other every day. But that time had been really enjoyable. More so than all the long years before he met her.

“From the very beginning, I think.”

Yes, before Jeanne arrived, his days had been so tedious. He had felt like he didn’t need to live anymore, held together only by his duty and the weight of his title. But after she arrived…

“I liked you from the start.”

She had made life interesting. Her actions, her conversations, everything.

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but… perhaps it was love at first sight.” 

Baldr confessed. At his words, Jeanne gasped, her chest rising with her intake of breath.

“The first time we dined together… didn’t I throw up in front of you?”

“You did.”

“And before that, I hadn’t bathed in days and was probably filthy, like a sewer rat.”

“Were you? I don’t remember it being that bad.”

He didn’t recall that part clearly.

“What did you see in me?”

Jeanne pressed him for an answer, and he found himself revealing more of his heart.

“You were… interesting to be around. We could talk, we had similar interests… I don’t know. Those aren’t reasons. I just… liked everything about you. It felt like fate.”

Jeanne looked surprised.

“You can also say things like that?”

‘Things like what?’ he wondered, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Jeanne, her eyes shining, leaned back against the carriage seat.

“Now that I think about it, it does feel like fate. Was everything predetermined? For this moment?”

Was it? 

Baldr looked at her, her eyes like a lake shimmering in the sunlight. The lake in her eyes seemed to spill over into his own, slowly filling him from his toes to the top of his head. He soon felt complete, overflowing.

And now, feeling full, he realized how empty he had been for a very long time.

Empty and parched.

The carriage rattled again. He naturally stood up and went to sit beside Jeanne, putting his arm around her waist. He lowered his head, and Jeanne slowly closed her eyes. Looking at her long, fluttering eyelashes, Baldr placed his lips on hers.

‘Was my entire life leading up to this moment?’

The warmth and softness of her lips were indescribable. He held her tightly, vowing never to let her go.

‘Haven’t I endured all those meaningless years for this very moment?’

Jeanne’s hands reached up and wrapped around his neck, and after that, he could think no more. A wave of pure joy melted the ice around his heart.