Side Story 16 : Before The Wedding

“……Ugh.”

I buried my face deeper in my pillow when the sound was ringing in my ears like a dream.

A chirping bird was heard from the window. The bed was warm, and the sun shone so so dazzling, so I wanted to sleep more like this.

“Get up, sister Hari!”

But the owner of that voice didn’t let me sleep any deeper.

“Oh…Louise?”

It was Louise who woke me up.

Last night, I forgot Louise came to play after a long time and slept in my room.

Although Louise was a brat, I was happily opened the door for her.

After that, we had a lot of fun to talk about until late at night and then fell asleep at some point.

Initially, Louise would fall asleep as soon as her head was on the pillow, so it was almost impossible to stay up all night together. But yesterday, she seemed to be holding back her sleepiness, trying to stay up late, and she told stories longer than usual.

Maybe that’s why I slept very soundly and had very pleasant dreams. But I couldn’t remember what it was about. Only a faint memory remained that seemed like someone’s wish for my happiness.

“Louise, why did you wake up already? What time is it now?” I asked Louise, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

“Already? Oh, sister, it’s 10 o’clock now!”

“What?!” I was startled and jumped out of my bed.

Louise must have just woken up, too, because her appearance was as disheveled as I was.

“Is it really 10 o’clock? Why didn’t anyone wake us up? “

“I don’t know, I’ll call the maid first,”

After Louise pulled the string, the maids came into the room with washing water.

“Miss, are you awake?”

“Yes, good morning.” I greeted her thoughtfully but then asked her, “But why didn’t anyone wake me? Isn’t everyone waiting?”

“The Duke told me not to wake you up. He also contacted the boutique early in the morning. He said that it was okay to prepare leisurely; no need to rush because he has delayed the visit to this afternoon.”

Only after hearing those words did I feel a little relieved. I was glad that Eugene had delayed the reservation. But it’s a bit embarrassing because the cause was that I overslept.

“I see~So, what are they doing now?”

“The Duke and second master are out, and the third young master is downstairs.” said the maid.

Not everyone was waiting for us to wake up. Eugene and Cabel seemed to have gone out to sort out their own business.

But at least now I had to show my face to Erich, who was waiting alone. So I hurriedly washed my face and headed downstairs immediately.

---

“Erich.”

“What, the sun is already in the middle of the sky, and only now you came out.”

Erich was seen drinking coffee alone gracefully.

“Sorry, have you been waiting long?”

“No. I knew this was going to happen since the two of you went into the room together yesterday.”

Oh, how did he know that? I never slept with Louise like this before, though.

Erich, who seemed to notice my amazement, immediately snorted and said, “Louise kept raving in my ear for almost a month that she would be playing with you all night when she visited again. When she suddenly came over yesterday, I realized she was finally here.”

I didn’t understand why Louise was so excited. But it was really fun last night.

Oh, but wasn’t Erich’s words just now quite shocking too? I couldn’t believe he would listen to Louise babbling every day for almost a month.

I knew that they hang out together a lot lately, but it seemed they met each other almost every day, without us knowing.

“Wait, what with that stupid gaze!?” The quick-witted Erich noticed my gaze and raised his eyes. “You’re thinking something weird again, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Oh, it’s not like what people think, I only met her a few times because I was bored, and I got along well with her.”

“Hoo, I see, but I didn’t say anything.”

Somehow, Erich looked nervous. Seeing him, I tried to hold back the laughter that was about to come out of my mouth.

Looking at his temper, he would definitely get mad if I kept teasing him, so I decided to stop here and apologize to Erich for my lateness.

“Anyway, sorry I overslept.”

“It’s fine. Rather, brother Cabel is thrilled.” Erich said in a blunt voice. “At first, he was upset that he’s the only one who had to go to work in the morning. And he was delighted when he found out if it was delayed until afternoon, so he could choose dress together with you. Well, that’s great. At least we don’t have to hear his whining.”

I laughed at Erich…this guy, why was his heart so warm? Pretended not to, but he’s a very considerate person, so he didn’t want me felt guilty.

“Yes, when Cabel comes, can we go out after lunch. Is Penny sleeping right now?”

“Oh. Penny fell asleep at dawn, so he’s still not awake now.”

“Then did you stay all night too?”

“No, I slept a little, and I’m fine because I’m not sleepy now.”

Pennie was old now, so she was getting sick more often. But, Erich didn’t leave Penny in the other people’s hands unless he needed the help of specialists like a doctor.

Erich’s sleep time became irregular. So, no wonder he’d been drinking coffee since morning.

I wasn’t only worried about Penny, but also Erich, as his beloved dog’s health had gotten worse lately. Because I knew how much Erich cherished her.

“We have to be quiet, then. Don’t wake Penny up.”

But as soon as I said so, a loud voice suddenly rang in my ears.

“I’m here! You’ve all been waiting for me, haven’t you?”

“Hey, be quiet! Penny is sleeping.” Erich flinched and scolded Louise, who appeared while shouting loudly.

Louise quickly lowered his voice, “Does Penny hurt again? She’s sick? She looked fine yesterday.”

“She’s not sick, but she has irregular sleep time.”

“I brought a lot of snacks to give Penny. Can I give it to her?”

“It’s fine to eat some. You can give it to her later.” Erich was annoyed when someone fed Penny carelessly but still, he did a special favor for Louise.

In some way, Louise was the only outsider that Erich allowed to give Penny snacks in person.

“Then, you two stay here for a while, I’ll change clothes first and get down again.”

I went upstairs and left them both in the living room. I hadn’t changed clothes yet because at first, I came down just to see Erich for a while.

Unintentionally, I ran into Eugene, who came out of the room; he seemed to have just returned home.

“Oh? Brother, are you here.”

“Hari.”

Eugene was also about to come down when I was going to meet Erich and Louise in the living room.

“Brother, I was just about to go downstairs now.”

“I heard you were awake, so I wanted to say hello to you. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. Where were you going?”

When I looked at him, Eugene’s expression softened. He smiled warmly, “I took a short trip for a while because Rowengreen asked me to come since I had to check something myself, but it wasn’t very important.”

“It’s okay? Do you have time in the afternoon? Because I overslept.”

When I asked him apologetically, Eugene laughed, covering my cheek with his hand. Then he kissed my forehead as lightly as a feather, “I always have plenty of time for you.”

My face immediately flushed with embarrassment when I heard his words that were as sweet as sugar.

“Besides, I know, it’s a very important day, so of course I have to be with you.”

My heart was touched, whereas I was fine even though he couldn’t go with me. When I smiled at him, Eugene also turned to smile at me. At that time, I suddenly thought of something.

“Brother, hold still for a minute.” I hold Eugene’s face with her hand and stared at him.

“What’s wrong?” Eugene startled, questioning my sudden behavior, but he didn’t try to take my hand off and just stayed silent as I told him.

Then I said, looking seriously to his face, “I think I saw you in my dream last night.”

Eugene tilted his head, making a weird expression, “Really? What was your dream?”

“Actually, I don’t really remember my dream, but I’m sure it was you.”

When my gaze met Eugene’s eyes in front of me, I was slightly embarrassed since I wasn’t the type of person who got excited over a single dream. However, since this morning, I kept thinking about the dream I had yesterday.

I slap Eugene in the chest as a joke, “If you’re hiding something from me, tell me, I think you wanted to say something until you came to my dream last night.”

Listening to my whimper, Eugene laughed wrapped my hands around him, “Maybe, you missed me so much that you dreamed about me at night.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“No?”

“Well, it’s not true.” I tilted my head to him as if it were secret and whispered softly.

Eugene’s smiling lips were falling into my hands, “After we’re married, you shouldn’t accept other guests, including Louise, for a while.”

“What, do you mean, you don’t want someone else to take me for even a day?”

“Did you just know?” Eugene whispered jokingly and leaned his head over me.

But, the moment he was about to touch my lips, a loud voice was heard from downstairs.

“Woohoo!! I’m here! Has everyone been waiting for me?

“Brother Cabel! Penny is sleeping, so be quiet!”

“Hung … Penny is sick again?”

“She’s not sick …… Oh wait, I think I’ve heard this question a while ago.”

It seemed that Cabel had returned home. I could hear the conversation between him, Erich, and Louise in the living room.

“Brother, is there a sibling secret between you and Louise? Why do I feel that the two of you are so similar to the way you talk? “

“What are you talking about?! Cabel is your brother, not mine,” shouted Louise.

“Eh? What are you talking about? Why should I imitate you? It’s you who imitated me!”

Eugene and I spat something out of our mouth at the same time, not knowing whether it was a sigh or a laugh.

“We have to go down.”

“Yeah.”

Eugene lifted his head after giving me a light kiss. I took his hand and went down together to the living room.

“But you know, I think it would be nice to go a little farther for our honeymoon.”

At the same time, Eugene stopped talking quietly.

He was now very good at talking like that. I hold my breath as he looked at me closely. Feeling so ashamed that I was coughing a lot to avoid his gaze.

“But, it’s a secret to Cabel and Erich. If they find out, they might be sad.”

Eugene stopped walking and didn’t say anything, so I grabbed his hand first.

“Oh, wait.”

But the next moment, my hands were pulled back, and I went back to where I was.

When I came to my senses, I was already in his arms, fully embraced by Eugene. Now that I was used to it, Eugene’s arms wrapped me so tightly that I couldn’t breathe.

“… you look pretty just by breathing. But what should I do if you said such a beautiful words like that?” Eugene leaned his head against mine.

“I don’t want to let you go.”

His whispering sound titillated my ears. Then I smiled and hugged him back.

“I think it’s too long until the wedding. Should we move the date forward?” asked Eugene.

“We’ve arranged it as quickly as possible. If you want to move the date again, do you want to get married tomorrow?”

“That’s good, too.”

Of course, I liked that idea, but it was practically impossible. Eugene knew it’s difficult to move the date forward, so he actually said so just as a regret.

After that, we hugged closely for a brief moment, as if we were competing with each other who hugged tighter.

“Hari, your brother is here!”

From the downstairs, the voice of Cabel’s screamed rumbled again. He seemed impatient to wait any longer and made the sound of shoe steps as if he was climbing the stairs.

“Oh, really. Brother Cabel, I told you to be quiet, didn’t I?”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot, I’ll be really quiet now. Can I speak in this volume?”

“Lower it again!”

“This much?”

“Just don’t open your mouth at all!”

I could hear Erich said savagely to Cabel from the upstairs.

Now it was time to really went down. Eugene and I laughed and held hands together, heading to the downstairs where everyone had been waiting for us.