"You can't even imagine how I feel right now."
I heard a voice that was slightly trembling at the end. Because I was holding him tightly, my body shook slightly whenever Dante spoke.
With my eyes closed, I asked with a smile.
"How are you?"
"I'm happy. To the point of being scared."
His voice rippled like waves and rippled through my chest.
"So this is what it feels like to have something to protect. I didn't know it before."
Dante whispered while kissing my hair. He didn't say anything else, but I felt like I knew what was going to happen.
Having something to protect meant having something I couldn't lose. The more precious something became, the more I feared the loss. What if I had to fumble with the cold bed again? What if the horn blew again? What if I lost the person I loved again?
Just as shadows appear when there is light, such anxiety spreads without ever disappearing. But it was okay now. Even though I was just being held in his arms, I felt like I was wrapped in a solid fortress.
"I know how you feel. I feel the same way."
"You? Why you?"
Dante looked down at me with surprised eyes.
"You don't have to. I'll protect you no matter what."
"Just me?"
I smiled and pretended to cover my stomach.
"What if the child hears this and gets upset?"
"Ah."
Dante frowned, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. I'm not used to it yet. Of course, I'll protect our child."
Our child. I never thought that day would come when that common word would sound so pleasant. I smiled and whispered.
"But, Duke. Didn't you say you had somewhere to take me?"
Dante checked his watch as if he had just remembered.
"Oh, it's already this much time."
Then he wrapped his arms around my exposed arms and clicked his tongue.
"You, you're cold. You've been out for too long in this biting wind. Your body must be sensitive... Right. Proposing isn't the issue right now."
Huh?
I looked up in surprise. I thought I'd just heard something very important.
'You clearly said it was a proposal, right?'
At that moment, the blueprint in the drawer flashed through my mind. Even the note was written on it.
[But Master, I did recommend that a meaningful proposal gift be given, but I didn't mention a building. What if you feel burdened? Rio, who always supports the love of the two of you.]
A marriage proposal.
I was taken aback when I first saw that word. We had already been married for a long time. But if I think about it, there was no proper marriage proposal between us.
To be exact, at that time, we had only entered into a contract mediated by a marriage relationship. Dante planned to make our marriage 'real'. It was so touching that I couldn't express it in words.
At the time I saw the note, I couldn't even be calmly moved because of the situation, but the more I thought about it, the more a smile came out. But then...
"Let's go home, Ariana."
I looked up at Dante, who was urging me, with blank eyes.
"You want to go back?"
"Yes."
Dante tried to take me away with an impatient look. I was dumbfounded, and I held on tightly to my feet.
"Ariana?"
When I didn't move, Dante made a bewildered expression. I stubbornly looked up at him.
'You want us to just go back like this?'
Then what about the marriage proposal?
"Ariana, I should go back. I've been out too long already."
Dante tried to comfort me as I held on. I shook my head and grabbed his sleeve.
"No, Duke. Since I'm already out, I'll stop by. You said you had a place to stop by when you left."
"But the wind..."
"I'm really fine."
I quickly reassured him. It was a perfect spring day, enough for flowers to bloom, but the wind was cold. I reflected on how fragile my Image was inside Dante's mind.
'If this keeps up, I think I'll really have to go home.'
Dante had said he had a place to stop by when he left today. As if he had something more important to do than meeting the Emperor. It was the same for me. I couldn't ruin what could have been our real wedding anniversary just because the wind was cold. I urged him again.
"You've prepared something for me, right? I'm curious. I want to see it."
"But..."
"Please."
As I looked up with earnest eyes, Dante finally gave in.
"Take this instead."
Dante said as he put the coat I was wearing on my shoulders.
"It's hot..."
Even though it was a light material on a spring day, wearing two coats made me feel warm, almost hot. However, if I refused this, I felt like I would really be carried home, so I obediently buttoned up the collar of my coat.
'I need to get rid of my weak image quickly.'
I made that decision in my head.
***
We headed to the Fountain Square. The closer we got to the square, the more crowded it became. The more people were chattering.
"What on earth is that?"
"I don't know. No one would know."
"Who on earth would do something like that in such a huge building..."
When I looked up, I saw that everyone was looking up at one place and chattering. It was always a place with a lot of people, but today, the atmosphere was different.
"What's there?"
I followed the crowd and looked up, startled.
"Oh my god."
What on earth was that?
A huge building reminiscent of a palace was covered entirely in cloth. The lovely pink cloth was wrapped with a red ribbon, reminiscent of gift wrapping...
No way!
It couldn't have been true, I thought, because our path was heading towards the wrapped building too precisely.
'Oh my God.'
Finally standing in front of the building, I was astonished. It was a building so large that I had to bend my head to see it. The cute wrapping paper covering it was so large that it felt deceptive. I was surprised when I saw the word 'building' in Rio's memo, but...
'No matter what, I didn't expect it to be this big.'
I stuttered, bewildered by the slightly, no, much larger scale than I had expected.
"Duke, no way."
Instead of answering, Dante nodded somewhere. Then the huge ribbon unraveled and the pink cloth slid down. I was speechless at the sight that appeared beyond.
"Wow."
This exclamation did not come from my mouth.
"Oh my God!"
"Wow, what on earth is that?"
The people surrounding me were saying all the exclamations for me. I looked up, half astonished.
It was a beautiful building. It was so beautiful that it felt like a great work of art in itself.
"It's beautiful..."
"It's like a palace where a princess lives!"
I heard a child exclaim excitedly.
"Ah..."
I was still speechless, staring blankly at the gift. The dome shone golden in the afternoon sunlight. The elegant arched windows and the ornate, delicate pillars. It wasn't just because everything was beautiful that I was so amazed.
"How?"
I moved my trembling lips.
"You know... I have a dream. I have my own, that..."
"An opera house."
"Oh... Yes. I want an opera house. And I've decided on a really cool name for it."
"..."
"I'm going to name it Paradise. What do you think?"
When I was a child, I had clearly said only that. Above the entrance made of a huge ivory arch, I saw beautiful handwriting.
'Paradise.'
The absurd dream of my childhood. How could that dream come true in such a perfect way before my eyes?
"How did you know?"
I stammered.
"That's exactly what my dream looked like."
As if I had entered and exited my dream. Dante looked down at me and smiled.
"I'm glad you like it."
Do you like it? That was a feeling that could not be expressed in words. What words could possibly fully convey the intense emotions that were swirling inside me right now?
"It's a gift, Ariana."
Dante said lightly as if he was handing me a necklace.
"Of course, you have the Lopez House now, but I definitely wanted to give you this with my own hands. Use it as an annex."
Where else can you find such a huge annex?
Even when I was speechless, I felt like I could laugh at those words. I couldn't laugh or cry, and I didn't know what to do, but Dante bent one knee.
"Ariana."
I looked down at the man kneeling in front of me, holding my breath.
"It's late, but I want to button up the first button even now."
I clenched my teeth desperately. I thought I would cry if I didn't. Dante looked up at me with eyes shining brightly in the afternoon sunlight.
"Will you marry me?"
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