https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/89/
Hello and welcome to the end! Becoming a teacher has taken up much of the time I used to have for doing this, and I’m unable to translate like I used to. I read this story almost two years ago, and for some reason, it always stayed in the edge of my mind. Eventually, when I wanted to get back into translating again, this was the story I thought of. It took a lot of digging through Syosetu to find it again, but it’s what I wanted. Thank you to everyone who stuck around until the end, and I hope you enjoyed your time with this.
Ceremony
Due to Akatsu’s gag order, Lily’s madness and the truth behind her engagement never became common knowledge amongst the people.
In the streets, the infuriating story they’re spreading is that Lily got on her hands and knees to beg for her freedom, and the two old men graciously gave it to her.
Whatever the story is, the fact that everyone there actually did what Akatsu wanted after that one little threat really goes to show how much power he has.
Lily stayed under house arrest in the Ruhuna mansion after the incident until the procedures to have her adopted by the Gray family is completed.
And today is the day when everything comes to a head, and Lily moves into the Gray home.
Despite it being their last day together, the Ruhunas informed Heath they were going to throw her out onto the street with nothing but the clothes on her back rather than share any kind of touching familial farewell. Akatsu is being thorough in showing his disapproval over Lily’s attentions to whoever may be watching.
So at Heath’s request, I traveled to the Ruhuna mansion in order to escort Lily to her new home.
One of the huge mansion’s side doors opened in front of me, and a beautiful woman wearing civilian clothes walked out. I doubt there are any beautiful silver haired woman who would come out of that building other than Lily.
All the soldiers standing guard straightened their backs and saw her off with tears in their eyes. Lily said farewell to each one of them as they walked past. It makes me happy to see how highly other people admire her.
When Lily saw me waiting for her, she ran over with a mischievous smile, clearly celebrating how everything had gone according to plan.
“Lily Gray, I presume?”
“I’m still not used to that name.”
“On that note, have you gained some weight?”
Lily poked my forehead.
“I’ve barely eaten anything since we were last together. I was holed up in my room for two weeks while you were ignoring my messages, and I felt too tired to work.
Lily puffed out her sunken cheeks and pretended to pout. You can say it’s only been two weeks, but we are talking about Lily who never missed a single morning workout no matter how late into the night we stayed up together. In that sense, I’d say it was two whole weeks. It’s probably going to be a while before she starts feeling like herself again.
But rather than being upset over what she’d been through, Lily just looked happy to have overcome possibly the largest wall in her life.
“Sorry, I just wanted to tease you a little. But come one, let’s go. Everyone is waiting for you.”
When I took Lily’s hand, she looked at me curiously.
“To Lord Gray’s manor? Will you be showing me around?”
“No, not yet. We’ve got somewhere else to stop by first.”
♠
Lily’s hand felt slightly cool as she let me lead her to a small church.
When we got to the church’s back door, I pulled out a blindfold for Lily to wear.
“Lily, I want to try my hand at playing with you while you’re blindfolded this time. How about it?”
“Now? Here? I’m not opposed, but….”
Obviously that’s not what I’m going for. We’re at a church, so despite her jokes, I doubt Lily really thinks that’s what we’re doing here.
Through the back door, we entered a small room that the priest would usually use to handle clerical affairs.
“Let’s get changed first Lily. Which would you prefer, a dress or a tuxedo?”
“I choose the dress.”
“I knew you would say that. That’s why I never had a tux prepped in the first place.”
“Of course you have several different dresses to choose from right? Show them to me quickly.”
“Oh…. because of budget constraints…. um…. I only have the one handsewn dress.”
An awkward silence settled between us.
“…..Naturally. I have been adopted by a lower noble family. I am going to need to change my way of thinking.”
Lily chided herself in a self-depreciating tone. She’s never been a very extravagant person, but even then, she probably didn’t realize just how nice she had it with the Ruhunas.
“But it’s really beautiful. Dahlia is great at sewing, and she was able to finish it in no time.”
“All right, then let me see it.”
“Nuh uh uh. Today is my day to do what I want with you.”
I pulled off Lily’s clothes while she was still blindfolded and pressed my lips against her skin for the first time in what felt like forever. I could see signs of her confinement all over, from the tone of her skin to the damage of her hair, but Lily is still Lily.
As my tongue slowly fell down her neck and back, Lily let out a long breath through her nose in satisfaction.
“Liffy, how sinful of you, doing something like this in a church.”
“Isn’t that what makes it so exciting?”
Lily turned around, taking my hand in hers to intertwine our fingers. I tried slowly untangling my hand from hers, but instead, I had my arm twisted and was shoved to me knees.
“Ouch! That hurts!”
“Thirty points. The blindfold was a good idea, and devouring each other in a church would feel amazing. However, you don’t know how to use your tongue. You’ve been so desperate to feel good whenever we’re together that you never bothered to learn any of my techniques.”
I never intended on us going all the way anyway, so I prepared a stunning white wedding dress as I listened to her chiding.
After standing to my feet and tightening the straps on her back, I admired the beauty of Lily’s bare shoulder blades standing out.
This is meant to be an amateur piece sewn by Dahlia’s hand, but her skill with embroidery shines through the small, intricate patterns she used to hem the edges. She should just make this her full time job.
“It’s a cute dress. Here, let me take off your blindfold.”
I moved Lily in front of a full-length mirror, giving her a good look of herself once the blindfold was taken off.
“How is it?”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Did Dahlia really make this? It looks like something you would have needed to special order from a renowned craftsman.”
Lily has a discerning eye, and she isn’t the type to give empty praise. If she’s going to say that much, then that all-nighter Dahlia put in was worth all the effort.
“You’ll have to tell her that yourself when you see her.”
On the other side of this room’s door is where everyone is anxiously waiting for us to appear. This is not the time for the two of us to be spending our time flirting.
I quickly changed into my own dress and finished putting on Lily’s makeup by myself.
When we looked into the mirror together, we saw two people wearing matching white dresses. The light bouncing off the earrings in their ears were the only thing setting them apart.
“Beautiful. Both of us.”
“I agree.”
Just for today, I thought of myself as beautiful as Lily. That way, Lily can leave the Ruhunas behind with no regrets.
“I know you’ve already realized what’s going on, but today will be our wedding. If you marry me, your name will go back to being Lily Ruhuna. It’ll be a commoner Ruhuna family though.”
She’s never said it outright, but I know from the way she talked about her family that Lily has always been proud of her Ruhuna name. So although this really isn’t much better than a formality, I thought doing this would give her some comfort. It would be problematic if I, Heath’s biological granddaughter, married into the Gray family, so it’d be better to have Lily marry and take my last name anyway.
Lily looked like she was about to cry when I told her that, but she scrunched her brow and forcibly stopped any tears from accidentally spilling out. Her makeup would be ruined if she were to cry right now, so maybe I should’ve saved that part for later.
“Today is not a day for tears. But thank you Liffy. You’ve made me so happy!”
Lily hugged me so tightly I thought the strength in her arms might just suffocate me. We’re keeping everyone waiting though, so I pried myself out from under her and took her hand instead.
“Come on, let’s go.”
With me in the lead, we left the small room and entered the inner part of the church.
“Ah! Finally! I was getting tired of waiting.”
“It is an important day, so it is only natural they would want to take their time. Now, quickly get up their and show us your most passionate kiss.”
Ran and Ren were wearing the formal attire of their hometown made form red fabric with gold accents. They had taken a seat in the pews with their backs up straight.
The eyes of Peony, Melia, Olive, Dahlia, Nerine, Rose, and Heath also focused on us as we entered. I invited all the people I thought had helped me since Lily and I met. There was one more girl sitting in the far back of the room. The reporter girl had wanted to cover the ceremony for the newspaper.
“Thank you for coming everyone. We can get started now….Heath-san?”
Unlike everyone else who were dressed in formal dresses and sitting in the pews, Heath had on a priest’s uniform and was standing behind the pulpit.
He nodded towards us, telling me he was ready to go, so we started down the while with our matching dresses dragging on the ground behind us.
“Heath-san is a priest?”
“When I explained what we were going to do to the real priest, he let us use the space, but he was a stubborn person who refused to be present for it. Personally, it is the wedding between my beloved granddaughter and daughter, so it is an honor for me to play such an important role.”
The priest’s reaction couldn’t be helped. It is unheard of for two people of the same sex to hold a wedding ceremony with both of us wearing dresses. However, this was the pledge I made when I became a hero, so I have no intention of stopping no matter what any of them say.
“I suppose I am the daughter, but….Liffy is your granddaughter?”
“I can tell you the details when we have time later. But for now, let’s get started!”
I stand right next to Lily in front of Heath.
“Um….then, ahem! Do you, Lily Gray–“
“I do! Liffy, I love you!”
Without letting Heath have any chance to start the ceremony, Lily grabbed my face and forcibly kissed me. I could hear a range of cheers and whoops coming from the crowd behind me.
“It’s good to see such a passionate couple. Then do you, Lily Ruhuna–“
“I do! I love you too!”
I could feel Lily’s expectations for me, so I cut off Heath’s words too and kissed Lily back.
“And it’s good to see the passion is mutual. Now then, Lily-san, if you would.”
On Heath’s cue, I pulled out the ring I had been keeping tucked between my breasts. It is the ring given to me by Don that was originally supposed to go to Grandma. Since it’s already mine, I wanted Lily to take it.
“You would keep something this important there.”
Lily held out her left hand while saying something sarcastic.
“I didn’t have anywhere else to hide it….there.”
It is a little too big for Lily with her long, thin fingers, but since she isn’t giong to be wearing it all the time, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
The two of us showed off the loosely sitting ring to everyone who was there with us.
“Then, you may now seal the committment and kiss the bride.”
The people in the crowd were probably all wondering if there was any point after we’d already kissed twice in the last couple minutes, but I can kiss this girl as many times as I need for the rest of my life.
I made eye contact with Lily. She grinned before catching my lips with enough force that my back arched back as far as it could. My head feels so heavy it seemed like I was going to fall over, but Lily supported me with her hands so I’d stay upright.
It was like the perfect symbol for our relationship which has always been, and always will, be the same.
Experimental Translations 