Chapter 200:
Courtship
“VIO? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?”
“I’m fine.” Violette giggled. “My wound’s been healed for quite some time now.”
“I know. But let me know if your feet start hurting.”
“I will, thanks.”
Although Yulan was walking around with Violette, he still couldn’t help but worry about letting her get hurt. Her cheeks had returned to a healthy color, but she still felt the anguish in Yulan’s apparently soothing gaze.
“Are you at all cold, Lady Violette?” Marin piped up from Yulan’s other side.
“I’m fine. Just relax, you two.”
Marin wasn’t wearing her usual maid’s uniform. She’d donned a simple jacket and slacks, and her arms were empty, since she’d dropped off their belongings in the car along the way.
Violette could never have imagined herself on an outing with these two. When Yulan suggested it the other day, she couldn’t believe her ears. But since the idea didn’t bother her, she still agreed to it.
She did feel a bit guilty that the date fell on Marin’s day off. The maid had already sacrificed her fair share of days off when they lived at the Vahan estate.
“Sorry we had to leave so early in the morning,” Yulan apologized. “But we could only get the place to ourselves at this hour.”
“To ourselves…?”
Violette initially hadn’t known where Yulan was taking them, but from the roads they took, she got a pretty good idea. Thus, it came as little surprise to her when they reached the large cathedral’s gate.
The day was so young that some people were still eating breakfast. Violette had assumed that was why the place was so deserted; she had no idea Yulan had rented it just for them. She was astonished that that was even possible, and even more curious to know why Yulan needed to rent it. She looked up at him inquisitively, but all she received in reply was his usual smile.
They stepped inside to find the cathedral empty. Not only were there no worshippers, even the priests and nuns were nowhere in sight—probably because Yulan had rented the place.
As he stood there in silence, Violette addressed him cautiously. “Yulan…?”
“Oops, sorry… Just noticing the designs of the stained glass.”
“Mm-hmm… But you’ve never set foot in a church, Yulan. Not even when you were little.”
“Yeah. They just didn’t feel like places I belonged… This is only my second time in this church.”
“You’ve been here before?”
Since Yulan had despised holy places ever since his youth, Violette just assumed he’d never been to a church. That said, two visits over his entire life in Duralia was already very infrequent churchgoing.
“Well, one year ago, on this very day…that’s when I came here.”
There was a hurt yet sweet smile on Yulan’s face. Not from his reminiscing but from the sting of an old, unhealed wound. What, Violette wondered, did he see in that stained glass?
He reached out and touched her hair, her cheek, her lips. Although his touch was rather platonic for a fiancé, it had too much weight to feel like a sign of playful affection. He traced Violette’s curves, as if to assure himself that she was warm…that she was there…that she was alive.
“Listen, Vio—”
Yulan’s fingers slid down Violette’s face, then found her hand and laced through her own fingers. Violette looked up to see not a smile but nervously parted lips beneath a solemn gaze.
“I…I messed up over and over. I made the wrong choices, and I hurt you, Vio. I wanted to do better…but I just couldn’t.”
To Violette, this was a confession of love—and to Yulan, it was a confession of guilt.
“But giving up wasn’t an option. I’d rather have died. If I gave up, I’d live only to love you, until I could no longer breathe.”
As Yulan slowly lowered himself to one knee, he brought their clasped hands to his forehead in a gesture of penance, entreaty, promise, and prayer. His fingers trembled slightly on top of Violette’s. He was scared of something…of someone.
Before Violette could question any of this, Yulan looked up at her. When his lustrous golden eyes pierced her, her heart pounded louder and stronger in her ears.
“I don’t believe in God, so I won’t vow to him. I only believe in you, Violette. I vow to cherish you. I vow…to keep you happy for the rest of your life. I love you with all my heart. I will join your life if you’ll join mine.”
Something soft, yet slightly rough, touched Violette’s hand, then parted with a darling little kiss. When Yulan looked back up at her, his usual smile had returned. It was all so natural, it took Violette a little while to realize what had just happened.
Her face abruptly burning, Violette knew without looking in a mirror that she was as red as a beet. Eyes wide as saucers, she opened and closed her mouth with silent gasps. Her eyes swam with every emotion from shock to shame to jubilation.
Yulan had known he’d get this reaction and didn’t seek an answer from Violette. Or rather, he took her blushing face as his answer. He rose to his feet, stretched wide, and yawned, looking as if a big burden had just lifted from his shoulders.
“During our wedding, I’ll have to make a vow to you in front of God. So I just had to tell you how I feel before then.”
“Well…I understand that—but—”