Chapter 22: Chapter 22

DAHLIA:

My heart was ecstatic. I could also feel Eva howling excitedly inside of me, wagging her tail like pet dog. A tingling sensation ran into my veins, and for the first time, I wanted to smile and cry some more. However, all I could do at that time was gaze stupidly back at my mate and utter incomprehensible words.

“Wha – How? Why?”

Although I am beyond happy with his sudden proposal, the sense of dread I felt when I remembered papa’s words of killing Tristan came back to me, and I felt the blood leave my face almost instantaneously.

“Dahlia, I know you fear for my life, but I assure you that I am not someone that can easily be defeated. Your father cannot harm me just as he could never come to harm you too.”

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“If you fear that the citizens of Talandor will become frightened of you and abhor you for your powers, you’re wrong… That wasn’t what I had seen at all. They certainly loved you.”

As soon as Tristan finished his speech, he produced a piece of paper from his pocket and handled it to me. “I have contacted all the newspapers companies in the kingdom to publish this, and I had given out these pamphlets on the streets myself…”

I looked at it and saw that it was an article about me and my volunteer work throughout the years. There were interviews of people whom I had healed and testimonies of how kind and gentle I was. The mother and daughter from Hildt that I had also helped last time were interviewed there too. The mother called me an absolute angel, and she said she could never fathom the idea that I could be anything else than that despite being able to use a rare kind of ability.

After reading it, I felt speechless. It was as if all my worries and fears of being shunned away melted into the air.

“Dahlia, everything that your papa told you was a lie… People wouldn’t hate you for your powers. If anything, they loved you. They wish you well, and they certainly wanted you to be free and happy.”

Free and happy… That’s right. Those were the two things I had longed for since I was young. I wanted to be loved under the sunshine and not be hidden in the shadows. I wanted to run into the open grounds and be told that I was a special person… That I had the right to decide my fate and be happy with the person I want to be with…

“Dahlly, what do you say? Won’t you come and run away with me? Come with me, please… You have nothing to fear anymore. I shall give you the freedom you deserve and the love you longed for so much in this life. I won’t let your father hurt you anymore. Please accept me as your mate and as your spouse. Marry me…”

The carriage we were sitting in has stopped by the bridge where the sea breeze mingled with the town’s scent of firewood and flowers, and here I am hand in hand with my mate. How romantic can this ever get?

A tear fell down my face as I nodded in agreement. “Yes,” I breathed in. “I will marry you, Tristan Abell. I shall be your wife.”

There was nothing else that held me back. He accepted a part of me that I always avoided, that I thought should always remained in the dark, and he made others accept that hidden part of me too…

For the first time, I tilted my head excitedly on one side and accepted his kiss with pleasure.

******************************

FIFTH MONTH OF YEAR 992, TWO MONTHS AFTER.

DAHLIA:

“Is this the last luggage, Lina,” I said. She nodded at me and wiped the sweat off her forehead. I smiled at her, and she grinned back with renewed vigor.

“It’s a bit hot and stuffy in here. Would you like me to make you some lemon juice, Lady Abell?”

I smiled once more to Lina, my face coloring up at the way she had just addressed me. “Yes, that’ll be good.”

As soon as she curtsied and came out of the room, I opened the window to invite some fresh air in.

I can’t believe that it was summertime already! Indeed, time has flown by so swiftly that I almost cannot believe that this season I loved had already arrived.

If anyone could have told me that my life will change in two months’ time, I wouldn’t have believed them.

Indeed, in the two months that had gone by, my reputation in Talandor had turned into ways I had never expected it to be. I had been engaged, had been forced to wed, had ran away from the said wedding, and had ended up marrying the man that my heart longed for. Instead of becoming the future queen of Talandor, I had become Countess Abell of Crohmwall District and I shall now be training to become a full-pledged healer.

I smiled as I remembered the day it all happened. At the very moment that I said yes to Tristan’s proposal, we got off from my wedding carriage and boarded another carriage with Lina. While travelling with us, I had learned that Lina had been scouted by Tristan the day after my engagement party to help him accomplish this elaborate plan of ‘rescuing’ me.

“Lady Dahlia,” Lina said as she held my hand inside the new carriage. “I hope now you’ll really get to be happy this time.”

I cried as I hugged her. Since she had become my attendant, Lina had always followed my father’s requests to a fault that I never expected she’ll take my side like this. Indeed, Lina was more like my sister than anything else!

“Where do we go from here then? How shall we escape,” I asked Tristan after recovering from my crying instance with Lina.

“We are all going to our fief at Crohmwall District, but before that, we’ll have to proceed with our wedding first.”

My mouth must have dropped so low that Lina tried to stifle her laugh. “What do you mean our wedding?”

“Dahlly, I don’t want your father to steal you away again. Let’s get married now before we go back home. Otherwise, your father will have a legitimate reason to snatch you away, and I don’t want that.”

I looked back at Tristan, fingering the engagement ring he had given me a few minutes ago, still stunned at his plan. I have heard of whirlwind romances before, but a whirlwind wedding – is there even such a thing?

Sure enough, we arrived at a small countryside church for the Moon Goddess an hour after I ran away from my grand wedding with Kaist. It was so quiet that I thought no one could possibly be there, but as soon as the door was opened, I knew I had judged it too soon.

The inside was beautiful decorated with peach and white roses. Each stained glass windows was draped with lovely laced curtains, and the path going to the altar was populated with rose petals.

“How did you prepare all of this,” I asked Tristan back in astonishment.

“Lina has helped me a lot. She knew the things you liked best, and I just followed through.”

I turned my gaze back at Lina, who was walking behind me. Her face showed a satisfied grin. It occurred to me that Lina and Tristan had already assumed that I would agree to his proposal to be able to pull off this scheme, but what if I didn’t, or what if they got caught by papa? What could have happened to my attendant and my mate then?

“Is it to your liking,” Tristan asked, shattering my unhappy thoughts away.

“Yes,” I said, my heart overflowing with joy. “I love it.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you the elaborate wedding that you deserve, but I assure you that I will try to give you the best that I could offer, including all of me,” Tristan whispered, and my heart instantly fluttered.

“Are you giving your wedding vows now? I thought the wedding hasn’t started yet,” I said blushing deeply.

In no time, my real wedding started with Lina and Gideon, Tristan’s assistant, taking the part of our witnesses. We exchanged the traditional wedding rings and wedding vows, and after the priestess had proclaimed us as husband and wife, Tristan pulled me closer by the waist, and he planted his lips upon mine.

I was hers, and he was mine. We were each others’ mates from now, going forward.

My wedding felt like a dream. I was on cloud nine on that day, and my bliss continued until our very first night together.