The Crown's Obsession

The others, who were present in the church, watched the couple and listened to the priest's words who performed the ceremony. They were more than happy to see Lucy and Theodore finally getting married to each other.

Standing four steps away from Lucy, Madeline felt her husband's gaze on her, and her eyes shifted to look at him. Her lips widened with a smile when he didn't look away. Calhoun had always been too bold for her, it had been hard to handle those emotions, but she had gotten used to it. She subtly raised her eyebrows, questioning if something happened, but she only received a mischievous smile from him.

"Repeat after me," said the priest, "I, Theodore, take you Lucy, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."

Theodore repeated every word that the priest said. Gabriel then turned to Lucy, "I, Lucy, take you Theodore, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part," and Lucy did the same.

"The rings," said Gabriel.

Madeline, who held Lucy's bouquet, brought the box forward that she had been carrying to give it to Lucy and Calhoun on the other side, passed on the ring that Theodore was going to help Lucy wear.

After pushing the ring on Theodore's ring finger, Lucy brought her own hand forward, and she felt him slide the delicate ring on her ring finger before holding her hands again.

Gabriel then said, "I believe there is no objection with anyone who is here with these two lovely people's union, and now that the bride and the groom have accepted each other's vows. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride now."

On hearing the priest's words, Lucy had felt the attention on her grow more, and a blush appeared on her cheeks, seeing Theodore step forward.

Calhoun's gaze turned to the side where the musicians were sitting in the corner of the room, and he quietly brought his hand up, rotating his finger, and on cue, the sound of the music went higher as if the entire church was bursting with happiness and joy.

Lucy felt her heart thump as Theodore got closer to her. He whispered to her, "How would you like to kiss me, my wife?"

The butterflies in her stomach grew more like a tornado, and she whispered back, "However you would like to, my husband."

Theodore circled one of his hands around Lucy's waist, bringing her closer to him with a small gasp escaping her lips. The gentle smile transformed to a s.e.xy one, and Theodore leaned in to place his lips on hers, kissing her.

Lucy could feel her toes curl because of the kiss, and she kissed him back. It was a sweet kiss, everything she had wanted and dreamt of before they broke from the kiss with smiles on their face.

Vladimir quietly snapped his fingers, and pink petals of cherry blossoms gently fell from the church's ceiling downwards, where the bride and the groom stood. The petals disappeared once they touched the ground, and everyone looked at the petals that started to shower from nowhere before they started to congratulate the newlyweds.

Lucy's happiness knew no bounds, and the smile on her lips continued to stay as if it was not going anywhere and was here to stay with her. Holding the bouquet again in one of her hands that Madeline passed to her, while the other was Theodore's hand, they were the first to step out of the church as husband and wife, bound by marriage everyone who were present had approved.

"What about the other traditions followed by the humans?" questioned Calhoun, who had found his way back to stand near Madeline. He had both his hands around his wife.

"You mean throwing the flowers?" asked Madeline, turning to look at him, and he hummed in response.

Lady Monique, hearing this, said, "It would be lovely to have it done, but then with one already, it leaves only me and Lady Helena. Lucy dear, you can hand the bouquet."

Lucy looked back and forth between her aunt and the head of the High House, who looked taken aback. As she already knew her aunt's thoughts about her wedding, Lucy went straight and handed the flowers to the High House woman.

Helena was startled by this action, and a frown appeared on her face, "I believe the tradition is about throwing the flowers backwards."

"Keep it," came Vladimir's voice. "It isn't right to refuse such beautiful flowers from the lovely bride," and the corner of his lips pulled up.

Madeline's eyebrows raised, and she looked at Calhoun in question, and he winked back at her. Vladimir had been extra nice today, which was a little suspicious.

Helena turned annoyed by Vladimir's words, knowing the underlying meaning as she had heard about getting the flowers prepared by Vladimir before the ceremony had started. Not wanting to be rude to the new bride, she took it without any complaints.

"How do you like the flowers? I have a whole garden of it," flirted Vladimir when Lucy went back to Theodore, talking to him and the others.

"What do you expect me to reply?" Helena's eyes had narrowed, and her words were direct as her eyes stared back into the Devil's eyes.

The first time when they had met in the cold snow where the dead bodies of the demons laid on the snowy ground, she was sure it was him who had killed all of them. She had sensed something more malicious and eerie about this person, and now that she knew who he really was, she couldn't help but stay on her guard.

"That you will come by the mansion to see and smell it?" Vladimir said it with the same straight face as Helena, and her lips twitched.