The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 47

“(Well, it’s just that I don’t think Zakari is the type to have his heart fluttered by a mere flower scent.)”

“Hmph. Does it matter if it pleases me?”

Zakari chuckled and gently placed the flower on his desk.

He never dreamed she would come to thank him. He felt like he should be the one thanking her for staying by that reckless fool’s side.

Besides, with Zerachiel doting on her so much, such formalities were unnecessary.

Even if she rode on a lion’s back and pretended to be a lion, Zerachiel would be delighted. He might even brainwash the Jabez family into thinking, ‘From now on, Chichi is a lion.’

“I don’t know if this is okay.”

What’s done was done. He had subtly leaked the news of his marriage to the head of Louyen in Hebel, so it was only a matter of time before the rumor spread across the continent.

Recalling the events in Hebel naturally brought Wilhelm’s words to mind.

‘Are you really not thinking of taking Rachel back?’

‘It’s over, Elder.’

Wilhelm frowned at Zakari’s firm answer. Rachel was the one who had run away from Jabez Castle in the first place, but Zakari was being so adamant, which was why he was acting like this.

Wilhelm didn’t seem to know the details of the conflict between Rachel and him. That’s why he kept showing such lingering feelings.

Wilhelm still didn’t seem to have given up on him and Rachel. He defended Rachel, trying to persuade Zakari.

‘My daughter may say she doesn’t like it, but don’t you know? She keeps growling and lingering around because she has regrets.’

‘Rachel has always been sharp-tongued.’

‘I had to forcibly stop her from coming to this event.’

‘You must have gone through a lot.’

Wilhelm looked tired of Zakari’s polite but firm rejection.

In fact, Zakari knew it too. That Rachel still had feelings for him.

Knowing that, he should cut her off more decisively, but Zakari was also the one with lingering feelings.

Although he couldn’t hold onto her because he was dying, he always found comfort in Rachel looking for him and bickering.

So, he pretended not to know and played along. He checked her reactions, thinking, ‘She still loves me,’ and felt a little pathetic, but what could he do?

Rachel probably knew what kind of guy he was. That’s why she wouldn’t approach him, which must have frustrated her.

Eventually, she would let go first.

He didn’t know when that day would come, but he was always prepared. For Rachel to forget about someone like him and move on.

It was a ridiculous thought. It was the kind of rationalization a fool would make, someone who had let go first but found comfort in the fact that the other person was still holding on.

‘Don’t you think your ambiguous attitude is making things harder for my daughter?’

‘…….’

‘I’ll ask you one more time. Are you really not going to take her back?’

‘……No.’

As soon as he finished speaking, Wilhelm got angry and left. It was a situation that would make any father with a daughter angry.

Wilhelm, who had been silent all along, had finally stepped in, so Zakari thought that the day he had been hoping would come later might come sooner.

Zakari shook off the heavy feeling and changed the subject.

“The invitations?”

A month later, the Jabez family’s direct line wedding would be held. It was a big event that wouldn’t have enough preparation even if they rushed.

So, Zakari was directly managing the entire wedding. He was uneasy about leaving it all to Zerachiel.

Herman handed him the completed version along with a list of families to invite.

“Here is the completed version. And I’ve roughly compiled a list. Is it okay to proceed like this?”

“Hmm.”

Zakari carefully examined the list. At the top were families friendly to Jabez, followed by families with whom they maintained exchanges.

And at the very end were families who had formed friendships through the Hebel Treaty. Page in the North, Louyen in the East, and Han in the West were representative.

Zakari pondered as he looked at the invitation list of one family. Judging from his conversation with Wilhelm last time, he could already see Rachel arguing about whether or not to attend.

Still, it was her son’s wedding, so she couldn’t not send her.

“She’ll be furious that she found out about her son’s wedding so late.”

Zakari chuckled, imagining Rachel bursting into flames.

He would have to make the door out of stronger steel this time so she couldn’t break it down. No, she might get hurt…….

Herman watched him quietly and said,

“I’m thinking of personally visiting the Han family to deliver the invitation. And to explain the situation.”

As expected, his aide was able to handle things without him having to say anything. Zakari nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Do that.”

* * *

Zerachiel stared intently at a black door with an indifferent expression. The door stood alone in the desolate field. To anyone else, it would look like an awkward sight, as if only the doorframe had been erected.

But this black door was not just some discarded doorframe. It was the entrance to the secret garden where Jabez’s weakness and secrets were hidden.

The door, with its image of Jabez’s fully bloomed Madness Flower and its vines entangling the door, exuded an ominous aura at a glance. At the same time, Zerachiel’s gaze as he stared at it was also clouded. All the playfulness was gone from his face, and he seemed to emanate a chill.

His darkness, which he had never shown to Chichi. Zerachiel knew that the darkness within him was quite deep.

Because of the wedding, which was only about a month away, the servants in the castle were showing quite busy movements.

Wedding.

Zerachiel couldn’t readily understand why everyone was moving so busily as if it were their own business. Because for Jabez, ‘marriage’ was not such a beautiful harmony.

Rather than decorating the wedding ceremony in a fancy way, it would be better to educate Chichi on how to survive.

‘Just in case, have Zerachiel prepare. At this rate, she might not make it past this year.’

It was as if his father was telling him to prepare to commit patricide [the killing of one’s father].

Zerachiel clicked his tongue as he recalled Duke and Zakari’s conversation. He had gone to see Chichi and overheard the story by chance. His father’s petals were running out.

It was something he had already expected and prepared for. But the moment he heard those words, he couldn’t even stop the darkness within him from stirring.

What exactly was making him twitch?

In fact, Zerachiel didn’t really know what the fence called ‘family’ was. From the moment he was born, his father was an enemy, and his mother was too busy protecting him and eventually ran away.

It was an inevitable occurrence due to the nature of Jabez. Zerachiel was always taught.

Do not have affection for anything.

Do not leave a shred of attachment to life.

Tame your own madness.

If you can’t stand it, destroy yourself.

If others heard it, they would say, ‘What kind of successor education is that?’ But for Jabez’s direct line, for the head who would inherit the family, it was a word that had to be engraved in their hearts.

Zerachiel was among the best at keeping this lesson among the past successors and heads of the family.

Rather, he kept it so well that the problem arose that he didn’t even cherish himself, but it was better than being abandoned by becoming the opposite.

But now, Zerachiel tilted his head, feeling an anger that he himself could not fully understand.

No, could this be called anger?

Could this complex emotion be defined by just that one word?

All sorts of emotions were mixed together, and the fact that he had come to this place, which he didn’t even visit often, was ultimately because he was disturbed. Even though he knew he couldn’t enter it right now, he had come here.

The fall of the predecessors is the future he will soon have to face.

Belatedly, Zerachiel shuddered as he realized that there was also fear among the emotions he was feeling.

What on earth?

He didn’t seem to have any regrets in his life until now.