Edgar smiled and rubbed her hair dotingly with his free hand. "Then, I'll get in the carriage with you."

Clara looked so happy. With Edgar's help, she got on the carriage and sat elegantly on the seat. Then, she waited patiently for Edgar to get in too. The man ordered his subordinate to bring his horse to his home while he rode the carriage with his future wife.

"Thank you," Clara said to him when the carriage started moving. 

"Why thank me?" Edgar raised his brows. "It's my responsibility to make sure that you are comfortable. I am your husband. You can't thank a man for doing his job. It's the bare minimum I could do for you."

"Husband-to-be," Clara corrected him. But she clearly liked the way the word 'husband' rolled in his tongue. She turned to him and looked at him in adoration. Edgar had not shaved today and his chin looked a little scruffy, making him look more manly than usual.

She touched his chin and smiled. "And yes, thank you for thinking about me. I have never been this nervous... I thought I would be most nervous to see the queen, but I was wrong. The queen was very nice and welcoming. She kept talking about our homeland and I felt like I am just meeting an old friend."

"Yeah... Her Majesty is a kind and sweet woman." Edgar nodded in agreement. "She is not like those typical stuck-up noblewomen I often see in the capital. I am glad you and her get along well."

"Yeah, meeting the queen was quite pleasant. Now, I realized, meeting your mother scares me more than meeting the queen." Clara let out nervous laughter. "Do I look okay? Should I put on makeup to look more beautiful? Is my dress nice?"

Edgar looked at Clara in amusement. He clasped their hands together and put them on his lap. To make Clara feel more relaxed, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "You look pretty. No need to put on any makeup. Your dress is really nice. You are perfect."

Clara rolled her eyes at his words. "You are biased."

"No, I am telling the truth. I am not Gewen. I don't know how to sugar coat things," Edgar said with a shrug. "Tell you what. If my mother hates you or if she gave you a hard time, you can punish me for lying."

"Punish you how?"

"Well, you can punish me to serve and protect you for the rest of my life," Edgar said with a flat face. "I think it's only fair."

Clara was surprised to see the usually stoic man suddenly sound like his womanizer friend, Lord Gewen Athibaud. However, upon closer look, she realized Edgar was telling the truth.

He was still being himself, and didn't suddenly turn into a womanizer with great skills for sweet talk to coax the ladies. 

The reason Edgar used those words was that he meant every single one of them.  And this made Clara feel especially happy.

She squeezed his hand back and pecked him on the cheek. Her eyes glint with happiness when she whispered her response, "Okay."

"Hahaha... I know you are a fair person," said Edgar happily. He pulled her to his embrace closer and covered her back with his strong arm as if shielding her from the incoming winter winds from outside the window.

Edgar felt grateful that he joined the king on his mission to Summeria to get his wife back because he was blessed with the opportunity to meet Clara, his own mate.

Years ago when he came to Wintemere as the oppressor and saved young Clara Langley, he never would have thought that she would grow up to be the most beautiful and elegant woman he had ever met.

To Edgar, it was almost like love at first sight. She was so graceful, her words were sharp but uttered in a soft tone, and her appearance was impeccable, truly a classy woman from the high nobility.

At first, he was a bit worried that the physical attraction he felt for her was not real. Sometimes, women could look so charming and beautiful and caring in the beginning, but once the men got to know them better, all the flaws that they hid so well would come out.

What's worse was, usually, the more charming she was in the beginning, the bigger the flaws she was hiding. These would all come as surprise to the man once they got married.

However, the more he spent time with Clara, the more Edgar felt enamored.  She was showing herself to be smarter, kinder, and more caring than he thought she was.

By the end of the second week of their courtship, Edgar was certain that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

So, he proposed to Clara. He even did it properly. Somehow he could do it out of instinct without the guidance of Gewen who usually would be the expert on love and romance between the three of them.

After a wonderful dinner on the terrace of the governor's mansion, Edgar got on his knee and asked the beautiful woman to marry him. He even had a ring with him, which was actually his grandmother's ring he inherited when she passed away and had always hung around his neck on a string, that was until he met Clara.

Now the ring was sitting nicely on her ring finger. It looked perfect for her. Edgar felt like the happiest man in the whole wide world when Clara said yes. What's more, she agreed to come with him to Draec so she could meet his family. Then, they would get married in the capital.

Now, the happy man was over the moon, as he rubbed her hair dotingly, and his eyes looked outside the window, thanking his lucky star for his good life.

"We have arrived," the coachman announced after the carriage slowed down and finally came to a halt. The had reached the castle belonged to Duke Arthur Chaucer, Edgar's father.

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I really like Edgar.. He is sweet, loyal, and all-around a nice guy. Should I write a snusnu for him and Clara? XD

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