A/N: For Pandoratober 2021 day 3 by phmonth2021 on tumblr! The prompt is Vow.

The entrancing fragrance of roses and calla lilies from her bouquet graced the room, a fragrance befitting the flowers known for love and innocence.

And yet it did not serve to soothe her nervousness.

Sharon averted her eyes from the flowers and scrutinised herself in the mirror, her reflection slightly shrouded by her veil.

She was getting married. Today. Soon. It was important. It was the most important event in her life. It needed to be perfect. It—

Knocks to remind her of the time.

Taking a deep breath, she assured herself that she was ready as she rose from her seat in the dressing room and — apprehensively — approached the doors to the hall. In a few minutes, those doors shall open for her to embark on a new chapter in her life.

'My lady.'

Aah. How that voice soothed her, every bit as sweet as the fragrance of flowers, perhaps even more so with the constant smell of caramel accompanying him.

There was no need for reasons. He was there and she was elated.

Standing beside her, her knight, her brother, her escort when she would proceed to the altar. He questioned, 'Is it really alright for me to escort you instead of your grandmother?'

"Of course," she answered, "You are my Xerx-niisan after all."

She had been waiting, having faith that he would show up. He had never betrayed her trust before.

She checked her reflection in a glass window. She made the effort to smooth out the tiniest creases on her dress, to tidy up the one strand of stray hair, to make sure that nothing was even a millimetre out of place.

She turned around following his chuckle, looking at him eye-to-eye, and was reminded that the difference between their heights was no longer so drastic.

'Do rest assured, my lady, you look perfectly beautiful,' he said before she asked anything.

"You cannot see."

'I can tell even without sight.' At that, he reached out to stroke her hair like he had done oh so long ago, only to draw back, remembering that she was wearing a wedding veil.

From the sound of fabric shifting, he could tell that she lifted her veil for him. He frowned slightly, 'My lady, that…'

"Will bring bad luck? Will render me vulnerable to evil spirits? Blast those superstitions. Who was it that told me no such things exists when I was afraid to traverse the dimly-lit corridors at night all those years ago?" she was the one doing the teasing for once.

"Besides," she guided his hand to her cheek and suppressed a giggle when he discovered that she was taller than he remembered, "I know you are here to protect me from any schemes those evil spirits might have, my knight."

'My lady…' he caressed her forehead to her eyelids, to the tip of her nose and the bottom of her lips, 'Aah, how I wish to see. Certainly you aged as beautifully as your mother, more so perhaps?'

"You will be faced with mother's harisen when you return," she chuckled, flawlessly concealing her disappointment and envy. She had grown, she was an adult, a woman, and yet his tone, his voice, his countenance were all different from the sneaky glances she had stolen at the two of them as a child.

But it was fine. He was not her partner. Not today. Not in life. And she was not supposed to have these kinds of thoughts on her wedding day.

He gingerly put the veil back in place. It was time.

The heavy doors opened, every pair of eyes in the hall fell on her, daunting her. But her brother laced her delicate hand on his arm chivalrously. 'Smile, Sharon,' he whispered.

She complied, and she was proud of herself striding past every single awed witness she could see within the hall. Her betrothed's eyes were indiscernible from her angle, obscured by the glasses he insisted on wearing, but his lips curled into a gentle smile that she had learned to cherish in these four years.

They reached the bottom of the altar. The two men exchanged a glance.

Her knight linked her hand with the groom's, 'Reim-san, make sure you take good care of my lady, understand?'

Reim shot a glance at Sharon, then back at him, and nodded with certainty. Break grinned in approval and let go of their hands.

(Personally, she did not want him to.)

Reim helped her ascend the small staircase to the altar, they took a moment to gaze at the guests who had gathered for their sake, and to watch her brother retreat to his seat in the front row, next to her grandmother. They blinked, and he was there no longer.

There was but an ever-smiling blue doll, motionlessly perched on the seat.

Had he really been here? There was no proof that he had aside from the lingering sensation of his fingers on her cheek and on their hands. Had the two of them concocted a vision of him with their imagination then? It did not matter. He had fulfilled his duty as her knight and her brother today, now he had gone.

Reim squeezed her fingers gently. Yet it did not serve to soothe her.

But she was supposed to embark on a new chapter in her life today.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded ever so subtly at her soon-to-be husband as they turn to the officiant. His hand remained around hers, and she was grateful.

Her heart was not here with him, and she knew he knew it. He was the only person in this world who understood everything that was going through her head at the moment. All the memories she never wanted to leave behind, all the tears she never wanted to wipe away, all of her hesitation, all of her doubts, he understood.

(Or perhaps shared.)

This man in front of her knew every dark corner of her despicable mind and was vowing eternal commitment to her.

She did not know how much truth there was in his vows, but she knew she would be spouting far more lies.

This gown, this atmosphere, these flowers of love and innocence, they were nothing but pretence. There was only one truth, and it was the one smile she had donned in compliance to her knight's gentle whisper as he escorted her down the aisle to someone else, someone he trusted to bless her with more happiness than he did.

(Though she had doubted his judgement on plenty of occasions before.)

If her life were a romance novel, what an equivocal tale it was. She remarked, then she pronounced, "I do."

The End