The Immortal Wife Is Like A Cloud

Epilogue

A pleasant breeze brushed by.

Pale hair danced in between, and green grass tickled the exposed ankles.

Valentin absentmindedly watched the dense, slender blades of grass swaying as he looked down quietly. Those green lives, sharp yet soft, truly fragile yet strong…

It seemed as if the suffocating scent of May roses from his mother’s garden was flowing from somewhere, lingering at the tip of his nose. That sweet scent carrying the fresh smell of nature…

[Dad!]

A high-pitched, delicate voice. At the sound coming from a small child, Valentin lifted his eyes from looking near his feet and surveyed his surroundings.

[Dad! Here!]

Ah… It seems it really is mother’s rose garden.

A black-haired girl in a pretty lace dress that came up to her knees, adorably dressed, called to him from amidst the blooming spring white roses. The child raised her plump little hand and waved it towards Valentin.

[Sharon…?]

[Yes! Come over here!]

His legs moved without him realizing.

In the space cleared through the rose bushes, a small checkered picnic shawl was spread out, with small, cute wooden bowls and plates placed on it. Small porcelain teacups could be seen gathered together, as if the child had put effort into arranging them.

[Dad, sit here.]

A small girl not even reaching his waist. The child with black hair gently waving, tied in two braids, pulled on Valentin’s clothes and designated his seat.

[You and baby are my guests today.]

[Guests…? With baby?]

[Yes. You and little sibling, be my guests today.]

Only then did he notice the baby plucking rose petals in the corner. The girl laboriously brought the baby over with her small arms and handed it to Valentin. Valentin, who had been bewildered, not knowing what was what, sat down holding the warm and heavy life.

[It’s teatime, so we should drink tea.]

The girl seated her dad and sibling, then opened the lid of the toy teapot. Then, arranging small tin boxes filled with tea leaves, she asked in a cheerful voice.

[What kind of tea would you like?]

[Hmm… I’ll have this one today.]

It was black tea with a chocolate flavor. The girl pretended to open the box with her small hands, take a spoon, and put it in the teapot. And so, Valentin enjoyed the afternoon teatime for quite a while, pretending to drink tea with the child.

Ah, something seems to be welling up in his chest.

It feels like he might cry, and also like he might burst out laughing… What is this feeling? What is this tingling yet warm sensation…

Valentin hugged the boy in his arms tightly for no reason. The heavy, warm skin felt pleasant against him. A male baby with short, black hair… I must never let go.

While spending time like that, unaware of time passing in such an affectionate moment, the girl clapped her hands and exclaimed.

[Oh? It’s time for me to go now!]

[Huh? Sharon, where are you going?]

[Over there! Where they’re calling me.]

The place the girl’s finger pointed to was so bright it dazzled his eyes. His eyelids squinted involuntarily, making it hard to see clearly.

[Well Dad, it was fun. Let’s meet again later!]

The brightly smiling child’s face was more beautiful than a shiny apple. Valentin felt his heart drop, but somehow knew he couldn’t hold the child back. He just naturally understood. Ah… my lovely daughter came to play for a while. With his throat tightening and choking up, Valentin barely managed to ask:

[…Will you come visit again, Sharon?]

[Of course! I’ll come again later, Dad. Please take good care of the baby.]

The girl raised her small hand and patted the head of the baby in Valentin’s arms once.

[Take care, Sharon. Daddy loves you very much.]

[I love Daddy the most in the world too! Please give my love to the other Dad as well!]

One adult and two children, the three of them hugged tightly before separating. The girl bravely turned her body after separating and ran towards the place with light.

Valentin endured the dazzling light that was hard to open his eyes to, not taking his gaze off her back until it completely disappeared. Tightly hugging the baby left in his arms.

How long had he been looking? He finally lowered his gaze from where even the light had now disappeared and faced the baby he was holding firmly. The baby’s brightly smiling face could be seen. Valentin smiled along with tears streaming down his face.

Yes… you’re here.

Until we meet again, I’ll live well and work hard with your sibling, Sharon…

So let’s just say goodbye for now.

“Valentin?”

“…?”

“Valentin, wake up. Did you have a nightmare?”

A voice gently shaking his shoulder and waking him up in the midst of confusion. It was Reynard. It was his husband’s voice.

Valentin barely lifted his heavy eyelids and took in the face of the one calling his name.

“…Reynard.”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

The dark bedroom where the darkness had not yet cleared.

Valentin quickly realized that what had just happened was his dream.

“…No…”

Answering in a rough voice as the sleepiness hadn’t worn off, he clung to Reynard’s neck. The alpha kissed his omega’s damp eyes and cheeks repeatedly, wiping away the tears. Then he gently embraced and comforted his lover’s body, which was warm to the point of being hot due to pregnancy.

“It wasn’t a nightmare. It was a very good dream…”

“…Really?”

“Yes. Our children were in it, Reynard.”

The alpha’s mouth closed tightly. He still didn’t know what to do when talk of children came up. So much had happened. They had sadly lost their first child, and the second child came to them at an unexpected time, so they couldn’t take proper care of it in the early stages of pregnancy. So Reynard silently, just quietly listened to Valentin’s voice.

“Sharon brought her sibling and let me hold them.”

“…Is that so? It must have been a good dream.”

“Yes… I was happy.”

“…”

“The baby in my belly is probably a boy. An alpha baby that looks like you.”

Valentin whispered what he saw in his dream into his husband’s ear. It seemed certain.

“I’d be happy with any trait or gender for our child that you give birth to. They’ll probably all be lovely like you.”

Reynard more affectionately soothed Valentin’s body, which was deeply entangled with his. The swollen belly, past mid-pregnancy, rubbed against the body it touched. Somehow, it felt like there was a very small kick.

“Sleep a bit more. It’s still dawn.”

“Okay…”

Valentin’s drowsy voice answered faintly and then fell silent. Then only the sound of his breathing could be heard.

Reynard gently caressed his husband’s body to keep it from getting cold and closed his eyes again himself. The reality of having him in his arms was today’s unbelievable and warm happiness itself, enough to make his heart swell.

*

Valentin was moving about quietly in the marigold reception room he liked, waiting for Reynard.

Reynard, who had taken a long vacation for the operation, was still not returning to the military even now that everything was over, and was spending time with Valentin. There were reasons he had decided this himself, but there was also the advice of Dr. McClain, their attending physician.

[Your health condition is certainly not good from being separated from your imprinted omega for a long time.]

One morning when they woke up together, Valentin had called the doctor in alarm after seeing Reynard cough up blood as soon as he got out of bed. Dr. McClain advised the couple to stay close together for the time being, taking sufficient rest and exchanging pheromones.

[It will naturally get better as time passes. You’re such a healthy person after all.]

The doctor had comforted Valentin, who couldn’t let go of his worried expression, with reassuring words.

‘Hiding the imprint…’

Anyway, he’s my alpha who’s quite stubborn and headstrong. Valentin recalled the conversation with Dr. McClain as he partially drew back the curtains of the window and adjusted the brightness.

At that moment, Dawson entered the reception room, pushing a movable tray.

“Shall I start setting up on this table?”

“Yes. I’ll do the small things myself, so you can go back, Dawson.”

“Understood. Then I’ll just bring the hot water and withdraw.”

Dawson personally received a kettle of boiling water from the maid and poured it into the teapot where Valentin was placing the tea leaves. Then, as he helped Valentin arrange the tea set again, he carefully opened his mouth.

“It seems the young master has finally returned to his place.”

“Really?”

Dawson’s face was also brighter, unlike when he had attended to Valentin lying in bed at the Wiche family. Valentin smiled back, seeing Dawson call him familiarly by the title he used to call him in his boyhood.

“I wish it could always be like this. You look happiest in this place, young master.”

“I’m glad it looks that way.”

He was sincere.

Now he really felt that this place was his place.

And he wanted to show only reassuring appearances to Reynard, who still looked at him with a worried expression. It was his wish that there would no longer be any anxiety between them.

After sending Dawson out so they could have a cozy afternoon teatime alone, Valentin neatly arranged the silver teaspoon on the lace napkin.

It was time for the tea to have steeped properly.

After removing the tea cozy that had been covering it, he poured the red liquid into thin teacups made of white porcelain.

‘Reynard likes strong black tea…’

With that thought, he let it steep a little longer than his own, making it deeper.

‘He must be tired from physical training in the morning, so I should add honey to make it sweet.’

Valentin picked up the teaspoon decorated with violets and scooped up some high-quality honey. Then he dipped it into the tea and stirred carefully so it wouldn’t cool down.

Suddenly, a very strange sensation gripped his heart.

“Huh…?”

It felt like something close to a raw, sharp grip was strongly squeezing his heart, or as if a very sturdy wire like a piano string was pulling his heart out of the reception room, a sensation of the sky turning upside down…

At that moment, the door opened.

It was as if he could see with his eyes where the strong string that had grabbed his heart started from.

Ah… Reynard.

It was him. His one and only love.

Thanks to the sharp scent of her husband’s natural pheromones, which he now released in front of him again, Valentin knew it was Reynard who had entered even before he discovered it.

“Valentin.”

“Welcome. I just finished making your tea.”

Valentin took in the lovely face of the alpha approaching him.

The always mountain-like sturdy build, neatly arranged black hair, the straight forehead and sharp, straight eyes under well-shaped eyebrows, ash-colored pupils like the dawn sky of a wasteland, the manly straight nose bridge, and the hottest and most beautiful lips in the world. Everything was exactly his beloved husband.

Valentin unknowingly admitted out loud as he preciously tucked away the image of his husband, whom he had fallen for so dazzlingly from the beginning:

“I just imprinted on you.”

“What?”

A clear laugh escaped his lips as he watched Reynard’s eyes widen in surprise.

It was the completion of their mutual imprint.

He knew that someday their imprint would be realized together. Because there was no way such a deeply loved person could exist again in his lifetime. He just thought it was a matter of time.

But he didn’t know it would happen in such an ordinary and trivial moment.

So this was exactly what his love was.

It wasn’t that shocking moment of falling in love at first sight, nor the passionate moment when his husband embraced him hotly. It wasn’t the heart-wrenching moment of parting, nor the desperate moment of reunion as if life had been restored.

Just like this, my very small daily life…

Steeping the black tea stronger for my partner, and adding an extra spoon of honey out of concern for his health – such ordinary consideration. Trivial moments like thinking a passing hat would suit you well while walking down the street. The gentle imagination of thinking my husband would be happy if he saw me like this now. That affection built up and overlapped in such small things accumulating every moment. My love for you that dominates the entirety of my mind in life.

That was Valentin’s love and the completion of the imprint.

Reynard immediately approached and carefully embraced his pregnant husband. With a delicate but hotter force than anyone. Valentin hugged him back.

“Even if you had never imprinted on me for life, I would have been content.”

“I know.”

He was that kind of person. One who gives without expecting.

“…Thank you, Valentin.”

“I love you, Reynard.”

“I love you with all my heart. Really, thank you.”

Valentin lifted his face buried in his shoulder to meet Reynard’s eyes and asked:

“Shall we go on another honeymoon?”

“Honeymoon?”

“Yes. To that beautiful island in Blanche where we went. Let’s go on a second honeymoon.”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s do whatever you want.”

“Now we’re a perfect community of fate bound by imprinting. Let’s travel there and celebrate becoming a complete couple once again.”

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

The couple’s embrace continued until the hot black tea cooled.

Celebrating and rejoicing in becoming perfectly complete existences for each other.

Hope can be seen outside the window between the fine curtains.

A new wind blew on branches with new buds and flower buds sprouting, lighting a new path. The world path for the two to walk together.

<The End>