How Is Any Part Of This Ugly?

Following the procedure my adjutant Raul had drilled into me so many times I felt I would grow calluses on my ears, I walked over to my fiancée, the young lady in the white cocoon.

Ordinarily a priest would be standing on the dais in the palace chapel, but today no one was there.

Instead, multicolored light streamed in through the stained glass set high above, vividly tinting the white-cocoon lady’s veil.

I glanced toward the wall without making it obvious.

Several chairs had been arranged there, and seated in them were my parents, the King and Queen of Tidros. Then there was my elder brother, the Crown Prince. In the seat beside him sat Lord Balimore.

It was one month ago that the formal marriage proposal arrived from the King of the Kingdom of Tania.

I had been certain it would be refused, so I was stunned.

From there on, it was a storm of preparations.

I hate to say it, but that young lady over there had already completed all the preparations to become a bride, so all that remained was for our side to make ready.

Still.

My brows drew together and my face twisted.

Was it really all right for it to be me, of all people?

As I was thinking that, I heard a pointed clearing of the throat behind me.

As I strolled along the red carpet and shifted only my gaze, I saw my adjutant Raul glaring at me. Apparently he wanted to tell me to quit looking around and move along.

He was a man just about to turn thirty, if he had not already.

He was my foster brother, and in the knightly order he served as my adjutant.

With his cool, refined eyes, he was rather popular with women too, but he always said, “I cannot think of marrying before the commander does.”

Whenever he said that, I would tease him with, “If you wait for me, you’ll be an old man before you know it.” But last night, when we were drinking together, he had suddenly burst into tears and said, “Now I can take a wife without regrets,” and remembering that made the corners of my mouth loosen.

It seemed that, one way or another, Raul had wanted a wife too.

I had ended up giving a wry smile, thinking I had done him wrong.

“Your Highness is unpopular because you have no motivation, and because your clothes and hair are unfashionable.”

Raul always said that with a frown, but as far as I was concerned, clothes only needed to be wearable, and appearance only needed to be clean.

Well, if no bride ever came for me at this rate, then that would be fine too, I had thought last summer while holding in my arms my nephew, the child of the Crown Prince.

This child would be enough for me.

I would just pour all my affection into him. I would devote all my fatherly feelings to this boy.

And then, out of nowhere, this marriage proposal appeared.

“Listen well. Absolutely do not make any blunder.”

One day, with the engagement ceremony only three days away, the Crown Prince and my second elder brother, who had hurried back from the country he had married into, both laid on the pressure.

“This is an unexpected treasure. Thank goodness Karaban’s crown prince was an idiot.”

The Crown Prince and my second brother both wore thoroughly wicked smiles. Honestly, I could never understand why women made such favorites of men this dark-hearted.

Ignoring my feelings, the Crown Prince summoned a tailor, while my second brother instructed Raul, “In any case, make him look handsome. The raw material should not be bad.”

As a result, I now stood here dressed in a superb military uniform, with my hair styled in what was apparently the latest fashion, and my beard carefully shaved.

“What kind of young lady is she, anyway? In the end, I still have not seen what she looks like.”

Well, this was a marriage Mother had chosen, Father had approved, and above all my elder brother the Crown Prince was enthusiastic about it, so I had no right to refuse, but I was curious enough to ask.

I knew nothing beyond her name, let alone her appearance.

“She is twenty years old. It seems her former fiancé, Crown Prince Arios, did not care for Lady Shitoen’s appearance, and although she entered the Karaban Union Kingdom two years ago partly to train as a bride, the distance between them never closed. So you should not get your hopes up too much either.”

The Crown Prince said it plainly.

Well, she was not expecting much from my appearance either, so that made us even.

“But listen. They say she bears the Dragon Crest. Impressive, is it not?”

My second brother explained it to me in a somewhat excited tone.

The Dragon Crest, huh.

I had heard of it.

The Kingdom of Tania is also known as the Dragon Kingdom.

Dragons were deeply involved in its founding. Even now, it is said that members of that lineage have scale tattoos placed upon their bodies.

In other words, only members of the royal family bear scale tattoos on their bodies.

That is why marrying someone who bears those tattoos, or receiving such a person into one’s service, is considered an extraordinary honor.

However.

At the same time, there are certainly those who call tattooing a barbaric custom, or mock the scale pattern behind people’s backs by calling them lizard folk. The newer the nation, the stronger that tendency becomes. They know no history, and they lack the tolerance to respect or try to understand the cultures of other countries.

I stopped just beside the young lady in the white cocoon.

Since she was completely covered from head to toe in her veil, there was no way to tell what she looked like, but she was quite petite.

Her head reached roughly the middle of my chest.

I was going to have to bend quite a lot at the waist if I wanted to kiss her.

My two brothers and Raul had told me to remove the veil and kiss the woman on the forehead.

That famous little forehead kiss.

I never imagined that I would be the one doing it to that young lady in the white cocoon from before.

Then, suddenly, the white-cocoon lady stirred.

Apparently, she had turned to face me.

With the veil wrapped around her like a cocoon, I could not even tell which side was front and which was back.

I cast a quick glance toward those in attendance.

When I looked at the Crown Prince, he signaled with his chin, Do it.

Raul, who had been walking behind me, was standing in a way that cut off my retreat. Not that I was planning to run away, mind you.

Tap.

I heard footsteps, so when I looked behind the woman, a maid-like woman stepped forward.

Ah, so I was supposed to hand the veil to this woman.

When our eyes met, the maid held out both palms upward, so I was probably understanding it correctly.

I grabbed the veil in both hands and stripped it off with a single, decisive motion.

Softly, the delicate lace-woven cloth swayed through the air lighter than spider silk.

And when I saw the woman who emerged from beneath it, I gasped in shock.

Silver hair clearer than spring water.

Fine skin so smooth it almost looked like white porcelain beneath the colors cast by the stained glass.

A young woman with beautiful, well-shaped features, her slender figure wrapped in a pure white dress.

…This is…

This is…

W-where…

I stared blankly at the young woman before me.

Where, exactly, is the ugliness in this?