Wedding (6)

A day when autumn’s chill and lingering late-summer heat coexisted.

From dawn, every clock tower bell throughout the Empire rang on the hour.

They were celebratory bells for a royal wedding.

From the dim early hours, the area around the imperial palace bustled with crowds who had come to see the royal wedding.

After the bell announcing evening rang long and slow, the main gate leading to the imperial chapel opened little by little.

Along the main road to the palace, the Imperial Knights stood with no gaps, holding the crowd back.

A four-wheeled carriage bearing the bride glided smoothly down the beautiful road.

The enormous cream-colored carriage rolled straight along the long avenue, passed through the palace gates, and headed to the front of the chapel.

Henrik, who had led the carriage, brought it to a gentle stop, climbed down from the driver’s seat, and opened the door.

The bridesmaids, already prepared, welcomed the bride.

“Congratulations, Alicia.”

Alicia stepped down from the carriage, receiving Daisy’s greeting.

Beside Daisy stood Josephina and Anne.

The three wore beige dresses with slightly different details.

Alicia, in a pure white dress, headed toward where the red carpet had been laid.

“Her Grace the Grand Duchess!”

“Your Grace!”

At Alicia’s appearance, desperate cries burst out from among the people standing far away.

“Don’t look back.”

Josephina said solemnly as she arranged the hem of Alicia’s dress.

“They’re calling me ‘Your Grace,’ Grand Duchess.”

Alicia whispered, her face flushed.

The bridesmaids, seeing her clearly tense expression, burst into laughter.

The people around Alicia were already calling her “Your Grace.”

The sight of Alicia being newly startled by the title “Your Grace” was cute—and funny.

Was marriage enough to fluster even the always-unshakable Alicia?

It was striking, seeing someone who had gone through war as if it were nothing now inhaling hard enough for her shoulders to rise and fall.

Alicia was more nervous than ever.

The crowd gathered outside was enormous.

Every time people shouted toward Alicia, the air itself seemed to vibrate.

Despite Josephina and Daisy warning her again and again, Alicia kept flicking her gaze toward the source of the noise.

Those gathered around the palace were wildly excited for the first major festival in a long time.

The rumored angelic Grand Duchess wore a pure white dress and a dazzling veil.

The shoulder-baring dress drew elegant, sleek lines.

The front hem fell at a crisp length, but the back trailed long, so two bridesmaids had to hold it from either side and spread it out.

Whenever the wind blew, the long veil—fixed in place with a diamond tiara—rippled.

“On one, two, three, move on three. One, two, three!”

Alicia stepped onto the red carpet.

The moment she took a step, a soprano began to sing in time with the bride’s walk.

Listening to “O Breath of Eternal Light” sung by the soprano, Alicia climbed the stairs.

The bridesmaids, having shaped the dress and veil so they would fan properly, stepped back for a moment.

Alicia walked alone up the stairs leading into the chapel.

The crowd gathered around the palace watched her.

With every step Alicia took, the watchers shouted in celebration.

The bridesmaids waited for the wind to be just right, then quickly followed when Alicia was about to enter the chapel.

Josephina held the long train of the dress, while Daisy and Anne held the veil’s ends on both sides so it would flutter beautifully.

As the bride entered, the guests cast curious looks her way.

She had only made her entrance, yet outside was already in a festival mood.

At the roar of the crowd gathered before the palace, welcoming the bride, it felt as though the ground might tremble.

There had been royal weddings before, but never a bride welcomed like this.

Even inside the chapel, Alicia walked alone.

Her elegant, sleek dress carried her forward toward her groom.

Reichardt, in a navy dress uniform, turned to face Alicia.

He extended his hand to the approaching bride.

Alicia gently took Reichardt’s hand.

The guests watched the bride and groom, not missing a single moment.

Reichardt carefully lifted the veil shadowing Alicia’s face and swept it back.

The unusually large veil was soft and delicate.

Its edge was filled with intricate embroidery without a single gap, but Reichardt had no interest in that.

The bride’s face, hidden behind the veil, was revealed.

Reichardt smiled with his eyes as he looked at Alicia.

“Alicia.”

“Rey.”

“Today, you’re really beautiful.”

The VIP seats nearest the bride and groom stirred slightly.

Everyone wore faces that wondered if the voice they’d just heard from Reichardt was real.

In particular, among the Imperial Academy classmates in knightly attire—cough!—a fit of coughing rang out.

“Cough, cough!”

This was the section with the Emperor, the Empress, and the imperial family, but it was hard to hide their shock and surprise.

The imperial family was just as flustered.

Low murmurs passed among them.

“Is Reichardt… smiling right now?”

“That’s Reichardt, right?”

The smile never left Reichardt’s face as he looked at the bride.

From the moment Alicia appeared, his eyes had been smiling.

“Thank you. Rei, you’re beautiful too. You’re really handsome.”

Alicia also sent a smile toward Reichardt.

Golden eyes and violet eyes smiled at each other.

Neither of them tried to hide their smiles.

The wedding proceeded under High Priest Banie’s officiation.

Banie, wearing a dark purple uniform, stood before them and unfolded the marriage vows.

On any ordinary day, everyone would have been captivated by Banie’s angelic looks, but every guest in the chapel couldn’t take their eyes off the couple-to-be.

Until now, the Grand Duke of Tessen’s weddings had always been solemn and gloomy.

They had expected Reichardt’s wedding to be the same.

But the two becoming husband and wife today kept smiling at each other the entire time.

Reichardt scanned the vows with his eyes.

His golden gaze fixed on the second word—and couldn’t move.

The second word of the vows was written in unfamiliar characters that couldn’t be read.

As if urging him on, Alicia tightened the hand that held his.

“I…”

Reichardt began to read the vows aloud.

“…the one who inherits the promise.”

Alicia moved her lips and whispered so only Reichardt could hear.

“I, the one who inherits the promise, Reichardt. Alicia, I take you as my wife, and from today onward I will move forward. In good times and bad, in wealth and in poverty, in sickness and in health, until we die, I will love you and cherish you.”

The High Priest’s gaze—who should have been watching the vows—locked onto Reichardt.

“I, the one who fulfills the promise, Alicia. Reichardt, I take you as my husband, and from today onward I will move forward. In good times and bad, in wealth and in poverty, in sickness and in health, until we die, I will love you and cherish you.”

Alicia read the unfamiliar characters without hesitation.

High Priest Banie looked back and forth between Alicia and Reichardt with trembling eyes.

Alicia and Reichardt looked only at each other.

Smiles overflowed on the faces turned toward one another.

With a gesture, the High Priest permitted the priests to approach.

The priests presented the wedding rings they had prepared to the bride and groom.

Reichardt slid onto Alicia’s ring finger the ring passed down through generations from the imperial family to the Grand Duchess of Tessen.

Reichardt looked at Alicia—now wearing a large sapphire ring—with concern.

Alicia smiled at him.

Reichardt smiled back, following her lead.

Alicia slipped onto Reichardt’s ring finger an aquamarine ring in the exact same design as the sapphire.

They smiled at each other.

Only happy smiles continued, without end.

“It’s okay.”

Alicia whispered with a smile so only Reichardt could hear.

“Okay.”

Reichardt obeyed the bride’s words.

A priest holding a quill and an inkwell approached Alicia and Reichardt.

Reichardt inked the quill and signed beneath his marriage vows.

The priest beside Alicia urged her to sign.

Alicia also inked the quill properly and signed beneath her own vows.

Scratch, scratch.

The dry rasp of the quill scraping paper echoed.

“…I hereby declare that the Grand Duke of Tessen and the Grand Duchess of Tessen are now husband and wife…”

At the High Priest’s declaration, Reichardt and Alicia turned.

To the organ music filling the chapel, the two walked hand in hand.

Soon after, every guest rose—except the Emperor and the Empress—and sang a blessing for the couple now Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Tessen.

Listening to the blessing, the two left together through the same aisle they had each entered.

They stopped at the first landing of the chapel steps.

That place was called the Oath Stair.

In an imperial wedding, it was tradition to share a public kiss on the Oath Stair where the world could see.

The moment their gazes tangled, Alicia and Reichardt kissed—without either one moving first.

Alicia and Reichardt were riding in an open carriage with no roof, rolling along the palace’s main road.

“Her Grace the Grand Duchess!”

“Your Grace!”

As they emerged before the chapel, an unbelievable number of people welcomed them.

The two waved to the cheering crowd.

Each time Alicia waved, moved sounds burst out from among the people.

Alicia was moved by those sounds in return.

“Everyone is so kind.”

Alicia whispered with a shocked face as she turned to Reichardt.

Seeing her innocent smile, Reichardt smiled as well.

“Of course they are.”

The carriage procession was a time for the couple to offer thanks to the people celebrating their marriage.

Of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Tessen, the one people wanted to see was Alicia.

The angelic Grand Duchess of Tessen who guided the “demon Grand Duke” without being stained by darkness, leading him on the right path.

Today, Alicia was dressed like the angel people dreamed of in fairy tales.

Wrapped in a veil fluttering outside the carriage, Alicia looked like a painting.

Reichardt smiled and waved to the cheering people, all the while smiling as he watched Alicia do the same.

The moment Alicia turned to him, he kissed the bride’s cheek.

“…W-wait, is it okay to do that right now?”

Alicia said, startled.

“I don’t know.”

Reichardt answered with a bright smile.

He heard the guards escorting the carriage make panicked noises.

The cavalry following behind reacted the same way.

Only Henrik, leading the open carriage, wore a pleased, blissful expression.

At Reichardt’s smile, Alicia smiled too and waved even more enthusiastically.

Reichardt, knowing exactly how it would look to others, wrapped an arm around Alicia’s waist and pulled her close.

To everyone watching, it would probably look like a Grand Duke steeped in darkness lusting after an angelic bride.

It wasn’t exactly wrong, so he didn’t care much.

He simply found it amusing that every time he smiled at Alicia, people who knew him sucked in breath in shock.

Even those close to him—like Roderick and Juan—looked flustered, calling for their mother or father.

Imperial Academy classmates, and even the blood-related imperial family, reacted similarly.

He didn’t like hearing them whisper seriously about whether their eyes were broken, whether they were seeing hallucinations.

But no matter how hard he tried not to listen, everything reached him.

Reichardt heard “Gasp!” “Ugh!” “I-is that real?” “M-Mother… I’m seeing things.” and behaved as though he hadn’t heard a thing.

He erased such words as if they were sounds that didn’t exist.

Alicia smiled with gratitude as she waved to the cheering people.

Reichardt smiled as he watched her.

In the carriage carrying the bride and groom, laughter never stopped.

The open carriage bearing the two returned to the imperial palace.

Before the banquet, the Grand Duke of Tessen and the Grand Duchess of Tessen formally had an audience with the Emperor and Empress to receive their congratulations.

After meeting the Emperor and Empress, they were to greet the rest of the imperial family as well.

Before entering the audience chamber, Alicia changed into her second dress.

The bridesmaids had already arrived, changed into their banquet dresses, and were waiting.

Josephina, Daisy, and Anne moved in perfect sync, helping with the bride’s adornment.

“Your Grace the Grand Duke, you’ve arrived.”

At the sound from the waiting room, Josephina grumbled.

“So oblivious.”

“His Grace just wants to see the bride quickly.”

Baroness Connie of Langse said with a pleased expression.

“I told him to come.”

Alicia said as she rose.