The Two Marriage Ceremonies (2)
When we were ushered to the plaza, a pandemonium of cheers, wails, and roars erupted. Since everyone had had some drinks, they were even more honest about their feelings than usual. I was drowning in the sea of limbs as well as the resulting cacophony where people were saying “Congratulations” or “You bastard,” and “Be happy!” or “Don’t you ever come back again.” Hey, this dress which isn’t mine is going to get dirty! I threw, pushed, and kicked these naggers away. When I looked over, Cermiane was also knocking down these rascals who kept pouncing at us, all while smiling.
Among the ruckus, once we received the blessings from the drunk priest, the festival ramped up even more. After that was just utter chaos. Cermiane and I were forced to drink, eat, sing, and dance a lot. All of my underlings were crying, and by the end, we were all hugging each other and weeping. A lot of guys had attacked Cermiane, saying “You shameless bastard, daring to kidnap Ral away from us!” But Cermiane easily knocked them down. He also won all the drinking battles without a sweat. This man… He might have a higher alcohol tolerance than me.
The party went on well past the night, and I somehow was able to leave by Cermiane dragging me out. I was exhausted by the time the party ended, and I had gone straight to bed when I reached home. I had wanted to give some words of appreciation to Mama and Papa, but there went that plan…
The following morning, I somehow got up, hugged Mama and Papa farewell, and left the Caliente territory. Mama and Papa bade me farewell with smiles on their faces and kept waving from their yard. I also countlessly looked back and waved back for as long as I could see them. At the territorial capital’s border, the rascals who seemed to be still drunk rather than hungover, bade me farewell by yelling with all their might. I also waved at them, and that was how I bade farewell to my hometown.
In the end, I wasn’t able to come back here while Mama and Papa were still alive. It wasn’t that Cermiane broke his promise. It was just that we had our hands full with other pressing matters.
It took us ten days to get to the Capital, since we took our time on the way.
Cermiane had said this was our makeshift honeymoon. We slowly rode our horses side-by-side and chatted about various topics. My stories, Cermiane’s stories, and then our future. Our new home was going to be a mansion in the Capital that he had inherited from his mother that he hadn’t used up until now. When we reach the Capital, I would temporarily live at the Caliente residence, and after a week, we would hold our wedding at the temple, and then our newly-wed life would start.
The last time when I went to the Capital for my debut, I went by carriage. So I spent half of the time sleeping and didn’t know that the way there was full of changes in scenery, including passing by various fields, forests, and villages, which was very fun to look at. Since I had brought my bow-and-arrow, we sometimes hunted for a bit. Cermiane knew me really well, so he had already researched what types of prey inhabited which areas, so we were able to hunt some rare prey.
Furthermore, since Cermiane knew me so well, he had scheduled us to camp during the night. Usually, it would be unheard of to make a bride camp outdoors, but I had camped often when I hunted (though Papa didn’t let me do hunting trips that would require me to camp many days), rather than struggle, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, we slept in different beds. Chasing away a bandit who attacked while we were sleeping was a fond memory we had during the trip.
This trip was a good opportunity for me to understand Cermiane, whom I had only known for half a day previously, and deepen our relationship. While we hunted together and helped each other set up our camp, I was able to get a good grasp of Cermiane’s abilities and personality. At the very least, he wasn’t the type of person to try to force himself onto me during our trip; rather, he would treat me preciously during key points of the trip, and otherwise respectfully let me do what I want, which was exactly the way I wanted to be treated. And of course, he was very skilled in martial arts and overall fighting. Although I hate to admit it, I wouldn’t be able to face him head-on.
Our fun trip came to an end when we reached the Capital, a place I hadn’t visited since two years ago. The giant metropolis enclosed by ancient city walls. The center of the Empire that prides itself with a hundred years’ worth of history and a population of a million. This would be my second hometown, where I would live until I die.
I first stayed at the Caliente residence. When the head maid saw my messy appearance from horse-riding when she came to greet me, she scolded, “Do you have any self-awareness as a bride?!” For the time being, Cermiane and I parted ways. Around a week from now, we will be holding our wedding at a small temple in the outskirts of the Capital. After kissing my hand and reluctantly saying, “Let us meet then,” he left.
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