Given the sudden nature of the decision, the wedding was kept very simple. Aside from a few traditional rituals, there were no banquets, greetings, or marches.
It was truly a hectic schedule, like being chased by a mad dog.
On top of that, the person who created this mess was too hungover to even attend my wedding.
“Haha.”
It was so ridiculous that all I could do was laugh. I wanted to curse, but I couldn’t do that at my wedding.
When I laughed all of a sudden, the skinny arms of the priest who had been reciting about the greatness of the Sun God five paces away began to tremble.
I glanced up and saw a frightened, bewildered face. For a moment, I wondered if I hadn’t laughed and had unintentionally cursed.
As I turned my head to stare at the blind priest reading from the scriptures, the priest began to recite a little slower than before, and in a trembling voice.
“……”
Right next to me was the western continent’s princess, who would be forced to marry me. She was kneeling in the same position as me, with her back straight.
I couldn’t tell what she looked like or what color her hair was because she was draped head to toe in pure white cloth. However, there was something unusual about her.
She didn’t have a strand of hair in sight, but there was a strange aura around her white cloth. Could it be that this was a temple to the Sun God, and therefore there was a holy energy around it? Or was there some kind of unusual enchantment on the cloth?
As I stared in wonder, the cloth suddenly moved with a rustling sound. I couldn’t see her face, but judging from the position, it seemed that the eyes on the other side of the cloth were looking at me.
I realized in hindsight that I’d been staring at her with my whole body turned. My lips moved slightly as I spoke awkwardly.
“Hi?”
“……”
“I know it’s a little overwhelming to have to come here so suddenly, but still…”
Don’t be scared? Don’t be afraid? I paused, not sure what to say.
The fair princess had crossed the sea to marry a faceless man to become Akhtan’s hostage. It was highly unlikely she had a choice in any of this. So what was the point in telling her not to be afraid, not to be scared, or anything like that?
“That… nice to meet you, anyways.”
“……”
“K, Kyle-nim.”
The stuttering voice wasn’t the princess’s, but the voice of the priest who was in charge of the ceremony. He was looking in my direction, his eyes shielded by a golden cloth and a puzzled expression on his face.
He was understandably embarrassed that I had spoken aloud during the sacred reciting of the Sun God’s scripture. I frowned, looked at the priest, and then spoke.
“We’re the only ones here anyway. Can’t we just speed through it?”
“What? I’m sorry, but…”
“Let’s just speed through it. No one is watching, so what’s the point? The floor’s so cold and hard that my knees hurt.”
“B, but…”
I deliberately let out a quiet groan and stood up. My legs were a little numb, probably because I had been kneeling for a long time, but it wasn’t unbearable.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Vlcmf P kjr ilxf atlr, P kbcvfgfv tbk tjgv la wera’nf yffc obg atf qglcmfrr. P gfjmtfv bea j tjcv lc ogbca bo tfg xcffilcu obgw.
“Tbe ufa eq, abb.”
“……”
“Bsif-clw, sbe mjc’a vb atlr.”
“Ofa’r pera wjxf la delmx jcv ufa atgbeut atf nbkr.”
“Dea atf rafqr bo atf mfgfwbcs…”
“You don’t have to follow the steps. If we’re missing some already, what difference does it make if we leave out a few more?”
The priest was sweating profusely with a troubled look on his face. I was about to say something again when the princess next to me jumped to her feet. She stood up as if her legs didn’t hurt and with her back as straight as it had been while she was kneeling down.
Slowly retrieving my outstretched hand, I coughed, looked at the priest again, and spoke.
“Read it.”
“Y, you can’t do this…”
“Begin.”
“……”
I turned and took a step toward the princess. The suddenness of my approach should have startled her, but she didn’t move, as if there was no one next to her.
“F, first of all… you two should stand face to face.”
The priest said, wiping the sweat from his brow with a shaky hand. Then, the princess turned with minimal movement.
It was like a bundle of fabric, not a person, coming to life. Weren’t her clothes heavy? Wasn’t she hot? As I was distracted, the priest began to recite the vows, written in gold ink on thick parchment.
It was a very long and boring moment, so I kept my eyes fixed on the bride in front of me.
A woman who had been chosen to marry into the imperial family could not show her flesh to anyone from that moment on until her wedding.
The priests of the Sun God were all blind because before entering the temple, they had to pluck out their eyes and give them to the Sun God in exchange for daring to look at the sun.
Therefore, brides who married into the imperial family would usually spend a few days in the temple before the ceremony to prepare their minds and bodies. I didn’t know when the princess came to Akhtan, but she’d probably lived in the temple for a few days.
“…Now, remove the veil of the bride, and look upon each other face to face.”
Even though I was distracted, I couldn’t help but make a incredulous face at the priest’s words. I looked at the priest with bewildered eyes, then turned my head to look at the princess.
That was a fucking carpet, not a veil…
I sighed inwardly and reached out slowly so as not to startle her. I held the fabric still for a moment to make sure she recognized my touch, then carefully pulled back the thick hood.
“……”
“……”
There was a rustle of cloth, and the priest resumed his long, rambling recitation.
The outline of a face was faintly visible through the transparent veil covering her nose and mouth. Her eyes were closed, so I couldn’t see the color of her irises, but I was able to recognize what was in front of me as a person.
The long strands that almost reached her shoulders were her hair. The white, dense threads of shadow beneath her closed eyelids were her eyelashes.
Her pale face tilted, ever so slightly, to the side, and her near-white platinum hair touched her shoulders.
Seeing a halo behind her head, I even thought that this person wasn’t a human being but a god.
Was she the Sun God?
I reached out, stunned and mesmerized. It was when my fingertips touched the hair on her shoulder, ever so slightly.
Her long white lashes fluttered, then slowly her eyelids lifted.
“……”
Her brilliantly colored eyes were indigo blue like the night sky, then amethyst violet, and then, as the light from beyond the stained glass fell over her face, they turned blood red.
They were strange, indescribable by words like pretty, cool, or cute.
“Do you take the oath?”
Gender and age, the shape of her face, the color of her hair, eyes, and skin, and other things that were used to evaluate physical appearance were meaningless.
“Do you take the oath?”
They were a mysterious, unexplainable miracle. It was like the shock of encountering the unknown, something you’d never seen or heard of.
“Excuse me…”
They were a miracle and a shock.
“Kyle-nim?”
They were beautiful, like water turning to fire.
“Eyes.”
“……?”
I heard a sound in my ears that I had never heard before. A reddish-purple haze swirled in her eyes, then disappeared as she closed and opened them.
“Do you take the oath?”
“….Ah, yes, yes.
I closed my eyes tightly, opened them, and hastily answered. The priest wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his skinny hand again, and this time he turned to the princess.
But my ears started ringing again. No matter how much I closed and opened my eyes, I couldn’t get used to the person in front of me, not knowing if it was human or not.
I felt like I was possessed by a ghost as I started to feel short of breath.
“Do you take the oath?”
“……”
“…Do you take the oath?”
“……”
“U, Um…”
Then the same thing happened again. I stared blankly at the priest, and when I turned my head, I could finally see the princess’s face clearly. No, to be exact, I saw her eyes looking back at me.
“……”
“……”
They were filled with clear hostility.
“Do, do you take the oath?”
“…I do.”
“Huh?”
“I do. Move on.”
“Ah…”
It was fiery rage, contempt.
“That…… alright. Then, the bride kneels down and kisses the top of her husband’s foot as a sign of her willingness to serve from her lowly place.”
“……”
“……”
Before the priest had finished speaking, I began to hallucinate an ice storm blowing around her. I glanced away from her eyes, which were sharp like knives, and spoke while looking elsewhere.
“She’s done.”
“Ah?”
“I said she’s done, she just kissed the top of my foot.”
“Ah… ah, then… r, rise and…”
I almost felt sorry for the priest, who was now trembling and about to cry. I reached out for everyone’s sake and pulled the princess’s thick hood back on, avoiding her stare that threatened to tear me apart.
“I’m done. I’ve kissed her lips, I’ve taken her oath, I’ve sworn before the Sun God, I’m done, it’s over.”
“……”
“……”
And that was how the wedding ended.
Lol ….poor priest he didn’t deserve it…
#ifeelbadforthepriest
#justiceforthepriest
Thanks for the chapter ☺️
Kyle’s so cute I cannot
That poor poor priest but I swear what is that weird as tradition. Who would make the person they’re marrying and will love with for the rest of their life kiss their feet 😒
They’re basically asking to be despised and hated