By Zephyria 
As it was a sudden decision, the wedding was held very simply. Aside from a few traditional rituals, the banquet, greetings, and procession were all omitted.
It was a hasty schedule, as if running away from a rabid dog.
Moreover, the person responsible for this mess was too hungover to even attend my wedding.
“Haha.”
The situation was so absurd that all I could do was laugh. I wanted to curse, but I couldn’t do that at my wedding.
When I suddenly laughed, the slender arm of the priest, who was reciting the greatness of the Sun God five steps in front of me, began to tremble.
I glanced up and saw his face, pale with fear. I briefly wondered if I had accidentally cursed instead of laughing.
I watched the blind priest reading the scripture, a little slower and with a trembling voice than before, then turned my head.
“…….”
Right next to me, the princess of the Western Continent, whom I was forced to marry, was kneeling with her back straight in the same posture as me.
She was wrapped from head to toe in pure white cloth, so I couldn’t tell what she looked like or what color her hair was. The only unusual thing was the atmosphere.
Even though not a single strand of hair was visible, there was a strange aura surrounding that white bundle of cloth. Was it because this was a temple dedicated to the Sun God, and a sacred energy was lingering? Or was there some special magic on the cloth?
As I stared at her with a puzzled expression, the motionless cloth rustled. I couldn’t see her face, but judging by the position, it seemed like her eyes behind the cloth were looking at me.
I belatedly realized that I had turned my whole body and was staring at her. I moved my lips and said awkwardly.
“Hello?”
“…….”
“You must be a little surprised to come here so suddenly, right? But don’t be too…….”
Don’t be too scared? Don’t be afraid? I was at a loss for words.
The white princess was crossing the sea to become a hostage of Actan, marrying a man she didn’t even know. And it was highly likely that her own will was not involved. So what good would it do to say things like, ‘Don’t be scared,’ or ‘Don’t be afraid’?
“Well……. Anyway, nice to meet you.”
“…….”
“K, Kyle-nim.”
What I heard was not the princess’s voice, but the voice of the priest presiding over the ceremony. He had a golden cloth covering his eyes and was looking at me with a flustered expression.
It was natural for him to be flustered since I had spoken aloud during the sacred time of reciting the Sun God’s scripture. I frowned, looked at the priest, and said.
“We’re the only ones here anyway, can’t we just do it roughly?”
“Excuse me, but that’s…….”
“Let’s just do it roughly. Who’s watching? The floor is too cold and hard, and my knees hurt.”
“B, but…….”
I deliberately made a noise and stood up. My legs were a little numb from kneeling for so long, but it wasn’t unbearable.
I wondered how hard it must be for the princess, so I reached out my hand to her, who was still kneeling.
“You get up too.”
“…….”
“Kyle-nim. You can’t do this.”
“Let’s just do it roughly and quickly get to the vows.”
“But there’s a procedure…….”
“Everything’s already been omitted, and we’re not doing it by the book anyway. What difference does it make if we skip a few more steps?”
The priest was sweating profusely with a troubled expression. I was about to say something again when the princess next to me stood up abruptly. She stood up briskly as if her legs didn’t hurt, keeping her back straight as she had been when she was kneeling.
I slowly retracted my outstretched hand, cleared my throat, and looked back at the priest, saying briefly.
“Recite.”
“Y, you can’t do this…….”
“Start.”
“…….”
I turned and took a step towards the princess. She might have been surprised if I approached her suddenly, but she didn’t move at all, as if no one was next to her.
It was as if a bundle of cloth was moving instead of a person. I wondered if the clothes were too heavy or if she was too hot. I was lost in thought when the priest began to recite the words of the vow, written in gold ink on thick parchment.
It was such a long and tedious time that I fixed my gaze on the bride in front of me to avoid falling asleep.
From the moment a woman is chosen to marry into the royal family, she must not show her skin to anyone until the marriage.
The priests of the Sun God had to offer their eyes to the god before entering the temple as a price for daring to look at the sun, so they were all blind.
Therefore, brides who marry into the royal family usually live in the temple before the ceremony to purify their minds and bodies. I didn’t know when she came to Actan, but the princess had probably been living in the temple for a few days.
“……Therefore, remove the bride’s veil and face each other.”
I, who had been lost in thought, couldn’t help but make a dumbfounded expression at the priest’s words. I looked at the priest with an absurd look, then glanced at the princess.
That’s a rug, not a veil, bullshit…….
I sighed inwardly and slowly reached out so as not to startle her. I held the cloth for a moment to make sure she recognized that I was touching it, then carefully pulled the thick hood back.
As I heard the sound of the cloth rustling, the priest began to recite long and verbose words again.
“…….”
“…….”
The outline of her face was faintly visible through the transparent veil covering her nose and mouth. Her eyes were closed, so I couldn’t see what color her pupils were, but I hadn’t yet recognized that what was in front of me was a person.
The long, thread-like strands that almost touched her shoulders were her hair. The white things that filled her closed eyelids so densely that they cast a shadow were her eyelashes.
As her white face tilted slightly to the side, platinum blonde hair, almost white, touched her shoulder.
Seeing a halo behind her head, I even wondered if this person was not a human but a god.
Could she be the Sun God?
With a foolish expression, I reached out my hand without realizing it. It was the moment my fingertips lightly touched the hair on her shoulder.
Her long, white eyelashes fluttered and her eyelids slowly rose.
“…….”
The clear color of her eyes appeared navy blue like the night sky, then quickly turned purple like Amethyst. Then, as the light that came in through the stained glass fell on her face, it turned red as if it contained blood.
It was something strange that could not be explained by words like pretty, cool, or cute.
“Do you swear?”
Gender, age, the shape of her features, the color of her hair, eyes, and skin, the things that are commonly used to evaluate external appearance, were meaningless.
“Do you swear?”
It was a miracle like mystery that was hard to explain in any words and could not be expressed. It was like the shock of encountering an unknown thing that I had never seen or heard of before.
“Um…….”
It was a miraculous shock.
“Kyle-nim?”
It was a beauty like water turning into fire.
“Eyes.”
“……?”
Then I heard a voice for the first time in my life. A hazy reddish-purple mist swirled wildly in her eyes, then disappeared when she closed and opened her eyes.
“Do you swear?”
“……Ah, uh. No, yes.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and answered urgently. Then the priest wiped the sweat from the back of his gaunt hand again and asked the princess this time.
But my ears began to ring again. No matter how many times I closed and opened my eyes, I couldn’t get used to this thing in front of me, whether it was a person or not.
I even started to feel suffocated, and I felt like I was possessed by a ghost.
“Do you swear?”
“…….”
“……Do you swear?”
“…….”
“U, um…….”
Then the same thing happened again as before. I blankly looked at the priest, then turned my head, and only then did I begin to see her face clearly. No, to be exact, it was her eyes that were looking at me.
“…….”
“…….”
It was a clear hostility.
“D, do you swear?”
“……Yeah.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah. Move on.”
“No…….”
It was anger burning like fire, and contempt.
“Well……. I understand. Then the bride should kneel and kiss the groom’s instep as a sign of serving from the lowest place.”
“…….”
“…….”
Even before the priest finished speaking, I began to see a hallucination of an ice storm blowing around her. I avoided her eyes, which were sharpened like knives, and looked elsewhere, saying.
“Did it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said I did it. I kissed his instep.”
“Ah……. Ah, yes……. W, well then, please stand up…….”
I was almost feeling sorry for the priest, who was trembling so much that he looked like he was about to cry. For everyone’s sake, I reached out my hand and hastily put the thick hood back on her, avoiding the gaze that was glaring at me as if she would tear me to death, and said urgently.
“It’s all done. We kissed, we made vows, and we swore before the Sun God. It’s all done. It’s over.”
“…….”
“…….”
That’s how the wedding ended.