Chapter 1: Marriage ①
Clang, clang, the bells of the grand cathedral rang out.
It was the signal that the wedding of the head of the Border Marquis family was about to begin.
Today, the bells of churches all across the borderlands would be ringing proudly in every region.
The people everywhere would be celebrating in a frenzy, and festivals where formalities were cast aside were scheduled to be held.
Here in the domain capital of Schreinn, the central city of the borderlands where the Border Marquis family resides, a grand celebration was already underway in honor of the beloved head of the house and her spouse.
The main event of the day was the parade of the head’s family from the grand cathedral to the castle.
The people, who had yet to see the chosen partner, whispered among themselves about what kind of person the one their ruler had selected might be.
“Isn’t the head’s partner supposed to be a gentle-looking guy, according to the rumors?”
“I heard he’s small and would lose just standing next to the head.”
“I heard he’s got some kind of incredible talent.”
“The one chosen by our proud empress can’t be an ordinary person.”
Edel, who had been hearing such voices nonstop even before the wedding, sat in a corner of a tavern he had been frequenting lately, apologizing endlessly in his heart.
‘I’m really, truly sorry. I’m sorry someone like me ended up becoming your partner. But I can’t run away. Physically or mentally.’
Despite being the partner of the head of the Border Marquis family, Edel the bard did not possess even a fragment of the courage needed to announce, “I am the head’s partner,” so he spent his days apologizing silently in his heart.
Since he was, after all, a bard, he gathered rumors and heroic tales in taverns to imagine stories and turn them into songs and lyrics, so when he explained to her that he couldn’t work unless he went to taverns, she replied, “That would be a problem. If it’s necessary for your music, then go.”
However, she also told him she would assign guards, so he went to the tavern every day accompanied by two men.
And today, at last, the day of his wedding with her had arrived safely.
Once the wedding was over, it would serve as a public introduction to the people of the entire borderland, and he would officially be able to declare, “We are married,” though being able to say it and actually saying it were two very different matters.
He looked out the window from the waiting room.
A beautiful blue sky without a single cloud.
Gentle sunlight poured down, as if blessing this joyous day.
A couple able to hold their wedding on such a day must be fortunate.
And one half of that happy couple was… me, though….
He looked at his son beside him, who was gazing at the same blue sky.
His son wore a smile on his lips.
It was an awkward smile, paired with eyes like a dead fish.
“…Are you okay…?”
“Yes, Father. At this point, I think I want to live by accepting everything… no, I mean, accept it all.”
Originally, his son had been told to call his mother “Mother,” and in keeping with that, had called him “Father,” but Edel couldn’t get used to such a stiff form of address and had begged him to at least call him “Dad,” resulting in the change.
And over the roughly four months since private tutors had been assigned, his son had completely adopted this manner of speaking.
According to the tutors, he learned exceptionally well and was highly praised as a fine eldest son blessed upon the head of the house.
But Edel knew that before coming here, his son had played happily outside with the neighborhood children, so he felt a little sorry for him.
After all, if anyone here even casually suggested “Let’s play,” it would turn into an intense game of tag hosted by burly middle-aged men, leaving the bodies of young, relatively slim men scattered throughout the castle.
Edel had seen his son get caught up in this several times, and as a result of the not-at-all-welcome consideration of “training the future heir early,” his son had learned to dart around quickly to escape the serious old men.
Not only that, he had begun acquiring advanced techniques on how to outwit his opponents.
The elite education delivered by intimidating middle-aged men had already begun.
His son, who had initially been somewhat thin from poor nutrition when they first arrived, had grown sturdy thanks to eating well and getting plenty of exercise, and the child-sized black military uniform tailored for the wedding suited him perfectly, making him look handsome.
Looking at him like this, his son really resembled her.
It was obvious that he carried the blood of the Border Marquis family.
The black hair and blue-violet eyes were exactly the same.
“By the way, Dad, are you done getting ready like that?”
“Yeah. What do you think? Does it suit me?”
Blushing, the father lightly twirled his outfit.
He knew it was one of the reasons behind his son’s dead eyes, but Edel himself liked it.
“…Yes, it suits you very well.”
It truly suited him unbelievably well.
The pure white wedding dress.
“Right? I mean, it feels weird to say it myself, but I’ve always been told I have a feminine face, so outfits like this suit me. Plus, the esthetics team gave me an intense treatment, and the maids with real professional makeup skills did my face, so when I looked in the mirror, I thought I was a different person.”
His son found himself in a complicated emotional state as he watched his father speak shyly but happily.
Incidentally, his role today was to hold the veil behind him.
His mother had simply told him, “This is also to show your face to everyone, so hold the wedding dress veil,” and he had never imagined that his father would be the one wearing the wedding dress.
“Even Aria said it would absolutely suit me, so I’m glad I didn’t let her expectations down.”
He smiled cheerfully, but the reason it had turned out this way dated back to the day they met, when they married on the spot and then discussed what to do about the wedding.
“Hmm. A wedding ceremony, huh.”
“Yes, Lady Aria. Since it was such a sudden marriage, I believe it would be best to at least invite the relatives and also use the occasion to introduce Lord Edel.”
“I see. You’re right, we should introduce Edel.”
About two months after arriving at this castle and marrying Ariarette Lordknight, the female head of the Border Marquis family, the head butler Sebas asked, “Have you discussed the wedding ceremony yet?”
Edel thought, ‘Now that you mention it, what are we doing?’ and the two of them went to Aria’s office together.
Several civil officials and guard knights were always stationed in the office, with people constantly coming and going carrying documents from various departments, and maids busily preparing tea for Aria.
“Then let’s do it three months from now.”
That was based on the calculation that there would be enough time to send invitations, receive replies, allow each household to prepare, and have the relatives arrive in Schreinn.
However, everyone present immediately objected.
“What are you saying, Lady Aria!? There won’t be time for your outfit to be ready!! Wedding dresses take time to make!”
At the maid’s cry, likely imagining Aria in a wedding dress, the other women around her nodded vigorously in agreement.
“A wedding dress? Ah, that thing. Is it necessary?”
“It is the dream of many women.”
“I see. But that outfit makes it hard to move in case of an emergency. In that case, there was that white formal outfit Grandmother gave me before, wasn’t there? That will do.”
The white formal outfit had been prepared by Aria’s grandmother for a ceremony in the royal capital, but a monster horde had appeared and required subjugation, preventing Aria from attending.
Her grandmother had been looking forward to seeing Aria wear it, but since that never happened, it would be good to wear it now.
But when it came to white formal attire…
“Lady Aria, that would be a white military uniform.”
“There’s no rule that it must be a wedding dress, is there? I want to wear that, and I think it suits me.”
“That is true, but…”
There was no doubt that Aria would look good in a white military uniform.
No doubt at all.
But that would result in a male formal outfit paired with a woman in military uniform.
Well, that might be fine in its own way, but what should they do…?
Everyone present, while thinking “Lady Aria in a white military uniform…! So cool! It works!” still couldn’t hide their hesitation.
Still, not wearing a wedding dress at a large wedding seemed questionable, and the maids’ desire to dress her up to the fullest on such a special occasion clashed repeatedly, resulting in a heartwarming exchange of “Lady Aria, please wear a wedding dress!” and “I refuse.”
After this went on several times, Edel raised his hand.
“Ah, then, how about I wear the wedding dress?”
He raised his hand straight and made the suggestion.
So that was an option.
No, was that really okay!?
Speaking for everyone’s inner thoughts, Sebas asked Edel.
“Are you truly okay with that, Lord Edel? You would be… wearing women’s clothing in front of a large crowd.”
“Eh? I mean, I think Aria in a white military uniform would look incredibly cool, and if I wear the wedding dress, that solves everything. I’ve played female roles in traveling theater troupes, so I don’t have any resistance to cross-dressing. If anything, the ladies in the troupe got mad at me for looking better than them, so I think I can pull off a wedding dress too.”
Edel laughed lightly as he said it.
Indeed, Edel wasn’t much shorter than Aria, and with his gentle, feminine features, he probably could pull off a wedding dress with proper makeup.
“Besides, it’s an outfit her grandmother made especially for Aria, so she should absolutely wear it. I’ve been a drifter with no roots, and I don’t have any family left, so I’m a little envious of being able to wear something filled with someone else’s feelings like that.”
Edel had no blood relatives left.
He had never even seen his father once, and his mother had passed away long ago, leaving him truly alone.
That was why he felt just a little envy toward Aria having a heartfelt gift from her family.
It was something he admired.
“B-But…”
“It’s fine, really. The star of the wedding is Aria, so she should wear what she likes. I’m just an accessory, so I don’t think many people will pay much attention to me. Wouldn’t it look cool if next to Aria in a white military uniform there’s someone in a wedding dress?”
Edel’s words, strangely persuasive, almost made everyone nod in agreement.
“Edel, you are not an accessory. You are my husband. If anyone dares to ridicule you, I will not allow it. Still, I am glad for your feelings. I thank you for trying to fulfill my selfish wish to wear the white military uniform.”
About two months had passed since Edel and his son came to the castle, and in that time, the two had fully blended in.
At first, the entire castle had been on guard, thinking, “Another troublesome woman-related issue has arrived,” but somehow he became Aria’s husband, and rather than acting arrogantly, he earnestly tried to fit in without any pretense.
Before they realized it, the people of the castle had lost their wariness.
Edel, in particular, had a way of smoothly slipping into people’s personal space, and now there wasn’t a single person in the castle who hadn’t spoken with him.
He chatted enthusiastically with the gruff old gardener about rare flowers, asked the cook to recreate dishes he had eaten in foreign lands, and among the maids and servants, he wasn’t really perceived as a man so much as a being known as “the head’s husband.”
With the civil and military officials, he challenged them using his only redeeming feature, according to himself, a sturdy stomach, defeating them one after another and deepening their camaraderie.
And the people of the castle knew something else.
That Aria seemed somehow happier.
She had one of the unused rooms converted into a soundproof room with instruments like a piano for Edel, arranged tutors for his son, and generally took great care of the two of them.
Previously, she often skipped meals due to being busy and lost track of time while working, but now Edel came to fetch her when it was time, and they ate together, even making time for tea.
For that, the people of the castle were grateful to Edel.
“Don’t worry, Aria. Since I’m the one wearing it, we don’t need a custom-made dress. We can just adjust a ready-made one a bit, and it’ll be ready in time. If we add similar decorations to match your uniform, that should be fine, right? As for the chest… I’ll put something in there.”
His own chest was completely flat, so stuffing something in would do.
He was used to cross-dressing and standing in front of large crowds like that.
If he thought of it as a kind of stage performance, it didn’t bother him at all.
Above all, Aria was the star, so no one would be paying that much attention to him.
Edel accepted the role with that lighthearted mindset.
“If I think of it as a big stage, it doesn’t bother me at all. In the end, it’s just a performance.”
For some reason, Edel’s words suddenly put Aria in a bad mood.
“Oh? A performance, you say… Edel.”
Aria stood up from her chair and began walking toward Edel, who was seated on the central sofa.
As the carnivorous beast moved gracefully, everyone around froze, though she herself likely had no idea she was giving off such an aura.
The onlookers silently offered their favorite toy, Edel, as a sacrifice.
“…Do you truly understand?”
Aria lifted Edel’s chin with a finger and brought her face close to his.
Then, just before their lips touched, stopping a finger’s breadth away, she halted.
“At the wedding, you know that we will kiss like this in front of everyone, right?”
Someone swallowed audibly.
The maids stood frozen, covering their mouths with both hands.
“Eh… ah…”
Completely unable to react to Aria’s actions, Edel slowly began to turn red as her words sank in.
“I-I’ll prepare myself!!”
Flustered, Edel escaped from Aria and ran out of the room.
“Fufu.”
Everyone knew that despite being married, the couple had no physical intimacy of that kind whatsoever.
“Lady Aria…”
Sebas lightly shook his head.
It might have been a good way to show reality to Edel, who likely hadn’t considered that aspect at all, but the scene of the cool, beautiful empress in a military uniform and the gentle-faced young man together struck the hearts of everyone present in more ways than one.
“Call the designer and have them prepare a wedding dress that complements my outfit.”
“It will be tight, but understood.”
“I’m counting on you. I’ll return to my room for a bit.”
Next to the office was a room prepared for Aria’s rest.
Entering that empty room directly from the office, Aria leaned against the door and slowly slid down to the floor.
“…Th-That was… close…”
Even though she had done it herself, she had gotten closer to Edel’s face than she had expected.
Thanks to the maids carefully grooming and combing his long, unkempt gray hair until it shone, it had returned to its original blue-gray hue, smooth and reaching halfway down his back.
His gentle light-blue eyes that reflected only her.
What would have happened if Edel hadn’t run away just then?
Aria covered her slightly reddened face with both hands.