Chapter 02: The Marriage Ceremony

　　General Martín Nadal was a man in the prime of his life, a little bit over forty.

　　Also known as the Guardian Deity of the Navarre Kingdom, this man looked exactly like what you would expect from his t.i.tle.

　　One-hundred and ninety centimetre tall and over hundred kilogram heavy.

　　He was one head shorter than the almost two metre tall General Puyol, but surpa.s.sed him in body width. Needless to say, that did not mean that he was fat.

　　His body was a stronghold of trained muscles to the point that it did not show his age of over forty years at all.

　　Despite his ma.s.sive boar-like build, he moved around smoothly like a feline predator.

　　General Martín was sitting on a chair in one room of the building the Guzzle Family had allocated to him, and cracked a wry smile.

　　“Oh man, have got to give the Carpa Kingdom credit. Or should I say, the Guzzle Family, in this case? Either way, they are not to be underestimated.”

　　When the hero of their country uttered this almost fearfully, the young knight standing at attention behind him gave a nervous response.

　　“Could you explain what you mean by that, General Martín? The Carpa Kingdom always had more fighting power than our country.”

　　“Hm, you don’t understand? Look at this chair and desk. The chair doesn’t even bulge under my weight and is quite comfortable. The desk has the right height, too.

　　And they immediately brought me to this room, when I arrived, without having to wait.”

　　Being told that much, the young knight came to understand what the general was implying as well.

　　“…In other words, word got out somewhere that you will be attending this marriage ceremony as our representative?”

　　The general was one-hundred and ninety centimetre tall and weighted over a hundred kilogram, so a normal chair and desk would obviously not meet his needs. The chair would squeak alarmingly, if he sat down rashly, or it could turn into a catastrophe, when he sat down in a chair with armrests, because his firm bottom did not fit in.

　　But nothing of the sort happened with the chair he currently sat in. It was a simple wooden chair without decorations, but easily supported the hundred kilogram of the general and was a perfect fit for him in terms of height and width.

　　“Well, I’m not sure about an information leak. I think they just antic.i.p.ated it. After all, my connection to General Puyol is rather well-known.”

　　Saying this, General Martín unconsciously put his right hand on his breastbone and scratched his old wound over the clothes.

　　General Puyol had given him that wound in the previous war.

　　Not really the type to dwell on things, General Martín still could not help but pay attention to General Puyol, though.

　　“Did he arrange this? Maybe not. This is the land of his bride. Not even General Puyol has that much to say here, yet.

　　The only other logical explanation is that the Guzzle Family arranged it. But I can’t see the Marquis being so considerate. Does he have a smart adviser…?”

　　The giant general lost himself deeply in thought, but was brought back to reality by the gaze of the young knight in the corner of the eye.

　　“Hmm, what’s up?”

　　The young knight had been staring at one corner of the table for a while now.

　　His gaze went to a small rectangle box. It contained cinnamon sugar hardened in stick form.

　　It was an unnecessary provision for General Martín, since he hated sweets, but the young knight had a weak spot for it despite his virile appearance, so he could not ignore it.

　　“Ah, no, it is nothing.”

　　The young knight deliberately averted his gaze from it with a cough, whereupon General Martín smiled wryly.

　　“You sure love sweets.”

　　“…Something wrong with that?”

　　Turning a bit red in the face from shame, the young knight puckered his lips.

　　“Not per se. But I do hate them.”

　　“I do like them.”

　　“Yes and that’s the problem. Why do you think these are left here, when I hate them, but you like them?”

　　“…Oh?”

　　For a moment, the young knight was at a loss for words, when the general pointed it out.

　　Seeing the knight turn pale in the face, General Martín smiled sympathetic and called the things as they were.

　　“That’s right. Not many men like sweet things like that. I can‘t be dead certain, but I say it’s quite likely these are for you, Cristiano Pinto.”

　　The hero of the previous war called the young knight by his name.

　　“It goes without saying for a person with a standing like you, General, but why would they be aware of an obscure guy like myself?”

　　“Oh, come on, Cris. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Any person with a spark of intelligence would obviously keep the name Cristiano Pinto in mind.”

　　General Martín was by no means lying, when he said that.

　　Not even twenty years old yet, Cristiano was still young, but he had already risen to the envious position of a Knight Captain affiliated to the general. One reason for that was his ancestry: He was the oldest son of the famous Pinto Family, which had inherited the royal blood quite strongly. But the bigger reason was his own martial skills.

　　The general was not so shallow as to pick him based on the right pedigree alone. To begin with, General Martín had worked his way up from nothing, so he valued actions over words and thought little of lineage.

　　With these views, General Martín had pinned his hopes on Cristiano Pinto as the “next protector of the country”.

　　Nevertheless, it was a fact that it needed a really perceptive person to take notice of him from a different country at this point of time.

　　“A large territory does not make a major power, neither does a large population. Maintaining that large territory and large population by employing the right personnel is what makes a nation a major power.

　　Never forget that.”

　　“Sir, yes, Sir.”

　　The general and his protégée from the Navarre Kingdom called the caution against major powers, the Carpa Kingdom in particular, to mind once again.

　　* * *

　　Around the same time, the people from the Guzzle Family were extremely busy with preparing for the marriage ceremony and greeting the arriving guests in the main building.

　　That was nothing out of the ordinary by itself. The marriage between influential n.o.bles was such a big event after all.

　　“Lady Lucinda, the adjustments to your wedding dress have been finished. Please try it on now.”

　　“I understand. Wait for me in the room next door. I will come over as soon as I am done here.”

　　“Lady Lucinda, Master Zenjirou and his group have had dinner and Miss Nilda reported that there were no problems.”

　　“Good. Tell Nilda to drop by my room before going to bed. I want to hear the report from herself, just to be sure.”

　　“Lady Lucinda, we have ushered the delegation from the Navarre Kingdom to their rooms. They have not expressed any displeasure for now.”

　　“Glad to hear that. Of course we cannot privilege a certain group, but it would become an international affair, if something were to happen with them, so please be extra careful, when dealing with them.”

　　The only abnormality here was the fact that Lucinda Guzzle, the bride-to-be herself, was managing the versatile planning in its entirety.

　　She had always been in charge of the territory, because the Marquis was generally working in the capital, but her duties did not even change on this special occasion.

　　Lucinda Guzzle was still unmarried at twenty-six, even though the etiquette in the Carpa Kingdom considered it to be already too late, when you had not married before twenty. Normally that would mean that she was unattractive or quick-tempered, but in actual fact, that was not the case with her.

　　Her facial features were admittedly plain, because of an inconspicuous small nose and mouth, but did not prevent her to be called a “spruce beauty” by some and there were no problems with her personality, either, seeing as the servants of the March trusted in her.

　　If anything, her zeal for running the business of the March despite being a woman, was somewhat contradicting the common sense of the Carpa Kingdom, but Lucinda always emphasised that she was just “filling in for her father until her little brother was old enough to take over”.

　　She was not the kind of unorthodox woman, who cleverly wielded the highest authority in the country despite being a woman such as Queen Aura or unashamedly risked her life on sea travel like Princess Freya.

　　To begin with, she only missed her timing to get married, because her nubile years happened to overlap with the previous war. In place of her father, who was out on the battlefield, Lucinda had to take care of the territory and her little brother, leaving her no time to think about marriage. These reasons had been completely beyond her control, so she was different from the usual “marriage failures”.

　　Once she had listened to all the reports from the servants, Lucinda turned to the table and looked through the doc.u.ments with a cool-headedness that made you question whether she really was a n.o.ble daughter on the brink of marriage.

　　“As expected, the Navarre Kingdom sent General Martín as their representative. I did not foresee that Knight Captain Cris would accompany him, though.

　　I hope the sugar snacks were prepared in time?”

　　“Yes, we put them in the room before letting them in.”

　　“Well done. Thanks.”

　　Everything had been done on behalf of her. The right furniture was prepared for General Martín, because Lucinda had antic.i.p.ated him as the messenger from the Navarre Kingdom, and the sugar snacks were served at such short notice, because she had acquired the information that Knight Captain Cris liked sweets.

　　As a proxy for her father working in the capital, but de facto leader of the March, Lucinda had paid special attention to the neighbouring Navarre Kingdom across the mountain and gathered all kind of information.

　　For the Carpa Kingdom as a whole, the Navarre Kingdom was nothing but a small middle power not worth their attention, but the neighbouring country posed enough of a threat to the independent March of Guzzle.

　　Hence Lucinda was as cautious about the Navarre Kingdom as General Martín was about the Carpa Kingdom.

　　“I have heard that General Martín is a lot more perceptive than his militant appearance lets on. He must have noticed the meaning behind the special furniture and snacks.

　　I just hope the feint will work.”

　　Lucinda mumbled and put the dragon bone quill in her right hand back into its stand.

　　In fact, General Martín had figured out that the matching furniture for him and the favourite snack for Knight Captain Cris had been a message from Lucinda.

　　A message that read: “I know all this about your activities.”

　　Lucinda was going to get married, which meant that the March of Guzzle would lose her as its representative.

　　Of course she had immediately started with the preparations for her succession as soon as her marriage was set in stone.

　　Her little brother Xavier, the next head of the family, and the mayordomo rear va.s.sal were taught the necessary work and were introduced to as many spokesmen of their subjects as possible, pa.s.sing on the information network she had build up till today.

　　But these were nothing but rough-and-ready measures in the end. Nothing could be done about it, though, since her marriage came on an extremely short notice, even by higher n.o.bility’s standards.

　　Once Lucinda was gone, the March would more or less be thrown into turmoil, so she had wanted to send a warning to the neighbouring country not to take advantage of that turmoil.

　　“At any rate, I really come to appreciate the consideration from Master Zenjirou in this situation. I have to properly express my grat.i.tude later on.”

　　The consideration was referring to his following words: “I am looking forward to seeing the newlywed couple on the day of the marriage ceremony.”

　　In other words, he had declared that they did not need to entertain him until the day of the marriage ceremony. Thanks to that, the Guzzle Family could give Royalty, originally the most high-maintenance guest, a short shrift by just a.s.signing a bare minimum of servants to the annex building.

　　If not for his consideration, Zenjirou would have come to greet the Marquis in advance and congratulated the bride as soon as possible as Royalty. In that case, the Guzzle Family would have been overwhelmed with obligations by now.

　　Lucinda felt a s.h.i.+ver ran down her spine in light of that scary imagination. In the meantime, the door was opened and closed with a clatter.

　　“Excuse me, Sister. I have just returned from doing my rounds in the city.”

　　These words were uttered by the next head of the Guzzle Family: Xavier Guzzle.

　　Just like he had claimed, he had been patrolling the city and was still wearing his leather armour and longsword at this late hour.

　　“Well done, Xavier. Has the city been quiet?”

　　Lucinda thanked her little brother for his efforts with a warm smile and signalized the servant next to her to pour him some cold tea.

　　The siblings then sat down across each other on the couches.

　　“Yes, it has. Nothing worth mentioning has taken place. The people are all celebrating your wedding from the bottom of their hearts.”

　　Sitting on the couch, Xavier reported proudly while throwing out his chest.

　　He had lost his mother had at an early age, so Lucinda was more like a mother, who raised him, than an older sister to him.

　　No one was more happy about her marriage, delayed by unfortunate circ.u.mstances, than him.

　　Lucinda giggled embarra.s.sed to herself, when she saw the joy in the eyes of her little brother as though it was his own wedding.

　　“Is that so. I am glad to hear that. So no one is picking any fights, because they are drunk?”

　　Maybe in order to hide her embarra.s.sment, she quickly talked business.

　　Xavier looked a bit troubled and averted his eyes, when she pointed that out.

　　“Actually, a lot of that is happening. Should I have banned the alcohol instead?”

　　“No. It would be tasteless to celebrate the marriage without alcohol. Just continue to take those into custody, who cause a ruckus.

　　But please keep in mind to not let anyone without permission near the residence until the ceremony is over. We cannot risk a strife with another n.o.ble family.”

　　“Yes, I understand, Sister.”

　　The older sister gave instructions and the little brother accepted them as a matter of course. Considering that he was going to be the next family head, that hierarchy was not quite favourable.

　　“…I was anxious about leaving home after my sudden marriage, but it actually might be better that way. If I were to stay here any longer, I think I would cause more problems than I can solve.”

　　“Hmm? Did you say something?”

　　“No, just talking to myself.”

　　Lucinda brushed it off like that while heaving a sigh at heart.

　　If she were to remain in the March while Xavier succeeded the position of the family head, it would undoubtedly disrupt the balance of power.

　　At the very least, the rear va.s.sals and influential citizens would rather trust Lucinda than Xavier in domestic affairs, and above all else, Xavier himself was too fixated on his elder sister.

　　In the worst case, the March might even split into two opposing camps, when she remained here unmarried and could not get along with any future sister-in-law Xavier might take in.

　　So Lucinda was of the opinion that her marriage was already worth it, even if avoiding that future was the only good thing that came out of it.

　　While she was on these train of thoughts, she might as well give her little brother a final lecture.

　　“Xavier, I will marry General Puyol in a few days and leave the March afterwards.”

　　“Of course. Congratulations on getting married, Sister!”

　　Lucinda gave her teary-eyes little brother a wry look.

　　“Thanks, dear. Anyway, this will be the last time I can give you an heartfelt piece of advice with only your wellbeing in mind, so please listen well.”

　　After that prelude, she wiped her usual warm smile off her face and showed a stern expression.

　　“O- Okay.”

　　Xavier instinctively sat up straight and rested his clenched fists on his lap. A saying claims that the child is the father of man and in accordance with that, Xavier fundamentally could not go against his elder sister, who had raised him in place of a mother.

　　“Once I am the wife of General Puyol, you may not blindly trust me like before anymore.”

　　“S- Sister…?”

　　While the little brother was at a loss for words, the older sister overwhelmed him with further explanations.

　　“As soon as I marry him, I will have left the Guzzle Family and be a part of the Guillén Family. From then on, my first priority will be the Guillén Family. The Guzzle Family only comes in second.

　　I will belong to a different family and you do not blindly trust someone like that.”

　　“B- But…”

　　Xavier was baffled, but Lucinda was only stating a fact.

　　n.o.bility valued their house, so it was only natural that they took the view that you had to put the family you married into above all and adopted their customs.

　　Needless to say, that opinion was more of an idealism, if anything, and hardly anyone put it into practice to such an extent.

　　In fact, the majority of people still considered themselves a member of their parental home at heart, even if they married into a new family.

　　The best example for that would be the little sister of General Puyol: Fatima Guillén. She really loved her older brother and valuated him above all things, so it was hard to imagine that she would suddenly prioritize her new family over him, when she got married at some point.

　　However, that general rule did not apply to the woman called Lucinda Guzzle.

　　She had naturally accepted that she, as a n.o.ble daughter, would devote her everything to her new family henceforth, now that she had been asked for her hand in marriage. The aforementioned idealism was embodied by her to an inhumane level.

　　“Are you saying you will become my political opponent from now on, Sister?”

　　Her little brother turned pale in the face, whereupon Lucinda realized that her explanation had been a bit lacking.

　　She deliberately softened her expression and cleared up the doubt of her brother with her usual kind voice.

　　“Not at all. I did not mean it in such a radical way. To begin with, our two families were never on such bad terms to call us enemies and my marriage will actually stabilize our relations.h.i.+p even further.

　　In reality, I doubt that I will ever be able to bring harm to the Guzzle Family or you, Xavier.”

　　“I- I know, right!”

　　Crying in one moment, smiling in the next. Her little brother changed expressions at his own convenience, whereas the older sister smiled back at him troubled.

　　“Marriage is a kind of contract for n.o.bility. From now on, I have to bear the profit for the Guillén Family in mind, but as long as it does not harm the Guillén Family, I will obviously be allowed to bear a profit for the Guzzle Family in mind as well.”

　　Forget all about your parental home once you marry.

　　That would be way too disadvantageous for the family providing the bride. Hence the bride was allowed to draw a profit for her parental home as long as it did not affect her new family adversely.

　　Xavier listened to her explanation with a meek look.

　　“Considering the current standings of the Guillén and Guzzle Family in the Carpa Kingdom, I dare to say that it will be quite unlikely that the Guillén Family will cause harm to the Guzzle Family.

　　But the future is not set in stone. If one day, the interests of both families were to completely contrast each other, then I will bring harm to the Guzzle Family in order to make a profit for the Guillén Family.

　　I just want you to bear that possibility in mind, okay?”

　　“…Okay, I understand, Sister.”

　　Looking meek, the little brother answered with a nod to the warning of his older sister before she was going to marry into a different family.

　　* * *

　　A few days later.

　　The day of the ceremony arrived without any incidents.

　　They were holding the marriage ceremony in the banquet hall in the main building of the Guzzle residence.

　　It was not as pompous as the “Room of the Dragon King”, where Zenjirou and Aura had held their wedding, but it was almost as big.

　　The large hall was filled with numerous round tables and the invited n.o.bles sat on chairs in a circle around them.

　　Needless to say, Zenjirou was one of them. With him at the same table sat his partner Princess Freya and her trusted retainer Skathi as well as his bodyguard, the Knight Natalio.

　　Ines stood at attention behind him in her usual maid clothes.

　　A marriage ceremony in the Carpa Kingdom was not all that starchy, so the guests casually enjoyed some chitchat with some drinks until the bridal couple made their entrance.

　　“So this is a marriage ceremony on the South Continent. I see that it is not all that different from ours.”

　　Lowering the silver goblet with fruit juice from her mouth, Princess Freya started talking to Zenjirou next to her with a lovely smile playing on her lips.

　　“Oh, is that so. I’m not all that familiar with the culture on the South Continent, either, but I’ve heard that they used to sit on a soft carpet during the ceremony in the past.

　　It might be the influence of the North Continent that all the guests are sitting on chairs at tables now.”

　　“That is quite plausible. I would like to thank my ancestors for it then.”

　　Zenjirou realized what she was implying, so he casually asked with a playful tone.

　　“Oh my, you are uncomfortable with sitting on a carpet?”

　　“Yes, I am afraid so.”

　　Princess Freya looked down a bit embarra.s.sed, when she was exposed.

　　Although the culture of sitting down on a carpet was a thing of the past on the South Continent, it had not entirely vanished yet. Some traditional events still required you to sit cross-legged on top of a carpet and some tradition-conscious n.o.ble houses were refraining from setting up chairs and tables in the dining room to this day, setting and eating the dishes from atop the carpet instead.

　　Due to that, the n.o.bility in the Carpa Kingdom was more or less used to sitting on a carpet, but Princess Freya was n.o.bility hailing from the North Continent, so she could not come to like that custom.

　　On the other hand, Zenjirou was pretty much okay with the custom, too. Modern j.a.pan was certainly seeing more and more appearances of chairs and tables, but there were still plenty occasions to sit cross-legged on the ground like in a room with Tatami mats.

　　Thanks to that, Zenjirou did not suffer as much during traditional events without chairs and tables.

　　(Won’t she have more troubles like that, when she actually becomes my concubine?)

　　Zenjirou was worried like that, but the only way to find out would be to directly ask her.

　　But if he were to tell her that he was worried about her life as a concubine, he would practically admit to accepting her as a concubine.

　　At the present time, everything was pointing to Princess Freya becoming his concubine. It was probably already impossible for him to avert that development by his own effort, but even then, there was no reason for him to speed up that process, either.

　　While Zenjirou pondered about that, the stroke of a large gong rang out and echoed through the hall.

　　“Oh.”

　　“Looks like it is time.”

　　The gong attracted the attention from all the chit-chatting guests and today’s centrepiece, the bridal couple made their appearance.

　　“…”

　　The first to show up was the groom, Puyol Guillén.

　　Wearing his full dress uniform, the giant general imposingly strode over the red carpet while the decorative bronze sword hung from his waist.

　　It was typically of him to wear the military uniform instead of the traditional attire of the Carpa Kingdom at his wedding ceremony. As a matter of fact, an uniform suited him the best anyway.

　　Close to two metre tall and a hundred kilogram heavy, the steeled soldier wore the extravagant military uniform decorated with gold threads like a second skin. He personified the common image of a “General of the Army” par for par.

　　“…”

　　After him followed a woman in her late twenties wearing a white long dress.

　　Zenjirou was seeing her for the first time, but there was no question about it that she was the bride, Lucinda Guzzle.

　　According to the proper etiquette, she followed a step behind by the side of her preceding groom.

　　Aura and Zenjirou had walked alongside one another, when they had gotten married as the Queen and Prince Consort, but that had been an extremely rare exception to the exception.

　　Normally, the bride followed diagonally behind the groom at a marriage ceremony in the Carpa Kingdom.

　　The groom was attracting the most attention, but Zenjirou was looking at the bride, since he was seeing her for the first time.

　　(So she is Lucinda. Not the prettiest out there, but still beautiful.)

　　She looked smaller, because she was trailing behind the almost two metre tall General Puyol, but she actually had an average height and build.

　　Her black hair was full and glamorous, her black eyes beamed with kindness and her skin had the common brown tinge of a person from the Carpa Kingdom. Even clad in the snow-white wedding dress, she still looked somewhat plain, but her features were well-defined enough to get an immediate positive answer, when asking someone whether she was a beauty or not.