TN: Here is the bonus chapter, this one is a doozy. I think you guys will love it and I’d say it’s the most important chapter yet, I won’t keep you any longer so enjoy!
“Serea.”
“......”
“Let’s get married.”
“!”
“I vow to love you forever. With all my heart.”
“Shin-sama says that, then goes straight that girl, says ‘I’ve found my one true love’ and then casts me away.”
“Aaaaah! That’s not what I’m going to do.”
The me from the game really is terrible! I have to beat my game self here and now.
I’ve decided. I won’t have any regrets.
“Go change.”
“What?”
“We are going out. Wear some commoner clothes and let’s go to the church.”
“The church......at this hour......?”
“Don’t mind that, just come on.”
“I had the negligee wearing Serea strip down to her underwear, took some commoner clothes from the closet and asked her to put them on.”
Serea puts the clothes on while dazed. I give her shoes to put on and then stand on the moonlit balcony.
“I’ll go down first. Follow after me.”
I clutch the rope with my gloved hand, and I slide down.
I then take off my gloves and throw them up to the balcony for Serea to wear.
Serea started to slowly descend.
In the middle of her descent, her hand slips and she starts falling. I catch her, but we end up falling down together. I’m pathetic.
“Ow ow ow......”
“I’m so sorry, are you ok?!”
“Ah, I forgot! Do you have your ring?”
“Yeah. I always have it with me.”
Saying that Serea pulls out the necklace with the ring on it out of her shirt.
“Thank god. Let’s go then.”
I take Serea’s hand, and we start running through the dark moonlit garden, and trough the gap in the hedge.
Cautiously, we sneaked through the town and came to the church,
“Even if we come at this hour, it’s probably closed.”
“The priest said that the doors of the church are always open.”
Anyway, I climb atop of the church fence, and extend my hand down.
After Serea reached up and grabbed my hand, I pulled her up, then I jumped down on the other side.
Thank god. The door to the church really was unlocked.
In fact, it doesn’t even have a lock. That’s how the teachings go after all. Instead of that, the fence around the church was tightly shut though.
*Creak*
*Bang*
We open the door and head inside, and now we are in the church. In front of us we can see an altar.
It’s dark, but faintly lit by the moonlight that passes through the stained glass. There is only one lit candle on the altar.
“Serea.”
I extend my left elbow.
Serea wraps her hand around it and leans in close.
We walk down the empty, dark isle together.
On the altar is a statue of the goddess Lanathes.
We arrive in front of the altar, get down on our knees and lower our heads.
“Oh, goddess Lanathes, please forgive us for coming unannounced in the middle of the night and disturbing your sleep. I hope you will hear the marriage vows of our young couple tonight. Please have compassion for us and protect our love.”
I put my hands on Serea and turn her my way.
I take out a handkerchief and put it on top of Serea’s head.
“Repeat after me.”
“Ok.”
“Shin Midland, dost thou take this woman, Serea Colette to be thy wife.”
“Shin Midland, dost thou take this woman, Serea Colette to be thy wife.”
“In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth.”
“In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth.”
“Love her and cherish her, until death do you part.”
“Love her and cherish her, until death do you part.”
“Do you swear by the goddess Lanathes that your love will never change?”
“Do you swear by the goddess Lanathes that your love will never change?”
I place my index finger over Serea’s lips.
“I do.”
Then I take her hand, place it on my forehead, and bow my head.
“Serea Colette, dost thou take this man, Shin Midland to be thy husband.”
“......”
“In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth. Love him and cherish him, until death do you part.”
Tears spill from Serea’s eyes.
“Do you swear by the goddess Lanathes that your love will never change?”
“Yes, I do.”
“The ring.”
Serea takes out her ring-turned-necklace and gives it to me.
I take out my own one as well and give it to her.
I slip the ring onto her finger. It’s still too big though.
I stretch my left hand towards Serea, and she places the other ring on my finger. This one is too big as well. So as not to lose them, we once again put them around our necks. It’s not really how it should be done, but there is nothing we can do about it.
I lift the handkerchief that’s covering Serea’s head.
“Let me kiss you.”
She closes her eyes and puts her face forward.
Gently, I bring my face closer to hers, and kiss her.
I kissed Serea for the first time.
I think that I’ve wanted to kiss her like this for a long time.
I was finally abele to do it and It made me extremely happy.
I take her hand, and we stand up together.
“Hey...”
“Yes?”
“Um, can I kiss you again?”
Serea put her hands around my neck and embraced me.
I hold her in my hands and kiss her.
Not just once, time and time again.
We stay sticking to each other for a long while.
I can taste the slightly salty taste of her tears.
I'm so happy, I pick her up and spin her around.
“With this everything will be fine!”
“It will?”
“Yeah. Look, an engagement is a promise right?”
“Yeah.”
“An engagement can be broken. It’s a promise between two houses, a promise between you and me. But marriage is a vow, and since it’s a vow to the goddess, she will surely protect it from something like the game’s compulsion!”
“Surely!”
“Is someone there?”
Surprised, we look across the altar.
The priest was standing there, illuminated by the flickering light of the candle.
“......We apologise for being here at this hour.”
“Children......? What are you doing here in the middle of the night......”
The priest comes closer and shines a light on our faces.
“Aren’t you the prince...... You surprised me. What brings you here at this time of night?”
“We had a wedding ceremony.”
“A wedding...”
The priest is probably surprised.
“Wait a minute, even if you say that, Isn’t the prince only around ten years old?”
“I’m ten.”
“That lady there is the one from this morning if I remember correctly?”
“She is my fiancée......my wife Serea Midland.”
“She’s the daughter of duke Colette if I remember correctly. I have heard of your engagement, but you don’t have to exchange vows here at this hour.”
“We already gave our vows to the goddess and are already married.”
Haaa......
The priest shakes his head in amazement.
“You must be of age to get married. We don’t accept marriages until the age of sixteen.”
“That’s just a church custom. There is no law in this country that says you have to be a certain age to get married, nor is it mentioned in the holy book.”
I looked it all up, and I’m sure of it.
“You didn’t come without your father’s......without his highness’ permission right?”
“We received permission to get engaged and married from both households. They said that we can decide when we want to get married. Please enter it into the marriage register.”
“I can’t do that. For starters, you need a witness in order to get married. Without one I cannot accept it.”
“Even if we vow to the goddess?”
“Anyone can make a vow. It’s not enough for an official record.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll be the witness.”
I was so startled that I almost fell down!
A man was walking towards the altar with loud steps, his terrifying face illuminated by the candlelight, was coming closer and closer! He looked like a demon, or a monster or a ghost, and made the priest scream.
“Aaaaaaaaa!”
“I'm Shreegan Daxon, a knight of the Lustre Kingdom's imperial guard. Your Highness. If I may be so bold as to enter my name as a witness to this marriage.”
“Shreegan, how long have you been there?”
“Since you left the castle.”
Wow
“How did you know?”
“It’s a secret. If told you, you’d do your best to avoid me from now on right? It’s best to think that you can’t escape from my protection.”
“That’s not guarding anymore right!? That’s surveillance!”
A person in a maid uniform, miss Bell, headed towards us, her heels clacking on the ground.
“I’m Bell, lady Serea’s personal maid from the Colette house.”
She said that and did a graceful bow.
“......Miss Bell, are you alright coming out at this time of night?”
“Well since the lady went out, I had to followed her.”
“Miss Bell, when do you even sleep?”
“I don’t.”
You are joking...right?That’s definitely a threat. You are saying it to scare your lady aren’t you.
“There is no reason to worry since I, the imperial guard, have been escorting her all the way here.”
You really love miss Bell! She is clearly more important than me! [TN-2]
“Now, priest, won’t you bring out the marriage register?”
“Y-yeah. Here......here you go.”
Shreegan glares at him with his scary face, and the priest brings out a thick book.
At the bottom of a large list of commoner’s marriage registrations, I write my name first.
Next I give it to Serea, so she can write her own name in.
The witnesses Shreegan and miss Bell write their names in the same row as well.
“The marriage record of a royal is written in a church like this, next to the records of commoners......”
“A record is a record, right priest? If there is any trouble later, this will be enough proof that the little lad and lassie are already married right?”
The priest nodded as if giving up.
“It’s a vow to the Goddess, no one can deny it anymore.”
“You heard him. Congratulations your highness.”
“Congratulations.”
Shreegan and miss Bell bow to us.
Somehow, that felt too quick. Unexpectedly, these two might actually be pretty well suited to each other.
“Then, let’s go back.”
“Yes.”
The two of them are really unperturbed by this situation.
It’s as if they’ve just finished an errand.
“Hold it right there!”
“?”
Hearing the priests voice, we all stop dead in our tracks.
“The registration fee is two gold coins!”
......Priest, you really have no mercy.
[TN-1] Are you trying to make it harder on purpose?
[TN-2] Shreegan was there to save your ass every time, let the dude have his little romance sheesh...
TN: Well, this one was a big one(plot wise not wordcount wise). Now I’m wondering weather or not the vow to the goddess will protect them. Next chapter will be out Monday, so hopefully we will find out then, till next time!
On a side note, I wasn’t sure if I should call the priest “Priest” or “Father”, should I change it or just leave it like this?
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