“I want to disappear from this place right now.”
On the day of the wedding, the bride, feeling inappropriate thoughts, stared at the woman reflected in the mirror.
With swollen eyes from crying all night and sunken cheeks after filtering meals, the woman looked worse than nicknames like ‘Albian Empire’s porcelain doll’ or ‘Angel Incarnate’ would suggest.
Reluctantly admitting, she knew she was at fault.
Despite maids working tirelessly, applying ice packs and makeup, she appeared perfectly composed.
‘Should I just faint?’
Briefly pleased with the idea of faking illness, she then clouded over with a change in expression.
If she pretended to be unwell, she could postpone the wedding indefinitely and continue her act countless times.
She had often feigned fainting to catch the attention of the newly crowned emperor.
But today, the cursed emperor overseeing the wedding was down there.
The new emperor, William Cardinare, was ruthless enough to expel his own elder brother, the heir, and forcibly marry his fiancée off to a common man.
“Then, even after lifting and cooling down the unconscious lady, there remained.”
“Did you like it, miss?”
The maid, gently stroking her hair, asked cautiously. Anje wrinkled her nose as if to say not to talk nonsense.
“If it were you, would you like it, Annie?”
Anje’s sharp response, unfortunately, lacked its usual dignity due to the nasal voice like a stuffy nose.
Sniffling, she commanded Annie, “The corset seems loose; tighten it more. I think we can reduce it by another two or three inches.”
Even if it was an unwanted marriage, she couldn’t be negligent in her preparations for this important day.
“Yes, miss.”
The two maids closely followed her demands, tightening the strings even tighter. The young lady, already sensitive, seemed ready to explode like gunpowder at any moment, so it was best not to displease her.
As Anje took a deep breath to create a slightly slimmer waist, someone knocked on her room’s door.
“You should come down to the chapel soon, Your Ladyship.”
Though the voice was unfamiliar, judging by the content, it undoubtedly belonged to the Emperor’s messenger. Anje’s grass-green eyes shook.
“Let’s go right now.”
In her anxious excitement, she brought her fingers to her lips, then hesitated.
If makeup stained the white silk gloves adorned with pearls and couldn’t be removed, it would be a problem. Due to the same mistake in the past, hadn’t she acquired several new pairs of gloves?
Until now, as the only daughter of Duke Glasster, she could afford a few pairs, but she didn’t know what the future held.
For her, leaving for the unknown region and becoming Mrs. Fitzroy meant that every piece of clothing and every piece of jewelry was precious.
Instead of biting her fingertips as usual, she chose to clench her fist.
“Miss, please hold onto my and Sophie’s arms.”
With an unwilling expression, she inserted her arm into the arms of Annie and another maid.
Due to the enormous crinoline skirt and tightly laced corset, moving without the help of the maids was not easy.
“Please, let a lightning strike Aidan Fitzroy. Or better yet, let him be swept away by a hurricane.”
Anje, harboring disrespectful thoughts about the man she was soon to marry, moved with slow, deliberate steps.
Adorned excessively with frills and lace on her white dress, she looked more like a giant cream cake than a person.
Or perhaps, she wished the ground would split open, and she could disappear into it. It would be fine even if a sudden stomach ache struck her down.
With a feeling akin to livestock being led to the slaughterhouse, Anje Glasseter prayed for every calamity she knew to befall her.
If there was a god in this world, it would certainly happen. This marriage was a grave mistake.
Lady Anje Glasster was not the type of woman to marry a man like ‘this,’ even by mistake.
Yet, as it had happened a few times recently, the divine ignored her desperate wishes.
“Oh, God.”
Arriving at the wide-open wooden doors, Anje swallowed her breath to hold back tears.
The chapel, originally used for worship, was as desolate as ever.
Dilapidated seats, modest grey walls, and dimly flickering candles.
A far cry from the extravagant “aristocratic wedding” filled with flowers, silk, and champagne that Anje had imagined since childhood.
Well, starting with the groom, who was a completely different person from the husband she had envisioned, it wasn’t strange at all.
Anje silently cursed the god she felt had betrayed her.
“Oh, god, I won’t offer any donations to you in the future. I won’t even organize charity bazaars.”
Anje, now even more pallid than before, dragged the hem of her dress and headed towards the altar.
“I won’t pray before meals or before bed. I’ll live like a complete heretic.”
Beyond her blurred gaze, she saw the pastor waiting for her, followed by Aiden and the emperor in front of him.
Emperor William made some empty words about being a witness to bless the marriage, but it was clear he had come to ensure the wedding proceeded smoothly.
Anje concluded her curse, “Watch and see. From today, I’ll be on a high-speed carriage heading to hell. Regretting the loss of the most beautiful angel in heaven won’t do any good.”
Anje’s eyes, darker than usual, quickly scanned the paintings on the wall as if searching for someone.
A mist settled over her eyes filled with disappointment.
“In the end, he didn’t come.”
Her father, Duke Glasster, was nowhere to be seen. Tears she couldn’t hold back streamed down her cheeks. Her father had shown anger, calling her a “useless girl,” for not seducing the newly crowned emperor.
“I did my best, Father!”
“Such insolence. Tsk tsk, having only one daughter, and she’s not even useful.”
“I really didn’t want this marriage—”
“Don’t provoke the Emperor’s wrath. Behave quietly and stop making trouble.”
Naturally fiery-tempered, she hadn’t expected her father to skip attending his only daughter’s wedding.
Tears gradually marked the white wedding dress. Anje knew crying would ruin her makeup, but she couldn’t bring herself to endure it.
A wedding without blessings from the only family she had, let alone from any relatives or friends.
“Uhm.”
The pastor, taken aback by the bride’s tears, noticed the Emperor’s urging gestures and, clearing his throat, began to speak.
“Uhm, then, here before the gracious god and the esteemed Emperor Cardinare, we would like to bless the creation of a new couple.”
Anje’s sobbing intensified. The sound from the pastor felt like a courtroom pronouncing a death sentence.
Her groom, Aiden Fitzroy, couldn’t hide his discomfort and squirmed. Shadows cast over his sun-kissed face.
“I wondered what kind of person Cardinare’s fiancée would be.”
Although the marriage wasn’t something he desired either, he didn’t expect the bride’s side to openly show such dislike.
He muttered under his breath, “An emotionally unrestrained, childish woman.”
Even though it was their first meeting, he strongly felt that she wouldn’t be compatible with him.
To welcome such a woman as a bride. If this marriage hadn’t been carried out under the emperor’s command, he would have immediately stormed out.
“…So, I conclude the toast.”
In front of the groom, who looked as if he were enduring a headache, and the bride, who seemed to be crying as if the world were ending, the pastor significantly shortened his usual lengthy toast.
Not familiar with worldly affairs, he still had some sense of the situation.
“Now, groom, let’s place the oath ring.”
Following the imperial tradition, after the man puts the marriage ring on the woman and they exchange a kiss, the marriage is deemed complete. Aiden, who had been fixating his gaze on the pastor, turned his head to look towards the emperor. William, with an unexpectedly gentle tone given the situation, asked, “Why the hesitation, Aiden?”
As Aiden slightly tilted his head, the iridescent light reflected off his silvery hair, shimmering through the stained glass.
The contrast between the bright hair color and the crimson eyes was evidence that, like William, royal blood flowed through his veins.
If not for the somber expression within those red eyes, he would have been much more beautiful – a ruby color.
“Didn’t you happen to prepare the rings, Your Majesty?”
As he officiated the wedding, his tone was stern, suggesting that it would have been more appropriate for the emperor to handle the rings. The emperor made a feigned realization gesture.
“Oh, I forgot as well. With all the arrangements and formalities, I must have been too busy… I thought Duke Glasster or someone would have taken care of it.”
Apparently, neither of them foresaw the situation where neither had prepared the ring. Perhaps, the level of kindness didn’t extend to such meticulous details.
Aiden clicked his tongue again, expressing his dissatisfaction.
Duke Glasster didn’t show up, and, like the emperor, he was too preoccupied to bother with such rings, rushing up from the capital upon the emperor’s request.
He coolly declared to the pastor, “Let’s skip the ring part.”
Huh? Ah, yes. Well then, let’s proceed to the next step.”
It shouldn’t have been normal from the start; it was a marriage without any normal aspects.
Lady Glasster, sniffling her nose, also seemed to have no objection to this aspect.
“Now, if the bride and groom could exchange the kiss, pledging eternal love.”
As the pastor announced this with a somewhat melancholic tone, disapproving glances from the “bride and groom” flew his way. Among them, Anje was the first to express reluctance.
“Sniff, let’s skip that too, shall we?”
Already not fond of the groom, and now he hadn’t even brought a basic gift. Even if it was a customary procedure, she refused. Moreover, he wasn’t even properly dressed today.
‘Even if he came in a hurry, wearing worn-out military attire.’
For Anje, who valued the appropriateness of attire, this was a considerable insult.
Even though it wasn’t prepared for this man, she was wearing a splendid wedding dress ordered from a famous foreign designer.
A dress made from expensive, luxurious fabric and lace, acquired after a long wait, to the point where one’s eyes popped out at its cost.
If she had become the empress as planned, it would have been a splendid gown that suited her perfectly.
However, the man was not even in a suit but dressed in a shabby military uniform. Anje, glancing disdainfully at the frayed sleeves, turned her head.
‘What on earth does he think of the Glasster Duchy?’
Aiden awkwardly turned his body towards her, facing her front again. He also enthusiastically agreed to skipping the kiss.
However, he couldn’t understand why she was glaring at his attire with such anger.
“Well, then, I now declare these two as a married couple.”
The pastor, who declared the marriage with great effort, closed the Bible with a thud. The old man hurrying out of the chapel was drenched in sweat.
Having overseen numerous wedding ceremonies over the years, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre and uncomfortable wedding.
Thud—
The elderly pianist, dozing off in front of the piano, only realized the vows had ended when he heard the sound of the closing door.
His trembling fingers slowly started moving across the keys.
The elderly man, whose memory was a bit shaky, began playing the prelude of a funeral march but quickly changed the tune in haste. However, no one at the chapel complained about it.
In fact, the funeral march was the perfect background music for this wedding.
For Aiden Fitzroy, a retired soldier and illegitimate child of the former emperor, and Lady Anje Glasster, who dreamed of becoming an empress but ended up as his wife, this was a wedding that received no blessings.
