Episode Nine

<System Message: < strong>

< Orelei

< Charisma 1/10

< Grace 0/10

< Dancing 0/10

< Music 0/10

< Speaking 1/10

< Knowledge 0/10

< Alignment: Neutral>

Whimbly escorts me to the chapel on the grounds of the stronghold. He doesn't speak. I have no flowers. I have no bridesmaids, no one is there watching me get married…even my family has shunned me. The only thing I have is a diamond necklace dripping with bloody rubies.

The pink dress swishes around me, its sound the only music I hear. The heavy wooden doors are parted as I walk up to it. Whimbly bows to me. "My Lady," he says, motioning to the plush rug that defines the main aisle of the chapel. I take a deep breath and step inside. 

The dim lights take a minute for my eyes to adjust to. I see the figures of the Archbishop and the Lord Corromoth, standing in front of the altar.

I chew on the corner of my lip and look down, walking quietly up the meet them. Whimbly is close behind me, likely the witness that makes this wedding legal.

When I stand before the two men, I hear the Archbishop "harumph" in frustation as he sees me. I'm not sure which infuriates him more: that fact that the Lord has outsmarted him or the massive necklace I am wearing. The necklace feels like a weight, as if it is tying me to him. I am ever aware of it with every single step I take and the more aware of it I become, the more it disgusts me.

He had forced me to take it! I didn't want this! And, yet, even in my protests, polite, though they were, the Lord Corromoth had forced me to take this…collar from him!

And that kiss…

What was that supposed to mean?

What of his lover that the maidservants were speaking of? Lady Anne, was it? I was not going to be somehow entangled with a man who was also entangled with another woman!

When I don't look up, the Lord Corromoth takes my hand, gently in his leather gloved fingers. "My Lady Corromoth," he says, quietly. He bows his head politely to me, as if he owes me some form of reverence. My name isn't even the Lady Corromoth yet! How could he think to use such a title! None of it makes sense!

I look up into his purple gaze, shock and fear mingling behind my eyes. I'm not sure what he sees there, but he looks away and at the Archbishop. He clears his throat. "Proceed," he says in a clipped and authoritative manner. I worry my lip.

The System screen comes up oin front of me, bright and cheery, as usual.

<System Message: Quest: Marry the General of Dead.>

What do you think I am trying to do? I think loudly at the System, as if it will hear me. I take a deep breath in and finally shake my head, resigned. The screen eventually vanishes, luckily. I'm fairly certain if I had to attempt to ignore it throughout the entire ceremony, they would realize I was completely crazy and call the whole thing off.

But, if I marry the Lord Corromoth, he can't marry Eliza and, at the end of the day, that was the thing that truly mattered!

"We are gathered to forge a union between the Great Lord Corromoth and the Lady Orelei Phillips," my uncle's voice drones. I'm fairly certain this is less of an alliance and more a way for my mother to be angry at me later. I wonder if Lord Corromoth even invited my parents and sister….

"Do you, Lord Fionin Corromoth take Lady Orelei Phillips to be your wedded wife, through all of the realm, faithful to no others, as long as you both do live?" My uncle makes these words pointed, though, I'm not sure why. I am aware of what I am getting myself into. I will survive this and my entire family will come out of this on top. Perhaps, I am neing optimistic, but, I need to make sure that I show them that I am not a traitor. I was trying to help everyone win.

"I do," he says, my hands still in his. I supppose this should have been awkward or strange, but, somehow, it is neither. It feels natural and as is it is supposed to be this way.

My uncle does not say another word, he simply continues with the ceremony, though, likely, this is because he is afraid that the man in the black armor may cut off his head rather than have him talk back to him anymore. "And, do you, Lady Orelei Phillips take the Lord Fionin Corromoth, General of the Dead, to be your wedded husband, forsaking all others, as long as the goddess sees fit that you both shall live?" Wow…the religion in this world is kind of brutal.

I gulp, but I know the words I have to say. "I do," I say, gently. I swear a see a twinge of a smile on the Lord Corromoth's lips, but it fades just as quickly as I saw it. He squeezes my hand reassuringly, just a little tighter. 

And, for the first time, all of the terrifying things that I have been hearing about him do not make sense. I do not understand how a man who can tenderly cradle my hand can be the same man who cuts people down with no questions ask, whose servants are terrified will torture them in the courtyard for making one misstep. How is this the same man?

The Archbishop nods, holding his grimoire tightly. I hope that the jealousy makes him rot from the inside out, but, I could only be that lucky!

"Then, as the conduit of our goddess above, I pronounce thee wed. You may now claim the bride," he says, drolly, as if he does this everyday, as if his performing of the ceremony weren't also some snide dig that Fionin Corromoth worked out to keep him feeling just as jealous and angry as he could so that he was easier to control and manipulate.

I have to remember that this is a man who cuts down armies single handedly. He is not nice, he is not kind. He is a cruel monster.

And, he claims my lips, brutally, as if he wants to bruise them, his tongue asking for entrance, insistently and hungrily. I allow him in, the kiss prolonged and almost longing as our tongues tangle together. When he pulls away, I hear the noise.

<bing! >

<System Message: Quest Complete: Marry the General of Dead.>

<Please choose a skill to level up!>