1.2 CHAPTER TWELVE: THE WEDDING DAY

1.2 CHAPTER TWELVE: THE WEDDING DAY

Lucian stood in the middle of the room he had been allowed to use. Attendants and maids scurry around him in a hurry to prepare him for his wedding ceremony. His armor had never been shinier than it had been after the maids had finished cleaning it.

As a knight of his standing, his armor was often dirtier than it had been clean due to the amount of fieldwork. So, as long as it was dustless and spotless by the start of the morning, Lucian was already satisfied.

A knock came on the door, and without waiting for an answer, Uli, Aleksy, and Lykaios entered the room. The young man, Lykaios, was the only one with a smile. The two older men who joined him had grim expressions.

"Is it time?" Lucian asked as the attendants put the royal red cape that the duke had prepared for him over his shoulder. They patted it, making sure Lucian's coat of arms was exposed.

"Almost," Aleksy answered as he and Uli stopped beside the door while Lykaios went straight for the couch.

Lucian laughed under his breath at their expressions as he waved his hand toward the bustling people around him. "Leave us," he ordered.

All the attendants and maids stopped what they were doing and bowed down as they left the room. Aleksy made sure the door was locked before they walked towards their commander, who looked like he was not even slightly angry.

"How can you be so calm?" Uli angrily questioned. "The duke has forced your hands! You are about to be married to his daughter!"

Lucian gave his best friend a glare as he stared pointedly at the door. "Mind your words, Uli. The walls have ears,"

Lucian stepped down from the platform; he was forced to stand as the attendants dressed him. He walked towards the table and poured himself a glass of water before sitting down on the velvet couch Lykaios dropped himself in.

"I am not in any position to decline the offer, Uli," Lucian explained, his voice low. He took a drink before putting the glass down once more. "Had I said 'no,' the Sagma knights might suddenly encounter some problems," he continued, emphasizing the word 'some.'

"That is what I am furious about, Lucian!" Uli angrily whispered back. "You had no choice,"

"Is the Royal Duke really that scary?" Lykaios inquired. He had heard a few rumors about the duke, but some of them must be false.

Aleksy nodded as he gave the younger man a pat on the shoulder. "All those rumors you've heard about him are true, Lykaios. None of them are made-up. He is a man even the king cannot cross downright,"

Lykaios turned pale. Some of the rumors he had heard of the man were spine-chilling. Yet his comrades were telling him it was all true? He looked at his commander, who was still as calm as always. What was such a scary man wanted to have him offer his daughter to a knight?

Aleksy chuckled. "But on the bright side, my friend," he started as he chugged the water like booze. "You will gain a beautiful bride! The duke's most treasured daughter nonetheless!"

"Who he had never seen before," Uli added, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest.

~oOo~

Lucian stared at the exquisite woman standing in front of him. Her innocent ice-blue orbs were nothing like her father's cold ones. On top of one another, two beauty marks were set beneath her right eye. Her crimson red hair fell into delicate ringlets behind her, with a few strands framing her small face.

Her lithe fingers wrapped around her bouquet of white lilies while her head was adorned by rosemary chaplet. Her dress, with a collared neckline and trumpet sleeves, was made of brocade silk with elaborate roundel patterns. Its color of cobalt blue accentuated her fiery hair—attracting all attention to her.

But all Lucian could think of was how small she was compared to him. And the urge inside of him to protect her.

"I, Lucian Urian, take thee Karme de Serin to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, for fairer or fouler, in sickness, and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereunto I plight thee my troth,"

Lucian looked down at his bride's hands before gently holding them in front of him and placing their wedding ring on her finger. He clenched her hand softly when he noticed she was slightly shaking. He looked up at her and realized that whatever inconvenience he felt their sudden wedding was to him, it would be only scary for her.

There was silence as the lady in front of him remained speechless. He heard her take a deep breath, and she held his hand in hers.

"I, Karme de Serin, take thee Lucian Urian. . . to be my wedded husband," she started, barely loud enough for everyone to hear. It also had not escaped Lucian's attention how her eyes diverted from him as she continued. "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, for fairer or fouler, in sickness, and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereunto I plight thee my troth,"

She shook hands and put the ring on his fingers as the priest announced their marriage. Everything else was a blur for Lucian. He could not understand how nobles were so willing to spend mountains of gold, enough to feed a whole village for a party that would take a day.

With a glass of wine, he looked around the grand hall of castle de Serin. His knights were drinking merrily, despite their initial rejection of the ceremony. He could guess their good moods had something to do with the excellent booze the duke had prepared.

Poems and love songs filled the air as performed by minstrels. Nobles of different statuses also filled the room, celebrating the wedding far from the knights of the Sagma order. Lucian could see clear as day the division between the guests. While the nobles were entertained by the duke himself and the 1st born daughter of the de Serin, the Sagma knights were positioned by the far corner.

Despite the number of people and the woman who looked so much like his bride, Lucian quickly observed that Karme was nowhere around. Putting his glass on the table in front of him, he told Uli he was going for a walk before leaving the grand hall.

"Are you okay?" Uli inquired worriedly, to which he only nodded before giving his friend a pat on the shoulder and leaving the hall.

In the few times Lucian had been in castle de Serin, he remembered where the garden was. It was the only place in the castle he felt like he could breathe. He made his way outside for fresh air as the celebration inside had suffocated him, especially when he remembered how his bride had looked at him during their exchange of vows.

He grunted as he arrived at the garden, letting out his frustration where no one could hear him. He walked towards the veranda, putting his hands on the marbled railings. His head drooped down in tiredness he never realized he was feeling.

But out of the outside silence, Lucian could hear someone weeping.

Raising his head in curiosity, he saw a figure hunched over in front of a vast, old Iloe tree. He squinted his eyes to see better in the dark and realized the figure was a woman. He walked towards her slowly and silently to not alert the stranger.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim, he realized the figure in front of him was no stranger.

It was his bride.