1.3

Sucking in a deep breath, Irini glared at the annoying two tooth marks on her neck. Two little pinpricks right beside her jugular, which could thankfully be easily hidden by a choker. 

Was Seti a damn vampire or a dog? 

No wonder everyone had misunderstood her. The original glaring red mark that had previously been there took a whole two weeks to fade into these two marks that wouldn't dissappear even with her wound salve.

He had gone and given her such a large hickey in her coma and caused such a misunderstanding to both their brothers, all to tie her hands and feet to his as he promised.

Collapsing against the vanity, Irini felt unwilling. No matter what she said, her brother did not believe in her innocence. Instead, he seemed to be rushing a wedding, fearing she, a virgin, was already pregnant with royal blood. She had not even been allowed to go to training.

Today, the big brother who protected her like precious jade, was shipping her off to a stranger. Her only comfort was at least His Highness was the 'keeper' of the Dragon she liked, which gave her easy access to prevent it from turning into the Empire's doom.

"Can I really not go with you?" Anise asked as she braided her hair behind her. This task was usually done by a female elder in the family on the morning of the wedding. Despite the Dame having collateral distant relatives, she adamantly denied anyone but Anise to enter the room. Neither sibling liked to acknowledge those greedy leeches.

So the task was left to her trembling clumsy hands, luckily she had little sisters to practice on and didn't mess it up. 

"No, he gifted me to His Highness, well he can take you as his squire in return," she should have become his loyal knight anyway. It was her fault for selfishly stealing the female lead when offered by her brother four years ago.

If she wanted her little niece to be born, how could she keep monopolizing her and take her to the opposite end of the Empire?

Their land was the deep winter forest of the North West border, the Prince had the two brother's maternal lands; the rocky desert of the South Eastern border.

Considering that the South was where the war would be next, she had shed the last of her resistance at all the conveniance the marriage brought.

It was odd to submit to something other than the plot for once.

It was not like she would never see them again. Her brother and Anise would follow her soon for war. The plot will continue even though she has miraculously evaded her end.

"Dame Astera, tell me," Anise blushed again before asking with a mousey voice, "Did you seduce His Highness because you wanted his dragon?"

The pot was thrown on her yet again, she was not reconciled.

Fighting back her aggrieved tears, she simply ignored her while Anise finished the elaborate flowered braid in her hair.

"All done," Anise stepped back, then wiped a tear out the corner of her own doe-brown eyes at seeing her Dame now a bride that would leave her.

Anise came from a vassal Baron under their Duchy. She was local to the North and had many little brothers and sisters, there were times when both siblings were jealous of her large, happy family. Not that either admitted it.

Her hair was tinged with auburn and her round eyes always made Irini think of the gentle and graceful deers that their lands were famous for.

Yet her appearance was as misleading as theirs, she was also just as agile and fierce when needed. An even better archer than herself, but even better skilled with a dagger. She proudly claimed responsibility for Yi's female lead growing so excellently compared to the clumsy girl in the plot.

"On the back of a Wyvern it only takes a day to travel from the South to the North," she sighed reminding her that it was not goodbye, she wouldn't abandon them or their home.

Anise nodded her head, then helped her stand up and leave her bedroom for the last time as the Young Lady of the Duchy.

Inside the private temple of the Duchy estate, Irini nervously received the bouquet of purple Lupine from her brother at the main hall's open doors as those inside watched.

Holding the bouquet, her brother took her shaking arm to guide her steadily down the aisle.

So many faces that she both knew and did not know, were watching from either side of the aisle. This was a small and rushed wedding. It took her great efforts to calm her brother down to keep it as simple as possible.

She suddenly felt grateful that it was rushed beyond the sibling's control. If they had months to plan, it would be even grander.

As per the Empire's customs, the wedding ceremony itself was held in the bride's family temple. They would have another private worship ceremony in the groom's temple upon arrival, followed by a small banquet to introduce the bride to the groom's vassals.

Weddings were a lengthy and tiring event and Irini was grateful she only had to play her role and get it over and done with the once. This was just an act to play for the nobles. Nothing to do with her.

Irini ignored the gazes and smelled the bouquet of purple lupine her brother had laboriously made for her. Though a plant commonly everywhere in their land, it was also the plant on their family crest. Every noble crest had one fauna and one flora engraved onto a crystal gem or precious metal. 

Their crest of Lupine and majestic white stag was carved onto Amethyst, poetically conveying the attractive appearance passed down from Astera heir to heir without fail. The silver hair, pale snowy complexion, and soft purple eyes.

Her groom unlike his elder brother, followed their maternal line. His jet-black eyes and hair combined with his sunkissed bronzed skin matched well with the dark fire-breathing Wyverns of the south combined with gold Aster on an Onyx crest.

The nobles often used a child's appearance when deciding successors, saying it was the Gods' will that the child embodied the spirit of the land.

How many times had she harassed the God of Death, cursing Yi for being too cliche? 

Her eyes drifted away from the cold-looking groom being teased by the warm sunny golden-haired Emperor, landing on the small statue of the God of Death behind the head priest.

This world worshiped multiple Gods. Every temple would have a main hall for gatherings with an altar behind the podium. In addition, there would be a hallway behind the altar, leading to small private rooms of worship for each God.

Her feet longed to just keep walking to the familiar God of Death's room of worship, wanting to hide from the curious or scrutinizing glares of the familiar local nobles on the bride's side and the unfamiliar capital and southern nobles on the groom's.

Her brother's hand lingered on her arm, hesitating, before bending to kiss her forehead.

Before stepping aside on the podium he leaned to whisper in her ear, "Cheer up, at least you got your wish."

Confused, she blinked and almost dropped her flowers as her brother stepped back to let the Groom take her arm. He took the Zmeu's Golden Aster flowers from the Emperor, carefully winding them into her bouquet.

Unlike the marriages between people in Lily's world, the tradition here for nobles was to combine the flora of their family crests at the altar, swear the vow to the Gods to be loyal to each other's person and lands, and then finally they exchanged carved gemstone rings.

The ceremony was a very symbolic and solemn procedure of blending two people's separate families into one.

Irini who had no plans on marrying ever in either life, barely had a clue on what she was doing or why.

She held the bouquet, she solemnly spoke the oath, and then her hand was held gently by a trembling large palm.

It was only then that she noticed the groom wasn't as cocky or arrogant as she thought. He was just as nervous as she was. So why was he doing this to her?

The ring from himself was pure black onyx with a Wyvern and Stag carved alongside intricate patterns, showing that it was not a mere ring but an artifact. 

Her brother's words suddenly reappeared in her mind as she placed the identically carved ameythst ring upon the man's finger. Looking up at the man's narrow black eyes she gulped.

Didn't she tell the Dragon that it was a waste of a gemstone for a wedding ring not to be used as an artifact also?

She was wrong, she had to be wrong.

"May the Gods bless this union of Astera and Zmeu," the priest took a step back releasing their enclosed ringed hands.

The ritual felt nothing like a formality between two families. It suddenly felt as if she was selling her soul.

A tender kiss briefly woke her from her stupor, then the priest took only the newly married couple to worship in every private alter of the Gods.

As she knelt in worship to the God of Death, she felt an ache in her chest. For some reason, she wanted to apologize, but she couldn't understand what for.

Inside the banquet hall of her family's estate, the Emperor and Empress sat to her right beside her groom and her Brother sat all alone to her left, on a long rectangular table decorated in lupine and gold aster. Below the nobles sat around round tables with their own flowers as table placements. Happily, they talked and drunk the wedding wine as the banquet was served.

Toasts were exchanged and her poor groom was abused mercilessly with toast after toast from his brother. Luckily, she barely got forced to drink. At least she already had an excellent tolerance to the wine that accompanied her most nights.

"Brother," she spoke softly as they danced on the dancefloor after the banquet. Her groom was currently dancing with the Empress, his only female relative. "Don't you think it's awkward that the younger sister is married before the older brother."

Ares choked on his saliva.

She patted his back, "Promise me you will take good care of Anise in my stead, or I will not forgive you."

Wanting something for the first time in years, she was like a dog with a bone. If he did not take her hint, she was tempted to lock the oblivious pair of male and female leads into a room together.

The tips of the cold astute man's ears turned red, "I promise."

She wasn't wrong, she wasn't wrong, he really did have a crush on her too. Soon she will drink their wedding wine and hold her neice.

Satisfied, she left her brother's arms to do the first dance between husband and wife.

The hand clasping her own and the hand on her waist seemed to fluctuate between holding tightly or barely touching her at all. 

He maintained a respectful distance as the whole room watched them dance alone.

Compared to his scary appearance, he was so tender that it unnerved her. He really was exactly like that stinky lizard.

The dragon also made her terrified at first, but then he lay down and showed her his stomach like a puppy wanting a scratch. She had never once denied a puppy, she did not deny the dragon.

Then he just kept following her until she became immune to the scary appearance of the beast that could so easily use her as a toothpick.

Mentally preparing herself as the music began to reach the end, she needed to clarify it or her heart would never rest easy.

"Onyx," she called out softly, feeling him tremble at her calling him by the dragon's name.

Satisfied with his non-answer, she bitterly chuckled self-deprecatingly as he hurried off to talk with his brother.

"No wonder Ares said that. I got my wish."

After turning down a marriage proposal last summer, she told her brother to just ignore them in the future as she would rather marry her dragon than a disgusting man... now she had just done that.