Volume 6 Chapter 4 Part 2
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Translation: Mar
Editing: Team Foxsunes
I did not think any feelings of love would sprout between those two. It was a political marriage and both parties had an obligation towards their families, there was no doubt about that. But even without love, a different, special kind of bond could be formed. It would be good if he would support his wife when she inevitably becomes Her Majesty the Queen. A special bond would be essential to give such support. But looking at his attitude, he didn’t seem to care for the Princess at all, as if she was a minor character. He had some nerve to treat her this way. It was rather impressive….. no, I would never say that.
No, but wait, wait. It depends on how you look at it. After all, the Princess and the Medium had only just met. I can’t deny the fact that when they start to meet more often, there is still a chance that their bond might be formed. I honestly wished for it to happen.
I thought that in our next lesson I should convey some of the Princess’s charm. I thought about it in all seriousness and he might have noticed my restlessness as his eyes shook in bewilderment.
「Now, now, Filmina. Is marriage such an important thing? It’s simply a promise to stay by somebody’s side, isn’t it?」
He spoke those words with some kind of emotion but I couldn’t guess what it was. But at least I could see his true feelings in this response.
I put my hand to my mouth, thought about his somewhat childish question and replied「Well, maybe」. I have never thought about what marriage was.
In my case I got engaged before I noticed and then I had to wait for seven years to actually, finally get married. I don’t know when exactly it started, but it became a natural, obvious matter of fact that that man was who I was going to marry. Although I can’t say I had never worried about our engagement getting broken off… Still, in the end we did get married. We exchanged our promises. I said「I want to live by your side」and offered him a creeping woodsorrel flower and he responded with「And I want to live by yours」and gave me a daisy. That was our promise.
Even if that young man said that it’s 「simply a promise」, you can’t just sum up marriage in such words, it’s so much more than that, isn’t it?
「Simply a promise would be something that anyone could say. But I think marriage is something different. You exchange it only with one particular person. And you promise to stay by their side and share your happiness and make them happy, but also stay by them in sadness and in hardships. You share all of that with them.」
In my previous life during the wedding vows, the bride and groom would promise to be together for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health and to love, respect, console, help and cherish the other person till death do them part.
In this world, the wedding looks differently but in both cases, the promise is in the presence of a god and we vow to stay together for eternity. Of course, that is how long I am hoping to keep my marriage to Edi. It seems like a year since our wedding ceremony has passed and for some reason, I feel strange thinking about the future. Is a year a short time? Or is it long? Regardless, I intend to keep the promise I made during my wedding vow.
I considered all that in quiet when I noticed him making a strange, mysterious facial expression? Hm? I tilted my head to which the Medium said in a small quiet voice.
「It’s 「responsibility」, isn’t it? What a nuisance.」
「……….Well, maybe you’re right.」
He was probably referring to more than just 「responsibilities」as in duties of a married person. After all, there is also the responsibility that all the people of power hold, just like that man has explained the other day. Even though I wasn’t completely reassured, I must say that the word 「responsibility」coming out of his mouth was quite a relief.
From what I knew, the Medium still had not found the answer to the assignment given to him by that man. But since he used the word「responsibility」, surely he will find his answer sooner or later.
Well, the responsibility linked to marriage was a whole different kind of nuisance than the responsibility held by people of power. The vows made during the wedding ceremony become a responsibility and「marriage」comes with its burdens. But even if I said it, the Medium might not understand that. After all, even I realized that marriage comes with much more responsibility than I had expected only after my wedding.
The Medium looked at my troubled smile and laughed mischievously.
「But you have undertaken such a troublesome thing. Because you knew that your partner would be Agedilus?」
It was a surprising speech. My heart jumped and I was at a loss for words. I wondered how I should respond to such a question, opened my mouth, and closed it repeatedly, to which the Medium stifled laughter. He didn’t have to say anything. I knew without him pointing it out that my face turned red. To cover it up I raised the cup of herbal tea to my mouth.
At that moment we heard a knock on the door.
「Honored Medium, excuse me.」
「Agedilus? Come on in.」
The Medium recognized him by his voice. The man entered. He looked at my blushing face and then at the Medium, clearly enjoying himself. He frowned and asked.
「Honored Medium, has something happened?」
「Not Medium. Snow.」
「….Master Snow. Has something happened?」
「Nope, not really. Right, Filmina?」
「Y-yes」
「……」
His sunrise-colored eyes were full of doubt. He glanced at me quickly. But there was no way I would get into any details of the conversation we had just had so I ignored his look and drank from my cup once again. The Medium looked ever so entertained, it was awful.
The man sighed and came closer. He stood next to me and said.
「The Princess wants to talk to Filmina. That being the case, would you be willing to cut the lesson short and dismiss her?」
「Ah, no problem. But I’m keeping the macarons.」
He grabbed the basket from the table with both his hand and brought it closer to himself with a sweet and childish smiling face. The man acknowledged it only with a bow, took my hand, and pulled it slightly, making me stand up.
I wondered what in the world could the Princess need me for and, thinking so, I made a bow and excused myself from the room along with my husband.
***
We walked together to the Princess’s room still holding hands. Even though I asked him what this meeting was about, I received no other reply than「Who knows…」from him, as he was still clearly displeased with the Medium’s「Nope, not really.」words. He was so petty. Perhaps me telling him what it all was about would have made him feel better but I was way too embarrassed so there was no way I would bring it up. Anyway, after my conversation with the Medium, it was weirdly embarrassing even to hold hands. It made my hand get a little sweaty. Truth be told, I wanted to let go of his hand, but if I said anything, surely his mood would get even worse. I wanted to get to the Princess’s room as soon as possible so I sped up.
And so, we walked quickly together in silence until we reached the end of what felt like an extremely long journey. We arrived at the entrance to her room, prepared beforehand for the guest of honor. The man finally let go of my hand, perhaps because he had felt the gaze of the knight guarding the entrance. I felt relieved as he quickly knocked on the door.
「Enter.」
We heard the command and came in.
「Welcome, Filmina. I apologize for calling you here so suddenly.」
「Oh, it was nothing at all. I’m always happy to oblige.」
「Fufu, thank you.」
I marveled at her beautiful smile and her stunning figure sitting gracefully on a chair. I forgot myself a little bit and after a moment I received a nudge from my husband. Couldn’t I admire her for just a second? I shot a sharp reproachful look at him but his face remained unbothered and he ignored me a little too theatrically. Jeez, it would be nice if his mood improved at least a little bit.
The Princess observed our exchange amusingly and finally invited us to sit on the chairs on the opposite side of the table she had been sitting at. We sat down and she picked up an elegant wooden box that had been put next to her feet and placed it on the table between us.
「If you have some time now I’d like to have a little talk with you. Filmina, are you good at playing board games?」
She opened the box and started taking out beautifully crafted glass pieces and lined them up. The opened box became the surface of the board. It was a game I knew well as it was very similar to the chess game I knew from「before」.
Can’t wait to see more? Want to show your support? CLICK HERE to be a patron and get additional chapters ahead of time!
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Comment (0)