The wedding

*PREVIOUS CHAPTER*

I let out a smile, at least she wasn't as stupid as other noble ladies. I left the palace, satisfied that Celestine was going to my wife.

***

The day has finally come, well actually let's word that different: the day has sadly come. Today was the day I would get married to duke Florys. I was waiting outside the church, the duke had to escort me inside. I was so nervous that I was trembling, I never had dating experience and now I'm getting married?! Life is surely crazy...

Just as my stressful thoughts were bombarding my head, the duke arrived. He was dressed in a blue suit with gold details. His hair didn't look much different, but it matched his outfit greatly. He looked at me and the dress. "You picked quite a simple color, the first time I see a noble woman wearing white for a wedding" the duke still had his pokerface on. "I didn't want to dress to extravagant sir" I was quite nervous, it was noticeable in my voice. I just looked at the duke and realised I only knew his last name and title, I actually kind of forgot that he has a first name too... I was ready to slap myself in the face but held back.

The duke gave me his hand and asked: "Shall we enter, my lady?".

***

The process was very different from what I expected it to be. Instead of kissing the bride, the grooms here give the bride a weapon. I got a sword with a blue primrose engraved on it. The sword was perfect for practicing sword fighting.

We just finished holding the ceremony, so there was a huge banquet now. I didn't want the Luvenis to come so we didn't invite them, the only person I invited was Mary. The duke invited a lot of nobles out of respect and to gain more support. There were nobles from neighbouring countries too. We got a lot of expensive accessories, parts of land, exotic products and medicine. I could recognise tea leaves, herbs and some jewels. The king gifted a part of land in the south, which was pretty big and the ground was very fertile.

"Thank you all for coming to our wedding, feel free to eat as much as you want" the duke held his cup of wine in the air, all the nobles followed and drank. Only I was drinking water, everyone else was indulging into their alcoholic drinks. The duke had a glass of wine, but never drank from it.

***

The banquet was over, most nobles were totally wasted and had their servants to help. The duke's butler had to bring all the gifts to the Florys Estate, which was a huge pile... I kind of felt bad for him, he had to load everything in the carriages.

While sitting in the duke's carriage, I fell asleep. I was so tired that my whole body was in pain, the wedding dress was so heavy that my legs were sleeping.

***

*The following day, 9 a.m.*

I woke up in a giant room, the light from the window shining on my face while the birds were singing. I saw all my belongings (which isn't much) laying on the ground. I was quite happy that the duke allowed Naralia to stay here. She even got her own little bed.

When I rubbed my eyes, I noticed that something heavy was next to me. It was quite big and muscular. When I turned my head, I could almost faint from shock. It was the duke! We were married now so sleeping in the same room wasn't odd, but it still felt weird. Luckily the bed was huge or otherwise we would've touched while sleeping!

I quickly snapped back to reality and got dressed in a shirt and pants to train. I grabbed an apple from the table and headed to the duke's training field. While walking to the field, the knight were all in shock. I told no one that I was following sword fight lessons so it must've been quite surprising.

"Hello duchess, may I ask why you're here?" One of the knights approached me smiling, but he looked rather clueless. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here to train" I said with a smile on my face. The knight's eyes looked like they were sparkling. "May I help you?" He was full of excitement and smiled. "I'd love that, thank you" the knight jumped from happiness and bowed.

"I'm Qin Werve, but feel free to call me Qin!" I gave him a nod and a smile. "Also, could you please not tell the duke about this?" I whispered to Qin, he had a troubled face. "Duchess, the duke comes here daily..." I sighed but proceeded, he couldn't do much about this right?

***

I finished training and just finished taking a bath. The duke requested my presence so I had to dress again. The old man (the marquis) sent Mary as 'wedding present', he must've been pissed at the fact that he wasn't allowed to attend the banquet. I wish I could've seen his reaction, but he didn't come back to the mansion.

I knocked on the door and heard a "Come in". I saw the duke and two piles of paperwork. The butler was nowhere to be seen.

"I called you here to ask you something" The duke said while signing a paper. He pointed at the chair right across his desk. I sat down and the duke put his papers away. He looked me dead in the eyes, it felt really uncomfortable.

"Do you want any children, duchess?"