The short-sword wedding.

A royal wedding was always cause for celebration and in the grand chapel, there were many smiles, only few were real, most were duplicitous.

Many young ladies in attendance had come overdressed as if it was their intention to overshadow the bride. They reeked of floral scents and were decked out in extravagant jewelry.

More than a few older men were bitter faced, unhappy with the fact that their families had missed a great chance to be tied to royalty.

For the Thorin's and the royal's, it was a mixture of happiness and unhappiness, on one hand the eldest son of the king, the crown prince was finally marrying, there was hope for an heir if he laid with his wife and this would ensure the longevity of the throne.

But on the other hand, there were those that hoped the wedding fell through and ended in ruins because they hoped for a turn at the throne.

Who did not want an opportunity to be King?

At the very front where the royals were sitting, the queen was shooting smirks at the secondary consort, now that her son was getting married, the chances of the third prince taking the throne were slimmer.

Who did not know that the third prince had a litter of bastards on his estate born from lowly maids? The secondary consort's supporters had been whispering that he was more worthy of the throne than the crown prince that showed no intentions of wedding or bearing heirs.

Even though Sigrid would not have been her first choice of a wife for her son, the power her family held was too great to ignore.

The Ye family were supporters of the secondary consort, if Sigrid married Oliver Ye, the Thorin's would naturally become affiliated. If that happened, where would the crown prince be left?

The battle for the throne was a long one which did not end even after crowning of the king. The contenders did not rest, they just retreated and made preparations for the next generation.

The queen smiled at her frosty faced son who looked like her was preparing for a confrontation rather than waiting for his bride. She sighed, her son really hated Sigrid, if she wanted Roland to have children, she would have to intervene personally.

"The bride is entering." The royal herald announced.

The violin orchestra which had accompanied the most famous organist in Eldoria, Mr. Clay Bison started playing a song to welcome the bride.

Sigrid made her entrance on the arm of her father general Paxton, another individual that looked like he was about to confront an enemy.

"I have never seen a wedding with so many plastic smiles." Cosmos commented.

"Get out of my head." Sigrid answered.

"Hey, you should be grateful for my presence, someone here is using magic to attempt to trip you, if you fall and make a fool of yourself that is all that will be remembered today.

Another person has a little magic made cotton doll with needles pierced in the eyes and feet. Sigrid, if I was not here, this wedding would be the crowning moment of your embarrassment. Wait...your wedding night is yet to come." Cosmos continued, ignoring Sigrid's request.

Sigrid became more careful with her steps, taking deliberately calculated ones to avoid falling on her face. The path of a villain was always riddled with bad luck. In a world like this, only the female lead was allowed to have the grandest, most memorable wedding.

Her father came to a stop, as did she and her right was handed to the the waiting one of the crown prince. It was the moment when a father would usually say something meaningful.

With the way the general and the prince were tense stare off, it was highly doubtful that this would happen.

"I do not approve of this marriage." General Paxton said.

"I feel the same." Prince Roland answered.

The words were not so loud but those at the front and herald and the confused priest did.

"It's time to remove the veil and exchange vows." the herald announced.

The king had told him to rush the function so that neither the bride nor groom backed out at the last moment. Sigrid pulled her hand from Roland's painful grip.

The smile on his lips cracked as he lifted the veil, revealing her face to the crowd that gasped, mesmerized by the unexpected beauty of Sigrid which they had not seen before.

"What is wrong with this picture?" someone whispered.

"She is actually beautiful."

"Has she always looked like this?"

Such whispers and more traveled, bouncing from every corner of the church and carried all around. Roland noticed Sigrid's beauty as well, he had noticed when he saw her in his bedroom.

But, the loathing he felt for her overwhelmed the attraction he felt to her.

"The vows." the herald reminded the priest.

The priest nodded his head a little frantically and he started the ceremony, rushing through it as the herald had told him. The rings were exchanged and withing thirty minutes, a ceremony that would have dragged on for two hours was completed.

The guests were stunned, never in the history of Eldoria had a royal marriage been conducted this quickly. It was comparable to a shotgun wedding at the office of marriages, quick and often forced because the woman was heavy with a child or the couple had been caught in a compromising position.

In Eldoria there were no guns so it was called a short-sword wedding. At times these weddings were held because the couple could not afford a lavish wedding but more often it was because of hopeless love between two people which was not supported by their parents.

This royal wedding, everyone knew was not as result of love, the bride had not even smiled once and the groom looked like he preferred to be anywhere but there.

"He is absolutely despicable." Duchess Mila said.

She was a little loud and deliberate, her words fell into the ears of the king. King Raff made a signal at the herald, telling him to move things along.

"They might as well have held a sword to his back." The secondary consort laughed.

The queen dabbed at the corners of her eyes coquettishly. "At the end of the day, he is married and to what I must say is the most beautiful woman in all of Eldoria. Their children will be purely noble and beautiful."

The secondary consort clenched her hands, her mouth twitched in anger, the words of the queen were meant as an insult and reminder of the consort's commoner roots.

These taunts were not knew and the king was very tired of them, he always ended up being caught in the cross fire. He made another signal to the herald because he wanted to escape he church which he thought had suddenly shrunk.

"It's time for the reception, all the guests are invited to move to the royal gardens in the west where a feast and entertainment awaits." The herald announced.

The newlywed couple had to be escorted out first and they were led to the courage which they had to take together. Unwillingly, both of them entered it and as soon as they did, Roland let go of Sigrid's hand quickly as if he had been holding hot coal.

He put as much space as he could between them in the small carriage, crossed his arms across his chest and closed his eyes.

Sigrid was unbothered, she looked out of the window, treating the carriage ride like a tour bus taking her around the royal castle.

"Congratulations on your wedding, I must say that I am having fun. Is it fun for you?" Cosmos taunted.