Not An Ordinary Wedding (7)
Now that this had happened, the wedding parade will have to be stopped in the middle. And since the wedding parade was symbolic, this was a very serious issue.
This would be seen as an ominous sign that Aristine and Tarkan’s marriage, in other words, the peace treaty between the two countries, would soon be broken.
–
‘We must stop such sentiment from forming.’ (Aristine)
The current reaction of the people wasn’t bad but that was only regarding the common people. The nobles and the royals would be different.
‘Especially the Queen’s faction who see Tarkan as a thorn in their eyes.’
They would likely ridicule Aristine and Tarkan tremendously first. But the ridicule itself didn’t really matter.
‘The problem is that it gives them an excuse to actually attack this marriage.’
And these people had been sharpening their swords, waiting for a chance to attack. They couldn’t say anything bad because it was marriage for peace so they could only congratulate the marriage while boiling inside.
‘They must be toasting each other in celebration after hearing about this.’
And that wasn’t the only issue.
Just because the people’s reaction was okay now, didn’t guarantee that it would be okay forever.
‘Even now…’
Aristine glanced over the crowd.
The people who were applauding Tarkan’s performance because they were moved, began to look around one by one, and murmur among themselves. That was only natural since Aristine and Tarkan were still standing there and there was no follow-up response.
“By the way, what’s going to happen now since the carriage is broken? There’s still a long way to go…they’ve barely passed the beginning.”
Irugo’s capital was huge. They couldn’t possibly transverse this long path on foot. It would take another half a day and the people waiting for the parade to pass would be exhausted.
“Is the wedding parade going to stop?”
“No way! If the wedding parade stops because the carriage turned over in the middle, that…”
One round of the wedding parade signified the couple’s married life. In other words, since Aristine and Tarkan weren’t able to finish one round, it was practically a warning that this marriage would be broken up.
‘And their marriage is…’
Peace.
It stood for peace itself.
The interruption of the wedding parade here was no different from a hint that the peace would soon be broken.
No one dared to speak such ominous words.
Aristine narrowed her eyes when she saw people looking around with anxiety on their faces.
‘The Queen will certainly not miss this opportunity.’
After all, politics was also a battle of public opinion. They could use the people’s anxiety to spread rumors turning the superstition into a fact. They could even blame it all on Aristine and Tarkan, saying that everything happened because of them. [1]
A sigh left her lips.
Tarkan looked down at Aristine when she sighed, and he held her a little tighter.
To think this woman almost died on the first day of her marriage. She was so small that he couldn’t even feel her weight so it definitely wouldn’t have ended with a minor injury.
He unconsciously hugged Aristine closer to his chest as if protecting her.
“Ah…”
The people who were gradually getting more anxious, paused when they saw this scene.
Just by lowering her gaze and taking in a deep breath, Aristine looked like the most pitiful and tragic person in the world.
In the eyes of the Irugo people with huge statures, that look couldn’t help but stimulate their protective instinct. In front of them, their hero, Tarkan seemed saddened as he embraced his new bride tightly…
This too became a part of the play that flashed through people’s minds earlier.
Right, there were always trials in love.
It was up to the two beautiful loves to overcome this somehow!
“Your Highness, don’t give up!”
“It’s okay! We’ll march with you!”
“We are cheering for the both of you!”
“Don’t let it get to you!”
People actively cheered the two lovers.
They felt overwhelmed to know that they were participants and witnesses to this historic moment of love(?).
The royal guards and progress managers who were organizing the surroundings nodded in agreement and shouted.
“Your Highness, just trust us!”
“We will pave the way for Your Highnesses to go ahead!”
The way they said it made it sound like they were on a battlefield of life and death and were asking their leader to step on their corpses and go ahead.
‘…What is this?’
Aristine tilted her head.
She wasn’t sure why, but things were going quite differently from what she expected.
She thought their anxiety would amplify as time passed and the situation would get worse.
‘I guess you don’t truly know the world until you experience it yourself.’
She had been imagining the worst but for some reason, she felt a lump in her throat.
“Everyone, thank you so much.”
With Aristine’s thanks, the parade road became a frenzy of excitement.
“Uwaaaa!”
“Be happy!”
“We’ll help!”
People waved their hands, feeling emotional.
Seeing them like this, a strange feeling suddenly filled Aristine’s heart.
“Tarkan, I want to finish the parade, no matter what.”
Until now, she was only thinking of finding a way to avoid a political disadvantage. For Aristine, it didn’t matter whether the wedding parade was stopped or not.
‘But…’
She might not be able to meet all these people’s expectations, but she didn’t want to disappoint them.
“The new carriage that the steward went to call won’t come quickly, will it?”
The Queen won’t allow that to happen.
— That carriage is too inadequate for this wedding; that other carriage looks better; we can’t have the same thing happen again so inspect the carriage thoroughly; wipe it down till it shines a little more; since the horse needs to be decorated, let me take a look at those; this decoration is terrible, change all of it to something else.
Like that, she would just waste time. While using the excuse that she could not be negligent in any aspect because this was a marriage that brought about peace.
And the carriage arrived after all that would be far less appealing. Naturally, it would be compared.
When the carriage is replaced with an even worse one after an inauspicious accident, there would definitely be nobles who would gossip about it.
Still.
“…Even if it takes hours, I’d rather we wait than stop the wedding parade in the middle.”
These people were cheering her on like this; they hadn’t given up, so she didn’t want to be the one to raise her hand and surrender first.
Aristine lifted her head and looked up at Tarkan. Her eyes immediately met with his bright gold eyes.
“Can we do that?” (Aristine)
“No.”
Aristine’s eyes shook at his firm refusal.
Tarkan felt a little pleased when he saw her reaction. Aristine was the one always making him flustered, now it was his turn.
Tarkan transferred his hold of Aristine to one side. Then he made a whistling sound.
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