The wedding took place in the blink of an eye.
A few days after Violet gave her answer, her father returned home jingling a pouch filled with gold coins.
Of course, not a single coin was given to Violet.
Exactly one week later, Violet stood inside a shabby rural temple wearing an old wedding dress and a worn-out veil.
She still had no idea who her groom was.
He had not yet arrived at the ceremony. Apparently, he was due to leave for war the very next day. Even so, what kind of groom arrived late to his own wedding?
Violet was certain her future was going to be miserable.
In the Kingdom of Illore, an unmarried man could not be recognized as a true knight. Even after being knighted, he had to marry before he could truly be acknowledged as a knight. According to tradition, a man could not be considered an adult unless he completed the marriage ceremony.
So Violet’s future husband was marrying her purely because he needed to.
She wondered what could possibly be wrong with a knight skilled enough to go to war that he had remained unmarried until now.
Violet imagined that he must either be very old, bald, or hideously ugly.
Perhaps he had an awful personality instead.
Surely he wasn’t the kind of man who would hit his wife?
Whatever the case, she didn’t like any of it. Violet tried not to imagine herself spending the rest of her life with such a man.
Things will work out somehow.
As always, she decided to think that way.
It was a piece of wisdom she had learned after turning ten.
Her prospective husband finally arrived at the temple after a considerable delay, accompanied by a knight who would serve as his witness.
On Violet’s side, Baron Cerota stood as her witness.
It was a wedding so modest that it was almost pitiful.
Violet simply wanted the ceremony to end quickly so she could rest.
The journey from her hometown of Boelje to Saint Lour had taken an entire week by carriage. After spending all that time being jostled around in a cheap carriage, her entire body was exhausted.
To make matters worse, she had only arrived that very morning.
Violet stood there half resigned and half bored when her groom suddenly appeared at the temple entrance. He strode toward her without hesitation and stopped beside her.
Violet didn’t even look at him.
Judging by the clanking sound, he had apparently come wearing armor instead of formal wedding clothes.
How incredibly rude.
Couldn’t he at least show the bare minimum of courtesy?
Already irritated by everything, Violet decided to completely ignore her husband.
However, when the priest finished the brief ceremony and blessing and instructed the bride and groom to face each other, she had no choice but to obey.
Violet slowly turned toward him.
Through the sparse lace of her veil, she could see the chest of a man wearing silver armor.
What? Why am I only seeing his chest?
Frowning, Violet raised her eyes slightly.
But no matter how far she looked upward, she still couldn’t see his face.
Finally, she had to tilt her head almost all the way back before she could see her husband’s face.
…?
The first thing she noticed was his thick, golden hair, glittering in the sunlight streaming through the temple windows.
Compared to her ordinary brown hair, its color was so beautiful that Violet was momentarily taken aback.
Hmph. At least he’s not bald.
As for his hair, fine.
Now she would see how hideous his face was.
She nervously lowered her gaze.
……?
Emerald-green eyes were looking down at her with an indifferent expression.
The man was neither ugly nor old.
On the contrary, he was a young knight with an extraordinarily handsome face and a sturdy physique.
No, rather than simply being young…
Is he… younger than me?
His strong jawline and tightly pressed lips gave him a distinctly masculine appearance, but there was still something youthful about him.
Only then did Violet realize that she didn’t actually know her future husband’s exact age.
In fact, she knew absolutely nothing about him.
She had vaguely assumed that he would be older, so seeing a man who appeared even younger than herself left her startled.
Trying not to reveal her surprise, Violet pressed her lips together.
She was genuinely flustered, but for some reason, she didn’t want him to notice.
She should have been relieved that her husband wasn’t some kind of monster.
So why did she feel even more nervous instead?
Regardless of her confusion, the ceremony continued.
Following the priest’s instructions, the bride and groom placed their hands together over a sacred object and recited the prayer.
His large hand completely covered Violet’s.
It was surprisingly warm.
Aside from her father, this was the first time in her life that Violet had touched an unrelated man.
She didn’t even realize that her face had turned red.
“Now, exchange the rings that symbolize your marriage.”
The rings?
Only then did Violet come to her senses.
She had no memory of preparing anything like that.
When she turned around, her father rummaged through his clothes and handed her a ring wrapped in cloth.
It was a thin silver ring, almost as slender as a thread.
It looked as stingy as Baron Cerota himself.
Feeling her face grow hot with embarrassment, Violet held the ring out to her husband.
Hah!
The ring wasn’t even large enough.
Meanwhile, the man’s hand was far too large and thick.
The threadlike ring her father had given her wouldn’t even fit his little finger.
Seeing Violet struggle with it while wearing gloves, the man finally took pity on her and accepted the ring from her.
Without saying a word, he then took out the ring he had brought and slipped it onto her finger.
To Violet’s dismay, his ring fit perfectly around her fourth finger.
It was a finely crafted gold ring. It didn’t appear particularly expensive, but at least it wasn’t as ridiculously thin as the one Baron Cerota had provided.
For several reasons, little beads of sweat began to form along the back of Violet’s neck.
Soon afterward, the priest asked them the customary questions about remaining faithful to one another and dedicating their lives to each other.
The man answered in a low, emotionless voice.
“Yes.”
His voice was deep and remarkably heavy.
The priest urged Violet to answer as well.
“…Yes.”
Violet barely managed to respond in a faint voice.
And with that, the ceremony was over.
After the wedding, Violet’s father collected the rest of the dowry from the man and left without even looking back.
Violet felt as though she no longer had the strength to be disappointed.
She hadn’t expected a lavish reception.
She hadn’t wanted a beautiful veil or fragrant flowers.
She hadn’t wanted any of it.
But even so, she never imagined that her father would simply leave her behind in this unfamiliar place.
She had thought he would at least stay for a day.
Watching her father’s back as he hurried away without even saying goodbye, Violet stood there in a daze.
The baroness was one thing, but Baron Cerota was still her biological father.
Even the poorest and most uncivilized commoner wouldn’t dispose of a wedding so carelessly.
Violet felt as though she had been sold into slavery for a handful of coins.
Then again, what could she possibly expect from him?
He was a gambling addict obsessed with money, and he was the person responsible for turning her life into this.
Perhaps she should simply be grateful that she had finally escaped from the baron’s household, even if it happened like this.
Once the baron left, only Violet and the man she had met for the first time that day remained in front of the temple.
Her husband carefully tucked their marriage certificate into his clothes. The ink on it had probably not even dried yet.
Seeing that made Violet feel strangely unsettled.
Should I just snatch it away and tear it apart? Would that make this marriage invalid?
It was a pointless fantasy.
Without noticing Violet’s troubled expression, the man began walking somewhere with long strides.
Only after the knight who had been standing some distance away whispered something to him did he turn around and come back toward her.
He looked as though he had completely forgotten that she was there.
