Chapter 7: Marriage IV
1666 Words
Chapter 7: Marriage IV
Third Person’s POV
The rest of the ride was a stilled silence brooding with tension.
A space that could fit two grown adults separated Raimere and Varyan. But Raimere couldn’t stop the tensing of her muscles at hearing and feeling the littlest bits of movements around her.
This continued until the sound of arrival bellowed by the leader of the guard of cavalry.
Raimere felt the slowing of the carriage until it stopped.
Her eyes that never strayed away from the floor of the carriage after that incident, lit up as they peered outside her window.
“Wow…” A word of wonder escaped her lips as her pupils shook from the utter beauty of the sight that occupied her.
A majestic castle with walls the color of white gold exudes a terrifying pressure like a behemoth sleeping in the deep abyss. The castle reaches up towards the horizon and into the embrace of the clouds as far as her eyes can see. The unique sigil of the Valerius clan fluttered proudly at the top of the five castle towers occupying each of the four cardinal directions, and the main palace.
A slumbering giant dragon shimmering with white gold scales the size of a carriage seemed to overlap in Raimere’s mind.
That was how Valerius castle made its first impression on the new addition to the family.
Towering blackwood trees with trunks the color of ebony black stretch from the sides of the castle and deep into the winding mountains covered by the blackwood forest.
The castles of the three king clans were unanimously decided to be built at the border of the blackwood forest by the will of their ancestors.
The blackwood trees were famous for their versatility and durability that could put most types of metal to shame. The Rogue kingdom strictly manages the logging and processing of the blackwood trees, and it serves as one of the main sources of the kingdom’s income.
A crescent wall of blackwood trees tightly surrounded the castle grounds, and Raimere could see the orderly soldiers of the Valerius clan in their black and red leather amors with a distinct silver crescent embracing a white gold rose in full bloom on their chests.
Raimere had always felt that the Valerius clan sigil was beautiful, but it looks even more ethereal in the black and red leather armor of the soldiers.
“What are you waiting for? Go down.” Hearing Varyan’s cold voice clearly dripping with impatience, Raimere woke up from her daydreaming as she hurriedly went down the carriage door.
“My lady, please watch your steps!” Bella and Nora appeared out of nowhere to support Raimere from getting down the carriage. Among the six carriages of the Valerius clan, two of them were the rides of their personal servants.
“No, it’s fine.” Raimere shook her head, but the two servants did not let her move carelessly. She could only sigh and let them do as they please.
The rest of the Valerius clan family members were already standing in front of their carriages, and a throng of servants filled out of the castle doors headed by a silver-haired man in his middle-age years.
“Welcome back, your majesty, your highnesses.” The booming voice of the leading man that looked to be the main butler of the Valerius castle was followed by the sonorous and respectful greetings of the forty servants lining up behind him.
King Veron waved his hand dismissively at the silver-haired butler with a small smile on his lips.
“It has been a while, Corel, my friend.”
“You honor this servant, your majesty. I am but a lost man that your majesty saved from the abyss.”
“Oh you. Don’t talk about the past. Come on, let’s go inside to talk about the marriage preparations of my Grand Heir.”
“With pleasure, your majesty.” Butler Corel stepped to the side and gestured to the Valerius clan family members to the entrance of the castle.
The forty servants lined up on both sides of the marbled pathway as they all bowed down reverently.
Raimere walked next to Varyan at the end of the line with curiosity leaking from her eyes.
She has always been living inside the territory of the Celeste werewolf clan, and the biggest building in that place was the three-story clan building for clan meetings.
The castle in front of her looked like it was over ten times bigger than that, and it made her curious about just how it was built.
“We have received the news from her highness Lyra and has been intensively preparing the castle for the venue, guest accommodations, wedding menu and the wedding activities.” Butler Corel’s warm but solid voice travelled clearly to all of them.
Raimere felt her throat tighten, but her lips stayed shut. She understands her position best. The moment she was given to the Valerius clan as a marriage tribute, Raimere knew that her freedom didn’t matter, and what she needed to show was the ability to follow the wants of the Valerius clan.
“That’s good. I was a bit worried about the lack of time, but my daughter-in-law Lyra wanted the marriage to go smoothly without any problems.”
Butler Corel glanced at the gentle smile plastered on her highness Lyra, before nodding at King Veron’s words laced with deep meaning. The solution for the wedding to go smoothly was for it to finish quickly.
Varyan’s brows twitched at the hidden words traded by his grandfather and the butler. Those words were clear because they knew he would raise up some chaos the minute he was given the time to think of countermeasures against the marriage.
The group went inside the castle doors and was greeted with a spacious foyer of over five hundred meters wide. The white marbled floor shone with the gentle light blue resplendent, luminous moon stones densely embedded in the high ceiling. A double staircase made with blackwood faces them, and hung portraits could be seen on the white gold walls next to the stairs.
The portraits were framed with glittering gemstones, and Raimere could only feel her mouth opening in shock at the luxurious display.
‘I’ve seen one of those red gemstones. Celine treasured a smaller one as her necklace so preciously that she would wipe it thrice a day.’
“Was the Rogue kingdom so rich that one of the three king clans could use such treasures for framing portraits?”
Raimere mumbled under her breath as she absentmindedly followed the group.
Varyan raised his brows next to her. She might have said it so softly, but the senses of the rogue werewolf race were much more sensitive than the ancient werewolves, even if they turned it off.
“The ride must have been tiring. Please follow the servants to your quarters. You will all need the rest for the big day tomorrow.” Butler Corel looked back at all the Valerius royals after a word with King Veron.
Raimere could only mindlessly follow behind a servant with Bella and Nora in tow. Only the word marriage circled around her mind like a curse.
Her room was next to Varyan’s quarters. But what caught her attention was the gorgeous sets of dresses displayed on a rack at the end of her bed.
“These are the prepared dresses for the wedding. My lady must pick three of them for the wedding, the wedding dinner and the wedding dance,” The servant reminded Raimere before going out in a flurry of silent footsteps.
Looking at the over thirty sets of dresses made Raimere’s head throb.
She raised her hand to massage her temples with a listless look in her pupils.
“What am I doing? Why did I not run when that damn Celine brought me out of the Celeste clan?”
Raimere walked to the bed and plunged her body into the soft mattress. She was stupid for not running away, but she knew that she would be captured back by Celine’s guards no matter how far she ran.
“Ugh, this is insane.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the blackwood forest, near the precipice of a cliff is a hidden cave surrounded by thick and thorny rocks.
A man wearing a tattered black robe with a hideous scar running down his left eye to his cheeks was laying down on the cold cave floor while playing with a golden coin in his fingers. Standing and leaning on the wall was a small woman with short green hair and an ordinary face.
“I received a new letter.” Taz, the green-haired woman, opened her mouth while looking down at her companion.
“Hmm? What is it?” Skar briefly glanced at her with an uninterested look on his face before looking back down at the shining golden coin in his fingers.
“The news we heard was proven to be true,”
“Oh?” As if those words piqued his attention, Skar leaned forward to sit up straight.
“Yes, the news was from the vice-leader.”
“That’s surprising.” A sinister smile widened Skar’s lips.
“I was getting bored, so this news came at the right time.” Skar gleefully laughed as he tucked the golden coin inside his robe.
Skar raised his gaze and met Taz’s calm pupils that wouldn’t change even if the world was ending.
“Why don’t we give a big wedding gift to the Valerius king clan’s grand heir?”
Skar jumped up as he patted the dust away from his robes.
“It would sour our relationship with the Rogue kingdom if we do not show our courtesies, right?”
Taz shook her head at Skar’s voice filled with joy.
“Let’s go! We should announce our arrival before giving out our wedding gift!”
- Writer
