He Used Me for Her, I Walked Away

Chapter 2

Standing beside Zairine, Veyra looked at the wedding procession and could not help but speak up in outrage. "What is the meaning of this from the Aetheris family? The eldest master does not come to fetch the bride himself, yet he sends a coffin instead?"

The Aetheris family's steward, Mr. Lee, stepped forward to explain, "Miss Veridian, today's wedding ceremony is the final celestial trial for Master Rynell Aetheris. You must lie within the coffin, travel with the procession back to the Aetheris family estate, and complete the wedding rites with the master. Only then will he have fully completed his vows to leave the church."

Hearing this, Zairine's heart was filled with a whirlwind of feelings.

Rynell Aetheris's eighty-one celestial trials, and the very last of them, required her to lie inside a coffin and be carried to the Aetheris family home as if it were a wedding carriage.

Veyra started to step forward to protest, but Zairine stopped her with a firm grasp. "Let it be."

She might as well experience now what it will be like to lie in a coffin after death.

In just a few days, she would vanish completely, and she would no longer be a Veridian.

Zairine bent down and lay down inside the dark coffin. The heavy lid slowly closed over her.

She pulled away the red veil covering her face and stared up at the dark wood above her head. From beyond, she could faintly hear the mocking whispers of onlookers along the road.

"The younger sister marries in splendor, yet the elder sister is fetched in a coffin, how utterly ill-omened!" The roadside onlookers murmured with biting mockery.

"The honor of the Veridian family has been completely thrown away by this eldest daughter!" They jeered, their voices sharp with disapproval.

Zairine pulled a bitter smile to her lips, her fingers curling tight into fists.

'Ill-omened or splendid, it made no difference. In seven days, she would have no ties to the Veridian family whatsoever. What strangers said no longer mattered.'

*****

At the Aetheris Family Estate.

Zairine was helped out of the coffin. Bridesmaids escorted her to step over the ceremonial fire of blessing and enter the grand wedding hall that had been prepared.

When it came time to perform the marriage rites, she realized there was no one standing beside her at all. Upon the ceremonial cushion rested a single rooster, adorned with a great red silk bow tied around its neck.

"c**k-a-doodle-doo!" The rooster crowed loudly.

Zairine's heart turned cold. She was about to speak when a pair of hands, knuckles clearly defined, rested gently upon her shoulders. Rynell's voice sounded close to her ear.

"Do not be afraid, Zairine. The rites decree that a rooster shall stand in my place during the ceremony. Once the wedding is complete, my final celestial trial will be at an end…"

Zairine was stunned beyond words.

'Rynell was asking her to bow in marriage before the gods alongside a rooster! Was this truly the trial he must endure to leave the church, or was it a humiliation devised solely for her?'

She clenched her fists tight, drew a long breath, and steadied the storm of emotion within her.

Only seven days to endure. Then all of this would be over.

She knelt upon the cushion and performed every step of the wedding ceremony, side by side with a rooster.

*****

As night fell, the wedding mistress spoke the traditional blessings and stood witness as Rynell Aetheris and Zairine Veridian drank the marriage cup together.

Rynell had not changed into wedding robes, he still wore his cleric's attire. Upon his wrist hung the star-patterned prayer bracelet, lending him the air of a pious servant of the divine.

He motioned for all the servants to withdraw. Then he turned to Zairine, his gaze seeming sincere and full of joy.

"Zairine, I left the faith for your sake. Forgive me for this humiliation on this final trial," Rynell said gently, his expression open and earnest. "Now that all eighty-one celestial trials are complete, we may live together in peace as any other couple. At last," he added, his voice warm and full of feeling.

His words were spoken with such earnest warmth that Zairine's chest felt tight, and she could not bring herself to utter a single sound.

'Had she not overheard his true intentions that day, she might well have been moved to believe him.'

Zairine turned her gaze away, toward the flickering wedding candles beside them. "I…"

She had barely begun to speak when Rynell continued, "Zairine, though my service at the church has ended, the fortune-teller warned that certain commandments still bind us for the first seven days of our union. And so… we may not share a chamber for now."

Zairine paused. Her fingers brushed the prayer bracelet he had given her so long ago, resting now upon her own wrist.

She forced a faint smile. "It is of no concern. I am not feeling well this evening in any case."

As the words left her lips, she clearly saw the relief wash over Rynell's face.

"Then I shall sleep in the guest quarters this evening. When these seven days have passed, I shall come to you properly on our wedding night," Rynell stated, his tone lighter.

"Very well," Zairine replied evenly.

'Seven days from now, there would be only a deceased wife of the Aetheris household. What promise of a wedding night would there be left for him to keep then?'

Once Rynell Aetheris had departed, Veyra, who had waited just outside the door, stepped into the room, eyes red with anger and sympathy.

"He has treated you terribly this day! He would not stand beside you himself, and now he flees the wedding night entirely! I do not believe he ever truly wished to marry you at all…"

Zairine removed her bridal crown. Her voice was so soft it was barely audible. "In a few days I shall be gone. Whether his heart is true or not matters, no longer."

'When she left, she would cast off the name and station of the Veridian family's eldest daughter forever. She would leave this city, and leave Rynell Aetheris entirely behind…'

The candlelight flickered gently.

Zairine slipped out of her heavy wedding gown, seated herself at the writing desk, opened a notebook, and dipped her pen. Upon the first page she wrote.

Rynell Aetheris, by the time you read these words, I shall have vanished from the sight of all who know me.