I Thought I Had Married A Poor Knight, But…!

My Mistake. Cermiane’s Point of View. (4)

In the center of the square was a man dressed in priestly garb who seemed to be a priest. We were quickly given a garbled blessing by him, as he was clearly quite drunk himself. Normally, a kiss and an oath were exchanged after the blessing, but since we couldn’t do that twice, we skipped it. However, the audience wouldn’t let us off the hook, and jeers immediately began.

“Give us a kiss for the oath! Kiss!”

“That’s impossible! Not here!”

“What’s the matter, boss? Are you running away?”

“You coward!”

“What did you say? Fine, I’ll do it!”

Ralphine turned to me with a bright red face, but luckily, the surrounding women stopped her.

“Hey! Save the kiss for the real thing!”

“You guys too! Don’t provoke Ralphine with such boring things!”

We were then taken to the banquet, still being jostled by the crowd, and given wooden goblets filled to the brim with beer. They poured beer for us as we raised our cups and shouted, “To the marriage of Ralphine and Cermiane!”

The cheers were deafening, and beer flew everywhere as we clinked our goblets together. As soon as I emptied my cup, beer and wine were poured from all sides, filling my goblet once again. Ralphine was served a large amount of food, and we were both relentlessly drank.

As voices of blessings, encouragement, and teasing flew back and forth, we laughed, sang, and danced while drinking and showing off our skills. Things were still going well as the party reached its peak, but once everyone except for me (as I hardly ever get drunk) had become completely drunk, the atmosphere started to get ominous.

Women began clinging to Ralphine and crying out, “Don’t go, Ral!”

One girl started crying loudly, and Ralphine looked troubled as she tried to comfort her. Another woman then hugged her from behind and began sobbing, and a large group of women around them all started crying as well. Then, the men began shouting.

“Don’t let Ral go!”

“Protect our boss!”

And, of course, they all started glaring at me.

“Take him down!”

Several men came at me, but to be honest, they were just amateur commoners who were also completely drunk. They were no match for me. I tossed them all around, slapped them with an open hand, and tripped them over with my legs while being careful not to hurt them too much.

However, instead of getting angry, the men who I had just taken down looked up at me and said one after another,

“Please take care of Ral for us!”

“Please protect our boss!”

These big, burly men were pleading with me as they sobbed. I understood all too well what taking Ralphine away to the Imperial capital meant to the people here.

Eventually, Ralphine got drunk enough that she started crying himself, and so I had to pry her away from the women and run away with her. I was worried that she might blurt out, “I don’t want to go either!” If that happened, the people here would do everything in their power to stop us, and we would be trapped here forever.

So, I carried Ralphine in my arms as she slept halfway, and rushed into the house of Baron Kix. The Baron, who had returned earlier, laughed out loud when he saw us.

“You brought your bride in your arms, all cuddled up. You can head straight to the bedroom if you like.”

It was a very tempting temptation, but I restrained myself. I put Ralphine down on her bed and asked the baroness to look after her.

“What shall I do about her clothes? These are ceremonial clothes, but also Ral’s outfit. They’re pretty much soiled.”

After all, she had been in the crowd, splashed with alcohol at the banquet, and even had a fight with a man. It was pretty dirty. But Baron Kix laughed and said.

“That’s one of Betts’s, isn’t it? Don’t worry about it, she’s the one who put it away, even though she had no intention of using it. Ral’s outfit is from my wife’s house, so you needn’t worry about it any more.’

I was taken aback by the shocking statement. But the baron chuckled happily and blew his pipe.

“It’s customary to start making bridal gowns when a girl turns five. Well, it was a short notice, so she was up all night yesterday. I’m glad I got them dressed.”

I was painfully distressed that I could not welcome these two to the Imperial wedding. The Baron should be the one to take Ralphine’s hand and walk through the temple. I wanted to receive Ralphine’s hand from him.

“I will definitely, definitely come back with “Ral.”

“Oh, yes. Then I would like to hold Ral’s child then.”

The baron looked straight at me and bowed.

“Take care of Ral, Cermiane.”

Early the next morning we set off. Ralphine hugged the baron and his wife and said goodbye, but the baron and his wife laughed peacefully and showed no tears. Ralphine looked back again and again and waved from her horse. The image of Baron and Baroness Kix, who kept cuddling and waving to Ralphine, is still burned in my mind and will never leave.

In the end, I was unable to keep my promise to Baron Kix, and even less so to Ralphine. It would be several decades before we could finally revisit this place again.