by Dojyomaru
Except for two pairs of eyes, which looked to have frozen up with tension. It went without saying that those belonged to Juna’s parents.
I walked over and bowed my head to them with a wry smile. “I’m sorry. I’ve put you in an awkward situation.”
“Oh! No... We’re well aware how out of place we are here,” Juna’s father said hastily, glancing around the room.
It must have been hard to relax with important figures from around the kingdom, including the former royal couple, here.
This man was Excel’s son, a handsome middle-aged fellow with blue hair.
He was human by race, so he looked older than Excel, but he must have been quite the looker in his youth. Next to him, Juna’s mother was every bit as beautiful as you would expect a descendant of loreleis to be.
Still, these two looked relatively plain compared to their current company.
“Because I wanted to marry the primary and secondary queens at the same time, I’ve put you two through a lot of trouble,” I said.
“Oh, no, Juna seems happy, and that’s good enough for us,” her father said quickly.
“That’s right,” her mother agreed. “Please take care of her, until death do you part.”
These were common blessings from common people. They made me more happy than anything.
Juna’s folks were wonderful people. Though Juna resembled Excel, her good nature and kindness must have been their influence.
Her father, in particular, was such a fine man, I couldn’t believe he was Excel’s son.
“...You’re thinking something rude, aren’t you?” Excel demanded suspiciously.
“No, not at all...”
Excel narrowed her eyes at me, and I looked away.
Of course, a veteran like Excel was going to be sharp.
Then Lady Elisha, who had been watching our exchange, burst into giggles.
“Hee hee hee! Now, now, son-in-law. Don’t spend all your time with us; go and be with Liscia and the others. I’m sure they’re waiting with bated breath.”
Ah! That was right.
“Yes, Mother. Now then, everyone, I will see you later.”
I bowed to the parents and family one last time, and then left the room.
The grand hall where Liscia and the rest were waiting was right next to the waiting room where their families were.
There were guards standing on either side of the large doors, and they saluted me as I approached.
I stood in front of those doors, reached for the handle... then froze up.
On the other side of the door were Liscia and the others in their bridal clothing. The moment I thought that, my body refused to move. If I opened this door, our relationship would change. From engaged to married, from regent to king, from candidate to queen.
The fact was, I felt like Liscia, who had become a mother, had already changed. Having gained Cian and Kazuha, who were more important than her own life, she was even more stable than before, and would not be shaken easily.
What about me, though? Cian and Kazuha were more important than my life, too. But if you asked whether I had changed, I wasn’t so sure.
In my old world, I had heard talk that women’s values changed when they gave birth, but men never stopped being children.
Was it possible for me to grow in a way that was equal to the way Liscia and the others no doubt would?
When I thought that, I hesitated to open the door.
Looking at me as I stood motionless, as if time had stopped, the younger guard worriedly spoke to me.
“Um, Your Majesty? Is something the—”
“Shh. Get a clue.” The middle-aged guard standing across from him brought a finger to his lips and silenced the young one.
Then, with a sage look, the middle-aged guard nodded at me.
Because, in the chaotic period after I first assumed the throne, I had spoken to everyone in the castle to use them as much as I could, and I had been eating with the guards and maids in the cafeteria, some of them would readily strike up a conversation with me. That trend was especially strong with the middle-aged guards and the granny-type maids.
They were polite, of course, and they wouldn’t do it when anyone who liked to go on about the dignity of my position was around. But this man was one of those middle-aged guards.
“You must be feeling uneasy, am I right?” the middle-aged guard asked. “I can understand. This is a path any man who decides to have a family goes down, after all.”
“Is that how it works?” I asked.
“Yes. I went through it when I married my wife. Though, that said, you’ve already long since prepared for this, right, sire? The only thing stopping you now is sentimentality.”
“Sentimentality...?”
Sentimentality. Being sentimental. He had a point.
It went without saying that my relationship with Liscia and each of the others would change over time. There was nothing I could do about that, and I had long since accepted it.
I could only say that the reason I was still hesitating to go forward was that I was basking in sentimentality. It was a waste of time to think about it, you could say.
With a wry smile, I put my hand down on the middle-aged guard’s shoulder. “You’ve got a way with words. It’s not like being indecisive now is going to change anything.”
“Yes. Besides, if you dawdle too long, your pretty wives are going to get mad, you know?” He smirked.
Just as he said that, there was a shout from behind the door.
“Souma! You’re there, aren’t you?! Get on with it, make up your mind, and get in here!”
“Y-Yes!”
I stood up ramrod straight at the sound of Liscia’s voice, then hurriedly opened the door and rushed in. The guards immediately closed the doors behind me.
The glimpse of the middle-aged guard I got just before the doors fully shut, with a look on his face like, They’ll have him whipped in no time, irritated me.
But when I turned around...
The sight of Liscia, Aisha, Juna, Roroa, and Naden, all in wedding dresses, hit me with a shock so hard that it rattled my brain.
First, there was Liscia. She had her hair down today. She wore a pure and cute long dress with white as the main color, but a pink lining that peeked out from the hem. The sash around her waist was the same color as her military uniform, giving her a dignified beauty that was both gorgeous and very true to who she was as a person. She looked fit to represent all of the queens.
Aisha’s pure white dress was a stunning contrast with her brown skin. The ribbons on her head were also white, and it reflected her innocence. I had a strong impression of Aisha as a warrior, but she had a good figure, and was very attractive to me as a woman today.
On top of her white dress, Juna wore a blue corsage and sash that matched the color of her beautiful hair. The dress had a light blue tinge to it, too, reflecting her nobility, which was like the moon reflected in the water, and her enveloping kindness.
Roroa’s dress had a white base color, too, but the hem and sash shone with a light lemon yellow to match her cheer and youth. The dress gave off the same charm and cheer that she herself did, and even though it had a long skirt, she looked like she might start running around in it at any moment.
Naden’s dress was a little shorter compared to the others. She was the only one with a tail, so that had likely been a decision to keep her from looking weird. The front was knee-length, but I thought that was a lovely representation of her flexibility and free spirit.
Five different women, five different dresses. All of them beautiful, all of them suited to the person wearing them.
They looked so brilliant in their wedding garb, I just stared at them, entranced, for a while.
As I stood there speechless, Liscia shyly asked, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“R-Right... You’re pretty. All of you. You left me without words.”
I was stammering for some reason, but everyone grinn
ed.
“M-Me, too?” Aisha asked. “I’m taller than all the others, but is that still okay?”
“Hee hee hee, oh, Aisha,” Juna giggled. “You’re slender, but shapely. I think you’re very pretty.”
“Shapely... I’m not sure how I feel about Big Sis talkin’ about that,” Roroa griped. “How about you, Nadie?”
“I wish I had cleavage. Pretty desperately.”
“Don’t pout on such a happy day,” Liscia tried to mollify them. “Besides, I think you two look lovely and wonderful in your dresses.” I fully agreed with her.
Roroa and Naden were even more gorgeous than usual today, but in a pure way, feeling like true princesses.
Of course, Aisha and Juna, with their feminine sexiness were wonderful, too, and Liscia, who had the best parts of both camps, was marvelous in her grace.
“Hahh...” Looking at those five lovely ladies, I let out a sigh.
“What’s wrong, Your Majesty? Have we done something to offend?” Juna asked with concern.
“Could you not sigh in front of us?” Naden snapped in a prickly tone.
I hurriedly shook my head. Obviously there was nothing wrong with them, and I couldn’t possibly be dissatisfied.
“It’s just... I have such lovely brides, so when I think we can’t just have a normal wedding... Well, I’m pretty disappointed.”
“Ahh, I went and planned this whole thing, and even I’m thinkin’ that a bit,” Roroa agreed with me.
The weddings in this world weren’t significantly different from Western-style weddings on Earth.
In a church, the bride and groom pledged their love before a priest or pastor.
That was the sort of ceremony Ludwin and Hal were likely having.
The sort of wedding where, though the ceremony also held the meaning of tying two houses together, it was a syrupy sweet time where the brides and grooms only had eyes for each other.
But our marriage ceremony was different.
It would be broadly classified as a wedding, but as the wedding of a king, it could not be devoted solely to the brides and groom. The main goal was to introduce the queens to the people, and make clear the ranking between them.
The coronation and wedding would, of course, be broadcast over the Jewel Voice Broadcast, and every person in the country would be able to see it.
Our people wouldn’t be the only ones watching the ceremony, either.
It was going to be broadcast over the jewels we used for broadcast conferences with the Gran Chaos Empire and Republic of Turgis, so Empress Maria and Sir Gouran, the head of the republic, would be watching, too.
In a marriage ceremony watched over by so many people inside and outside the country, we would have to keep alert constantly, and there would no room for the brides and groom to enjoy some sweet time to themselves.
“It may be disappointing, indeed.” Aisha crossed her arms and looked gallant, despite being in a wedding dress.
Juna put a finger to her lips and went, “Hmm?” questioningly. “But it’s every girl’s dream to have a big, gaudy wedding at a place like the castle, isn’t it? We’re the ones to be envied here, surely.”
“Ahaha! That kind of jealousy is pretty common, right?” Naden smiled with nostalgia.
She must have been remembering her time in the Star Dragon Mountain Range. Naden had harbored a complex about Ruby, who was a normal dragon, while Ruby had felt jealous towards Naden, who was an unusual ryuu.
The grass is always greener, they say.
Roroa smirked. “Hmm. So, what you’re sayin’ is, if we sell wedding packages at the castle, we’ll turn a profit. Even if it’s out of reach of the common people, the nobles’d pay a pretty penny to—Ow!”
When Liscia retorted with a light chop to her head. “Roroa, don’t tie everything back to making money.”
Roroa laughed. “Nyahah!”
“Honestly,” Liscia said, putting her hands on her hips, but she seemed more gentle than exasperated. “No matter what shape it takes, as long as we’re happy with it, isn’t that good enough?”
We all nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. Right now, I’m happy,” I said.
“Hee hee, then let’s hear a word from you, as the head of the household,” Liscia said teasingly.
I scratched my cheek. “Head of the household...? What house is this, anyway?”
The fact was, even if we got married, we weren’t going to have a single last name.
That was because the mother’s family name changed based on the position her children would be in.
I was inheriting the names of both the House of Elfrieden and the House of Amidonia, so I would become “Souma A. Elfrieden.”
Liscia and Roroa would pass their names to their children, so they would remain “Liscia Elfrieden” and “Roroa Amidonia.”
Because she was becoming a primary queen with right of succession, it might have been best for Roroa to take the name Elfrieden, but we were maintaining a clear separation to agitate the people of both countries as little as possible.
Liscia’s children, Cian and Kazuha, carried the name Elfrieden.
If the two countries continued to stay reconciled, it might be possible in the future to establish a House of Friedonia, but that would be up to how things went from here.
The second primary queen, Aisha, would become, “Aisha U. (Udgard) Elfrieden.”
The Udgard name was being kept to promote harmony with the dark elves, who had only just begun to make contact with the outside world.
As for Juna and Naden, whose children would have no right of succession, after talking it over, we’d decided they would take the family name “Souma,” and become “Juna Souma” and “Naden Delal Souma.”
Naden had no family name.
Delal was a part of her name, as was the case with her friend, Pai Long. Because of that, she needed a new family name, so I’d decided to have her use my family name, Souma.
It had become my given name now, but Souma had originally been my family name.
After that, Juna had asked to use the Souma name, too.
Because the children of secondary queens often inherited their mother’s family, many of them kept their original family names, but Juna’s father, that man who seemed too kind to be Excel’s son, had told me, “I do not want to claim excessive ties to the royal family!” and “My mother’s name already makes me stand out badly enough. Just the thought of any more makes my stomach hurt!”
In the end, Juna was taking the newly established Souma family name, and if they wanted the children to inherit the House of Doma, they could be adopted into it later.
Given all that, our names were all different, so what was it that we should call our house when we were all together?
While I was thinking about it, Liscia shrugged. “It’s a name we’re using among ourselves, why not just be the Souma family? It’s our husband’s family name, after all.”
Liscia said that with a smile, and no one objected, so it was decided.
Now then, moving on...
“Erm... I was asked to say something, but I don’t know what to say, so suddenly...” I began.
“What don’t ya just try sayin’ whatever popped into your head, darlin’?”
“...Okay. Well then... Today, on this day, we will become a family. I hope that we will continue to support one another, as we have before, even more in the future. Let’s laugh, cry, and sometimes fight, as we spend time together.”
I hugged Aisha and Naden first.
“Aisha. I’ll live as long as I can, so I want you to live with me.”
“Yes.” Aisha nodded firmly. “Let’s live together as long as we can.”
“Naden, you, too. It may only be for a short time in your long life, but give me your time.”
“Hmph,” she snorted. “It’s a bit soon to be making this a memory. This is where we start making memories, not where we look back on them.”
I let the two of them go, then hugged
Roroa and Juna next.
“Let’s build a home where the smiles never stop, Roroa.”
“Even when we cry, I’ll be smilin’!”
“No matter what kind of bashing I receive from the people for it... Juna, I’m making you mine.”
“Yes, forever,” she smiled.
Then, finally, I hugged Liscia.
“Just two years ago, I was saying I’d throw away the crown, and tear up our engagement, too.”
“Two years ago, I stormed into my father’s room, mad he’d gotten me betrothed without my input.”
“I’m not letting go anymore,” I told her. “Not of you, and not of this kingdom where Cian and Kazuha live.”
“I won’t let you go, either. Not away from this world, and not away from me.”
While we were feeling one another’s warmth like that, there was a knock at the door.
It seemed like the time had come.
I let go of Liscia. Then, looking at each of them, I said, “All right... Let’s go, everyone.”
“““““Okay!”””””
We were going to become the king and queens of this country.
Final Chapter: The Wedding Ceremony
“His Majesty Souma Amidonia Elfrieden, King of the United Kingdom of Elfrieden and Amidonia, will now appear,” Hakuya declared loudly.
I stepped out alone onto the red carpet.
This was the audience hall, the place where I had originally been summoned, and where I had also first met Aisha, Juna, Hakuya, Tomoe, and Poncho.
This place was pretty familiar to me, but today it was decked out in gaudy decorations.
On either side of the red carpet running through the audience hall knelt generals and bureaucrats, including Prime Minister Hakuya, Chamberlain Marx, Commander-in-Chief of the National Defense Force Excel, Black Cats Commander Kagetora, and Hiryuu Captain Castor.
In front of the throne at the end of that carpet were the former king, Sir Albert, and the former queen, Lady Elisha.
This scene was being broadcast nationwide using the Jewel Voice Broadcast jewel. (It was positioned so that Kagetora was off screen, though, of course.)
I absolutely could not be allowed to make a fool of myself. I walked slowly towards the two of them, as if savoring each step. Then, kneeling when I reached them, I lowered my head.