A Midsummer Night's Wedding #1
I had quite a bit of experience attending weddings.
Back at the facility, whenever the older sisters or brothers who had already gone independent got married, I would get so emotional I could barely stand it. We facility kids would even sing a congratulatory chorus together for them.
The pastor who always looked after the facility would officiate, and as I always felt, the wedding address tended to proceed like a full service—so it ran rather long. Long enough that people without religion, unused to worship, might find it a touch boring.
Well, most religious weddings were like that.
Today was no different.
“Does the groom, Hyde, swear before God to take the bride, Miss Psyche Agarpe, as his lifelong companion?”
Today’s officiant was Oscar Archibold.
His face was thoroughly crumpled and mottled red and purple—and it looked absolutely delightful.
Serves you right.
I answered with full force.
“Yes. I swear.”
“Then does the bride, Miss Psyche Agarpe, swear to take the groom, Hyde, as her lifelong companion and helpmate, to walk together the rugged path of life and the journey of salvation?”
Psyche did not answer at once.
Beneath the white veil she quietly looked around. In that moment I felt a flicker of unease.
Why isn’t she answering right away?!
She’s not about to say “no,” is she?
That strange silence drew every gaze toward her. Psyche seemed to hesitate for about five seconds, then finally nodded.
“Yes.”
“I will ask once more. Do you truly swear?”
Oscar’s expression as he asked was sharp as a hawk’s, as if he were saying, Think carefully. This is your last chance.
Unlike her earlier hesitation, Psyche’s answer this time came swiftly.
“Yes. I swear. From this day forward I will place absolute trust in my husband Hyde, and I swear there will be no secrets or falsehoods between us.”
“Then the wedding ends here. May the bride and groom lean upon each other through the storms and joys of the hard life ahead, and live well.”
What kind of wedding ends in under five minutes?
With those words Oscar spun on his heel and left, as if he could not bear to remain another second.
“Sir Loras, let us go!”
At Oscar’s call, Loras—who had stood with arms crossed and leg jiggling throughout the ceremony—flinched so hard his armor rattled.
Has this bastard Loras completely settled into being Archibold’s underling now?
Loras approached Psyche and spoke.
“Psyche, I still cannot believe you made this decision. What happened today could rupture the relationship between House Archibold and House Agarpe. Because of you!”
Blaming Psyche here?
Stirring guilt to shake the other person’s mind was Gaslighting 101. He was clearly planning to exploit Psyche’s kind heart and rattle her mental state somehow.
While kind-hearted Psyche stood unable to answer, Loras kept spouting off.
“I was trying to prevent a clash between House Agarpe and House Archibold by any means. Know that I did it all for you and the people of the territory. I had thought of you as my own little sister. But Hyde ruined everything.”
Turning the tables, rationalizing himself, and blaming others on top of it?
Thought of her as a little sister, yet he was thrashing around trying to marry her—what was that about?
I could not endure it any longer. I was about to open my mouth and give the bastard Loras a piece of my mind when—
“Sir Loras.”
Psyche spoke first.
Loras, who had been walking away with his back turned, brightened for a brief moment.
Then Psyche continued.
“I am grateful for the devotion and loyalty you have offered House Agarpe until now. But one thing I wish to make perfectly clear: Loras, even if I had never had a fiancé from the beginning, even if I had never fallen ill—I would never have married you.”
“What?”
Loras’s brow crumpled at once. Veins seemed to bulge on his forehead; his face flushed and mottled through every colorful shade imaginable.
In other words, Psyche had told him this:
Even if I had no fiancé or boyfriend, I would never date you.
Once a man heard something like that, it was essentially the end.
Indeed Loras stood frozen like stone, and I almost thought I heard a cracking sound as if his body were splitting apart.
“Fine—try getting by without me!”
Having barely recovered his wits, Loras flared his cloak and left with Oscar Archibold. Once their figures vanished, my insides felt so refreshed that my mood soared.
Of course Psyche let out a long breath, as if releasing the air she had been holding.
“It is true that Sir Loras was arrogant and rude in places, but his skill was excellent. Commanding and training the soldiers of Agarpe territory will now become more difficult.”
“My lady, what is there to worry about? Lady Psyche herself can simply command and train the soldiers of Agarpe territory.”
I recalled the day Psyche Agarpe had taken up her greatsword and fought a bloody duel against the Great Sin of Wrath, Las. Against Las’s monstrous strength that tore iron plates bare-handed, Psyche had shown combat prowess that could match her. The reason the capital of the heretic Brotherhood had fallen so late was precisely because of Psyche and the Seven Knights of the Holy War who followed her lead.
“Here’s the man of the hour!”
Right then someone seized my shoulders in a crushing embrace.
“Khahaha! I haven’t had a day this satisfying in ages! Monk Hyde, I see you in a new light! Now that you’ve held the wedding, we are family! Call me Father-in-law!”
It was Count Doban Agarpe.
My body shook wildly according to the movement of his arms. If anyone had ever been caught in an elephant’s trunk, they might feel something like what I felt now.
I spoke, partly to calm the man who was as excited as a charging rhinoceros.
“There is not only joy to celebrate. We have wounded Archibold’s pride and insulted him before everyone; with his petty nature he will certainly seek revenge.”
“Revenge? Where is our fault in what happened today? The fault lies with Loras! That bastard, going and throwing himself under the protection of the Archibold scum who dealt his own father a fatal wound…!”
“A hero like Count Doban may not understand, but petty men are the sort who, even after they slap someone first, will still get angry if the other person strikes back and they get hurt.”
I knew the hearts of petty men well.
They casually inflicted harm on others, yet if someone so much as brushed them with a speck of dust, they would rush in like mad dogs and bite until they were satisfied.
Oscar Archibold and Loras, in my eyes, were the pettiest of the petty.
They would definitely seek revenge.
And since the blade of that revenge could not immediately target me today, it would surely turn elsewhere.
I am absolutely not a petty man, but if I were a pathetic, double-standard-loving petty man—thinking in the Oscar Archibold mindset—what would I do?
The answer was one.
“Count Doban, please secure Priest Manan’s person. Oscar Archibold may kill Priest Manan and his subordinates before this day ends.”
It would serve as both venting and silencing.
At my quiet whisper Count Doban was greatly startled.
“Isn’t Priest Manan Archibold’s man? And yet Oscar would kill his own people? No matter how frankly he spoke today, would he go that far?”
“…….”
In my view Count Doban was a man of loyalty and magnanimity, but he clearly did not understand how the world turned.
How did a man like this betray the royal house on the brink of its collapse and preserve his life and family?
From what I can see, this man seems the type who would fight to the bitter end alongside the royal house.
“There is much information that can be extracted from Manan, so it would be best to keep him alive as long as possible and make use of him. Therefore I entrust Priest Manan to you.”
Punishing Manan was my role.
I could not let that right be stolen by the likes of Oscar.
Hence Manan had to live for now.
“Very well, I understand. I’ll do as my son-in-law says. Then let today’s bride and groom enjoy the festival.”
The wedding continued until night fell.
Psyche received blessings from many people.
“Lady Psyche, congratulations on your marriage!”
“I’m so glad your illness is cured.”
Psyche was a woman who was loved.
That such a woman was becoming my bride still felt hard to believe.
In contrast, I received many curses.
“Some nobody who rolled in from who-knows-where taking Lady Psyche…”
“I’m so jealous.”
Mostly the men hated me.
So this is the gaze that falls on a man who has won a beauty.
When night came, the servants guided me to a hastily prepared bridal chamber.
According to House Agarpe custom, the groom entered first and waited for the bride.
I sat on the bed in the bridal chamber where candle flames flickered and danced.
Yet the bed was far softer than I expected, and it felt oddly uncomfortable.
Should I sit on the chair?
Or stand?
I had no idea what would be best.
To be honest, I was nervous!
This was my first wedding, after all!
And the fact that I had truly married Lady Psyche—whom I had secretly loved—and could now spend a devout and sacred first night with her made my heart feel ready to burst.
“Today is the happiest day of my life!”
When is she coming in?
With an impatient heart I sat on the bed, then on the chair, then stood up, then drank water from the pitcher—fussing about restlessly.
Rustle—.
“Is that you, Lady Psyche?”
Even the slightest sound from outside made my heart plummet, certain it was her—
Yet no matter how much time passed, Psyche showed no sign of entering the bridal chamber. Looking at it another way, it was only natural.
The star of the wedding was the new bride.
By now she was probably bathing with the help of the maids, using rose water and the soap I had made, or adorning her face with cosmetics.
Women simply took longer to prepare than men.
“I waited five years. Being unable to wait a mere hour would be ridiculous.”
With a magnanimous heart I decided to wait for Psyche.
And so, while I could neither sit nor stand properly, the hour that felt like well past midnight arrived.
Creak—.
The door of the bridal chamber opened, and a dizzying floral scent drifted in. When I turned my head, Psyche—her face flushed red—was slowly approaching me in a dress that looked like nightclothes.
Her light, weightless footsteps made me feel as if my breath had stopped.
Could there truly be a woman this beautiful in the world?
There was!
And from today that woman was my wife!
Once again I found myself freshly astonished and moved by the woman called Psyche Agarpe.
“To be honest, I thought my lady would not appear here. I believed the marriage was only an empty promise, a pretext to drive Oscar out.”
The people of Agarpe had stabbed me in the back many times.
The nickname “Agarpe of the Covenant” might even have been given in sarcasm, because they broke their word so often.
Yet the young lady of Agarpe had truly kept the promise she had publicly made—that she would marry the one who solved and answered the problem.
That fact alone made all the pain of the backstabs I had suffered until now melt away like snow.
The virginity of premarital purity I had guarded until now—
I was steeped in emotion at the thought that I could cross that threshold tonight with Psyche, whom I had fallen for all over again, when her beautifully glittering lips parted.
“Hyde, tonight is the first night we have married and become family. So tonight I have one confession I must make to you. It is something I can only say tonight.”
A confession?
The sudden shift in atmosphere made my chest flutter.
A worried feeling also rose.
“…Are you perhaps about to tell me that you were not pure before marriage? That my lady is in fact not a virgin, so I should take care in advance, or that there is a hidden child, or something of that sort…?”
My heart felt as if it would tear.
What other confession would a bride make to her husband on the first night, if not something like that?
But Psyche Agarpe frowned hard, as if I had been truly rude.
“How discourteous! What do you take me for—the young lady of Count Agarpe’s house and a believer from the cradle? I am truly a virgin who knows nothing of men! And I am proud of that fact!”
Yes!
Psyche was indeed a true virgin!
I answered her proudly.
“I too am a virgin at the age of twenty-two. Purity is more important than anything. Until now I have never dated a girlfriend nor made a lover.”
It might have been an embarrassing self-confession for a twenty-first-century man, but this confession was my pure sincerity. And Psyche would recognize the true value of my confession.
Indeed Psyche’s face brightened at once.
“What a truly wonderful story! Hyde, when you hung yourself before me I thought, ‘What an irreverent man,’ but as expected you are only extreme in your methods—you are a good person.”
A good person.
Hearing those words, I was so moved I felt tears might burst forth!
Is this what they call a perfect match between husband and wife?
Clouds and rain?
I didn’t know, but I was certain this was the feeling of marrying the one you love and creating a family!
Then Psyche spoke to me.
“Hyde, I believe that a fine biblical theologian like you will understand well the meaning of what I am about to say.”
Psyche carefully poured out a single story.
And when I put that story together, it came to this!
“You wish to preserve your purity even after marriage?”
Psyche of premarital purity.
To think she would want postmarital purity as well!