The Merry Wedding - 4
The road to St. Paronas Cathedral—no, to the wedding venue—was quiet. With only two people riding in the carriage, I hadn't expected any clamor, but I never imagined there would be no conversation at all.
Strangely enough, though, the silence did not feel awkward. Both Mar and I kept our mouths shut, yet we each understood the feelings that held the other quiet. This emotion was simply impossible to put into words; just looking at the person sitting across from me was enough to make my heart feel ready to burst.
It does feel different, though.
Mar was deliberately staring out the carriage window and nothing else. Cute and beautiful as ever—honestly, it was a sight I saw every day. Mar was always cute, always beautiful, always kind.
But because it was our wedding day, the Mar I always saw looked different. Seeing not the everyday Mar, but the bride-to-be Mar who could only be seen on the wedding day itself, made my heart pound.
First marriage.
Just thinking those words brought a smile unbidden to my face. Yes, today was the day of our first marriage, and that made it all the more thrilling. Even I, who had once had a first love named Hecate, had never held a proper wedding ceremony, and for Mar it went without saying.
Moreover, since this particular groom would have to go through five more weddings after this, this was the first and last time both groom and bride would be experiencing their first marriage together.
...Thinking about it that way, I did sound like a complete scumbag who was doing something terrible to his brides.
"Mar."
As time passed, I could already see a future in which I would become a wedding expert, so I opened my mouth. With the second, third, and fourth marriages, tension would give way to composure. In that case, even this time spent heading to the venue could be used in a cozy, meaningful way.
But to spend this time with Mar in silence? That would be rude to her.
"Thank you for marrying me."
"Wh-what?"
Perhaps the opening had been too intense; Mar, who had finally turned her gaze toward me, froze solid on the spot.
I messed up. To say thank you for marrying me to a Mar whose head was already full of wedding thoughts was like setting fire to a powder keg.
Of course, I had no intention of taking the words back. Since things had come to this, I would see it through to the end.
"You got rejected once and pushed away plenty of times, yet you understood everything and waited for me. Thank you. I'll make sure you never regret being with me."
As I spoke, I moved from the seat across from her to the one beside her. Then I naturally slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward me.
"So how about we follow your father's example and have six kids?"
"Th-that, um, well..."
At those words, Mar rolled her eyes this way and that, carefully withholding her reply.
She was probably confused. Whether that "six" meant across all the wives or six with just her alone.
"If we end up with more than thirty children, the mansion will get pretty crowded."
I added with a small laugh, implying the latter, and Mar's pupils began to tremble violently.
"Ka-Karl..."
But the trembling was brief.
"If that's what you want, Karl, I'll do my best."
Her firm, resolute answer made me burst out laughing again. Talking about six had obviously been a joke. What kind of crazy husband would unilaterally force a child plan on his wife? And not two or three, but six.
I had simply thought Mar seemed overly tense and was trying to lighten the mood with a joke—
"I heard the first empress had seven children. Thanks to that, there were plenty of royals to support the empire during the chaos of its founding."
...?
"The Krasius family's authority is firm, but the more blood relatives, the better."
Seeing Mar's eyes sparkling at some point, I felt something had gone wrong.
"Yeah. That's right. The more, the better."
But once again, I did not take it back. If I showed any awkwardness here or tried to pass it off as a joke, Mar, who had finally regained her energy, might get swallowed up by embarrassment again.
Today, too, I was racking up karma for myself.
When we entered the wedding venue, a familiar face was yawning.
"Oh, Chief."
It was the Second Section Chief.
"You're already here?"
"I'm supposed to be a guide, so of course I should arrive earlier than anyone. I'm not that lacking in manners."
I chuckled at the Second Section Chief's snickering. For all his appearance, maybe because he was experienced with weddings, he was carrying out his role more diligently than expected.
"Welcome, Madam as well. Fortunately, there were no tactless guests who arrived before the main characters!"
"Hehe, is that so? Thank you."
Mar also smiled and nodded at the Second Section Chief's enthusiastic report.
Indeed, as the Second Section Chief said, the guests had not yet arrived. At most, there were only personnel from the Imperial Household Department in charge of running and managing the event, and the priests managing the cathedral that served as the wedding venue, milling about. Adding to that, there were only the Audit Department executives I had called.
Maybe I didn't need to call them?
Looking at more people than expected, I stroked my chin. I had summoned the executives so they could fill out the guest book and receive congratulatory gifts on behalf of my guests when they arrived, but if I had known there would be this many people, I would simply have let them come as guests.
As I was debating whether to tell them to take it easy even now, the Deputy Chief, whose attention had been drawn by the Second Section Chief's laughter, approached and bowed.
"You've arrived, Chief."
"Yeah, just got here. You've been working hard since morning."
Feeling awkward, I patted the Deputy Chief's shoulder. Honestly, while I did not care about the Second Section Chief, dragging the Deputy Chief here when he was busy with the founding work of the Inspectorate Ministry might have been too much.
"It is only natural for subordinates to grace the occasion when their Chief is getting married. Please don't give it a second thought."
As if reading my mind, the Deputy Chief spoke calmly.
He was not wrong. When the head of a department got married, having subordinates work as guides could serve as a performance that displayed the department's control. Subordinates united in devotion to their superior—was that not a fine display?
Of course, the Audit Department executives were far from devoted, but at least outsiders did not know that harsh truth. Anyway, it was perfect for showing the solidity of the Audit Department.
"...If you get tired while working, just swap out with someone from the Imperial Household Department as appropriate. Pass that on to the Third and Fifth Section Chiefs too."
"Yes, understood."
Still exercising a final bit of conscience, I gave them permission for voluntary rotation and left.
I should give them more.
And I decided to give them about twice the money I had planned to pay them for working. That much should make my conscience hurt a little less.
"Um, Karl."
"Hm?"
As I moved my steps while suppressing the bitter feeling, Mar tilted her head and spoke.
"Why do they call you Chief? Aren't you a Minister now?"
Her voice was so genuinely puzzled that I was left speechless for a moment. Contrary to Mar's thinking, the Inspectorate Ministry had not yet been launched, so my official rank was still Chief.
The problem was that everyone, including the Emperor, treated me like a Minister for some strange reason.
Sitting alone in the groom's waiting room, I greeted the acquaintances who came to visit. This was probably the only time today I would be apart from Mar.
I would have liked to stay in the bride's waiting room together, but unlike me, Mar had many acquaintances, so I would only get in the way. It was a shame, but I had to endure it.
"What a surprise, you're dressed normally. I was sure it would be the uniform."
"If I wore the uniform, I'd be in the same outfit as the other guys. Anyone looking would think there were multiple grooms."
"That's true."
When I answered curtly to the Minister who started picking a fight the moment he saw my face, the Minister also nodded in understanding.
Wearing the blood-reeking Audit Department uniform at a wedding was something to avoid—but the very idea of a "uniform" was the problem in the first place. There were already several Audit Department executives milling about at the wedding venue; if I came in uniform too, it would be like matching couple outfits with them. A horrifyingly creepy thought.
"But is it okay for the groom to just sit still? What about the guests?"
"Your nephew-in-law was also hanging out in the waiting room, you know."
Fortunately, in this world, whether the groom greeted guests in the hall or rested in the waiting room was entirely up to him. There were no set rules or unspoken customs.
That was why I chose the waiting room without hesitation. If I came out to the hall even once to greet guests, I would have to do the same for the other five times automatically. Honestly, that would be a hassle.
"Now that you're a married man, you should start watching your mouth. A Chief talking back so sharply..."
"Don't treat me as a Chief only at times like this when you usually treat me as a Minister."
And so I spent quite a while bickering with the Minister.
Fortunately or unfortunately, there were not many acquaintances close enough to come all the way to the waiting room to exchange greetings. There was plenty of time to argue with the Minister.
"Anyway, congratulations on your marriage. The guy who looked like he'd live and die alone ends up taking six wives—you never know what the future holds."
"I didn't know either, so it's fine."
"Heh, if someone had known, that would have been even stranger."
The Minister let out a short laugh, then placed a hand on my shoulder and fell silent.
Normally I would have recoiled in disgust and asked what he was doing, but the Minister's expression was uncommonly serious, so I held back.
"Be sure to be happy. Only then can I face those guys with a clear conscience when I die."
"...Yes. I will, without fail."
Nodding at my answer, the Minister left the waiting room as if nothing had happened.
Looks like his regrets have been resolved.
Seeing the Minister like that, I felt a sense of kinship. Just as I had lost precious friends, the Minister had lost precious subordinates. I was the only one among those subordinates who had survived, so to the Minister I must have been a sore spot and a burden on his heart—someone he worried might go wrong as the last one remaining.
But that last one had at last built a family. He had looked toward new bonds without clinging to dead friends. From the Minister's perspective, this wedding was a place that proved his last subordinate could live happily.
Perhaps that was why the Minister's footsteps looked lighter than usual.