I Love You... My Gonglu
I Love You... My Gonglu
The political situation, which I'd thought barely settled, had begun spiraling once more.
Watching it unfold, I devised countermeasures—and simultaneously came to a single resolution.
Marriage.
The thought that I needed to firmly conclude this union with Dong Zhuo, something I'd kept putting off and putting off.
One might wonder whether marriage mattered when the realm was in crisis, but this was absolutely essential—even for the country's safety.
With the provincial lords openly in revolt, large-scale war was unavoidable now, just as it had been in the original timeline.
And in that process, the odds were high that I, too, would have to leave Luoyang for a time and move from place to place commanding battles, the same as back when we suppressed the Yellow Turbans.
And the one person who could be entrusted with Luoyang, which would automatically sit vacant under such circumstances... really, only Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo, who possessed the second-strongest military power in the Later Han after me and was reasonably versed in civil administration as well.
On top of that, she needed to remain in Luoyang if only to carry out the purge I'd ordered.
But...
No matter how reformed she was, this was still Dong Zhuo, infamous in the original timeline as a tyrant.
A long shot, perhaps, yet to prevent whatever misfortune might occur, I needed to drive one sure wedge into her heart.
The thing called marriage.
Binding one another with a bond that cannot easily be severed.
Certainly, part of it was also about keeping a promise that had stretched on since long ago...
But honestly, more than anything else,
the greatest reason was that my patience, too, had slowly reached its limit.
A beauty whose figure was beyond reproach, whose face seemed to glitter even now.
Capable, with a good pers—well, a good personality? At any rate, a lover who showed a caring and wise side, at least where I alone was concerned, and whom anyone would envy.
Until now I'd truly had no choice but to put it off,
but now, in more senses than one, I could endure no longer.
And so, Dong Zhuo stared at me with a briefly dazed expression as I made my resolution known.
"..."
"Erm... Uhm...?"
After I'd forced down my own embarrassment, the lack of any response left me a little bewildered.
Just when a worry was even surfacing—that perhaps this proposal didn't sit well with her—
"Sob... sob... Ughh..."
"Zhongying...?"
Her tears began to fall without warning.
We'd spent a very long time together by now, but I'd never once seen her cry so openly.
Just as that truth left me flustered and I was trying somehow to comfort her—
"Are... are you all righ— mmph!"
Dong Zhuo pressed her lips deeply over mine.
The warm yet fierce sensation I felt at the same time, as if something I'd kept suppressed had come undone—that feeling was intense beyond measure.
It naturally...
let me know what her answer was.
*
After one bout of passionate kissing, the two of them sat for a while beneath the eaves.
Yuan Shu carefully offered a handkerchief to Dong Zhuo, whose briefly raised emotions had calmed somewhat.
"Please, take it."
"Sniff... th-thank you..."
Dong Zhuo carefully wiped her tears.
Watching her, Yuan Shu smiled a little, his expression tinged with quiet embarrassment, and asked cautiously,
"I apologize. I'd meant to prepare a bit more and properly propo— ahem... confess, but it seemed this moment could not wait."
"... What need could there be... to be sorry. I am truly grateful that you resolved to do it, even like this."
Yuan Shu had opened a path in one stroke amid a situation that had felt utterly deadlocked. Holding the wedding now, in an emergency like this, would mean hardship for a while, but his decision to accept even that was settling deep inside Dong Zhuo as profound relief and happiness.
"The ceremony... we shall have to keep it simple."
"There won't be time to summon family from Liang Province, it seems. Fortunately, we'll have no shortage of people to celebrate with."
"Hehet... that alone is plenty. Honestly, at this point, who would dare oppose your marriage?"
"Well, that's true, but... the proposal was one thing, and now the wedding ceremony. My heart is a little troubled that everything will end up modest, in many ways."
"Hehet..."
Yuan Shu couldn't hide his regret.
Right after she let out a small laugh toward him,
Dong Zhuo carefully kissed his cheek.
And.
"To the same degree... you need only bestow your love, is that not so? If the outer box is a little lacking, then the contents must be made full. Can you... do that for me?"
"... Erm... yes. Of course."
The sight of Yuan Shu answering with a flushed face—seeing the General-in-Chief, who held the military power of the realm, react like a boy—a thick desire suddenly stirred in Dong Zhuo's heart.
The carnal urge to mingle her body with this man right this instant.
Had it not been for the "guests" currently seated just inside, she would have moved at once as instinct commanded,
but with the thought that the time was not yet right, no matter how eager she was, Dong Zhuo forced it down.
'Delicious things, after all, must be savored under the finest circumstances...'
Quietly licking her lips in her mind like that.
At the same time, she felt truly grateful that in the midst of this turmoil, in the end, he had chosen her as promised.
With the thought that she truly had picked the right man,
Dong Zhuo slowly leaned her body against Yuan Shu's shoulder, just as she was.
It was a familiar act I'd experienced often, but today the sensation felt a little different.
Holding within it an overflowing joy that rose until it choked her, Dong Zhuo quietly whispered by that man's ear.
"I love you... my Gonglu... my husband..."
"And I love you. My wife."
*
"Tch..."
"Whew... damp."
"Sigh..."
"Hng..."
"Mm..."
The thicket a short distance from the pond.
And...
A crowd of women hiding there, watching the situation unfold.
Yuan Shao wore an openly sour expression.
Ji Ling looked uncomfortable, her eyes half-lidded.
Xu Rong sighed.
Sun Jian wore a resolute expression.
Liu Bei looked equal parts curious and envious.
And...
"Hehet..."
Cao Cao alone was laughing as if she found the whole thing terribly amusing.
Yuan Shu and Dong Zhuo had thought they'd slipped out quietly, but since the people the women were most interested in had vanished, there was no way they would miss it.
Even so, since the mood and their own positions absolutely forbade interrupting for now, they had kept their distance, gauging the situation and watching.
And so, as they witnessed the proposal they'd half-suspected truly succeed, a mix of emotions began to stir within them.
There was anger, regret, feelings like those,
but what rose distinctly in their hearts in this moment, even more so, was resolution.
The first had been decided with this—yet they knew perfectly well that this was not an end but effectively a beginning.
A world where polygyny was regarded as perfectly natural.
Moreover, considering that as a member of the scholar-official class, Yuan Shu could take up to four principal wives, the marriage with Dong Zhuo meant only that the signal for the full-scale competition had now been raised.
Thus, with their will blazing to claim the next place for themselves,
the women began discreetly sizing up the competitors around them, gauging one another.
"... Erm... w-well then. Let's head back for now. It's a bit much, just standing here indefinitely like this, isn't it?"
"... Yeah."
"Let's do that."
"I shall have to drink myself full. Until my nose is thoroughly bent out of shape."
"I'll join you, then. Just for today, I need to get drunk too."
"Hehehet..."
Ending with Cao Cao, who for whatever reason was laughing as if having a grand time, even as they stepped back, the women returned to the room and began tilting their cups once more.
Drinking as if putting out a fire—no, as if pouring it straight in...
*
Naturally, there is no need to state that marriage is an important event for anyone.
In that respect, it was the common understanding of this world that the wedding ceremony should properly display a house's wealth, power, and social standing.
Hence, when an exalted person of the realm married, it meant, in effect, that a great feast would unfold—on the scale of a province at large, or a county at small.
By that standard, however, the wedding ceremony of Yuan Shu, legitimate firstborn of the renowned Yuan clan and General-in-Chief of the Han, could be said to be lacking in several respects.
Although the scale of the ceremony itself was hardly small, the opulence within it was unexpectedly modest relative to the Yuan clan's prestige.
Not to a vulgar degree, but a wedding ceremony one couldn't help feeling was slightly plain.
The procession of the bride and groom in silk garments, the maidservants following behind, and the appearance of the well-set ceremonial table gave off a feeling more of neatness than of splendor.
Yet...
Disregarding this impression of simplicity, there was not a single person in attendance who could treat this wedding lightly.
Just looking at the guests present here—from the civil and military officials of the court to renowned generals and lords—the lineup of those seated there was anything but ordinary.
And above all, the two people seated in the highest place among them: Her Majesty the Emperor, sovereign of this land, and Empress Dowager He.
Whatever one might think of the others, the fact that the highest person under heaven and her mother had come—from that point alone, this ceremony already carried the feel of a momentous rite being watched with both eyes by the nation, rather than a private celebration.
Like this, the guests lent this place a radiance far more powerful than any splendid decoration or performance.
And one more thing.
Another characteristic this wedding possessed was that, despite its lack of extravagance, it was sufficient to elevate the Yuan clan's stature.
At this very moment while bride and groom exchanged their bows,
a grand feast was bustling across the entirety of Luoyang city.
Beneath canopies set up everywhere, rice, meat, and liquor were being generously distributed to all the common people dwelling in Luoyang and its environs.
Though it was common to host a feast for the people at a large event such as a wedding, a scale that let the entire city, every last person, eat and drink was nearly unprecedented.
From renowned officials to the beggars in the streets,
granaries were thrown wide open to everyone, regardless of age, sex, or wealth.
This was by the instruction of Yuan Shu, the groom and central figure of this wedding: Even if we conduct things a little modestly, let the people eat their fill, if only for today.
Those who observed this assessed it as an excellent stratagem—rectifying the unsettled atmosphere left by Zhang Rang's departure while simultaneously drawing the hearts of the populace in one stroke...
yet the truth of it was simply Yuan Shu's pure wish.
Though for now it only ended as a single day's feast,
he held within it a hope that someday people would be able to eat their fill, drink, and laugh, and keep doing so...
*
"..."
"Erm..."
The clamorous ceremony had ended, and the two of us had entered the chamber.
Before the hazy candlelight, I gazed at Dong Zhuo's face.
Her fine, lovely features, stained peach.
Gently caressing it...
I spoke in a quiet voice, filled with pounding emotion.
"Wife... closer, like this..."
"... Yes. My... husband."