Chapter 133: The Wedding and New Undercurrents
Author: I skipped some parts of the Christian wedding, as it would have dragged out the chapter too much and because no one in the room is Christian.
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The nobles of Gjallarhorn, as well as the executives of Kamatayan, were instantly charmed by the appearance of the lady, every step she took was like an eternity as all the people, especially the one Eleanor would marry were charmed by her presence alone, she was so beautiful that even Sophia herself did not dare to look at her with lust and just let her smile betray just how she coveted the matrimony between her and her future wife as she admired the yellow-haired goddess even until her bride was already in the altar facing her.
The two brides took a while to glance at each other before they smiled and faced the gargantuan priest in front of them. In the prophet's hands was a book with a skull in the middle, he then announced.
"And now, the third bride, Bakunawa."
The moment the prophet said such a thing, the guests who are yet to sit down swept their eyes towards the door, there was another beauty of meager height being mitigated by a tall pair of heels, her hair was like usual, short pixie cut with the forelocks tucked in her ears whilst her dress is that of silver Filipiniana, unlike Eleanor, Bakunawa is not good with making people impressed and ogle her appearance, her march is fast and it left people quite baffled, though Bakunawa paid them no heed and went to the other side of Sophia, she looked at her soon to be wife and Sophia also looked at her.
The prophet saw this and immediately went to the next part of the ceremony.
"Today, all of us, the living and the dead have gathered to witness a beautiful event, featuring a Lady who has fought for the prosperity of the undead in her short tenure as our queen, in the battlefield she is like a deity that will make sure her plans will be the fate of her enemy, but today, she is nothing like a general, right now she is just a woman who wanted to bind herself with the two people she loves the most."
All of the people who were standing clapped their hands simultaneously before sitting down, after seeing this, the prophet continued speaking.
"Sophia, do you take Eleanor and Bakunawa, making them your wives, and promise to cherish them in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, until death do you apart?"
Sophia smiled as she heard that, she then nodded and then said: "Yes, Father."
The prophet nodded and then looked at Eleanor and asked the same question, Eleanor also answered briefly, and lastly, he looked at Bakunawa who also answered with solemnity, for the first time, the ice serpent didn't sound like she was in a hurry.
When the exchange of confirmations was finished, Momoiro Dodomeki, in a shrine maiden dress stood up with a wooden ornamental box in her hands, Sophia looked at her, and when the Japanese lady's numerous eyes saw this all of her eyes looked away simultaneously except the two main eyes on her face, Sophia can only sigh in her heart and ignored the betrayal of the feelings of Momoiro, the said woman then placed the box with four golden rings in front of the three ladies and then left.
The prophet, upon seeing the rings then said: "Now, take these rings, the three of you, and state your vow of eternity to each other."
Upon hearing that, Sophia went over and first faced Eleanor, she then picked up a golden ring and grabbed the hands of Eleanor, and while pushing the ring towards the latter's ring finger, she said.
"Eleanor, my first love, thank you for being with me throughout my journey, thank you for being able to make me feel emotions that I thought I would never feel, with this ring I am giving you, I vow to protect, cherish and support you, just like how you did to me, all of my power, attainments, honor and my life will be dedicated to defending you, alongside my nation."
Eleanor who was already crying before the rings were given in front of them nodded while crying even harder, and after calming herself down, she picked up a ring and grabbed the hand of Sophia, and then spoke.
"Sophia, with this ring I express not only my vow, but my gratitude, I was once a chicken in a flock of eagles, I was called the weakest, and even my title contains that putrid word, but you have pushed me to greater heights, with you, I was able to fulfill my dream, with you I was able to break out of my shell, and ultimately, with you I was able to strive more than what others have dictated for me and as I put this ring in your hand, I vow to become the anchor of the great steamer that you are, every step you took, every path you take, I will be there right beside you, even if that path is a stairway to heaven or a sinkhole straight down to hell."
At that moment, all the guests started crying, well, at least the living started crying, it was one of the moments when someone saw the hero of the sun and the queen of undeads cry at the same time, but Sophia paid them or her tears no heed as she looked over at Bakunawa, the silver-haired shortie was biting her lip hard, obviously she was trying her best not to cry.
_I would have done that too, if it's not because of you..._
Sophia smiled and then grabbed the hand of Bakunawa, she then said.
"Bakunawa, even though you came to my life late, you were able to somehow see past all of the torments I have put you through and look at what I am, someone who calls herself a genius and acts like one to the point of rejecting her true self, you are the sunshine that made me see what I am, or a whirlwind that forcefully took away the fog in my mind, and with this ring, I vow to take care of you, and make sure that my sunshine will shine bright for all eternity, even if that means plunging the world in eternal darkness."
At that moment, Bakunawa already crying hard, well, not just because she was holding it in a lot, but because her vow was short compared to her two future spouses, she felt embarrassed and looked at Sophia as if afraid, but Sophia, who of course knew of her vow just nodded gently, this made Bakunawa continue.
"Uhm... I... I vow to protect you alongside your nation that you cherish like the two of us..."
All of the people who had high expectations of the vows were dumbfounded and when silence ensued for about 5 seconds, they could not help but put on a little weird expression.
_So short..._
Even the prophet has such thoughts but he did not voice it out as he continued to the last part of the wedding.
"You may now kiss the bride."
The three brides looked at each other and wondered how they would do the final seal of their marriage, Eleanor and Bakunawa grabbed the right and left hands of Sophia respectively and kissed her on her right and left cheeks, Sophia smiled at such a scene and then went to free her hand and grabbed Eleanor's chin and sealed her lips with hers, Bakunawa saw this and grabbed the hair of Sophia "by instinct" and then make her go in front of her and kissed her too.
Seeing this chaotic scene, all of the spectators stood up and clapped their hands to celebrate the first matrimony witnessed by the Queendom of Death, Kamatayan.
[Sophia's POV]
After the wedding, all of the visitors went to the reception to present their gifts to us, and honestly, the greatest gift I have received is the sculptor Mira created with my image on a throne, holding Bakunawa and Eleanor, I even have to suppress my admiration from leaking out, the good thing is that, I did, after that, of course some message for Eleanor's mother from me, Bakunawa and Eleanor herself, and finally, all of us ate a sumptuous meal after the three brides sliced a cake for each other.
After that, at night, the three of us ate each other's cake, with the play being "doing what you did to the first person to you.", meaning Bakunawa will do whatever I did to Eleanor, and I have taken a fancy on the way Bakunawa smacks my ass, so that's what I did, of course, I made sure that Eleanor thoroughly enjoyed herself too before indulging my bottom side.
I would say that being a switch really is the best.
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The next day, all of the nobles from the Urdujan territory started to disperse except Urduja whom I personally requested because of my plans of trading agreements with her, you see the medicine I was talking about with [Guide] is coming along fast and nicely because the laboratory I gave them has a literal 24-hour straight operation and only has one research to do, now they have one bed worth of prototype tablets.
Also, Mira did not go back to Urduja, it seems like she wanted to talk to me, well, I am pretty sure I would not lash out at her, so it's fine I guess.
As I was thinking of that, I went out of my new room, and right about I exited it, I was grabbed by the hand by a lady with chestnut hair, she was looking at me with nervousness, fear, and resolve in evident in her eyes.
_I knew it, she was gonna talk to me._
That is all I can think of as Mira shouted, first thing in the morning.
"Lady... no, Sophia, let's talk...!"
[3rd Person POV]
The sun went up slowly and its rays crept into the face of Eleanor who is sleeping soundly, she sat up and felt the pleasant sting on her butt, she paid it no heed and just smiled as she put on her wedding ring once more.
"Hehehe... I was finally married to her..."
Eleanor was giddy, after all, who would not be happy if he or she married their first love right? She readied herself for another day and just let Bakunawa sleep soundly, she helped Sophia for the "after play" last night after all. While she was changing her clothes, Eleanor could not help but ponder about her past up until now.
_Who would have thought that my impulsive thought of escaping in the forest and not going back with my party mates would lead to me becoming a queen of a queendom full of potential, life is full of surprises..._
After she zipped her usual filipiniana, she walked towards the door, but when she was about to exit it by twisting the knob, she was one-upped by someone outside, and when she saw that it was a maid with half of her body missing, she wondered why is the undead seems to be in a hurry, the undead looked for her Lady Sophia, but hesitated and finally decided to report what she had just received this day.
"Good morning Lady Eleanor, I would like to convey that an entourage from an Empire called Mayari has arrived at the entrance of Siginarugan and wishes to give a congratulatory gift for your wedding with Lady Sophia and Captain Bakunawa."
Hearing this, Eleanor frowned and a somewhat fearsome expression surfaced in her beautiful mug, she was in conflict.
_Did that bastard really want to take advantage of Sophia's strength and tactical ability just after she got married? Not only did he predict Sophia's "welcoming" stance towards his gift and his talks in general, but he even made it so that it would look natural that he did not know of the wedding until the day of the wedding and arrived a day late._
Eleanor did not consider a traitor in their midst, after all, King Roselle had just been trolled by Sophia by inviting him to the wedding, she immediately walked out of her room and went past her maid.
"Let them in."
She then disappeared into the corridor with only a sentence left for the maid to be re-assured.
"I will handle it."
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The moment the soldiers let the small entourage in, all of them sighed in relief, for this, they made the smartest and most beautiful daughter of their emperor lead the entourage so that they could grasp some kind of respite when Sophia tried to use her masterful mind to seize advantage to them, after all, every person with a brain will immediately understand that they are not just here to give gifts, they also wanted to lay out their prospects for Queen Sophia to be interested in their products and conclude some initial trade.
This will eventually be turned by them somehow, someway into a military agreement that will give them a buff in strength and strategical power to be able to finally defeat Apolaki empire, though they were in for a surprise, because when they were about to walk their first step, they heard a normally pleasant voice in front of them.
"Hello there, brothers and sister from Mayari, please let me, Eleanor Demiurge intertaine you while Queen Sophia is attending some offocial matters."