We’re finally reaching the first extra chapter! Is it going to be the wedding chapter as we’ve expected before? Well, just scroll down to find out ^^
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Chapter 17 Bertia 18 Years Old (1)Part 1/3
Translated by LynneSuzuran & Senhiro
Author's Note:
This is the extra epilogue that I wrote of fluff I wanted to incorporate, but I might have incorporated too much and it became quite long so I separated it into two parts.
*Ding dong*… *Ding dong*…
The chimes of the cathedral bells resounded through the clear, blue sky.
The capital was full of smiling people, and there were stalls lined up every which way.
There was an overwhelming number of people on the short road leading from the royal palace to the cathedral, surging forward to try to get even just a glimpse of today's main characters. The knights tasked with maintaining peace and order tidily lined both sides of the road at a set distance from one another.
"Congratulations to His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Cecil and Crown Princess Bertisama!!"
"Long live His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Cecil and Crown Princess Bertisama!!"
Surrounded by a number of mounted knights, today's main characters… in other words, me, Cecil Glo Alphasta and my wife-to-be, Bertia Ibil Noches—our carriage was slowly advancing.
At long last.
Today is the wedding day of Bertia and I.
***
It's been about two years since the [downfall] turmoil.
Finally, Bertia graduated from Halm Academy.
Once she graduated, what awaited was naturally her marriage to me.
It seems that, for Bertia, who was busy with her student life, preparations for the marriage, crown princess training, etc., the two years passed by in the blink of an eye just as she'd said, but from my point of view, these two years that had seen increasingly fewer chances to meet with Bertia had been an exceedingly boring and long two years.
Unintentionally, I was so bored that I ended up forming an alliance (that favored us quite one-sidedly, almost like bullying) with the neighboring country, sweeping out the internal 'dirt', teasing Zeno, and a variety of other things.
Just a little, I jokingly considered invading a country that I'd discovered to have an unstable state of internal affairs, but I didn't want Bertia to cry, so I quickly stopped that line of thought.
Instead, I tried to have our country build a friendly relationship with them, and from the shadows, secretly backed the country's fifth prince born of a concubine. I was asking him to usurp the throne, though.
That country still hasn't seemed to quite settle down yet, but the fifth prince was an excellent individual in my eyes, so they should be able to manage somehow or another after some time.
Like that, I continued to kill time on occasion, arranged environments in which Bertia could come and peacefully relieve any mental strain, and quietly waited.
Such a time finally ended today.
From now on, I would be able to lead a peaceful yet amusing and enjoyable life together with her.
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As I thought about it, my mood inevitably lifted, and the smile I was displaying to the citizens who came to see us turned into a natural smile.
I guess this uplifting sensation that filled my heart was surely feeling [happy].
And then next to me, Bertia…
"I'm so nervous. In time like this, I guess there's that, right?! I'll be fine if I write the character of person on my palm and swallow it.1 Oh my? In this kind of situation, I wonder if [kanji] is better? Or rather, when in Rome, do as the Romans do and write it with this country's alphabet? Aah, what should I do?! Being seen by a lot of people like this, I'm so nervous that my heart might pop out!!"
She was dressed in a pure white dress, and with her beautifully done-up self that was several times more refined and wonderful than her usual appearance, as usual she was muttering things that I couldn't never understand and concentrating very hard on outlining something onto her palm with her finger.
…I don't understand what you're doing, but from your words just now, that thing that resembles a good luck charm should have been done before you went out in front of the public, no?
If you're able to be doing it while among these throngs of people, in the middle of a parade heading towards the cathedral, I think that good luck charm(?) is unnecessary?
"My adorable Tia, I feel bad for saying this when you're in the middle of doing something interesting, but can you wave for the citizens for the time being? I'm sure they're all anticipating it."
"Ah!! T-that's right!! As a first-class villainess, I… that's not right, as I aim to be a first-class crown princess, I must work hard in order to become an existence that will be loved by the citizens, even if it's only a bit!!"
In response to my words, she lifted her face in a fluster and after looking around at her surrounding, Bertia waved both of her hands.
She felt a bit overly energetic for a crown princess, but, well, the citizens seemed to be delighted, so let's just consider it a good thing.
…More than anything, I also had fun seeing her like this.
When the carriage arrived at the cathedral, Bertia and I separated and went our own ways.
Originally, we were supposed to enter the cathedral together after coming down from the carriage, but since Bertia said she wanted to [walk the aisle] together with Father-in-Law, I entered the cathedral ahead and waited for her arrival inside.
The inflexible members of the church hated breaching custom, so they were disapproving at first. However, since there was no particular rule stating the two of us had to enter concurrently, there was no need to make a fuss over it so I disregarded them.
When I whispered, "Who is your favorite nun these days? Isn't the red-haired girl currently 3-months pregnant?" in the ears of the particularly persistent priest, he turned quiet, so there was no particular problem.
After seeing Bertia off, I was going to go where I was supposed to as well when Kuro, who usually dressed in a maid uniform as black as her fur but was now in a beautiful, light blue dress adorned with a sheer yet vibrant, rainbow prismatic layer, came up to me, pulling at my sleeve stealthily and handed me a notebook that seemed entirely handmade.
"[List of things I want to do for my wedding, Best 100, written by Bertia]?"
…'Best 100' sure is quite a lot, huh?
When we were arranging for the ceremony, sometimes she also said things like, "I want it like this," or "Aah, I want to do that," in a low-key manner, but perhaps she was trying to control herself though there were still lots of things she wanted to do?
I would have granted anything and everything within the scope of my ability for my adorable bride, so it would have been better if she'd told me.
I quickly scanned through the notebook as I flipped the pages.
It was too late for some of them, but there were many that could still be done.
"Kuro, thanks for letting me know. I will ask Tia to make [Inarizushi] later on, okay?"
I smiled as I tried to pat her head… but my hand was brushed off.
Well, she basically didn't want to be patted by anyone other than Bertia, so there was nothing I could do.
However, she seemed to be satisfied with my answer since she gave me a thumbs-up with her usual stoic expression····
"Zeno."
"Yes, Your Highness?"
When I summoned him while glancing down at the notebook in my hand, I received a reply from beside me right away.
"For the time being, please prepare this, this and this. We're going to need Marquis and Marchioness Noches and my father's cooperation for these, so please let them know. I want to do this for her as well, but… will there be enough time for the preparation?"
"Understood. This… Well, I can if I borrow the power of another spirit in my acquaintance. After that, it should be up to whether or not we'll be able to make arrangements for the personnel."
"Do your best, then."
"…Your Highness?"
"If it's Zeno, you can do it. Good luck!"
"Wait! Isn't this too absurd?! It's too absurd, okay?!"
"It's fine. Charles and the others are accustomed to my absurdity, so they have a somewhat large number of servants on standby just in case something comes up. Worst case, you'll be able to manage somehow or another if you ask for them for help."
"There's no way I can just arbitrarily borrow servants from other families!!"
"Don't you think it'd be bad if you still haven't gotten permission by the time Bertia and I enter the venue? Shouldn't you hurry up?"
"It's already settled then, isn't it?! Isn't that right?!"
"I will also walk as slowly as I can. Since the bride enters the venue after me, if I were to not enter, then Tia won't enter either, so you would make it in time as long as you run. Do your best!"
"Your Highness, you idiotttt!!"2
When I smiled and imitated Kuro's gesture of giving a thumbs-up, Zeno ran out while screaming.
Even though he said this and that, he's a good kid3 who'd be able to do it when he tried, so this should be all right.
Since I was the one being selfish this time, I'll just ignore that [Idiot] just now.
"Now then, I should also go do what I can."
Japanese usually would write the character of person (hito/人) as a good luck charm, usually it's kanji. ↩ Yep, the legendary line, Zeno actually called Cecil "Baka"! ↩ Cecil’s not actually calling Zeno a child, it’s just using that kind of “ah, what a good kid,” tone. ↩