The day has finally arrived. All of Celeste bid goodbye to their princess as soon as she concealed herself in her travel carriage. A coachman was on the frontline, another carriage, and another followed behind. Evidently, the Royal family rode them and the other carriage brought the maids necessary for every preparation needed.
It was a big day, the biggest celebration Thuhelda will experience since the current Emperor was enthroned.
Because the Emperor was a prominent man known for his coldness and shyness toward his subordinates and subjects, Thuhelda never feasted not until this day onward. There was no feast for every vigorous victory of their wars, festivities and community gatherings did not ever transpire as well because of their fear to get on the Emperor's bad side by doing what he hated — feasts.
Five years since he was hailed Emperor, Venemiah hampered himself from the people and the crowd. For what he thought, communication with his subjects was only a bother of his time. Being an Emperor was busy, and he found no time for such events.
Even during Tejaya's Fall, a festival celebrated every fall when Tejaya was colonized and seized by Thuhelda, Venemiah would only appear when the time to offer him gifts would come. Other than that, Venemiah rarely showed himself in the public.
It was rumored that he was insecure about himself, but that was not the case.
Simply put, Venemiah LeThuhelda was not a man of the crowd. He was a man of himself, a man of his own company.
Venemiah was important to the Imperial family. He was a hidden asset. His father had planned to protect him from the knowledge of other nations. Even though he was the youngest among five children of the Imperial throne, Venemiah had exhibited greater predilections in inheriting the throne.
In origin, Haram, the first son was the successor of the throne but Haram was a sheepish young child. Someone who was not competent in sanctioning the throne because of his timorousness. That's what former Emperor Bertram had described as his eldest son.
The Emperor did not want Haram to seize the throne, he preferred Venemiah among all of them.
His second child was a woman, traditionally, women are not allowed to reign, they're more of an asset in nuptial treaties with other nations. The third and the fourth son was also not as capable as Venemiah, thus, Emperor Bertram excluded them as successors of the throne.
All the more that amongst all, Venemiah was the greater son as he depicted it.
The Emperor posed Bertram to be the crowned prince, the other children had received the stage in the spotlight except for Venemiah.
The pregnancy of the Empress with Venemiah was never a secret, instead, it was publicized. Growing up, Venemiah expressed talents above any of his siblings and it imposed him to be a successor. After the Emperor had won the battle for a certain land over the west, Venemiah was declared dead and was hidden in the westward city of Thuhelda.
Venemiah has raised a commoner commencing from when he was four. During the day, he was a helper of a herder but at night, the Emperor would come to visit with his preceptor, Saul.
Nehemiah would train every night and work every day. It was the life of a hidden prince before his family was assassinated by an infiltrator from another nation.
Selestia arrived in Thuhelda after three days of a tiresome journey. She was housed in the Imperial Palace where a plentiful number of servants served her endlessly for the last three days before the matrimony.
The Royal Palace of Celeste was nothing compared to the Imperial Palace. It was as if everything was made of precious stones and riches of the ground. That was the kind of nation Thuhelda was.
During the three days of matrimonial preparation, Selestia was fed a substantial amount of food and was fed at least five times within a day. The meat was less and vegetables and fruits were a supplement on her plate.
Her dresses were measured and assessed by the best designers of Thuhelda, and each of the dresses she wanted was finished within two days exactly and presented before her right away.
Everyone was careful of her as if she was a fawn that can't even walk, the superfluous assistance did bother her but what can she even do with it?
Pretty much, everyone was busy and so was she…
But Selestia couldn't help but be anxious about her upcoming predicament and which was called marriage.
She was uneasy and nervous, it only come to her how it was when marriage was to transpire.
'Who thought I'd be this anxious over one trivial matter…I have to resolve to leisure at least for a short amount of time…"
That was the problem that arose, there was no amount of time to think through and calm her from the feeling of anxiety.
Even maybe the strongest man on earth would falter if it happened to him, would it? After all, who would not fear a marriage to a man that she has never caught a glimpse of before?
To Selestia, she only heard of him but her eyes never discerned him. Several questions of curiosity muddled her mind. Certainly, she knew it was no time to even falter with such muddling thoughts but Selestia was simply curious.
'A frigid man to his subjects, that's the least I could care about…' she smiled.
The veil was removed from concealing her face, her apertures had finally seen him. In a blink of an eye, she was already on the altar with the Emperor. The chaplain had already commenced the ceremony and declared them husband and wives but the part she was caught off guard with was the marital address — the kiss.
Slowly as the veil was removed, her apertures inferred a man a little older than she was. He had hazel eyes yet dark skin, a good physique but an expression that dishearten as he carried it.
His hands gently caressed as they slid to her nape, and his face gradually came close to hers. Though his eyes were sharp and cold, peculiarly, in an instant they glimmered with affection. He looked at her eyes, hazel and magnificent, he mumbled that only both can hear.
"May I?"