"Your highness!" Loretta looked extremely happy by the sight of me. It seemed like her job and life was on the line if I went missing.
"Hey, Loretta!" I ran towards her and waved my hand around, acting all happy.
And Loretta seemed to act her part perfectly as well. She wrapped her arm around me and gave me a big hug. Or at least, that's what it seemed from the outside. Only I knew that Loretta wasn't hugging me, but clenching instead.
"You bitch… Don't act coy on me, you get it? You are not going to ruin this day for me. You get me?" She whispered into my ear as she continued clenching. She stopped doing that once I nodded my head. "Okay, your highness. Let's get on with the ceremony, shall we? Also, where's the man who was supposed to be with you and not let you out of the chamber?" She asked.
"No, please don't do anything to him. Rawlin is the one who protected me. If anything, I'm the one at fault." I cried out loud… Loud enough for everyone to hear. This way, I believed that they wouldn't kill off Rawlin. He's still an important person to me for my survival, you know? I can't let him die.
"I see…" I could see Loretta's eyes twitching in annoyance. She did plan to kill off Rawlin, but now that I did something like this, she couldn't proceed with her plans. "Well, I assure you, your highness, nothing is gonna happen to this Rawlin guy." With immense difficulty, she spouted out those words.
"Great!" I clapped my hands as I said that. Although I felt like cringing, I still did it for the character work.
"It seems like you are enjoying this day…" A husky voice was heard from behind me. I looked back to see one of the glorious people that I had ever seen in my life.
I'm not even kidding when I say that. That gorgeous golden beard, with the hair like a lion's mane. Couple that with the crown sitting on the top of his head, he looked like he was the epitome of everything. It was… majestic, I presume.
"Your majesty!" Loretta quickly bowed down to the maximum extent that she could bow down. My assessment wasn't wrong. The man before me was the man who ruled the Griffin Kingdom. The father of this body's owner. The man who sold off his daughter for financial leverage. An absolute scum, if you ask me.
Although he didn't seem like the scum that I expected him to be. I mean, maybe it's because he's been the king for way too long and he learned to hide his intentions, but when I looked at him, he looked pure in mind. I'm aware that one should not assess a person from the first impression that they emanate, but first impression moulds at least eighty per cent of your assessment about a person, right?
While I was lost in all these thoughts, the king placed his rather massive hand on my shoulder. I don't think he understood how massive his hand was and that his hand could crack my weak ass bones if he pressed a bit hard.
"Haha, Loretta! You have done a great job with my daughter. She looks amazing." The body's father said as he stroked my hair gently with those giant hands of his.
Now, I'm all confused. I'm confused because this man managed to break all sorts of ideas that I had about him. I never expected him to be so gentle. I never expected him to give out such a radiant smile towards me. What I expected was an asshole who doesn't care about his daughter. I expected him to look uninterested as he took a look at his daughter in her wedding dress. But the reality is way more different than what I imagined.
Which makes me wonder… If he is a good man, why is he selling me off? Why is he letting me marry someone like this old Baron? Maybe I shouldn't expect much from him. Maybe he is an evil person after all… I mean, how should I believe in someone whom I have no idea of… Well, Rawlin is an exception to that, I guess.
"Your majesty, it's time for the ceremony to begin," Loretta spoke as the king was appreciating the embroidery of my wedding dress for some reason. It seemed like Loretta was in quite a hurry to get that royal chambermaid post.
"Ah, yes!" The king glanced towards me with his arm outstretched.
I grabbed that hand of his and we slowly began to walk towards the aisle, which was way far away from us. And since the walk was long, we both felt that there was an awkward atmosphere around us.
Sensing that things were getting weird, the king decided to break the ice. "What nice weather, huh?" He looked around as he spoke.
"We're inside, you know?" I muttered. I didn't expect him to hear it, but he did.
"Haha, you're right. Dad is sorry. I was just trying to make some small talk." The king chuckled as he said that.
"Ah, no-" I didn't know what to say. Here I was hoping for a sinister man, but this guy seemed really genuine.
"Yea… But I'm gonna ask you something important now. I wasn't able to ask you this question all this time, but I might as well right now." He looked really grim as he spoke. I guess that was the end of his niceness.
"Why not!" I shrugged as I spoke. I mean, I don't think that a question would be worse than what's going to happen to me.
"Ok, here's the thing… Are you sure about this?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"I asked, are you sure about all of this? This marriage… Moving out of the palace… And starting a life with that old fart… Everything… Are you sure that you won't regret any of it?" He asked a question that stumped me.
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