CH 3: A Pumpkin & dried earthworm

The maid sighed as she recalled last night’s events. “What if your thoughtless remarks heighten Princess Erna’s expectations? Would you take responsibility if she’s startled by the revelation of who exactly she’s going to marry at the wedding hall?”

Hearing this, the maid who had lied to Erna, smiled contemptuously. “What expectations? What expectation could she possibly have towards her marriage as a royal family member? Besides, wouldn’t it be too brazen of her to expect a good match? If it were me in her shoes, I’d relinquish such thoughts as soon as I see myself in the mirror.”

“Shush, stop talking,” warned the other maid.

“What? I’m not wrong. Even you sighed while seeing her put on that wedding dress. To be honest, I feel sorry for the Aether Kingdom’s prince who’d be marrying her. The Kingdom of Haband has numerous beautiful princesses and yet, he would have to marry this one…”

“Stop talking before we get into trouble; let’s get in quickly.”

The two maids ceased their chat and returned to their room.

After a while, Erna emerged from her room when the Hessenguard officials informed her that it was time to move to the ceremonial hall. Several maids and knights were stationed around her in several layers, moving in tandem with her to intercept any uncertain risk in the wedding hall. Due to this, Erna could not see other people’s faces properly at the ceremonial hall.

As the bride, Erna lacked any confidence in her appearance. She wanted to shrink to nothingness. As she moved, she felt the stares of the people. She knew not a single soul in the hall was content with her, and this made her want to disappear even more. The mocking words of her maids kept haunting her in her head. ‘How could she hope for her partner to be a good match?’ ‘Princess really needs a mirror.’ However depressing it was, Erna had no other choice but to agree with them. She hated the tight wedding dress that clung desperately to her body. If the dress had been a little loose, she could have probably covered more of herself.

When she arrived at the ceremony, an elderly woman was standing on the podium. The maids led Erna to her.

“Welcome, Miss Erna.”

The woman was a stranger to her. Yet, she was very amiable with her greeting. The notion was rather absurd, considering that a stranger would be more courteous and considerate than the maids from her own kingdom, Haband.

“I couldn’t greet you yesterday due to various security issues. I am Vanessa, the Chairman of the Hessenguard Council.”

Her introduction made Erna flinch a little. She was one of the people of Hessenguard. Shouldn’t she be hostile towards me? she wondered. It was said that the royal family of Haband shared their blood with the Grand Dukes of Hessenguard, but weren’t considered to be an immediate bloodline. For the people of Hessenguard, the Kingdom of Haband would be nothing more than a conqueror. Their acceptance of Haband was solely due to the lack of successors to inherit the Duchy and to finally put an end to the long waging war on the lands of Hessenguard.

The Council of Hessenguard had as much power as the Grand Duke. She had heard that even if the final decision was made by the Grand Duke, it was the Council that did the actual work. So at the moment, with the absence of a Grand Duke, the Chairman of the Council was the most powerful person here.

Why was such a person welcoming a supposed conqueror so well?

A loud voice came from behind which startled her.

“Prince Kalion of the Aether Kingdom is here!”

At the announcement, Erna turned her head. Her eyes fell on the boy who was surrounded by the knights. Her eyes widened in surprise. At a glance, Erna had assumed that the knights of the Aether Kingdom were carrying a corpse. She wasn’t the only one who had such thoughts.

The knights and maids from Haband who were standing nearby couldn’t help but sigh. The knights of Aether Kingdom avoided their eyes as if they were ashamed of the person they brought.

Erna’s eyes were affixed on the boy who had come with the support of two knights.

He had a sickly countenance and dark complexion. With hollow eyes, slim cheeks and a bony wrist, he resembled a man who teetered at the brink of death from starvation. Due to his sickly physique, it was hard for the boy to support himself. He hobbled towards the podium with the help of the knights.

Even though his appearance was completely different from what the maid described, Erna couldn’t take her eyes off him because of his gleaming eyes. Unlike his weak-looking body, his dark blue orbs were piercingly sharp. His eyes looked around the ceremonial hall like a beast exploring a new territory. Soon they met Erna’s gaze, who was looking at him in surprise.

For a moment, the two pairs of eyes collided with each other. Meanwhile, the knights helped the boy stand next to Erna.

Is this Kalion? she thought. She continued to gape at him in surprise. We are of a similar age but… Kalion was incredibly little. The difference in their physique became remarkably more prominent when they stood next to each other. 

A few people at the back couldn’t stand it and burst into laughter. The echo spread across the room as if it were contagious. Vannessa was the only one among them who hadn’t succumbed to the viral laughter. She was contemplating on ways to mitigate this situation. 

Erna bit her lips as she took in the raucous laughter. She knew all too well that she had become a spectacle. But she didn’t expect Kalion, a peer who shared her plight, to be also included in the people’s ridicule. She felt sorry for him. 

“What, this pumpkin?”

For a moment, Erna doubted her ears. Bewildered, she looked at her side with her mouth agape. Although the voice was heavily cracked, it was uniquely low, belonging to someone at the ripe of puberty. It definitely wasn’t Vanessa’s voice, so it must be Kalion’s…

“What are you looking at? I’m talking about you.” Kalion looked down at an embarrassed Erna as if she was a pathetic being. At that moment, Erna’s mind finally registered what Kalion had really called her. 

Pumpkin? For a moment, Erna’s mind became blank. Of course, she knew what he meant. But did this mean that as soon as he had laid his eyes on her, ‘pumpkin’ was the word that had crossed him? Kalion’s words cut her deep, making her want to cry. In all honesty, Erna had been suppressing everything inside her heart. 

Her mother’s death; the unfair treatment; the contempt; the fear of being abandoned in another country because she was a royal family member whose death no one cared about. She had endured it all silently. The reason why Erna had been able to maintain her calm so far was because she was still the Princess of Haband and now she was going to become the Grand Duke of Hessenguard. It was a heavy responsibility that she had never wanted in the first place. 

But the moment she heard a boy, whom she met for the first time, call her names, her wall of patience crumbled. The hand that held the bouquet trembled; meanwhile, Kalion turned his head and urged Vanessa. 

“What are you doing? Quickly finish this meaningless ceremony…”

His urgent voice was shortly interrupted. Kalion turned towards the side, from where the sound came. Erna, who was looking at him blankly with her mouth agape, was now glaring at him with a burning gaze. Witnessing those eyes, Kalion and Vanessa, who was about to officiate, were both at loss for words. 

Then, Erna spoke loudly, audible enough for everyone to listen.

“Like a dried earthworm.”

Kalion’s jaws dropped when the words left Erna’s lips. But she was yet to finish.

“Didn’t you hear it properly? I said you look like a dried earthworm.”

A deep frown marred Kalion’s forehead, but Erna wasn’t intimidated by him at all. In the meantime, the cacophony of untamed laughter ceased. Erna had had her head hung low since the moment she entered the ceremonial hall, causing everyone to assume she was weak. When they mocked her, she remained mum and tolerated all the unkind whispers about her. Likewise, they expected the same when Kalion passed a rude comment on her physique. They thought she would endure it all in silence.

Erna bit her teeth seeing their thoughts clearly reflecting in their eyes. The atmosphere in the ceremonial hall became tense, freezing rapidly. 

“How dare you speak rudely to our Prince!” When the knight who helped Kalion raised his voice, a knight from Haband, who came with Erna, responded. “Wasn’t it your Prince who started with the rude talk?”

The ones who laughed together, now began to fume at the thought of their nation being insulted. The knights’ voices grew louder, their hands clasping the hilts of their swords. The faces of the women, caught in between the commotion, paled in fear. They realized that they were not in a situation to laugh at anyone. Only then did they regret their actions, but things had already gone south. 

“This is a sacred place. Please be quiet.” Vanessa interfered, managing to clear the tension. She raised her hand lightly as if warning everyone that she would not tolerate any further commotion. At her words, the knights on both kingdoms took their hands off their swords and straightened their backs. Vanessa then turned towards Erna and Kalion and said, “Now, may I commence the ceremony?”

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