“Yeah, so basically, you’re only half my wife right now according to the procedures,” Reiner said a little regretfully although he was still struggling to hold in his laughter. “Care to explain?” I asked, not quite sure how to feel about this. We went through all of that last night and I’m still not his wife. How hard is it to get this guy? “We’re around halfway done with the marriage ceremonies involved. What we did yesterday and last night was one part of it. Although on this island, it’s not required for us to get our parent’s blessing to get married, there is another part of the wedding ceremony. I can explain it to you but it’ll take time, so I’ll leave it to the expert to do that,” Reiner explained without quite explaining anything. “Ok…” I mumbled in confusion.While I was staring at Reiner’s face in confusion, Reiner suddenly flashed a friendly smile that was not directed at me. His reaction made me turn around and I was extremely surprised that there was a frail-looking o
“I’m fine…thanks…” I mumbled, suddenly feeling very shy.“Alright. Let me explain what we have to do,” the old man said quite loudly to get our attention.He stood behind the podium and gestured with his hand for Reiner and me to stand in front of the podium facing him.“When King came to this island and learnt of our people’s ways, he was very impressed with the devotion and commitment shown through the ceremony of our marriage vows and we are honored that our tradition was chosen to be incorporated into this island’s marriage ceremony,” Kuman said before smiling proudly.I began to wonder how many people on this island had to go through what we were going through based on what King apparently thought was impressive and a good idea.As if on cue, two young boys wearing white robes similar to the one that Kuman had on walked into the building. Each of them held a silver tray decorated with white flowers in their hands. They calmly approached the altar until the two of them stood in fr
“Who should go first? I’ll let you decide…” Reiner said as he reached for my hand.His fingers intertwined with mine before he held my hand tightly in his much larger one. I was too scared and nervous to think straight. I didn’t care who went first. I just didn’t want to go through with all this. Why did things have to be so difficult for us?“You can do it, Natalia. Be brave. It’ll be over very very soon,” Reiner told me as his hand squeezed mine.Brave indeed. Brave in every sense of the word.Again and again, I was unfortunately reminded of the old man’s words. If I wanted to be with Reiner, I had to be brave.“Can you go first? I’ll try to stay very still…” I said softly after taking in a huge and long breath.“Sure. Stay calm and still. It’ll just feel like a paper cut and I promise that it won’t leave a scar,” Reiner promised.“Yes, I am sure that Knight is very skilled with a knife. You don’t need to worry, Natalia,” Kuman chimed in at the perfect moment.I didn’t doubt Reiner’
When Reiner let go of my hand, I immediately dropped the knife and that made me realize that my hand had been shaking like crazy. Reiner pulled me to his side just as the knife landed on the floor with a loud clang. “Are you ok? Natalia…Natalia!” Reiner asked as he shook my body a little.“Umm…yes…I’m so sorry…” I whispered as I snaped out of my shock. I could feel Reiner’s eyes on my face and when I looked up into his eyes, I could sense his worry before he let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry…” I mumbled again. “It’s ok. I’m just glad that you’re alright. You need to be more careful,” Reiner said as he patted the top of my head with his large hand.“Ok…” I murmured.I saw from the corner of my eye that someone was putting the knife away. Kuman approached us as if to check that I was alright. I smiled a little at the old man and he smiled back. “Oh…your arm…” I said in a panic when I realized that Reiner hadn’t bandaged his arm. That was probably my fault. If I hadn’t dropped the kn
The ride back to the mansion was too short and by the time that we arrived, I wasn’t at all mentally prepared to break the news of our wedding to his parents. How things worked on this island was obviously quite different compared to what I was used to. Normally, you would tell you parents before you got married and not the other way around. Not that there was anything seriously wrong about what we did on normal standards, but it was just unusual. I remembered that Reiner did mention that we didn’t need his parent’s permission for us to get married. Although I trusted that that was the truth, what would happen if they disapproved. I was definitely on good terms with Queen, and I was beyond thankful for all that she had done for me. However, that didn’t mean that she wanted me as her daughter-in-law. As for King, well, I didn’t even know where to start. “We’re here. It’s been a while since you were last here, right?” Reiner said casually as he parked the car right in front of the man
Reiner walked unceremoniously into the dining room while his large hand at the small of my back kept me effectively from escaping. The maid was right, King and Queen were seated at the dining table, and it seemed like we had arrived right on time for dinner. “Knight! Welcome back…” Queen said excitedly as she looked up from the dining table towards us and then her voice trailed off when her eyes fell on me. “Natalia…wow…” Queen said as her eyes widened and she rapidly stood up from her seat and walked over to us. “Hi…” I greeted her a little shyly. It had been a while since I met up with her and I realized that I did miss her company. Queen smiled brightly at me, and I could tell that she probably felt the same way. “Welcome back. It’s been too long…” Queen said as she pulled me into a hug. Everything about her seemed the same including the perfume that she wore. Her hug reminded me of all the times she helped me out and comforted me especially when I was all alone when I first
I knew that I had a long way to go to live up to his expectations, but this was a start much better than I could have hoped for. After all, he didn’t throw me out or off the island. It seemed like I wasn’t the one who was shocked at King’s unexpected words, Reiner and Queen seemed surprised as well. After a few seconds of staring speechlessly at her husband, Queen finally snapped out of her trance by clapping her hands together. “Well then, shall we start with dinner?” Queen suggested diplomatically. …As if he knew what his father had in mind, Reiner did not get up from his seat when dinner was over. Queen quickly came to my side and asked me to follow her. The two of us left the dining room silently, leaving the two men to have their private talk. I took one last glance back at Reiner and I had to admit that I was very worried about him. “Don’t worry. They’ll just talk…” Queen said as if she could sense my worry.“I see…” I replied vaguely.Of course, I had a pretty good sense o
“I thought that a certain someone might be dropping by sometime soon…” I replied as I waved him over invitingly with my hand. “You should lock the door next time…” he advised sternly.“Why? Is it unsafe here?” I asked. I rarely ever locked the bathroom door when I was at Lucien’s mansion. That habit seemed to have stuck with me since then. “It’s not. It’s very safe here,” he replied.Reiner sat on the edge of the bathtub as he looked down at my upturned face. I smiled a little at him before I remembered that I had something that I wanted to ask him.“What did you talk about with King?” I asked while trying not to sound too nosy.“Nothing much. He gave me some lectures on growing up and all that…” he replied with a grin. “Hmm…Sounds very fatherly…” I teased. “Surprisingly so…” Reiner agreed with a nod. “What else did he say?” I inquired, curious to hear more. “Hmm…he asked about you and how serious we were about each other…” Reiner replied as he dipped a hand into the water. “A