It was the Wood Season in Romany, when the flowers were in peak bloom.
Seiichirou was struggling to put the silver flower pin on his formal clothes when a knock sounded on his door.
“I’m coming in. You’re still not ready?” Aresh strode in before Seiichirou could even answer the knock.
That was a little exasperating, but just for today, Seiichirou decided to keep his complaints to himself.
“I can’t get this on properly…”
“You just stab it in.”
“I can’t bring myself to put a hole in such a nice outfit.” Seiichirou huffed.
Aresh smoothly put the lapel pin in place on Seiichirou’s chest. While he was at it, he kissed Seiichirou’s pouting lips.
“Thank you,” said Seiichirou.
“For what?”
“For putting on the lapel pin, obviously.”
They laughed and linked hands. Their rings were on their left hands as always.
“I should’ve at least had a jewel embedded in the rings,” Seiichirou said.
“Why?”
“An engagement ring is meant to cost three months’ worth of your salary. You can sell it if something happens to me. Sounds handy, right?”
“Bizarre, more like.”
Conventional logic dictated that the man present the ring to the woman, but that was irrelevant in their case. If anything, Aresh seemed displeased about the “if something happens to me” part.
“It’s a way for the man to show his value to his partner,” Seiichirou said. “But, well, I got them as a pair, so they’re more like wedding rings, I suppose.”
He’d heard it was getting more common these days to get rings that served as both engagement and wedding rings.
That said, Seiichirou’s idea of “these days” was from four years ago.
The two men arrived at the palace, both clad in navy blue formal outfits. Within the palace walls, everything was even more opulent than usual. There was a sort of restless energy to the attendants coming and going from the rooms.
“Mr. Seiichirou! You’re here!” Siegvold, dressed in his priest garb, came running up to Seiichirou. Selio followed him, clad in a similar outfit. He was quite a bit taller now.
“I’m so glad you could make it, Priest Siegvold,” Seiichirou said.
“Of course I would be here for this happy day. I’ll be sure to fulfill my role as a priest of the Abran faith.”
“Selio, I hope you can support Siegvold.”
“You don’t even need to tell me. I’ll do the job perfectly!” Although he had gotten taller over these past two years, Selio was unchanged on the inside. He quickly looked away, his ears bright red.
“I’ll be seeing you later, then,” Seiichirou said.
“Yes, I’m sure we’ll be crossing paths again soon.”
They stopped at a room reserved only for special ceremonies.
Unlike the room in the tower where Seiichirou and Yua were summoned, this room was situated on the highest floor. The light streaming in through the ceiling gave it a natural spotlight.
Within this grand and majestic atmosphere, Seiichirou felt out of place next to royalty and select nobility, though he stayed by Aresh’s side nonetheless. A young couple entered the room and knelt before Priest Siegvold. It was Crown Prince Yurius…and Yua.
Both were in the white clothes of Romany royalty. Yurius was wearing a white cloak with fine gold embroidery. Seiichirou heard later that this was the royal family’s ceremonial garb. Meanwhile, Yua’s outfit looked plain at first glance—a slim white dress that went all the way up to her neck. Yet on closer inspection, the skirt she wore over it was embroidered with the same fine gold. Above all, the white lace veil that fell from her tied-up hair to her toes was magnificent to behold.
Priest Siegvold performed a song-like chant and held his hand out over the couple’s heads. When a multi-colored light began to shine over them, murmurs rose from the crowd.
“Is something the matter?” Seiichirou whispered to Aresh, who told him that the colors of the lights signified God’s blessing and the couple’s future prospects.
In other words, the more colors at the ceremony, the more blessed they were. One certainly had to hand it to the Holy Maiden—she never disappointed.
“Oh, hey there, Sei,” a familiar voice called out to him after the ceremony.
Seiichirou turned his gaze to Norbert, whose hair was even more impeccable than usual. He wasn’t alone, either. Lars and Lufina were also standing there in traditional Egorovan clothing, and so was Sigma in a formal suit.
Although it was hard to tell from the blue and gold in Norbert’s outfit, Seiichirou got the impression that there was a fair amount of white in there. Given that white was the color of royalty, he wondered if it was meant to signal his status, but it seemed very complicated and confusing, so he decided to ignore it.
“My thanks for the invitation,” said Lars.
“Oh no, thank you for coming,” Seiichirou responded humbly.
Lars extended his arm, and the two men shook hands.
Dressed in a deep red formal suit, he possessed the same doll-like beauty as always. Golden stitching ran its way down his arm and the right side of his chest. The color matched his buttons. The cloth hanging from his left shoulder fell loosely to the belt at his hips. This design was unique to Egorova.
“Long time no see, I must say. As much as I would love to meet up more frequently, I understand that we are both busy people,” Lars said with a dazzling smile, although he refused to pull away from the handshake.
From what Seiichirou understood, Lars frequently delegated diplomatic duties to others now that the research on the relationship between magicules and magical capacity had finally gotten off the ground. This made sense given that he was the most prominent individual involved on the Egorovan side.
“I’d say a more hands-on approach suits you. You would be excellent at providing assistance at the scene rather than acting as an overseer.” His expression and actions made it seem like he was laying it on rather thick, but things generally seemed to be going well on his end.
“Lay off already, Elder Brother.” Lufina broke up the handshake since Lars didn’t seem inclined to let go anytime soon and there was a man glaring daggers behind them.