Chapter 223

The couple, properly dressed, descended to the banquet hall, which was already full of people.

Representatives from the most important families in Maindulante were gathered, adorned in their finest clothes and magnificent jewels. Among them were figures Nerys hadn’t seen in front of the castle earlier, and others who had traveled a long way from distant regions to be here.

Nerys was momentarily taken aback by the fact that her first dinner at the castle, which she had expected to be attended only by those who could be summoned immediately, was such a formal affair. Cledwyn, who was escorting her, chuckled.

“What is it?”

If she had known that so many people would be attending in formal attire, she would have paid more attention to her own appearance. Nerys glared at her husband.

“Why are there so many people?”

“Why, does it bother you? Should I send all but a few thousand away? It wouldn’t be bad to have them visit in shifts, one day at a time.”

He said it jokingly, but Cledwyn’s eyes gleamed dangerously, as if he were ready to carry it out if necessary. Nerys glared at him again and looked around the room.

Both sides of the long table, used for formal banquets, were filled with important officials and subordinate lords, seated according to their rank. At the end, two empty seats sat side by side, Nerys taking the first, followed by Cledwyn.

Although she was initially flustered, it wasn’t Nerys’s first time leading such a banquet. She straightened her back.

No one present hadn’t seen Nerys as an advisor. However, this was her debut as Grand Duchess. If there were those who had expected her to appear clumsy, their expectations were immediately betrayed.

The composure of someone who could be believed to have ruled them for a long time. Calm, almost aloof, yet with a gaze that missed no one.

She dominated the atmosphere of the room as if it were her right. In a different sense than when she was recognized as a capable advisor.

Hilbrin cleared his throat proudly. Seeing that he clearly wanted to say something, Nerys gave him the floor first.

“You must be tired from participating in the meal so soon after your return.”

“Tired? Not at all! It is an honor to be able to attend this meal, the first since Your Grace returned to Maindulante.”

It was the highest praise that the arrogant Hilbrin could offer. As the head of the subordinate lords, his humbling himself was, in its own way, a declaration that no other noble should dare to be disrespectful to the new Grand Duchess.

Nerys understood his sentiment and gratefully accepted it. The tension she had been hiding eased.

As she smiled and turned her gaze to the others, those who met her eyes bowed respectfully. Some even placed their hands on their hearts, according to the customs of their regions.

“Duke Fecernon.”

The lord of Fecernon, who had requested central assistance due to the previous flood, was present. He grinned and responded to Nerys’s call.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“You must have had a hard time coming from so far away.”

“Not at all. Your Grace has had a hard time all this while.”

Lady Denver, Duke Ridolen, Lady Rodier, Lady Posbury… Nerys greeted each and every person she had formed a relationship with in Maindulante. It was a short but sincere greeting, ensuring that the grand dinner wasn’t delayed too much, but also that the dignity that such an occasion should have wasn’t diminished.

Since there were so many people, those who had already been greeted might have found the ritual tedious. Also, nobles of relatively high status might have thought it was a waste for the Grand Duchess to offer greetings even to lower-ranking nobles. However, no one showed any signs of discomfort while waiting for their turn. Rather…

‘Should I call it glee?’

The people of Maindulante were all smiling as if they were very happy. Hilbrin’s warning was almost meaningless. Hilbrin himself seemed to already know this, as he immediately began to boast after the greetings were over.

“It wouldn’t do to have too few people on the first day our Grand Duchess has returned, would it? So, I sent messages along the way, urging them to hurry. I told them to rush if they wanted to greet Her Grace quickly, as she was scheduled to arrive today.”

The secret to why so many more people than expected were able to attend the dinner was revealed. The nobles had hastily adjusted their schedules due to Hilbrin’s urging. Nerys was dumbfounded and gave a wry smile.

“There will be plenty of time to meet in the future, and everyone is busy. Why did you do that? Whether they see me late or early, I will hear what I need to hear.”

“No, Your Grace.”

Lady Denver, the most influential and oldest woman present, corrected her with a smile.

“How could we not know what kind of person Your Grace is? We here, and those who couldn’t make it here, all know that you are someone who listens to what is necessary.”

“Then?”

For a subordinate lord to rashly refute the words of a high-ranking lord would be seen as arrogant. Especially if the other party was a great noble. However, the directness of the Maindulante people and Lady Denver’s experience struck a delicate balance between sincerity and arrogance.

“We simply wanted to see Your Grace very much. We have been waiting for a very long time.”

“For the new Grand Duchess?”

“Yes, for Your Grace.”

The two’s exchange seemed like a repetition of words with the same meaning, but it was actually a confirmation. A confirmation of whether they were using the same words with the same meaning.

Nerys’s joking question meant, ‘You must have been waiting for Cledwyn to have a wife and fulfill his political duties,’ and Lady Denver’s answer meant, ‘The person to fulfill that role had to be you, and no one else.’ Nerys, who hadn’t expected such a welcome, realized it then.

That they had perhaps been looking forward to this moment for much longer than she herself had. That the reasons Nerys had been spouting to keep pushing Cledwyn away were perhaps not ‘obvious’ and ‘realistic’ considerations, but merely excuses she had made up because she couldn’t muster the courage.

The people who had come to greet her in front of the castle gate today, the people who had rushed to this dinner, and those who were still working to prepare such an occasion… all of them were welcoming her more than enough.

That there were people who continued to expect and wish for her happiness.

Nerys’s cheeks flushed slightly. Cledwyn smiled and filled his wife’s glass with water. Or rather, he tried to. Until Nerys stopped his hand.

“Today is a special day, so let’s start with Maindulante’s liquor.”

“Are you sure? You have trouble with alcohol.”

“It’s not enough to get drunk on one glass.”

Speaking like a heavy drinker, she received Maindulante’s beautifully colored apple wine. Her hand held the clear crystal glass and tilted it slightly.

“For affectionate friends.”

Following the custom of the eldest woman leading the toast, Lady Denver raised her glass next and said.

“For Your Grace!”

Next, Cledwyn, and then the rest of the attendees, solemnly raised their glasses. Nerys gracefully brought the glass to her lips in front of dozens of glasses raised high towards the ceiling.

The meal began. As the wine and excellent banquet dishes were served, people fell into conversations with those they were originally close to. Cledwyn watched his wife’s face turn red and worried.

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m not drunk.”

“That’s what drunkards always say.”

“Really. It’s a drink that even children drink. Why are you so worried?”

“Because you don’t usually drink.”

“I don’t usually drink because I’m afraid of making mistakes, but it’s not like I can’t drink when I need to.”

“Was today necessary?”

“Yes. Eating the same food and drinking the same drink as my people is the first ritual of becoming a family.”

Cledwyn still thought that Nerys didn’t necessarily need to drink. What was the point of rituals? Everyone in this land knew that there would be no other Grand Duchess besides her.

However, her gaze towards the people was very warm, and in a way, full of determination, so he didn’t blame her further. Nerys had, in her own way, marked this one glass as the moment she had completely become a person of this place.

Instead, he casually asked what he had been wondering about since earlier.

“Did you have a good conversation with your mother?”

“Yes, we finished talking well.”

“It would have been nice if your mother had been here too.”

“I asked, but she said she felt burdened. She said she’ll be helping with the Grand Duchess’s work from tomorrow and showing her face more at official events, so I don’t think there will be any problems. Mom already knows a lot of our people.”

Cledwyn liked the expression ‘our people’ and stealthily took Nerys’s hand. And he raised that hand and kissed it.

Kissing it was fine, but his lips didn’t seem to want to let go. Nerys glared at him, embarrassed, but Cledwyn changed the subject with a pleasant smile.

“My wife, there’s something I want to discuss.”

“What is it?”

“Our wedding.”

Nerys stopped glaring at her husband.

In fact, she had been thinking about it too. The marriage was valid anywhere in the Empire, as the wedding mass was legally officiated by a priest, so their marriage had no formal flaws. However, it was customary to add some commemorative ceremony unique to one’s family or region.

There was probably a unique wedding custom in Maindulante as well. And that ceremony would likely involve inviting family, relatives, and perhaps even the common people to declare and celebrate that the two of them were now husband and wife.

“Do it according to your family’s traditions. Our family doesn’t have anything that must be followed. Oh, Mom received a ribbon the morning after she married Dad.”

“What? And you’re telling me that now?”

Cledwyn, who had looked pleased, now had a rather aggrieved expression. Nerys shrugged.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a ribbon. The best gift Dad could get among the gifts he could afford, given our family’s circumstances, was probably a ribbon. He probably spent a lot of money on the wedding anyway.”

“Still, if you heard that, you would have thought when you were young that you would receive a ribbon from your husband when you got married.”

“I did. But I quickly forgot about it because the Elandria ducal family and the Imperial Family didn’t have such customs.”

Nerys said it to mean that there was nothing to worry about, but Cledwyn’s expression became even more aggrieved at her words.

“Ribbon, got it. I’ll prepare a lot of ribbons.”

“You don’t need a lot. Do you know how many ribbons are already among the accessories you’ve bought me? More than that, unless we have to hold the wedding soon.”

Nerys’s eyes turned cold.

“You can give me something else as a gift.”

“Something else?”

“For example.”

She looked around for a moment to see if anyone was listening. After confirming that even the people sitting closest were engrossed in a conversation about apple varieties.

“Like the downfall of the Bistor Imperial Family.”

Nerys said as if declaring it.

The aggrieved look disappeared from Cledwyn’s face. He smiled mischievously with a gleam in his eyes.

“We’ll postpone it for a long time then. I’m happy because you’ll have time to make a new dress.”

Why does this man like getting her pretty dresses so much? Nellusion and Abelus weren’t interested in what women’s dresses looked like, and were just satisfied as long as she didn’t look poor.

Nerys was momentarily dumbfounded, but soon understood after recalling the main colors that decorated her bedroom. It seemed that the men of this family liked to take care of the things their wives wore and used themselves.

(T/N : Its more likely that his love language is giving gifts )

“I know you’ve been gathering strength for a long time. The nobles of Maindulante are stiff, but they’re skilled.”

“The Imperial Family has always been hostile to us. I used to think they were just trying to suppress us, but now I see they were trying to completely cover up their past. As you said at the ruins, fighting is what I wanted as well. But will you be okay? I want to show you off to everyone right away.”

These people who want to kill each other, but unite as one in front of those ‘southern things’.

A monarch who held tournaments and made all the knights of his land improve their skills.

They had been sharpening their knives for a long time. Enduring the enemy who had been watching for a chance to kill them.

“You won’t have to wait that long. The beast I let loose should be tearing the meat to shreds by now.”

Nerys smiled.