The Girl of an Old Mansion

24. Wedding Bells

Lord Yong and Nyang walked through the streets and noticed the decorations that were being put up. The streets were dancing in a variety of colours with smiles plastered on almost everyone's faces. It looked like the preparations for a grand celebration.

Nyang asked one of the people about the decorations, when they got to know that the preparations were for the Prince's marriage.

In the Palace

Queen Iseul walked around the palace instructing everyone, from the maids to the cooks, she wanted everything to be perfect for her son's big day. Her face was glowing from joy as she made sure everything was to the Prince's liking. She couldn't wait to see her son getting wed, it was a dream come true. Her smile hadn't faded even for a moment through it all.

The whole palace was decorated every nook and corner. . The pathway was covered with rose petals to welcome the bride and the groom.

Prince Jian was getting married to Princess Ruyi, daughter of King Wang of the neighbouring province.

The Prince and his guards arrived at the palace. He dismounted from his horse and moved towards the Palanquin and offered his hand to the smiling Princess. Princess Ruyi stepped out holding his hand and stood next to him.

"It was indeed a long journey, are you tired?" asked Prince Jian gently.

Princess looked up at the Prince shyly and tried to form words. She always thought that her husband's eyes were beautiful like the ocean. She would somehow always get lost in them. She nodded to his question, afraid that her voice would betray her and then averted her eyes back onto the ground.

Prince Jian flaunted a smile seeing his wife's shy expression.

Meanwhile, the Emperor and Empress both rushed towards the courtyard to welcome the newlywed couple.

Princess Ruyi and Prince Jian bowed their heads and greeted the Emperor and Empress.

The Empress hugged her son then proceeded to look at her daughter-in-law. She held her chin and observed every detail of her face.

"Beautiful eyes, sharp nose, nice jawline, crimson red lips, attractive face cut and nice figure. As I always used to say I'll have brought you the most beautiful girl," said the Empress with joy.

"But I think my girl is more beautiful than yours," the Emperor teased his son.

"Yeah, but mine is the most beautiful," answered Prince hesitantly while looking at his bride.

Everyone started giggling at Young Prince's answer even the bride couldn't stop herself from smiling at his answer. Ruyi's cheeks were turning pink like a spring rose, the blooming colour looked cute against her porcelain white skin.

On the other hand, Young Prince's unsettled eyes glanced unceremoniously around and tried to avoid the stares he was getting.

Noticing their son's awkwardness both the Emperor and Empress stopped giggling and asked the couple to go to their rooms and rest as they needed to look fresh for the evening celebration.

Two court ladies escorted Princess Ruyi to her chamber while Prince Jian too headed for his room to get some rest.

Ruyi's eyes glided around the elegance of the room. She turned around only to find a maid and who was giving her a soft smile. "Come my lady, you must be feeling exhausted after such a long journey. We have prepared a hot bath and some food for you."

To celebrate the royal wedding and to shower their blessings on the newlywed couple, folks of the town were invited for a grand evening. The celebration would be a riot of colour, everyone in the town was excited to attend the feast.

On the other side of the palace, Mi-sook occupied herself in rigorous efforts of chanting some spells and sprinkling the residues of small creatures and ashes into the goblet. A black shadow emerged from the goblet and slowly took the form of dwarf goblin.

His skin was like a molten lava, all creased and as dry as bone, his charcoal black eyes full of ominous horror and terrifying grimace. A single glance of him would be enough to kill a human in seconds.

Mi-sook smiled at him and said, "You have been a good slave to me for quite a long period of time and always followed my orders. This time too I need your help for the accomplishment of my plan, for tormenting this royal family. So, are you ready for this?"

The goblin being expressionless nodded his head and vanished into thin air.

"Congratulations! Your Highness, on the wedding of your beloved son," mumbled Mi-sook looking at the mirror and started laughing hysterically.

Later on evening

The celebration of a wedding is always a place of unrestrained joy but when it comes to royal wedding celebrations, it becomes the talk of the town for a year. Finally, the celebration had started, music filled the air, festive beats lifted the spirits and made the folks want to move, jump and sing. The air tasted so heavenly with the food items being served to the people. The Latin music played by artists from another province became the heartbeat of the crowd and they swayed to the beat.

In no time the whole royal ground was filled with the crowd of people. They were enjoying the feast and the music. They are still eagerly waiting for their Young Prince and Princess to arrive.

In the palace, court ladies helped Princess Ruyi to get ready. They all were praising Princess's incredible beauty and teasing her for their first night to which Ruyi started smiling and blushing. Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door. As expected it was Young Prince waiting for his Princess.

The court ladies escorted the Princess to the Prince.

"Shall we go," said the Princess.

Prince Jian heard the familiar voice and turned to see his wife. He couldn't take his eyes off her as she looked mesmerising. He slowly came near her and lifted her chin and looked at her with sharp eyes.

"Saying the word beautiful would be injustice to the beauty you possess," said Jian in a soft and low voice in her ear. Ruyi could feel the heat growing in her cheeks with the soft breathing of the Prince in the crook of her neck. He noticed her shyness as colour infused her cheeks with red hues and pecked his coy wife lightly on her forehead then held her hands and proceeded towards the celebration.

They reached the place and took their seats near the Emperor and Empress. The people started to congratulate their Prince on his wedding and gave blessings to the young couple.

Prince Jian stood and gestured his hand to stop the howling and said with a smile, "It's our pleasure to extend a cheerful celebration to the people of Noam on the momentous occasion of my wedding. Your presence has only increased our joy on this special day. We are happy you could be part of this occasion with us. I would like to ask you to show the same respect and compassion to Princess Ruyi as you have shown to us, as from now on she is a part of our Noam."

The voices started to add one by one as the people cheered their Prince and Princess.

After this the real celebration started, the royal ministers had arranged dance performances for the occasion, magic shows, swordplay and many other entertaining shows.

The Prince and Princess enjoyed the whole arrangement and at the end rewarded the performers with gold coins.

Meanwhile, Lord Yong was worried about the Prince and did not attend the celebration.

Later at night

Princess Ruyi eagerly waited for her Prince all dolled up sitting in front of the mirror. She couldn't help but feel nervous and excited at the same time. She was lost in thought as she combed her hair when a knock at the door brought her back to her senses.

Prince Jian entered the room and locked the door behind him..

Finally, they were alone. The room was dark and quiet. Ruyi could feel Jian's breath fanning over her, as she breathed in his scent. Jian leaned over and embraced Ruyi in his arms.