CH 76

76 Yup, We Really Shouldn’t Overdo It After All

The engagement ceremony began as the priest played the music with pipe-organ. Everyone stood from their chair as if to match the tune, and sung the hymn-like religious song. Of course, I also followed along, having trained myself to sing this song for this particular occasion.

Once the song was over, Muriel and I stepped forward. Then, as the presider of this ceremony, Bishop Cobalt opened the scripture and teach us about engagement with complicated words. Although, to be honest, I had no idea what he was talking about. Still, I assume he was teaching us about engagement.

Anyway, after that, we followed the instruction from Bishop Cobalt and performed a prayer toward the Gods.

“Now, it’s time to exchange your oath.”

“I, Theodore Goldberg, is bethrothe to Muriel Amber.”

“I, Muriel Amber, is bethrothe to Theodore Goldberg.”

My right hand and Muriel’s left hand were placed on top of the scripture as we spoke our oath. Initially, the procedure wasn’t like this, but since this wasn’t a marriage ceremony, we decided to keep it as simple as possible.

“Now, sign the written oath.”

As instructed, Muriel and I signed the written oath that was already prepared beforehand. Following that, Count Greenwell stepped forward and signed the written oath as the representative of the witness party. Properly speaking, it was supposed to be our fathers who represented the witness. However, in the end, we changed it to Count Greenwell since he was the person with the highest authority amongst the witnesses.

“With this, I declare that Theodore Goldberg and Muriel Amber are engaged to each other.”

After Count Greenwell’s declaration, we were finally officially engaged.

“Now, exchange the engagement token.” Bishop Cobalt said, prompting the priest to bring the engagement token we had entrusted to the temple’s officials beforehand.

I then took the engagement token, a pendant made from emerald and gold, I had prepared and placed it on Muriel’s neck. Fortunately, the dress she was wearing today matched very well with this pendant.

Muriel also fixed a brooch on my collar. The small aquamarine in the brooch matched very well with the amber metal that acted as its base. Perhaps this gem was also made from the gems that materialized during the appraisal of Muriel’s Magic Unsealing Ceremony. After all, though she gave her onyx to the chick doll, she might have materialized other gems too.

After we were done fixing our engagement to each other, our eyes met and I smiled sweetly as I showed her the backside of the pendant I gave to her.

‘I, Theodore, offer my True Love to my Beloved Muriel.’ was carved there. And I used this world’s common language to carve it instead of Japanese.

“I’m so happy,” She muttered in a small voice, beaming.

Faced with this, I subconsciously took Muriel’s hand into mine and whispered, “I, Theodore, offer my True Love to my Beloved Muriel.” I said this in common language so Muriel would understand what I said.

― Ya~y, congrats you two~!

― Congrats to you two!

― Congra~ts!

― Ra~ts!

―♬！

Then, particles of light descended from the stained glass.

“Uwa…!” Muriel raised her voice in admiration, looking at the descending lights in fascination.

― My comeback is celebrated by everyone~!

― O~H!

The chick doll then jumped out from my pocket and descended right on the scripture. Then, the white, yellow, red, blue, green, and black particles of light danced around us, as if wrapping us in its light.

― Everyone come to give their blessi~ng!

― Blessing, blessing!

― Sing, si~ng!

― I~ng!

―♪!

The light that poured down from the stained glass danced around, spreading as if frolicking with the magical power’s avatars.

“They’re really dancing, eh. And moving around as if to show us that they’re alive,” Bishop Cobalt muttered, looking at the dancing lights in interest.

Oh, cra*p. I forgot that there were many eyewitnesses today! I looked around and saw that of those present, the ones who didn’t think much and only looked impressed were Muriel, Wendy, Chester, and Mother. Meanwhile, Viscount Amber and the others along with the priests looked bewildered. But! Count Greenwell and Bishop Cobalt were looking at the phenomenon with an interesting look on their faces! Not only that, if it wasn’t for Count Sphene doing his best to stop the overly excited Bates from destroying this phenomenon, that guy would definitely jump on us right then and there.

Lastly, I looked toward my father and found he was looking at the horizon with a distant look in his eyes. It felt like I could see his soul coming out from his mouth.

“- C’mon guys, you went too far and made a mess of the situation now!”

― Tehepero.

“White~y! Tehepero my ar*se! I know you couldn’t do that.”

― You’re wro~ng. We’re simply celebrating our homecoming.

― Homecoming, homecoming!

― Celebratio~n!

― Tio~n!

―♪!

After that, white returned to the crystal while red and blue went into my brooch. Green went into Muriel’s pendant, and the small black light went into the chick doll ribbon. Subsequently, the light that overflowed in the small temple vanished.

“Eh? E~h, Black? Are you there?

― Kuu-chan went back to their place.

― This is why guys who don’t know delicacies are no good. You hurt Blackie’s feelings, you know.

“Oi, Yellow. What did you say just now? No good? I don’t understand at all. Or rather, you even hurt Black on top of that.” This time, no reply came, but I could feel dissatisfaction coming from the black gem. “Aah, please forgive me for failing to notice that.”

After I apologized, I could feel Black forgiving me, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Uhm, these guys were a bit too unruly.

While I was thinking, Muriel opened her mouth and said, “Wonderful. The overflowing light is… really beautiful.” Her face held a mesmerized expression and I was sure that the fantastical spectacle from before was engraved in her memory. Perhaps.

“Thank you very much, Theodore-sama. This gift is truly wonderful. I’ll treasure this memory.” She was smiling sweetly, thinking that the spectacle just now was due to me. Well, she was not wrong per se.

“Me too. I’ll treasure this brooch too. By the way, is this by chance….”

“Yes. I’m really happy when it appeared during my appraisal. This amber has the same color as your eyes, Theodore-sama. That’s why I decided to give it to you.”

“Thank you, Muriel. I’ll treasure this brooch.”

A~h, what an adorable creature you are~.

Thus, the engagement ceremony finished without a hitch, and we returned to our mansion after dinner. Unfortunately, Bishop Cobalt couldn’t participate in it while Count Greenwell and Count Sphene had to drag the excited Bates to go back with them, to prevent the guy from making a mess of the situation. Even then, I could still hear him shouting that he wanted to take a look at the accessories and the chick doll.

As for my father… Well, he was talking normally to Viscount Amber and his family. However, from time to time, he would heave a sigh while looking at the horizon.

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Sorry for the incident, Papa. I silently apologized.

Anyway, after this day, I found out that the barrier of the royal capital seemed to be strengthened. And I also heard that the barrier stone was revitalized on the day when the light rained down from heaven to the inner sanctum of the great temple.

Incidentally, the day Father heard that report, he ended up staying in the bed for the whole day because of a headache.

I’m really, really sorry for this, Papa. Forgive me!

― Do your best!

“You overdid it, idiots.”