CHAPTER 67: WEDDING CEREMONY

After all these words, Luke and Zoey headed towards the massive gates at the entrance of the palace with Aphelios and stopped in front of them.

Aphelios stood near the gates, while Luke and Zoey stood in front of him, waiting and looking at each other.

"Today is a blessed day," Aphelios said, amplifying his voice with magic so that the entire city could hear him.

Zoey and Luke could only smile at this situation.

"I have known them both for six years. Luke and Zoey are two human beings whom I would entrust my life to in an instant; even if they wanted to kill me, I would think they were right. They stand at the top, even among the purest souls I know. Two blessed souls, two blessed bodies, two brains bound to each other and two hearts searching for each other," Aphelios said suddenly.

"There will be many mistakes, many fights, and many disagreements. No servant of the gods and goddesses is without fault. Yet if they can learn from these mistakes, and I am certain this pair can, then we will see that the boundaries of true love are limitless," he added to his own words.

He then glanced at the people around him. The priests and priestesses had taken out a symbol filled with moons and stars from their pockets.

This symbol was a Nyxian Seal. It was a symbol known as [The Umbracross] in the region of the Church of the Goddess, with dark, silver tips and a crescent moon shape, carried by each priest and priestess.

However, Aphelios himself had pulled something very different out of the pocket of his priestly robe.

This was something only the highest priest, after the Pope, possessed.

[Noctis Sigil], a pendant topped with a symbol of an eye. A ’sigil’ featuring an eye with a deep blue iris and jet-black eyebrows.

The symbol known as the Eye of the Goddess.

"Is there anyone who will object to the marriage of Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera, one of the most blessed of the Chaos-Born, the Light of Hiera, and Zoey Gloria Wirgo, one of the most blessed of the Wirgos?"

When Aphelios spoke these words, the entire palace courtyard fell silent, and the young priest, noticing this, continued saying:

"I am Aphelios Crumbel. I am the high priest of the 173,287th generation of the Church of the Night, which has been devoted to its duties throughout history. Today is the 19th of April in the 501st year of the sacred Hiera calendar. Today is the day Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera and Zoey Gloria Hiera are married."

"Under the endless night of Nyx, as the high priest, I wish for your marriage to last as long as this night, and as of today, I declare you a married couple."

When Aphelios finished speaking, the silence in the area continued for a short while, and only seconds later, cheers began to rise toward the sky.

Thousands of people were shouting, even from the city kilometres away, though they couldn’t see what was happening at the palace, where the river was filled with mermen and mermaids, or at the bridge.

Luke gently reached into his inventory and pulled out two rings made of mithril and covered in protective spells.

The rings had been transformed into a necklace.

"You know I hate wearing rings," Luke said with a smile.

"I know," Zoey replied, tilting her head so Luke could put the necklace on her.

Luke slipped the necklace around Zoey’s neck, and Zoey did the same for Luke. With that, the wedding ceremony was complete.

Immediately afterwards, a scream was heard:

"SKKKRYYAAAAAAAAGGHHHHKK!!!"

Luke suddenly gathered the mythril that had been set up to hold the snow falling from the ceiling into his inventory, and with that, it became clear who the scream had come from.

Whether they were Wirgo, Moneta, Freley, Typhoon, or Cestis family members, each of them stared at the sky like the other nobles. Even the five empresses were shocked but smiling deeply.

Aphelios and the other priests and priestesses smiled wildly like the other imperial family members.

Each of the nobles who had acted contrary to Luke fell to the ground in fear.

The ancient dragon Shenhal flew and roared in the sky. Of course, the ancient dragon understood what was happening. After all, Luke and his thoughts were connected.

Everything was connected.

"Come down, Shenhal," Luke said suddenly.

The ancient dragon’s voice echoed throughout the region, and the ancient dragon Shenhal descended into the vast palace courtyard, the area just in front of the palace gates, as all the nobles, priests, and priestesses withdrew.

This time, Zoey did not feel pressured by the ancient dragon’s voice. It was as if the language itself, Luke’s style of speaking, knew that he had to treat Zoey properly.

The Ancient Dragon Shenhal brought its enormous head right up to Luke and Zoey and exhaled. The hem of Zoey’s dress flew back, and Luke’s hair became dishevelled.

Both Luke and Zoey immediately stroked the Ancient Dragon Shenhal’s huge head and scales.

Luke’s eyes, however, fell on the nobles who had not even dared to look at him when he had lost his princely rank, but had spoken behind his back.

Luke’s eyes seemed to be saying, "Who was the prince?" and "Who was Hiera?". Most of the nobles, who were already on the verge of fainting from fear, lost consciousness at that moment.

It couldn’t be said that Luke cared much.

"Good boy..." Zoey said gently, smiling as she watched Shenhal tilt his head as if he were a child and caressed his scales.

"Go and rest, Shenhal," Luke said.

As soon as he said that, the hundred-metre-long dragon flew into the sky and, shrinking his body slightly, entered his habitat, the area created on the upper part of the palace.

Luke gently took Zoey’s hand and then glanced around at the nobles once more.

Everyone understood who the rulers of this place were.

There were two new rulers of the North: one was Zoey Gloria Hiera, and the other was Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera.

Over a hundred nobles who had fainted were being carried away by the Dark Elves to be taken to the city’s infirmaries.

Immediately after that, the remaining humans, Dark Elves, and normal elf servants began walking out of the palace, carrying plates of food and drink in their hands.

Each cup and piece of tableware was made of transparent mythril, formed by processing normal mythril dozens of times.

These materials alone were worth fifty thousand, maybe even sixty thousand gold pieces.

Meanwhile, Luke and Zoey turned to Aphelios, who was standing directly behind them.

"Thank you," Luke said calmly.

Aphelios smiled and then touched both Zoey’s and Luke’s shoulders, saying, "What are you even talking about?! This was my job to do you two dumbasses!" and then asked, "Don’t you need to go back to your family?"

"What about you?" Luke asked.

"Come on, Luke, the master will probably give me a big punishment anyway, I can’t stay any longer, I’m sorry," Aphelios said jokingly.

Both Zoey and Luke struggled not to laugh.

"I’ll write a special letter to Master Marcelo, asking him to forgive you, of course," Zoey said with a smile.

"Puhahaha!!!" Aphelios burst out laughing and then said, "Well, I’ll be waiting for that letter with pride and impatience, my friend," and walked between the two of them, looking at the priests, nuns, and holy knights and shouting, "Come on, let’s go!"

As Aphelios began to leave the area, the holy knights, priests, and nuns turned to Luke one last time, bowed before him, and shouted in unison, "We salute the Light of the Empire with respect and wish you and your wife a lifetime of happiness!" They then began to follow Aphelios.

Luke and Zoey began to descend the steps leading to the massive palace gates. In a short time, they managed to reach their families.

Both Luke and Zoey looked extremely embarrassed. Luke was surrounded by his six sisters in a matter of seconds and had even been hit on the head a few times.

Zoey, on the other hand, was embraced by her father, mother, and even Luke’s five mothers, and had begun to question why they hadn’t been informed.

Although Luke seemed to be getting beaten up by his sisters in a way, he didn’t forget to look at Alfred.

The fact that the youngest child of the imperial family was the first to marry had, of course, moved Alfred.

It was even possible to see tears in the eyes of Alfred, who was known as the Emotionless Emperor.

It was nothing more than the gentle and innocent gaze of a father who continued to feel sorry for his mistakes, as he should have, rather than the gaze of an emperor.

Alfred found himself unnoticed for the first time.

His five wives were questioning Zoey, while his children were trying to beat up Luke.

Perhaps only Penelope chose to stay by her father’s side.

"Thank you, Dad..." Penelope said suddenly.

Alfred certainly hadn’t expected to hear such a thing, especially since Penelope was still madly angry with him.