Chapter 3 — Marriage, and Starting Married Life

About half an hour had passed since Yamai Zenjirou had safely made it to his new world. He had been escorted to the inner palace with only the clothes on his back. The soldiers were responsible for moving all of his luggage, which included everything on top of the magic carpet as well as the rucksack he’d had on his back.

It was a fairly transparent plan on their part, using the excuse of doing the heavy lifting in order to go through his belongings for security purposes. But Zenjirou knew that, in their position, it wasn’t unreasonable, so he had no particular objections and entrusted it all to them.

He hadn’t forgotten to point out the appliances—starting with the generator and following with the fridge, air conditioner, and floor lamps—stressing that they were fragile and that the soldiers would need to handle them very carefully.

“With so many bizarre items being brought into the palace, they’ll want to check that none of them are dangerous,” he muttered to himself as he sank into a polished wooden chair.

In the worst case scenario, they would determine that the electrical appliances were dangerous objects and dispose of them, but he was feeling relatively optimistic. He’d gotten at least some form of permission from their queen before bringing these items along. Even if something was mistakenly identified as a hazard, he would probably be given the chance to explain before any action was taken.

“I did try to leave behind anything that looked dangerous or shady. Then again, this is another world...”

He was still slightly uneasy about it all and let out a sigh, rising from his seat, then seemed to remember that he still had his jacket on. He took it off and lay it across the back of the chair. Then he put his finger through the knot in his tie and loosened around his throat before undoing the top button of his shirt.

“Phew...”

That was a bit better. This world really was hot. Japan had just entered early summer, so there were a few days with temperatures above 30°C, but it felt like the temperatures here had already reached what he’d normally experience in the middle of summer, around 35°C.

“I can survive this much, but I don’t know how I’ll cope if it gets any hotter.”

Dealing with the heat would have to be his top priority.

There was a knock at the door, followed by a voice. “Excuse me, Master Zenjirou.”

The voice was calm and that of a woman, and was unfamiliar to him. He started but managed to reply without betraying his surprise. “Yes?”

“I would like to introduce the maids who serve the inner palace to you. May I ask for a moment of your time?”

“Um...” Zenjirou hesitated but knew there was no real reason to refuse. His nervousness about the transition between worlds meant that he hadn’t noticed before, but he currently had more time than he knew what to do with. “Yes, come in,” he replied, reflexively standing up as he invited the maids in.

A large group of women entered the room at his invitation. Their outfits were much the same, barring some smaller details. The uniforms were based on a dark red and white scheme. They were very unusual uniforms for maids... as if someone had taken the native dress of places like India and the Middle East and made them short-sleeved with miniskirts.

The shawl-like cloths wrapped around their heads in particular brought the sari, the characteristic garment of India, to mind. Their clothing was refined enough to draw even Zenjirou’s notice, regardless of his general lack of familiarity with fashion.

The maids walked in and stood before him in three rows as if they’d choreographed it in advance. The farthest row back was made up of nine younger women, the second row had four women in their thirties and forties, and in front was a single lady who looked around forty years old, standing before him like their representative.

“Allow me to introduce the maids who will be attending to the main needs of your daily life. First, I am your head maid, Amanda, the leader of all servants within the inner palace. This will be where you reside, so should you find anything unsatisfactory, please make me aware.”

With those words, Amanda bowed politely. Her tone and general briskness gave her the air of a very capable woman. Though it wasn’t just her air, of course—a woman in charge of all services within the inner palace would have to be quite skilled.

Man, pointed glasses would really suit her, Zenjirou couldn’t help but think (rather rudely) to himself. She gave off an impression similar to a character from a shoujo manga that had come out long ago: a strict dorm manager.

“Nice to meet you, Amanda. I look forward to working together.”

Amanda’s lips moved as if she wanted to reply, but her expression soon returned to its serious state as she bowed her head again. “Indeed, Master Zenjirou.”

Zenjirou’s job had given him a certain proficiency in divining people’s feelings from their expressions, and he caught her reaction. What? Was I too polite? I guess I am the lord here, and she’s a servant.

Acting more humbly when you didn’t have a firm grasp of where your counterpart stood in relation to you was very much a Japanese phenomenon, but Zenjirou was about to be royalty in this world. Acting humble with the servants might cause some social discomfort.

Upon closer inspection, he could see that the maids behind Amanda were all wearing similar expressions of surprise and confusion. It seemed he had indeed chosen his words poorly. Was it because of the difference in position that they couldn’t simply tell him not to be so polite? He was from another world and utterly lost here. If the people around him didn’t point out his mistakes, he’d never be able to learn or integrate.

I guess I’ll consult Aura later, he thought as Amanda continued her introductions.

“I will now introduce the leaders of each department. This is Ines, who is in charge of the cleaning staff.”

“That would be me, sir,” said one of the women in the second row, stepping forward and bowing deeply.

“Next to her is Vanessa. She is in charge of cooking for the inner palace.”

“Pleased to meet you. I manage the kitchens.”

“And next to her,” Amanda continued, “is Emilia. She oversees the gardens.”

“It’s good to meet you, Master Zenjirou.”

“Finally, we have Oraja, who is responsible for the baths.”

“Greetings, Master Zenjirou, please let me know if you wish to use the baths at any time.”

Concluding her first round of introductions, Amanda motioned to the women as a group. “These four are the department heads of the inner palace.”

“We look forward to working for you,” they said together, bowing perfectly in sync.

“Y-Yeah. Likewise... no, um... I hope... I expect the very best from you all,” Zenjirou stammered, doing his best to avoid politeness and speaking down at them as well as he could manage.

Personally, he felt like he was putting on far too many airs and behaving laughably, but it seemed to be the correct course of action. The women were all visibly relieved as they bowed their heads in assent. Zenjirou was at his wit’s end by the time he took in their expressions. Ahh, looks like that was the right call. I’ll have to ask Aura exactly how to interact with them later.

Ignorant of his churning thoughts, Amanda continued.

“The nine in the back work underneath these four in whatever capacity is required. If you have any day-to-day requests, please direct them to maids themselves rather than going through me or the department heads. There are many others in charge of various groups, but these nine will always be around and awaiting your commands. Introduce yourselves, please.”

The nine in the final row bowed and made their introductions one by one.

“I’m Carina. Please let me know if there is anything that you need.”

“I’m Kisha.”

“Crystal.”

“Kate.”

Zenjirou had a fairly average memory, and at this point he had reached his limit. He could maintain enough focus to put names to faces for the first five—the head maid and the department heads—but with nine more after that, it was time to raise the white flag.

“I’m Dolores. I shall carry out my work to the best of my abilities, Master Zenjirou.”

By the time they had cycled through their simple greetings, he had already given up on trying to remember them all. It’s fine, we’ll be together in the inner palace, so I’ll eventually get all the names down whether I want to or not. I’ll just make a point to remember the head maid, department heads, and any other big shots for now.

Back home, Zenjirou had done rather well even when away from his desk, so it wasn’t that he was bad with names and faces in general, but thirteen at once was a bit too much. He would have to learn the others’ names over time.

Still, though, he thought surreptitiously as he surveyed them, they basically fit into two types here. Maybe that’s how they were recruited? You know... ability or looks.

The crowd in front of him really did fit into those two groups. To put it bluntly, the categories he could see were “older women who weren’t so attractive” and “women who were young and attractive.”

It went without saying that Amanda and the four department heads were of the former type, and the nine behind them were of the latter.

Amanda and the woman in charge of cleaning, Ines, were still slender, but their three colleagues all had the paunch that was characteristic of middle age. In contrast, their nine subordinates had no such deficiencies in their figures. Zenjirou’s impression that it was perhaps a matter of looks versus ability might not be far off base.

The nine general maids were all wonderfully diverse as well. If you could call one of them “cute,” then another would be better described as “beautiful.” Some of them were tall while others were short. Some had larger chests, and others were smaller built. It might have been a cultural thing, as only one of them had short hair, but there were a wide variety of hairstyles on display.

Overall, however, more of the women were tall, and the majority had bigger breasts. In that regard, seven of the nine had “huge breasts” and one among them stood out as having an even larger chest than the queen.

That’s right, Aura is taller and better endowed than the average woman in Japan. Maybe this world’s average height and breast size is just higher than back home? Zenjirou consciously kept his gaze upwards to avoid staring at their chests as he considered the situation.

The truth was somewhat different, though. The young maids had actually been chosen specially to his perceived liking, so that they would have no difficulty arousing his interest if he so desired. The taller girls were there because he had shown a strong interest in Aura, and the larger-chested girls had been chosen due to his gaze having focused on the queen’s breasts when they’d last met.

Essentially, his impression that they had been chosen for their looks was, on the whole, correct. But they had, at least, been chosen from a pool of women who had the skills to be maids within the inner palace.

Zenjirou had no way of knowing about those intricacies, however, and his head was currently filled with concerns related to his arrival, so he couldn’t fully admire the beauties before him.

“Got it, I expect good work from you all,” he said stiffly. At present, his mind was occupied with simply getting through the formalities safely.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

While Zenjirou was being confronted by the maids of the inner palace and feeling very much out of his depth, Queen Aura I of the Capua Kingdom was in another room of the royal residence. Her subordinates were investigating the vast number of items that her soon-to-be husband had brought along from his own world.

“Open it all and look over everything carefully. If there are items you cannot open, do not force them. I shall question Sir Zenjirou myself later on. If you find anything dangerous or suspicious, bring it to me without delay,” she instructed.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Understood.”

Soldiers wearing white leather armor and maids clad in white aprons over their exotic clothing moved to carry out her orders, cautiously going through the newcomer’s belongings. One of them started with the five-compartment fridge, sticking their head into each section in turn to check it out. Another was trying to make sense of the large air conditioner, staring at it curiously. A third opened up Zenjirou’s translucent suitcases, taking out each item of clothing, T-shirts and boxers alike, unfolding and refolding them as he went.

The task force spread out across the room, tackling the project as a team. The sheer number of things that had been brought so suddenly into the palace had to be thoroughly checked, even though they were owned by the future husband of the queen.

The work was undertaken exceedingly carefully to avoid damaging or besmirching those items. Because of that, the verification had progressed very little, despite more than ten people pooling their efforts.

When they found things that concerned them, they reported it straight to Aura.

“Your Majesty, these transparent containers seem to contain alcohol. They have a strange seal, so we are unsure of how to open them, but the ones that are broken smell of spirits.”

These were, of course, the drinks that Zenjirou had brought as a gift for Aura. The shock of the transfer had knocked some of them over. One bottle of sake and one wine bottle had broken, as they were made from relatively thin glass, and their contents had soaked into the rug.

Even before hearing the report, Aura had realized from the smell that he had brought some spirits with him, so she gave a nod along with her next instructions.

“Gather the rest of the containers and store them in the wine cellar. Bring the broken ones to me. Oh, and take care transporting them; they seem far easier to shatter than wooden barrels.”

“At once, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, Madam. Here...”

Each of the soldiers took one bottle per hand and left the room. At the same time, a maid brought the broken containers to the queen. One was a frosted glass bottle of sake, and the other was a dark, transparent purplish-red bottle of red wine.

Aura lifted the fragments to the light coming in through the window and marveled at them. “Astonishing. It almost seems as if they are made of crystal. Are these common in my groom’s world?”

There was no glassworking in the Capua Kingdom. A common sake bottle looked more like a work of art than a container to the people of this world. This was particularly true of the ostentatious brandy and whiskey bottles.

“Your Majesty, these appear to be items of tableware. The cups and plates are both made of the same transparent material as the alcohol containers, or something like polished stone rather than wood or metal. Several of them were also broken during the transition.”

The tableware that Zenjirou had brought were all generic ceramics from Japan, including wine and whiskey glasses. He had brought the fragile goods after noticing that everything here was made of wood or metal instead. It hadn’t been enough for him to remark on during his last visit, but it had certainly seemed out of place to him, being so used to ceramic and glass tableware back home.

He may not even have been aware of it himself, but it was the drinks that had made him feel the most uncomfortable. Silver didn’t influence the taste quite as much as other metals, but it did have some effect. Forks and spoons were usually made of stainless steel in Japan, so the cutlery hadn’t drawn his attention, but the cups were another matter. It was the same idea as tea tasting different when drunk from a plastic bottle, metal can, or glass, even if it was the exact same brand.

Aura picked up a transparent, colorless wineglass and flicked it with her finger, producing a soft chime. “This is magnificent as well. If I were to visit a noble with a taste for collecting art, it would make quite the gift.”

Of course, these were Zenjirou’s things, and she wouldn’t have the right to do as she pleased with them, even if she were his wife. He was an understanding, kindhearted person, though, so she might be able to ask him to accommodate her wishes.

Aura shook her head, drawing her mind away from the vision of enraptured nobles’ faces and back to the matter at hand. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, please take a look at this. Do these appear to be weapons to you?”

As he spoke, the soldier presented a blue, rectangular box with metal sticks, small spiraling nails, and strange bladed items with two blades opposing each other.

“Show me. Hmm... No, they are not weapons. I believe them to be tools of some sort. They seem too inefficient to be weapons,” Aura decided after looking over the driver set, screws, and pipe cutter.

She had no way of knowing they were all part of the tool set needed to put together the air conditioning system (assuming one had the relevant experience to use them). Zenjirou had also brought a hammer drill, vacuum pump, and accompanying gauge.

All of these were utterly alien to the people of this world.

Zenjirou had come to understand through his research that the probability of a layperson managing to build a functional air conditioning system was exceedingly low, but he had already bought the large unit at that point and had nothing to lose. He’d brought a printout of the entire page detailing how to install an AC unit. He wasn’t willing to give up on the idea of having that sort of convenience, but he’d also hurried to buy an electric fan and a metal container that would fit into the freezer compartment just in case, so he wasn’t blind to the possibility of failure.

Another soldier approached the queen with something that he could not determine the purpose of. “Your Majesty, do you think this may be a weapon? Please look, it appears to be an ordinary box, but there are several blades inside, and they spin quickly when you turn this horizontal pole.”

“My, how intriguing. What an interesting mechanism. I do not believe it to be a weapon, either. How would you use it to attack?”

“You’d grab the enemy’s hand, put it in the box and... turn... the handle?” the soldier suggested, realizing as he spoke just how unlikely it sounded and slowly trailing off.

“That would be an implement of torture, not a weapon,” Aura chuckled. “Well, it may be dangerous depending on its use, but I do not believe it to have been made for an offensive attack, so put it back where you found it.”

“At once!”

Zenjirou’s ice crusher, given the ignominious label of a potential torture device, was placed safely back where it had come from.

As the process progressed, more and more things that the locals had absolutely no understanding of came to light. The huge number of soap bars that he’d stocked up on, his toothbrushes, his mosquito coils...

He’d brought several LED lights, which were at least similar in appearance to the large candlesticks that this world had, so the queen and her people had some general idea of their use. There was nothing in Zenjirou’s possession in which to place a candle or oil lamp, though, so they, too, were ultimately mysteries.

As the items were inspected, a maid came over with the open rucksack that Zenjirou had been wearing. “Your Majesty, this mostly contains water, food, blankets, and clothing.”

“Food and water?” Aura asked, thinking for several moments before nodding in understanding, “Ah, I see. The bag must have been prepared as a special measure for any unforeseen occurrences. I did not, in fact, explain to him what would happen if the summoning failed.”

If the magic had failed, then it simply wouldn’t have activated. That meant Zenjirou’s emergency preparations had been in vain, but if one had to be judged at fault for that, it would be Aura.

“Curses, I caused him undue worry. I must apologize later... Hmm? What is it? Is there something else?” Aura realized that the woman holding the rucksack was behaving strangely, and her face was pale.

“Y-Yes,” the maid answered faintly, her face still pale, “L-Look at this.”

She removed two small pouches from the rucksack and presented them to Aura.

“Hmm, let’s see...” She casually opened the pouches and looked inside, only for her reddish-brown eyes to open wide as a gasp left her mouth.

The first pouch was stuffed with colorful, transparent jewels the size of a fingertip, and the second sparkled multi-chromatically with countless small objects with holes in the middle.

They were marbles and beads, another of Zenjirou’s precautions. He’d thought of something he could exchange for money in case he happened to end up adrift in some other part of the world. It couldn’t be something too bulky, so he had settled on beads and marbles, remembering that there wasn’t a single shard of glass to be seen within the palace.

It did make him feel a bit like he was treating the people of this world as uncultured savages, and he wasn’t fond of that feeling. However, needs must, and if he could trade a marble for a night of shelter, or some beads for a meal, he’d be happy to have them on hand.

At least, that had been his line of thought, but he had wildly mistaken the value of such items. While marbles were mere toys in Japan, they would be worth far more than a few coins here. Perfect spheres of glass almost without visible air bubbles, they could certainly be considered on par with jewels.

There were actually glass beads on Earth which had historical value, and were traded for over 1,000,000 yen apiece. Then again, the beads and marbles that Zenjirou had brought were nothing like that. They were the type of item you could get a bag of for a few hundred yen a pop. But with glassmaking not being a known art in this world, their value was far greater than he had imagined.

“Put them back carefully,” she ordered.

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” The maid took the pouches back and returned them to the pocket of the rucksack as gently as if she were handling a bomb.

The long process of checking Zenjirou’s luggage was finally coming to an end. Once the number of soldiers and attendants lining the walls to stay out of the way became noticeable, Aura called out to the room at large.

“Is there nothing more to review?”

She’d already received reports on the majority of the items present, so she was fairly certain there would be nothing more of interest, but felt that it was best to get confirmation.

Her eyes found their way to a soldier standing over an open suitcase. He visibly stiffened at her gaze and quickly stuffed something into the case.

“Hold! What did you just conceal?! Don’t move; slowly remove your right hand from the case!” she ordered loudly in an accusatory tone. What was that? Did he slip some sort of poison into my groom’s luggage?!

The people in this room had been carefully selected, but was there a traitor among them? Aura’s severe gaze pierced the suspicious-looking soldier.

“Y-Your Majesty! I have done no—”

“Save your excuses! Be silent and remove your hand,” she interrupted sharply.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He seemed to realize that going against her was meaningless and slowly removed his right hand from the case. There was a bright red cloth gripped in his fist, just as Aura had seen a moment before.

“What is that? Turn this way and unfold it.”

“Y-Your Majesty. This, is, um...”

“Unfold it,” she said forcefully, in a voice that brooked no further resistance.

The other soldiers, watching the situation play out from around the room, readied themselves, taking up short spears and swords from the wall and encircling the man who was currently under suspicion. The maids stopped their work and took refuge by the walls, behind the armed guards.

The air was thick with tension, and the room was painfully silent. They could hear the sound of someone gulping nervously.

The soldier at the center of it all heaved a sigh like he was giving up something precious as he unfurled the red cloth before his queen.

It was a thin gown—a woman’s negligee.

Aura stared silently at the soldier through the cloth. And it really was through it... The soldier was holding it up in front of his face, but she could still see him through the fabric.

It was a type of fabric that in no way covered the body from sight. Aura stared speechlessly at the sheer article of clothing for a rather long period of time before calmly questioning the soldier. “Was that amongst my groom’s things?”

“Yes,” the man replied after a short pause, with the briefest possible wording. He had sworn his loyalty to the queen, and he would not lie.

The tension unraveled. The silence was pitiful. And now a gulp of arousal was heard from somewhere in the room.

In the middle of all that, Aura was standing with her head bowed, trying to suppress her feelings until she finally reached her limit, and her laughter suddenly filled the silent room.

“Ahahaha... I see, I see indeed. My apologies for the mistrust,” she said to the uncomfortable soldier.

“Not at all; my duties are to you,” was all he could offer in reply. Having considered the situation more calmly, he realized it was only natural that his attempt to hide something from her would have put him under suspicion. What a disaster, though. They had found lascivious clothing, clearly meant for a woman, within the queen’s husband’s possessions. The owner of those garments, and the woman that said owner was planning to give them to, was clear at a glance.

“I offer you my most sincere apologies for my suspicious actions and rash behavior,” he said, lowering his head meekly with the negligee still in his hand, spurring on Aura’s amusement even more.

“Do not let it concern you. As I said, it was I who was at fault. Forget it. Still, though, to think that such a thing was within his luggage... Ahaha,” her shoulders shook with laughter as she wiped the tears from her eyes before muttering, “Well, it would certainly appear he is indeed a man.”

She continued to laugh about it for some time, unconcerned with behaving so freely in front of her subordinates.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Later that evening, Zenjirou was sitting on a doubtlessly expensive sofa that was covered in black leather. His things were to be brought to this room and he was currently speaking with Aura.

“So, all my things are allowed within the inner palace?” he asked, having just been informed of the results of the security check. There was a clear expression of relief on his face as that fact was confirmed.

“Indeed. There are several items that I wish you to explain the functions of, but everything, including those, will be brought to the inner palace within the day... apart from the alcohol, which is already being stored in the wine cellar,” she explained with a placid nod from her place on the sofa facing him.

The scarlet light coming in through the open window from the setting sun shone crimson off her red hair. His breath was taken away by the sight of her before he suddenly remembered a question that had been on his mind.

“I don’t mind. The alcohol would have gone bad if it was just left where it was. But who moved it? I thought there were supposed to be no men besides me in the inner palace?”

The suitcases were one thing, but the two-meter-tall fridge and the generator were just too heavy. Maybe they had “power maids” who dealt with manual labor?

Aura waved her hand as those thoughts went through his head and answered easily. “Oh, we brought in trusted soldiers from the palace guard to do so. There are strict rules about men entering the inner palace, but there is a certain flexibility for temporary entry. Otherwise, we would have to find female masons and carpenters. You don’t think that the building itself or the fountains within the gardens require no maintenance, do you?” she asked teasingly.

Zenjirou accepted her explanation with an, “Ah, right.”

There were certainly problems that couldn’t be solved with women alone. Sticking strictly to a “no men allowed” policy in those cases would make the inner palace a much more difficult place to live.

That was good news to Zenjirou. If he could borrow some manpower, there were things he wanted to get done quickly.

“In that case, can I borrow some male workers? I brought something called a hydroelectric generator and I’d like to set it up in the gardens somewhere, to make use of the water there,” he requested, leaning forward on the sofa in the dimming light.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The sole purpose of Yamai Zenjirou’s presence in this world was for him to marry Queen Aura. Therefore, one could call it destiny that he was unable to escape the intensive preparations for that very ceremony after spending the night alone in a gargantuan bed within the unfamiliar surroundings of the inner palace.

Their wedding was to begin in fifteen days’ time and would continue around the clock for five days after that. It was an awfully short period in which to both plan and hold the ceremony for a royal marriage.

The preparations had probably started a month before, once he had accepted her proposal, but a month and a half still only came to forty-four days, which was exceptionally short for a reigning monarch’s wedding.

A kingdom the size of Capua would usually take at least a year to plan such a ceremony for a royal of direct lineage. That time frame would allow them to notify the nobility and royalty of domestic as well as foreign regions, permitting as many dignitaries as possible to attend, and allowing the event to be as extravagant as possible in order to show off their prestige.

A royal wedding was no mere celebration. It was an opportunity to gather influential people from across the lands, and an opportunity for hidden diplomacy.

With under two months to plan, however, they would at best be able to gather their own dignitaries, and those from abroad would likely not be able to make the necessary schedule adjustments in time to attend. Most would be able to send proxies, but that would be the extent of their participation. It was impossible to say that it would serve much use for hidden politicking. Frankly, it was a rather wasteful method.

The reason that Aura was pushing the wedding through, despite her awareness of these downsides, was that she didn’t want to take long enough for anyone to interfere with it. This was, after all, the first time a reigning queen would marry. An event without precedent, it would be simple for others to find faults with her plan.

There was no question that her marriage would complicate the power structure of the country. And to make matters worse, Zenjirou had such strong ties with the royal family that even if he had children with other women, the space-time magic would likely be passed down in any case.

If Aura’s estimations were correct, even Zenjirou would be able to use space-time magic eventually if he were taught how, so as far as matters of lineage were concerned, he was very close to being directly descended from royalty himself. She could foresee at least one or two families suggesting that she remain single as a figurehead for a while, until a child between their own daughter and Zenjirou could take the throne.

Aura didn’t consider her own political skills so lowly that she would be overcome by these kinds of heavy-handed methods, but it was better to avoid trouble wherever possible. So, with those thoughts in mind, she had decided to have an exceptionally short planning phase and to keep things small-scale as a result.

“Um... this is small-scale?” Zenjirou muttered as he sat in a room of the inner palace, having been told everything the night before.

“Did you say something, Master Zenjirou?”

There were several maids around where he was seated on a chair made from woven vines, all holding colorful fabric and dazzling jewels as they happily debated the merits of each.

As he could surmise from the evening dress that Aura wore, and the uniform-like clothes the maids had on, there was a spreading culture of western dress within the kingdom, but it seemed to be a fairly recent fad imported from another country. Marriages and other official duties called for more traditional attire.

They were currently deciding what kind of turban-type thing Zenjirou would wear for the ceremony, as well as the pin that would hold it in place.

The five-day wedding would include parading the two of them about the capital within a carriage, and it was the norm for nobles to wear a turban-like garment when they were outside in Capua.

He thought back to Amanda asking him what kind of turban he preferred and, utterly lacking any knowledge of the fashions of this world, he had left it entirely up to the maids.

Said maids had gotten quite fired up over that opportunity and had been with him ever since.

“No, nothing at all; carry on.”

“At once, sir.”

He’d been sitting there for over an hour now, and there was no sign of a resolution to the turban matter in sight. In addition, the maids in charge of choosing the ceremonial sword and belt he would wear on the day-of were lurking in the background, awaiting their turn. The whole day would probably be spent in this fashion.

I got permission to borrow some soldiers, and I’d like to get the generator set up as quickly as possible...

He remained utterly motionless to make the maids’ jobs easier as he sighed internally. He had only been in the inner palace for a day, but already felt a keen sense of longing at being cut off from modern conveniences.

The maids, however, knew nothing of their master’s thoughts and were devoting themselves to choosing items that would live up to his expectations. Their demeanors told him that they thought of his shame as their own, so he couldn’t explain that he had other things he wanted to do and to hurry it up.

He still felt uncomfortable, but it was easier without feeling pressured to put on as many airs as yesterday. He’d talked with Aura about it the previous night and she had told him, “Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I do not mind if you speak in the way that is most comfortable to you while in the inner palace. But the attendants may be uneasy if you’re too polite.”

She had told him that the inner palace was a personal space for the royal family, and that the attendants there would take his own preferences into consideration, since mentally tiring out their liege with formalities was contrary to their goal of maximizing his comfort.

Such an opportunity was most welcome to him, and he had immediately switched back to speaking as he normally would. The maids were thrown a bit at first, but soon got used to how he spoke and conversed with him in a more relaxed fashion in turn.

“The flying dragon pin with ruby eyes would seem to be the best choice. To match well with what you wear on the day of the wedding, I would recommend a white turban.”

They seemed to have finally come to a decision.

“Right, let’s try that, then,” he said, suppressing a sigh of relief.

“At once, sir, excuse me,” she said, her joy at having her suggestions accepted quite evident as she wrapped the turban around his head with practiced movements.

Whoa, it’s like magic, Zenjirou thought as he looked at the garment now covering his head. It had been nothing more than a wide strip of fabric until mere moments before.

The maid who had wrapped it around him finally finished weaving the pin directly above the center of his forehead through the layers of cloth. “How do you like it, Master Zenjirou?” she asked him proudly.

Zenjirou turned his head to and fro, looking at it from different angles in front of the mirror. He saw the younger maids try to get a peek but they were rebuffed by their seniors.

“Yeah, that works,” he answered calmly, suppressing his laughter at the scene before him.

On the subject of the mirror, this world only knew of looking glasses that were made by polishing silver or bronze, or filling a metal bowl with water to create a reflective surface, so the glass mirror that he had brought with him had made quite an impact.

He’d primarily bought it for shaving and brushing his teeth, so it was big enough that it easily reflected his whole face. He couldn’t imagine how much it would cost to make a mirror of this size from bronze, let alone silver. The metal had to have no defects or imperfections, so increasing the size even slightly would increase the cost exponentially.

Of course, more than anything else, there was a large difference in the reflectivity of metal versus glass mirrors. For someone used to the vague images from a metal mirror, the glass must have looked like a window to another world.

“I’m glad. I would like to propose this turban and pin for the day, then,” the maid said after recovering from an elbow to the ribs from one of her coworkers, and the other maids smiled widely in agreement. A collection of beauties like that smiling all around him really did make things feel much lighter.

“Next, then, I thought we could move on to choosing the ceremonial blade and belt. Is that to your liking?”

“Sure... I’ll leave it to you,” he nodded, forcing a smile onto his face as he accepted his fate of being used as a dress-up doll for another hour or so.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

As with the days leading up to his move, time spent busily in this new world went by in a flash. Just over two weeks had passed since he had made the transition, and his wedding had arrived in the midst of the chaos.

There was a large hall in the palace of the Capua Kingdom that was only used for marriages between royals, or nobles of similar status. It was called the Hall of the Dragon King.

The floor of the room was covered with a carpet depicting an ancient dragon in a rich red color. The material was so thick that if you stood barefoot on it, you would sink up to your ankles. It was a remnant of a time when the norm was to sit directly on the floor.

Nowadays, the cultural norms of the Northern Continent had made their way as far as Capua, so the palace had chairs and tables, and people would rarely sit upon the floor itself anymore, but carpets that offered the option of such comfort were a simple way of demonstrating one’s wealth and influence. With that in mind, you could say that having an absurdly large and thick carpet made the Hall of the Dragon King quite well suited to a royal wedding.

Of course, only families who enjoyed a certain degree of status were even allowed to set foot in the magnificent space. The enormous room had several round tables where nobles would gather in their separate factions and sit together.

However, it seemed like this particular wedding was not meant to be a terribly strict ceremony. While there was no food at the tables yet, drinks and the like were being provided, and the aristocracy quenched their thirst and chattered away.

The topics of conversation naturally centered on the marriage that was to take place that day between their queen, Aura, and the mysterious Zenjirou.

“How daring of Our Majesty to marry a man from another world!”

“Truly. What kind of person might he be?”

“There may be no secondary royals within the kingdom to object to her husband, but...”

“The real question is, how much mana does he possess?”

“The rumors at least suggest that he would not shame the royal family.”

“Oh?! That would be most fortuitous were it truly the case.”

“Indeed. It may even be possible for women other than Her Majesty to be invited into the inner palace, to increase the number of those who carry royal blood.”

While the nobles indulged in their gossip, a young man in a civil official’s uniform appeared from the antechamber. He strode over to a large gong that was set up in the corner, picked up a wooden mallet and slammed it against the metal.

The reverberating echo quieted the crowd and drew their attention. With all eyes on him, the young official proclaimed loudly, “We shall now proceed with the marriage between Their Majesties: the one true ruler of our great nation, born from time and space, our magnanimous, sagacious Queen Aura I, and His Royal Highness Zenjirou Yamai.

“Their Majesties will now enter!”

The surrounding nobles fell utterly silent at those words, their expectant faces turning to look at the entrance to the great hall. Just what would the queen’s rumored groom be like? The high-ranking nobles looked on with calculating gazes, and those of lower ranks seemed more curious than anything else, eagerly awaiting the entrance of their new king.

Before long, the couple appeared at the door. The path from the entrance to the dais was lit by shafts of sunlight shining into the room, and that was no coincidence. The Hall of the Dragon King had been specially optimized for such impressive marriages. The schedule, too, had been adjusted so that the couple would make their entrance at just the right moment and have their path lit up by the sun.

Zenjirou fought the urge to shut his eyes as he stepped into the bright light, walking slowly into the room. Ugh, it’s no good. If I look around, I’m going to go crazy! he thought to himself as he felt many gazes converge on him at once.

The hall was filled to the brim with finely-dressed nobles, all of them looking straight at him, so he forced himself to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. He was actually rather grateful for the sunlight streaming in, as it made it harder to see all the eyes that were set on him.

Aura linked arms with him as they walked through the hall, step by step. She was resplendent in her wedding gown, and Zenjirou wore a belt and an ornamental sword over a black suit.

Astute observers would have noticed the effort the pair were putting into their movements, both making sure that neither of them stepped forward before the other, walking perfectly in sync.

If Aura walked ahead, she would receive a bad reputation as a woman who stood before her man. If Zenjirou were to do the same, he’d give the image of an outsider guiding the queen. The precise way in which they walked was just one of many things that royalty needed to pay careful attention to.

Without scrutinizing things so closely, though, Aura looked like a woman full of happiness, dressed to the nines in her wedding gown.

She was wearing a sleeveless white dress. The skirt wasn’t long enough for a train, even if it did flare out, and it was woven with freshly picked flowers rather than decorated with lace. While there were slight differences, the beautiful outfit could pass for a wedding dress even on Earth.

Come to think of it, a wedding kimono and a Western dress are both white, Zenjirou thought to himself.

Wondering if white being the color for newlyweds was a practice that spanned worlds in addition to Earthly borders, he managed to take his mind off the probing gazes coming from either side as Aura placed her right hand on his left arm.

Zenjirou was wearing a black suit that he had brought with him just in case, which was usually used for family events. Standing next to Aura’s magnificent ensemble, her head topped with a crown, it might have looked a little shabby, but there was no way around it.

The country was built around the concept of the man being the head of the family, and there was no precedent for someone marrying a reigning queen. Zenjirou’s clothing and behavior on the dais were a matter of hot debate. Or rather, there was no consensus at all on what the appropriate etiquette for such an event should be.

Capuan custom dictated that he, as the husband, should be even more splendidly dressed than Aura. But as she was currently the reigning monarch, she was expected to carry out the ceremony in her crown jewels. Despite being the man, if he dressed more majestically than her, it would call the absoluteness of her rule into question. On the other hand, if he wore less ostentatious clothing, people would accuse them of making light of the country’s traditions.

In the end, Aura had used the fact that Zenjirou was from another world to obfuscate matters. Allowing him to wear clothing from his homeworld would be seen as an expression of the respect he was due as her husband.

Technically, the black suit he had brought along was sufficient for attending such a ceremony as a guest back on Earth, but it was not something that a groom would normally wear. However, Zenjirou was the only one who knew that, so he merely needed to keep quiet about it and they had found a solution to the Capuan cultural concerns.

At present, he was more concerned about the aromatic oil that had been used to slick his short hair into a side-part. The whole ceremony would take place indoors, so he was glad not to need the turban but was less enthusiastic about having his hair styled with the strange-smelling oil to make up for it.

Argh, so itchy, and it reeks. I just wanna wash it all off...

As his nerves faded, those discomforts started taking up more of his thoughts. He continued to focus on walking slowly, resisting the growing urge to scratch his head and shield his eyes.

The vast majority of the local nobles had their gazes directed not on the familiar sight of Queen Aura, but on the man who would become her husband.

“Oh, so that’s him.”

“He does indeed have a fair abundance of mana.”

“It seems rather likely that the inherent magic will indeed be passed on.”

“Not only that, it seems possible we should expect a child with another woman to also inherit that magic.”

“Which would mean the inner palace will—”

“No, no, it is far too soon for such speculation. His character is the question.”

“I understand that he shut himself up within the inner palace for the half-month he has been here and has barely been seen.”

“So, he’s to be a spouse of convenience for her?”

“We shall see about that.”

“If we at least had some inkling of his tastes, it could be an opportunity to get close to him.”

“This is merely a rumor, but he supposedly has a liking for sheer red...”

Zenjirou focused solely on the warmth from Aura’s hand on his arm so that he could ignore the stabbing looks that surrounded him as he proceeded through the great hall on stiff legs. As he walked on, the distance between the nobles and himself decreased. Their point-blank inquisitiveness made his nerves skyrocket.

Crap, I can’t feel my legs!

He couldn’t even tell if he was on the thick carpet or hard stones at this point. He had never thought that walking in a straight line could be so difficult.

Shit, I’m gonna fall. I’m totally gonna fall!

His face drew tight as he felt a cold sweat run down his neck, but his bride avoided the danger for him. Noticing that he was about to lose his balance, she supported him under the pretense of holding onto his arm, keeping him firmly upright.

Ah?! Phew...

As a member of the royal family, Aura had spent her life in the public eye and was now a queen. Zenjirou, on the other hand, had been a run-of-the-mill office drone until now. It was only to be expected that she was far more used to this type of environment, but he still felt pathetic needing his bride’s help to walk across a room.

This new train of thought had an upside, at least. While obsessing over his actions, Zenjirou had forgotten about all the eyes on him and regained the ability to keep his balance as he walked. At last, they reached the aging priest awaiting them on the dais and came to a stop before him.

The countries of the Southern Continent practiced animism almost without exception. There were genuine spirits that existed and blessed the people with magic, so there wasn’t much opportunity for other religions to develop. There were some who believed in the ancient dragons that were said to once exist, but here in the Kingdom of Capua, they were in the minority.

That said, even with the more common animistic religions, there was no central organization whose influence transcended borders. The main duty of the priests in this world was to perform marriages just like this.

“May the blessings of the countless spirits be ever upon this pair. May you listen to the voices of your ancestors should you encounter hardships within your lives. May the husband protect the wife, and the wife support the husband...”

The priest’s benedictions continued in a drone from the dais. It seemed the generic wedding blessings weren’t all that different between the two worlds. But this world had magic, so Zenjirou thought it possible that the blessings here had actual power behind them, although he’d been told otherwise when he’d asked.

The ceremony soon left Zenjirou behind, his nerves overtaking him once more and barely allowing him to absorb the priest’s words.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Later that night, the newlyweds were seated upon sofas on either side of a table in the inner palace, each appreciating the other’s exhaustion.

“Whew, we got through it,” Zenjirou sighed.

Aura chuckled. “You must be tired, my husband. Well, it is much the same for me.”

After the three-hour ceremony, they’d had to participate in a two-hour event called a “debut.” If the official marriage ceremony was meant to present them as a couple to the high-class nobles, the debut served to do the same for the mid- and lower-class nobles who were not permitted to attend the first celebration.

It was a simple affair, consisting only of waving from a balcony to those enjoying a buffet being held in the garden below, but two hours of that was tiring in and of itself. Zenjirou, not used to such show and pomp, was quite drained by it all, but the same was true for Aura, having supported him throughout the day.

Zenjirou didn’t even have the wherewithal to decline the servants’ aid in bathing as he usually did. Or, more accurately, the maid in charge of the baths had refused to allow him to bathe alone once she saw his weary expression.

Indeed, despite the baths in the inner palace being large and luxurious, they were not as refined as those of modern Japan. There were no showers or mirrors. The floor, paved with huge stones, was certainly beautiful but horrendously slippery when you were wet with soap and water. As a result, bathing alone when one was tired could be dangerous.

After getting through their baths, Zenjirou and Aura had collapsed onto the sofas in comfortable, casual clothing, finally released from the formalities of the day.

Aura was wearing a nightgown with a deep slit that ran up to her hips, and Zenjirou was wearing striped blue pajamas that he’d brought from his own world. They were awfully informal garments, but the two were now officially married, after all. There was no problem with a man and woman about to consummate their marriage wearing such laid-back attire in front of each other.

That said, every time he caught a glimpse of her legs through the slit in the nightgown, Zenjirou couldn’t help but be all too aware of it. He would finally be taking the beguiling woman before him into his arms that very night.

Crap, I can’t even tell if I’m horny or nervous.

“It’s... hot. Would you like something to drink as well, ma’am?” he asked in an effort to hide his nerves, rising from the sofa.

“Yes, I believe I would.”

“Right, I’ll open a bottle of wine, then. The bottle of red broke during the trip, unfortunately, but the white and rosé are fine.”

Zenjirou headed across the room to where the fridge was humming quietly. He had eventually managed to get the micro-hydroelectric generator successfully set up in the inner palace gardens.

As expected, there was a bit of a drop in output from when the professionals had first installed it back in Japan, but it was enough to run all the main appliances he had brought.

The fridge was set up in one corner, and there was a TV farther along the wall. The room was lit by six floor lamps, all of which were currently running smoothly.

He took a bottle of white wine from the fridge along with two glasses from the cupboard next to it, then returned to the sofa where his new wife was waiting.

I’m screwed. I’m not proud of it, but I haven’t had a girlfriend since second year at uni. I’ve got no idea how to set the mood.

His dating history consisted solely of a single girlfriend during his second year at university, which had lasted only a year. So, while he was no virgin and had not spent his entire life single, he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t used to being with women.

“Here you are,” he said, placing a glass in front of Aura before heading back to the other sofa with the second glass still in his hand.

It was then that Aura spoke up. “Sir Zenjirou, would it not please you to perhaps sit here rather than over there?” She patted the seat next to her.

He stuttered in shock, the wineglass still in his hand. “Oh? But, that’s, umm...”

“It is fine, is it not? We are now a married couple. No one would object to our sitting together.”

Continued hesitation felt wrong after that. “Right, excuse me, then,” he replied with a nod, sitting down next to her. Their thighs locked comfortably together and silence fell.

Aah, this is way too close.

Sitting leg-to-leg on a sofa that would easily seat five large adults felt awkward. Then again, purposefully sitting farther away would have been equally uncomfortable. As Aura had said, they were husband and wife now. There was no reason to avoid contact while they were alone.

Zenjirou started to panic. I’ve gotta say something!

But it was Aura who spoke in her usual calm voice, sipping her wine as her husband frantically searched for a topic of conversation.

“These ‘electrical appliances’ you brought are truly magnificent. Such illumination and cooling! It almost feels as if we are in the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gillbelle.”

She looked at the lights around the room as she spoke. The lamps were large, each about the size of a person, and used LED lights. He had brought eight of them to this world, each requiring three bulbs. There were currently six set up in the living room, with two more in the bedroom.

The six sets of bulbs at full brightness lit the room as well as anything in modern Japan, though with the lighting coming from floor lamps rather than from above, the illumination was somewhat uneven.

Since lighting was a big part of the mood, there were two lamps specially placed near the sofa.

Zenjirou gave a pained smile at her obvious effort to help him out. “They are. When we weren’t preparing for the wedding, I spent most of my time getting the generator set up,” he said somewhat proudly.

His only form of “work” since arriving had been to install the generator in the gardens and run the cord connecting it up to his room. The actual lifting and carrying, along with the task of physically connecting the generator’s tank to the fountain and moving the stones of the wall to pass the cord through it had all been down to the soldiers that Aura had arranged for him.

The temperatures that month had soared above 35°C (and it didn’t just feel that way, it was what the thermometer he’d brought actually said)—hot enough to be midsummer in Japan. Zenjirou had drawn up the plans to safely move the generator and install it, explained the process to the workers, and given directions throughout... all in that blistering heat.

Considering the reason Aura had chosen him to be her husband, he knew that being in contact with so many people and demonstrating leadership was something he should refrain from, but he’d had no choice on that occasion. It wasn’t a job that could have been done if merely left to the people of this world.

The generator transformed the kinetic energy of the falling water into electricity, so the tank had to be higher than the turbine. To accomplish that, they’d packed dirt beneath the tank to raise it up. But then the intake mechanism couldn’t actually pick up any water. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

Once they’d finally gotten it to a point—with much trial and error—where there was a sufficient flow of water to produce a constant supply of electricity, he’d fist-pumped and yelled in triumph in spite of what the people around him thought. His hard work had paid off. The fridge, lights, and even computer were all working well.

“Your efforts have indeed shown their value. Chilled alcohol is surprisingly pleasant,” Aura noted, draining her glass in a single draft and placing it silently on the table. She chuckled softly, then used both of her hands to pull his right arm into the valley between her breasts, coquettishly resting her head on her new husband’s shoulder.

His right arm was enveloped by a soft feeling. He felt her hot, moist breath pass along the nape of his neck as the scent of the citrus shampoo he had brought over wafted from her red hair. The sensations sent his head spinning.

“Guh. A-Ah, r-right, you said something about Twin Kingdoms earlier? They have appliances like these?”

A chuckle rumbled up from the back of Aura’s throat at his nervous babbling, even as she answered his question.

“Indeed, the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gillbelle. It is a large territory that is ruled somewhat unusually by two royal families, the Sharou family, in possession of conferral magic, and the Gillbelle family, with healing magic. The territories stand astride the center of the Southern Continent. It is the only country where it is possible to create magic items, and they use light orbs to illuminate the palace, wind orbs to cool the area when it is too hot, and fire orbs to stay warm when it is cooler.

“Of course, you may learn this sort of information at any point you wish. But, Sir Zenjirou, there is one thing that has me feeling most unsatisfied.”

Aura suddenly took his face with both hands and pulled him around to look at her.

“W-W-W-What would that be, ma’am?” he stammered, looking at her face from so close that it wasn’t even in focus.

“Exactly that. You speak so formally with me and call me ‘ma’am.’ Can you not stop that now? It is not your usual way of speaking, is it? We are now husband and wife. It may be too much for me to expect you to change immediately, but these things only become natural by doing. What do you say? Will you speak with me as you normally would?”

She was right, of course; Zenjirou still spoke to her quite formally. Once he regained his wits somewhat, he managed an answer.

“That’s true, actually... but, you’re the same, Aura, ma’am.”

“I always speak in this way. I am hardly humbling myself. But, yes, I suppose calling my husband ‘Sir’ in private is rather standoffish. In that case, may I simply call you Zenjirou?” She smiled gently and waited as her husband’s gaze remained fixed on her soft lips and earnest expression.

“Oh, yes. I mean... yeah, sure.”

“Thank you, Zenjirou,” she said, her smile widening at his answer. “And would you call me by my name as well?”

Her insistence made it seem like that had been part of their agreement all along, even though no such prior understanding had been reached. Perhaps it was to be expected from a queen who was raised around the art of negotiation.

Zenjirou was overwhelmed by her. “A-Aura...” he said.

“Zenjirou.”

“Aura.”

The couple was face to face as they murmured each other’s names, their breath tickling each other’s cheeks. They were a man and woman who had agreed to become one that night. Who was the first to bring their lips to the other’s?

“Ngh...”

“M-mngh...”

Whatever the case, their mouths met almost as if they had planned it from the start. At the same time, Zenjirou’s arms encircled the queen, and hers smoothly twined around the back of his neck.

“Ngh, nngh, nnnnngh...”

“Ah... mng... ngh.”

Their lips met frenziedly in their affectionate embrace.

“Phwah!”

“Aahh...”

Eventually, their passionate kissing came to a close, both of them separating almost simultaneously. However, their embrace would not end so quickly.

Her lips now away from his, Aura rested her chin on his shoulder and tightened her grip, whispering maddeningly into his ear, “I shall retire to the bedroom. There are things a woman must get in order first, so follow once you have counted slowly to one hundred.”

With that, she slipped from his arms and stood up.

“What? A... Aura?”

The queen turned her head to look at him as he reflexively reached out for her, and gave him a sultry smile.

“Fear not, I shall not take flight. Count to one hundred, and I shall be waiting for you inside.”

She left those words hanging in the air as she slipped through the door into the bedchamber.

The first thing that Aura did after disappearing into the bedroom was close the door behind her with a deep breath. She then headed straight to the side of the bed and flicked the switch on one of the lamps. Zenjirou had shown her how to use them, but turning it on herself made the sense of wonder well up once more.

The bulbs in the room weren’t white, but a warm orange like an incandescent light. Zenjirou had said that it suited the bedroom mood better, but Aura didn’t see the difference.

Despite everything, she thought back on her earlier actions in the orange-lit room and her cheeks reddened as her voluptuous body writhed.

“That was rather exciting... Is it the norm for couples to perform such happy and embarrassing acts each night?”

She wrapped her arms around herself, still clad in the sensual nightgown. Her heart was pounding and she felt hot all over, from her head to her toes, as if she had some sort of fever.

“Surely Sir Zenjirou did not notice? No, we were so close, he could hardly not... What should I do?!”

Her heart was racing and her skin was burning in anticipation of their first night together. Would he think her shameless? She was in such a state of disarray that she didn’t even notice she was referring to Zenjirou formally again.

It wasn’t surprising. Aura may have lived longer and risked her life on more occasions than Zenjirou, but in terms of experience with the opposite sex, she had even less than his one girlfriend. She was a true maiden.

Unlike the men of the royal family, who were often encouraged to spread their seed widely, the women were expected to accept the seed of a better bloodline and remain otherwise chaste as a rule. Therefore, an unmarried queen was inevitably thought of as being inexperienced in such matters.

Capuan culture placed the man at the helm of the relationship, so there would be no problem with admitting to that lack of experience and entrusting herself to Zenjirou. But even now her queenly dignity, or perhaps her conceit as his senior, kept her determined to feign composure.

She shed her red nightgown and went to climb atop the king-size bed, half-naked in nothing more than a small pair of shorts, when she suddenly realized, “It is... too bright.”

Even a single one of the LED lamps illuminated the bed rather clearly. Aura was used to her light coming from candles and oil lamps, so she couldn’t help but hesitate in embarrassment at having her first time be in such a brightly lit room.

“Hmm, perhaps this will moderate it,” she murmured, hanging the red fabric she had just slipped off over the lamp.

As she had hoped, the brightness was sufficiently diminished, but the light passing through the red cloth gave the room a somewhat obscene atmosphere.

“Well, I suppose I cannot concern myself too much with it.”

Her husband was liable to enter the room at any moment, so she couldn’t dither for too long. Resolved, she climbed onto the bed and arranged herself in the center. Then she started taking deep breaths to make herself at least appear calm and slow her racing heart, maintaining that effort for some time.

The silence was eventually broken by a knock at the door, and she flinched nervously.

“Hi, can I come in now?”

Aura took one more deep breath when she heard her husband’s voice through the door, and used her usual, cool voice to answer.

“You may indeed, enter and be welcome, Zenjirou.”

“E-Excuse m—” Zenjirou hesitantly pushed the door open and stepped inside, his words catching as he caught sight of Aura illuminated by the reddish-orange lights.

Her upper half was resting on the pillows as she lay upon the large bed. She had slipped her lower half under a thin, towel-like cloth, although the lines of her naked body were clearly visible. Her upper body was covered only by her hair, which was splayed across her breasts, barely hiding anything beneath.

“My, are you going to stand there all night, Zenjirou? You need not be shy. Come to me, and let us spend our night in passion.”

Not an ounce of her previous agitation could be seen as she offered her salacious invitation.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Phew...”

Their consummation safely completed, Zenjirou threw his sweaty body back onto the bed. The rush of activity between them in the sweltering night had significantly drained his energy, but his mind was racing.

The intimacy with his new wife had been such a charming experience that he would have immediately agreed to a second round if their bodies were ready for it.

“Hah, hah, hah, hahh...” The queen, on the other hand, was breathing roughly at his side, unable to even look in his direction.

Sex would ordinarily exhaust a man more than a woman, with the exception of certain positions. But it appeared the tension that Aura had felt over it being her first time had really taken it out of her. She should have had significantly more stamina than Zenjirou, yet was clearly quite drained.

Zenjirou still hadn’t fully softened, but his mind had cleared significantly after ejaculating. His eyes were drawn to his wife’s breasts as they heaved up and down with every breath, but he didn’t move to initiate a second round right away.

Still prone, he stretched his hand across the bed and picked up the gauze handkerchief and orange towel he had placed there beforehand. After wiping his crotch with the handkerchief, he used the towel to wipe off Aura as she breathed heavily.

“Oh? Ahh... My thanks,” she said, finally opening her eyes a bit at the soft sensation of the modern towel he’d brought as she thanked Zenjirou for his devotion.

“It’s fine. Are you okay? I wasn’t too rough?” he asked, wiping the pearls of sweat from her body.

Passing the towel over her soft breasts and the tempting lines of her abdomen, he felt his blood surging lustfully southward again, but kept himself in check. Going for it again with a woman still recovering from her first-ever sexual encounter was presumptuous, even if they were husband and wife.

Aura’s body seemed to remain quite sensitive after finishing, and she let out seductive cries each time the towel rubbed over her nipples or between her legs. But once he was done cleaning the sweat from her, she managed to muster the energy to look at him and speak.

“So, I suppose that is the end of it, no?” she asked, resting her head on the pillow and turning to gaze at him.

“Yeah, we’re more or less done. How was it, umm... for you?” he responded timidly, lying sideways on one hand. He realized a bit late that he had perhaps been a little aggressive earlier.

Aura smiled in the orange light with a grin that was somewhere between soft and reluctant. “Well, how to put it? It certainly was an unfamiliar sensation. It was my first such experience despite my years on the battlefields of both war and politics. The first experience that made me consider ‘surrender,’ that is,” she replied somewhat reproachfully.

“Ugh, umm... sorry.”

“It is nothing to apologize for. I am merely unused to these sensations, despite my appearance. I would appreciate it if you could make some allowances.”

“Yeah, of course... I will,” he said, feeling guilty at his wife’s words, although he had no confidence that he’d be able to keep that promise. He hadn’t meant to get so excited this time around, either, so there was honestly a chance of him unintentionally being just as aggressive the next time.

Perhaps sensing his thoughts, her reluctant smile deepened and she shrugged her naked shoulders with a sigh. “Well, it is inevitable. I suppose this is part of a wife’s duties. Besides, I have been with no other man but you, so this is no comparison to anyone, merely my own impression.”

“Hm? W-What?” he asked, filled with trepidation at the thought of what she would say.

“You are surprisingly pushy,” she told him bluntly, although not unkindly.

“Agh...”

Thinking back on his actions that night, he couldn’t contradict her. Unable to come up with a response, he buried his face in the sheets, sulking like a child.

“Have you calmed down now?” Aura asked a bit later, once Zenjirou had somewhat recovered from being branded a pushy pervert.

“Yeah, I guess,” he answered, lifting his face up from the sheets to look at her.

It seemed that Aura’s fatigue had abated while he had hidden in shame, and she was now lying next to him, holding her head up with her right arm as she watched him in amusement.

The sweat that had covered her body seemed to have evaporated as well. The temperature was in the high twenties tonight, so having wiped off the sweat, there would be no problem with sleeping naked.

“Then shall we turn in for the night? We have an early morning ahead of us,” she remarked, offering the suggestion now that her husband had finally met her gaze.

Their consummation had come and gone without drama. The marriage itself had been completed, but they were to be paraded about the city in the carriage the next day, and were expected to attend various other functions related to the wedding after that. It was important for them to be well rested.

“Yeah, let’s...” he nodded, with a regretful look at his wife’s voluminous breasts before suddenly remembering an important detail. “Oh, right! I forgot!”

“Zenjirou?” she asked, surprised to see him leaping from the bed.

“Wait right there, I’ll be back in a minute!” he told her, rushing out of the room.

“What is it?” Aura half-rose before he came back from the living room, still in the nude. The only difference was the blue velvet box in his hand.

Aura suddenly remembered him asking for a ring that fit her left ring finger before he’d briefly returned to his own world. “Ah, so that was why... I see.”

It was easy to imagine what was in the box. Zenjirou took her clothing off the lamp, bathing the room in its original brightness.

“Aura, would you please get up from the bed and stand in front of me? It won’t take long.”

“Very well,” she agreed, following his instructions, her heart racing even though she knew what he was planning to give her.

It was a different kind of excitement than the earlier feeling of joining with a man, and Aura stood before him brimming with that feeling. Naked, the pair faced each other in the glow of the lamp.

Zenjirou produced a ring with three diamonds embedded in its golden band. The Ring Exchange. Ordinarily, it would take place in front of a priest, while they were wearing a wedding dress and tuxedo, but their ceremony had followed Capuan traditions, so he hadn’t been able to bring it up before.

That said, waiting until the five days of ceremonies were over would kill the mood, so this felt like the right time to do it, now that they had consummated their union.

As he thought over the details, Zenjirou placed the ring he would give her in his hand and took a step towards her.

“This is a custom from my world. The bride and groom place a ring on each other’s left ring finger and vow to love each other forever. Aura, please hold out your left hand.”

“I understand. Does this work?”

Zenjirou took her left hand, which she held just in front of her chest, in his own. “I take thee to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, and with this ring, I do wed thee.”

As he vowed his eternal love, he slid the ring on. The gold band may have been colder than expected, as Aura flinched when it touched her skin, but she didn’t react otherwise, and the ring made its way smoothly to the base of her finger.

“Can you do the same?” he asked. “Here.”

“Yes... very well.”

He passed her a second ring with the same design as the one now upon her hand, but slightly larger. She held the ring silently for a moment, lost in thought, but eventually placed it onto his finger in the same way.

“Is this right?”

“Yeah. Thanks. We’re done now,” he said, smiling happily as he looked at the ring now adorning his hand in the lamp light. As someone from Earth, it really did make him feel like he was married now, far more than this world’s wedding ceremony. At any rate, he’d done what he had intended to do.

“Oaths upon ‘wedding rings’? An interesting custom. If we spread it properly, it may become the fashion here as well.”

He laughed. “I’d like that. We’d be the first couple to exchange them.”

“That would be amusing indeed.”

The two of them returned to the bed.

“Good night, Aura.”

“Yes, good night. I apologize, but we really are going to sleep now. If we were to do any more, it would get in the way of our duties tomorrow.”

“W-We won’t. It’s fine, I’m sleeping too.”

She considered teasing him further at his disappointed expression, but that would cut into their rest as well, so she decided against it.

“I’m turning the light off, then,” Zenjirou said, reaching out, and a moment later plunging the room into darkness.

“Aura...” he murmured.

“Zenjirou.”

The newlyweds’ hands naturally reached for each other at the center of the bed. The room was warm enough to be slightly uncomfortable even without clothing, but strangely, they considered the warmth of each other’s bodies pleasant.

Before long, they found themselves huddled together as deep, quiet breaths became the only noise in the room.