How I Ended Up Becoming the Imperial Princess While Trying to Pay Off an Illegal Loan - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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011.
Tamia may have lacked common sense compared to most people, but she wasn’t so foolish as to be ignorant of how a Wedding Night ought to proceed.
Besides, a chain—no matter how golden—conjured certain associations.
When Tamia thought of chains, the only image that came to mind was her father, binding monsters in iron shackles because he deemed them unusual specimens worth experimenting on.
But a golden chain on the Wedding Night?
‘Are they going to bind me in chains? Or my husband?’
“Tamia! I have no idea what you’re imagining, but—”
Leon’s voice barely managed to rein in Tamia’s runaway imagination.
“We’re simply connecting our wrists lightly! And it’s long enough that there’s hardly any restriction on movement. See for yourself.”
Leon hastily seized the golden chain that a servant had brought and dangled it before Tamia’s eyes.
It was indeed so thin it resembled thread more than chain.
“According to Imperial Tradition, when a couple spends the Wedding Night bound together by this chain, they will be blessed with eternal happiness. We’re simply observing that tradition.”
“Oh, so we can just break it then—”
Tamia, who had been speaking without thinking, suddenly realized the servant was still standing nearby and quickly changed course.
“—I mean, we should stay wonderfully connected! Haha, right?”
Phew, that was close.
Fortunately, the servant seemed not to have noticed Tamia’s slip.
In the process of covering up her blunder, Tamia had managed to forget her (?) anxiety about the Wedding Night altogether.
* * *
The sun set quickly, and night finally arrived.
The attendants scrubbed the dust from Tamia—who had been rolling around at the Hunting Tournament Grounds—until she gleamed, dressed her beautifully, and then doused her in rose-scented perfume.
“Are you trying to turn me into a perfume-marinated tin can?”
At the rate they were pouring it on, even a sufficiently powerful monster would asphyxiate.
“It is now complete.”
At last, the attendants set down the perfume bottle and brought forth the garment Tamia was to wear.
But the design of this garment was decidedly peculiar.
It was a white gown with the left sleeve open from shoulder to wrist, the arm crisscrossed and bound at intervals with ribbons.
“Why does this dress look like that? Did someone just hastily tie it together because the seams weren’t finished?”
“After binding Your Highnesses’ wrists with the golden chain, the gown is designed for easy removal.”
“Oh, I see. More delicate than I thought, isn’t it? The Imperial Palace truly wastes no detail!”
As Tamia fluttered the garment like butterfly wings in fascination, the attendants swept her away to yet another place.
This time it was a small room painted entirely white.
In the center of the room stood a priest cradling the golden chain in both hands, and beside him was Leon, dressed in a gown identical to Tamia’s, his expression rigid.
The biceps and forearms visible between the ribbon lacings were impressively defined.
‘What kind of training regimen would give you arms like that? Maybe I’ll ask him later.’
As Tamia found herself unable to tear her gaze from Leon’s arms, the priest’s solemn voice drew her attention back.
“Ahem, we congratulate Your Highnesses upon your union and shall now conduct the ceremony according to Imperial Tradition. Please extend your wrists.”
Still unable to look away from Leon’s arm, Tamia extended her right wrist when he extended his.
“…Your Highness, the Crown Princess—that is not the correct wrist.”
“Eh? …Oh!”
She had been too distracted by his forearm to pay proper attention.
Tamia quickly withdrew her right arm and extended her left, and the priest deftly bound the two wrists together with the golden chain.
She could have sworn she heard a faint sigh from the priest, but she decided to let it pass.
That wasn’t what mattered now!
“It is done. So long as this chain remains unbroken and unfastened, you shall enjoy Hundred Years Together. May you have a good night.”
The moment Tamia left the priest’s chamber, she turned to Leon with a question.
“Do all the Griffin Squadron members have forearms like that?”
“…Forearms, suddenly?”
Leon replied, bewildered.
“I’m curious what kind of training you do. Can I come watch the Griffin Squadron train tomorrow?”
“We do report to the Training Ground each morning, but…”
“Perfect! Then I’ll go to work with my husband.”
Leon found it impossible to follow the trajectory of Tamia’s thoughts.
Just as he was about to ask why on earth she was asking that, servants threw open the doors to the Bridal Chamber.
“Your Highnesses, we have arrived. Please enter.”
The moment Leon and Tamia stepped inside, the door closed behind them.
For an instant, silence fell between them.
The Bridal Chamber was furnished with an oppressively romantic atmosphere. The pink light cast by the Lighting Mado Device blazed so brightly it stung the eyes.
An enormous bed occupied one corner of the room—easily large enough for five people to lie upon—and its surface was carpeted entirely with crimson rose petals.
Tamia, who had been brimming with excitement at the prospect of accompanying Leon to the Training Ground, took an instinctive step backward at the sight.
‘That’s right, the Wedding Night…….’
The servants, unaware of the Contract Marriage’s true nature, had arranged what they believed to be a romantic atmosphere, but for Tamia, it was all terribly awkward.
‘I should have thought this through! When you marry, of course something like this happens! Stupid, stupid Tamia!’
She tugged at her hair, but that didn’t make the marriage disappear.
Then a fragment of memory drifted across her mind.
‘I said I’d keep my hands to myself for exactly one year and send her back untouched.’
‘I told Mother exactly that!’
Tamia whipped her head toward Leon and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Husband! You remember promising not to lay a finger on me, right? We can’t break that on the very first night of marriage?!”
“I’m afraid that will be difficult.”
Leon’s expression didn’t waver as he flatly refused her plea.
“……Why why why why?”
Tamia’s pupils trembled more violently than they had the first time she’d encountered a massive Monster.
“This Golden Chain is designed to be difficult to unfasten alone.”
Leon naturally grasped Tamia’s wrist and tugged at the chain.
Then he extended his own wrist toward her.
“You should try to unfasten mine.”
“Ah, ah yes! Right, aha.”
Embarrassment and awkwardness crashed over her at once.
Tamia hurriedly tried to unfasten the chain from Leon’s wrist when she suddenly froze in alarm.
“Wait—if I undo this, isn’t that wrong? What will the servants think tomorrow morning when they see it?”
“If you’re hoping for Hundred Years Together with me, you’re welcome to leave it as is.”
“No, no, that’s not it! I have to return to my family after one year anyway.”
Watching Tamia bounce up and shake her head vigorously, Leon felt something lukewarm settle in his chest, a quiet sinking sensation.
“Well, we can just tie it again before the servants burst in tomorrow morning.”
In truth, the binding with this chain was nothing but hollow tradition.
Even Leon’s own mother had died young, and the Emperor had a new woman at his side now.
‘A hundred chains wouldn’t matter. What was meant to break would break anyway.’
Leon held back a bitter smile beneath his breath.
“Husband…… you’re quite clever. I see—we can just tie it again in the morning.”
Meanwhile, Tamia wore an expression of fresh surprise.
“I’m always being told I’m foolish.”
“Who on earth has been saying that?”
“You did, Husband. You asked me how I could not recognize a Prince. Don’t you remember?”
As Tamia’s expression grew dejected, Leon quickly began to comfort her.
“That was because you didn’t know the Imperial Family’s distinctive traits, not because you lack intelligence. If a Prince from some unknown kingdom beyond the Astel Sea were to visit, I too would fail to guess his station—because I wouldn’t know.”
“But…… isn’t it a problem not to know so many things? I don’t know noble etiquette, and I always use my fork and knife in the wrong order.”
“I don’t know how to dispatch Monsters as efficiently as you do. While I barely manage one, you’ve already slain five or more, haven’t you?”
Leon countered her argument in a measured tone.
“Hmm, I suppose that’s true?”
“Everyone simply knows different things well, so there’s no need to feel so inferior…….”
As Leon worked earnestly to restore the self-assured Tamia he knew, he suddenly swallowed hard.
Without his noticing, the distance between them had closed far more than necessary.
Each time she nodded, her bangs brushed against the point of his jaw. A sweet apricot fragrance invaded his senses mercilessly.
‘When did we get this close?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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