Yuri's heart gave a sudden jolt when he realized he had not sensed her presence at all.
Since when was she standing that close...?
"Oh, Aina. Is everything ready?"
With a faint smile, Celine turned to the quietly waiting Aina.
"Yes, everything has been prepared. The carriage is ready as well."
"I see. Then let us be on our way."
At Celine's reply, Aina bowed politely, then cast a discreet glance toward the master of ceremonies.
He caught the signal at once and began moving, stepping up onto the dais.
Once there, he raised his voice so it would carry through the entire hall.
"Honored guests, thank you all for attending the Presentation Ceremony today."
His deep, dignified voice resounded through the great hall, and the room gradually fell silent.
"And now, Lady Celine and Lord Yuri will proceed to their new residence, where they shall perform the Wedding-Night Ceremony. Please send them off with your warmest applause."
The moment he said it, thunderous applause burst from the gathered guests, and the sound of their blessings filled the hall.
Wait, they're announcing it in front of everyone!?
While Yuri was still reeling, Celine rose with graceful ease and laid a hand lightly on his arm.
She wore a calm smile, the sort that seemed to see straight through his confusion.
Amid the applause, the two of them bowed, then slowly began to make their exit.
Behind Celine and Yuri came Lieselotte, Ophelia, and Aina.
Outside, a carriage was waiting. The servants stood in neat order, and everything had already been made ready for their departure.
When the carriage door was opened, Celine stepped in first in quiet elegance, and Yuri took the seat beside her.
Across from them sat Lieselotte and Ophelia. Both gazed quietly out at the scenery beyond the window, but there was an unmistakable restlessness about them.
Lieselotte let out a small sigh, while Ophelia awkwardly adjusted her hair.
So they're nervous too...
Once the door shut, the carriage wheels began to turn, rolling forward at a measured pace.
"Phew..."
As Yuri looked out at the passing scenery, he let out a breath, trying little by little to sort through the anticipation and unease knotting in his chest.
"It will be all right, my lord husband. I am certain it will be a lovely night."
Celine murmured the words softly, her voice tender.
"You shall soon see that the former Virtuous Consort did not bear that title for nothing."
She said it with a smile, in a tone that sounded almost teasing.
At that, all the anticipation and anxiety smoldering in Yuri's chest flared at once, and a sensation like boiling heat rushed to his head and face.
The sweet scent clinging to Celine in the carriage seeped gently into his senses, and his thoughts began to go pleasantly numb.
"I-it's my first time, so... please be gentle with me."
"Oh?"
Celine tilted her head slightly.
"You were the heir of House Leonidas, were you not? Were you not given a tutor in matters of the marriage bed?"
She asked it with a surprised smile.
"What?"
Yuri was thrown into utter inner turmoil.
A tutor? Is that really something everyone has?
"D-do people normally have a tutor like that?"
He somehow forced the question out.
Celine let out a light sigh, then fixed him with a serious gaze.
"My lord husband... such tutors do not merely teach knowledge and technique.
"Far more important than that is learning decorum, morality, and respect for one's partner.
"If one acts in blind ignorance, obeying only instinct, one may wound the other person—or even destroy the trust between them altogether."
Startled by her words, Yuri turned to the two women seated across from him.
"Lotte, Ria—you had tutors too?"
"Of course."
"Of course we did."
Neither of them showed the slightest embarrassment as they nodded.
Lieselotte offered a small smile, then returned to a serious expression.
"A tutor teaches the importance of affection, how to express one's own wishes, and how to respect the feelings of others."
Ophelia nodded and added quietly,
"That is so. Noblemen, in particular, cannot afford to fail on their wedding night.
"Technique matters, of course, but more than anything, it is important to be accustomed to it."
Yuri stared at her, bewildered.
"W-what do you mean, accustomed to it...?"
Celine answered him in a faintly amused voice.
"If nerves get the better of you and you fail, it can be disastrous.
"In marriages among the nobility, producing heirs is of great importance.
"If a man is judged infertile, the marriage may be annulled on those grounds alone."
"And there have even been nobles who were sued for defamation and forced to pay enormous damages because of it."
Lieselotte added that in a calm voice.
Ophelia swallowed once, then continued more quietly.
"And failures of that kind are very prone to becoming gossip in noble society...
"Nobles are forever exaggerating the failures of others in order to gain advantage for themselves.
"Once such a rumor spreads, no amount of explanation can erase it.
"And in the end, it can even stain the reputation of one's house."
There was a quiet anger—and a quiet bitterness—in her eyes.
Nobles really are such a headache...
Watching her, Yuri let out a weary sigh inwardly.
Celine smiled with effortless elegance, then laid a hand lightly on Yuri's knee and looked at him with soft eyes.
"My lord husband, do set your mind at ease.
"I shall properly instruct you myself, as your tutor. Leave everything to me."
Feeling the warmth of Celine's hand spread across his knee, Yuri's heart leapt violently.
W-wait, instruct me...? What exactly is she planning to teach me!?
His mind went completely blank, and he could not even spare the focus to choose his words.
"Uh... ah, right..."
Half delirious with a heat that felt as though steam might burst from his skull, Yuri somehow managed to squeeze the words out.
Celine's smile deepened, as though she were openly enjoying his reaction.
"Hehe, but that means I get to be the first woman in your life. That makes me happy."
"Huh? We're not actually going all the way, right?"
At that, Celine gave a small laugh and answered in a whisper.
"Hehe... today is a safe day, and Tia even gave me Aproze elixir."
"No, no, no—that's the abortion drug banned by the Church of Stellar Guidance, isn't it? That's not okay. Absolutely not okay!"
Yuri tried desperately to recover some shred of composure, but Celine only smiled with perfect confidence.
"If it means becoming someone special to you, my lord husband, then heresy is hardly something worth fearing."
Yuri was struck speechless for an instant.
She'd go so far as to defy the Church's doctrine...?
Before he could make sense of that, Lieselotte spoke up in exasperation.
"Mother, surely making an enemy of the Church of Stellar Guidance would be going too far."
Ophelia nodded as well.
"Indeed. It would be far too dangerous."
She offered the warning in a quiet voice.
Celine merely shrugged with a smile and pressed herself a little closer to Yuri.
"I see. If you insist so strongly, then I shall content myself with merely having a little taste."
Yuri's temperature only kept rising, and he had no room left whatsoever for calm thought.
Each time Celine's warmth brushed through him, his head grew light and hazy, and reality itself seemed to blur around the edges.
Wrapped in the cheers of blessing, the carriage rolled on in stately silence.
Outside, the people of the royal capital had gathered along both sides of the road, waving to Celine and the others and calling out in celebration.
Yuri drew a deep breath, trying somehow to quiet the excitement surging inside him before the ordeal that awaited.
The golden light of evening spread softly around them, embracing the entire carriage as though offering its own benediction.
As that light fell across his face, he felt some small measure of his tension ease.
At long last they arrived at the townhouse of the Baroness Regnant of Reberk, and once the Entry Ceremony was over, Yuri was left to wait alone in an antechamber.
"Please wait here a little while, my lord husband."
Celine smiled at him with visible reluctance, but her words landed on him with a strange weight, as though announcing the beginning of the trial to come.
The moment he was alone in the waiting room, Yuri's heart grew even more unsettled.
One fantasy after another swelled inside his head, and a damp sheen of sweat began to gather in his palms.
No, this is bad... Being alone just makes me think about it more... What happens if I fail?
He took a deep breath, but his nerves refused to loosen in the slightest.
Celia has far more experience than I do, so it'll be fine... But what if I can't satisfy her compared to the late king...?
The more he thought about it, the worse his panic grew.
As though trying to talk himself down, Yuri let out another deep breath.
But the silence of the room only fed his anxiety all the more.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad... I'm so tense I feel like I'm going to suffocate."
Unable to bear it any longer, Yuri sprang to his feet and began pacing in circles around the room.
"My master, do try to calm down at least a little, nyah."
Kokuyou's composed voice cut in before he even realized the cait sith had appeared.
"Calm down? No way. I mean, this is... you know. It's my first time. What if I mess it up?"
"Relax, nyah. So what if you fail? It's not as though that would make anyone hate you, nyah."
Kokuyou answered with a yawn, but Yuri's unease did not subside.
"Maybe not, but still. If I can't do it properly, won't they think I'm pathetic?"
"Didn't you say you wouldn't be going all the way, nyah?"
"Sure, but still. I can't help worrying. What if they start calling me Quick-Draw Yuri?"
"You'll be fine, nyah. If that happens, you can just keep trying again as many times as it takes. Your virility is inexhaustible, nyah."
"Huh...? Why? Why would I even have a constitution like that?"
Yuri stopped short and stared at Kokuyou.
"You remember the Divine Spirit Peach, nyah?"
"The Divine Spirit Peach? Oh, that delicious peach?"
Yuri remembered how, during the monster hunt, he had nearly died again and again while devouring enormous quantities of the Divine Spirit Peach.
"You ate too much of it, and that gave you godhood, nyah. As a higher-ranking star spirit, I couldn't be prouder, nyah."
"Pffft!"
Yuri burst out laughing despite himself.
It was a ridiculous thing to hear, but Kokuyou was sitting there with a smug little look on his face.
"Your divine authority allows the women you make love with to break past the limits of their growth and gain enhanced physical abilities, nyah. It's the sort of thing that could throw the world's balance into chaos, nyah."
"Y-you're serious?"
"I am, nyah. If you get too carried away and upset the balance of the world, the angels will come after you, nyah. Though if it's you, you'd probably swat them aside."
"No, no, no. I just want to live a peaceful life..."
Yuri let out a great sigh and gave a limp little laugh.
"That won't happen, nyah. You no longer fit within the bounds of humanity, nyah."
So apparently I stopped being human somewhere along the way...
Yuri stood there in a daze, his thoughts spinning in circles in total confusion.
Then Aina's quiet voice arrived to cut straight through them.
"My lord husband, everything is ready. Please come to the chamber."
Prompted by her words, Yuri gave a stiff nod and started toward the room prepared for the Wedding-Night Ceremony.
"I am a capable cait sith, so I'll wait here quietly, nyah. I won't peek, so go be spoiled to your heart's content, nyah."
As Yuri left the room, Kokuyou waved his tail and called after him,
"Do your best, nyah."