Kaider- Oneshots

Wedding Planning

Cinder is struggling with planning a wedding and writing her vows and Kai has a perfect solution.

„What about napkins? I was thinking either red or gold- something that is regal, but still in colors of the Commonwealth. Or we could go with purple? It's a hit color this season." Priya, the wedding planner, looked expectantly at Cinder.

Cinder suppressed the urge to massage her temples. „Um, red sound fine, I guess."

Priya pursed her lips like she did every time Cinder wouldn't give her a three sentence answer, but still made a note in her portscreen. „And flowers? Chrysanthemum would be expected because—„

„Yes, national flower of the Commonwealth." Cinder bit her tongue as soon as the remark left her lips.

Last thing she wanted was to insult Priya who had been working on every detail of her wedding for more than a year at this point. She should be lucky that she had someone else to take care of everything and not have to fret about frivolous things such as music playlist and dinner menu. All they wanted from her was her opinion. Besides, she was the future empress. She should be better than this.

Luckily, Priya didn't seem to take offense. She shut her portscreen and gave Cinder a sympathetic smile. „I know this must be incredibly stressful for you- knowing that the whole world would be watching. I just want to make things easier for you and emperor so that you two can focus on important parts. Such as your vows."

At the mention of vows Cinder's insides cringed involuntarily. She had been trying to write her vows for almost a month now, but had barely moved from the opening line. Kai had written his vows months ago. He claimed to have known what he wanted to say for years now, so he had no trouble converting it to words.

Cinder, however, was never good at verbal expression as Kai was. He offered to help her after he witnessed her struggling for hours one night, but she refused. He deserved to hear the full depth of her feelings and it had to come from her alone. Even if the whole world would be watching, as everyone liked to remind her.

Priya noticed the sour look on Cinder's face. „Still no luck with the vows?"

Cinder shook her head and bit her lip. „Does that make me a bad bride?"

„Of course not." Priya laughed. „A lot of people struggle to express their feelings. Are you sure you don't need any help with it?"

„No, it needs to be my own words. Kai deserves that."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, looking through the window as one of palace gardeners watered a thick bush of roses. Spring was knocking at the door, with flowers in full bloom and koi fish pond glittering like a diamond from the sunlight. Cinder couldn't wait for Kai's meeting to be over so they could go to their secret little corner in the east gardens and enjoy their time together, like they did every single day.

Priya gently laid her hand on Cinder's cyborg hand. It still felt surreal to not get disgusted looks and sneers from people around her. Still, she would probably never fully get used to any sort of physical contact that didn't come from Kai or any of her friends.

The change in people's attitude towards her was gradual. After she took her throne people were still cautious, taught by experience with previous queens. They seemed to warm up to her after they realized she was not in fact power crazy Lunar like her relatives. Things got even better with time. Ever since her and Kai's engagement was announced almost year and a half ago, people of Eastern Commonwealth seemed to have accepted her for both her good and bad sides, and will acknowledge her as their empress.