AN: Sorry for the late chapter. I kinda got sick, but I am better now. I will try to get at least one chapter out every week on Friday.
Feeling sunlight press against his eyes. He opened his eyes, and sat up to look out the window, to reveal the sun barely peeking up from the horizon.
He immediately threw his head back on the pillow. Knowing he only had a couple hours to get some sort of rest, Reinhard shut his eyes, and desperately tried to finally fall asleep.
Despite his countless hours of keeping his eyes shut. Thoughts of the next evening internally forced his eyelids open. Reinhard didn't sleep the entire night, he just couldn't stop thinking of his wedding the next evening.
The mixed feelings of anxiety and excitement created an unbreakable spell of consciousness. Whenever he remembered that the person he was sleeping next to was to be his wife the next evening, the feeling he got was the equivalent of getting cold water splashed in his face.
Despite having the entire night to think about it, Reinhard still couldn't comprehend how Ram was able to fall asleep so quickly. It only took her half an hour to begin letting out an unconscious breathing pattern.
With nervous thoughts wrapped tightly around his brain. Reinhard just had to go out and get some fresh air to clear his mind.
While making his journey out of the bedroom he made sure to perform every action slowly and gently. He didn't think Ram would want to wake up this early in the morning.
After stealthy entering the hallway and slowly closing the bedroom door. Reinhard made his way through the hallways. The morning was so young to the point darkness and stars still hovered in the sky.
The hallways were barely illuminated, and the night time silence still remained. Something odd immediately caught Reinhard's attention. The dining room doors were left open, and there seemed to be someone sitting at the table.
Walking closer to the dining room Reinhard got a better view of who was sitting at the table.
He didn't recognize him. The unfamiliar guests' attention was fixed on reading a book. He didn't even seem to notice Reinhards footsteps down the hallway.
"... May I know who you are?" Reinhard called out.
Kenichi got slightly startled hearing an unfamiliar voice call out to him. Looking away from his book he looked over to the door and found a tall looking guy, who was dressed very formally.
"Uh, hello there. Are you the owner of this place?" Kenichi asked.
"Yes, that would be me. May I ask for your name?"
"I am the father of Subaru. My name is Kenichi. You apparently invited us to stay over here last night. That's what Subaru told me at least..."
"So you are Subarus father? Well, I am glad to finally meet you in person" Reinhard said.
He walked over to the dining room table to sit across from Kenich. Who had his eyes set to the very fancy sword that was held in Reinhard's holster.
"Cool looking sword you got on you. Subaru told me that you were a knight. Have you ever, like... Slain a dragon before?"
"Well, I am the personal knight of Ram"
"Oh, so your Rams knight. Are you also the one she's going to be marrying? Or am I thinking of someone else"
"No, you got it right. That would be me"
"I knew she was marrying a knight of some sort, but never expected Ram to marry herself to prince charming of all people," Kenichi said.
He couldn't hold back laughing at the name he came up with for Reinhard. It sounded like the perfect nickname for him.
"... Prince charming, who's that?"
"A very brave knight or something... Subaru also told us that Ram was participating in some type of election, to become the ruler of this kingdom. Is that really true?"
"True indeed, for the past couple months Ram had been participating in the royal election. She runs a moderate and mainly unbiased platform, which has given her some much needed popularity"
"What do you think the chances are of her actually becoming queen?"
"... We are too early in the election process to come down to a possible result. We still have three or two years of campaigning left to do. Anything could happen"
"Interesting stuff... I wish you guys luck. Since you're marrying her, wouldn't that make you the king if she gets elected?"
"That's a decision ultimately left up to her. I already hold a very important position in the Lugnican military, and my absence may cause complications"
"Are you like a highly skilled general?"
"I currently hold the highest position in the Lugnican army. Many consider me to be the strongest knight in Lugnica"
"That's quite the reputation you got there. What was the journey like to get yourself into the spot you're in now?"
"It's too long of a story, and it's not one I like to talk about... Anyways, why are you awake so early?"
"I found it hard to fall asleep after entering such a fascinating kingdom. Yesterday was by far the most fascinating day of my life. This place is just so cool, I just can't stop thinking about what else we can find around here"
"What do you find so interesting about Lugnica? Are you from around here?" Reinhard asked.
"Nope, we come from a place far far away... A certain place Subaru told us not to talk about to any of the locals, and I think that includes you unfortunately" Kenichi said.
Reinhard paused for a couple seconds trying to figure out a possible reason why Subaru was keeping his homeland such a big secret from him. While stuck in thought, he let out a giant yawn that caught Kenichi's attention.
"Are you still tired? You look pretty exhausted" Kenichi said.
"Yes, I am quite tired. I didn't get any sleep last night unfortunately. Just had some things on my mind"
"Well this is quite a big day for you. I can only recommend you get some sort of sleep. We don't want you to fall asleep during the big occasion"
"You're right. I will be heading back to bed now. If everybody is up before me, feel free to have breakfast without me. Can I trust you to overlay?"
"Yup, you can trust me. Just make sure to get some shut eye"
Reinhard walked out of the dining room to return to bed. When he arrived at the bedroom. He gently opened the door, and noticed that Ram's side of the bed was empty. Looking over to his right, he was greeted by a sight he had only seen once before.
"Don't come in yet! I am in the middle of changing!" Ram yelled out.
Reinhard immediately slammed the door shut, and bashed his head against the wall feeling the giant surge of embarrassment wash over him.
He couldn't believe he had let an incident like this happen a second time. After a couple minutes Ram opened the door and walked out looking and feeling very embarrassed.
Ram let out a sigh. "How much did you see?"
"... Not much. I only got a slight glimpse. I am very sorry. I didn't mean to walk in on you"
"Why didn't you knock?"
"I thought you were still asleep, and I didn't want to wake you"
In the middle of their embarrassing conversation. They suddenly heard Subaru shouting from upstairs. He was agitated at Rem for waking him up to ask a question about the lizard people.
"Who's that upstairs?" Ram asked.
"It's probably Subaru. He and Rem arrived late last night while you were asleep" Reinhard said.
"Why is he causing disturbances this early in the morning?"
"I have no clue, but I am going to head back to bed for a bit," Reinhard said.
Ram began to walk upstairs to investigate the disturbance Subaru was causing. Reinhard went back to bed, and with his head cleared was able to finally fall asleep within minutes.
When Ram inched closer to the door Subaru and Rem were staying in. She became enraged when he overheard Subaru demanding that Rem stop waking him up and asking ridiculous questions that he couldn't answer.
Ram threw open the door and loudly scolded Subaru for how he was talking to Rem. After his scolding Subaru gave Rem an apology but still pleaded that she never again woke him up to ask questions on aliens or the lizard people.
Rem instantly forgave him and accepted his request of never waking him up to ask her many questions. Rem's curiosity always peaked in the early morning and late night.
The morning went on. Subaru spent the beginning of the day taking his family around the capital to check stuff out. Both of them couldn't even comprehend the magnificence of this civilization. Reinhard spent it catching up on his many hours of sleep he had missed the night before.
Going into the afternoon he finally woke up, and Naoko finally got the chance to meet him. She was quite impressed with the man Ram found herself. He was tall, very formal, and strong. All traits many women would die for. He definitely seemed more deserving of Ram, then Subaru did to Rem.
Reinhard also got introduced to the technology of a camera. He found it quite fascinating to see how it functioned. Never before had he seen something remotely like it.
Kenichi labeled Reinhard with the nickname of "Prince Charming '' because he looked and acted exactly like the formal knights shown in fairy tales.
Despite having the whole day. Subaru did not let Reinhard in on the two different world situations. He would rather wait until the time was right. He was also unsure if Reinhard would even believe him. Subaru didn't exactly have any evidence with him to prove what he was saying.
The time eventually arrived. The wedding was to take place somewhere else in the capital. When they arrived. Naoko wanted to do one quick thing, before Ram and Reinhard separated to get themselves prepared.
"Before you two part ways. Let's get one quick picture of you two together" Naoko said.
"Alright, it sounds good," Reinhard said.
"Great. Now just hug onto Ram, and lean down a bit. You are a lot taller than she is. Make sure to look into the lens and not into outer space"
Reinhard hesitated and Ram's expression grew uncomfortable at Naoko's request that he hug her for the photo.
"Are you sure that's necessary?" Ram asked.
"This is a wedding photo. You guys could at least do something sort of romantic. Are you two seriously uncomfortable about hugging each other?"
"I mean, I would rather not be so intimate out in public," Reinhard said.
"How is hugging her... intimate? It's just a small hug," Naoko said.
"I guess you have a point," Reinhard said.
Reinhard walked over to Ram, leaned down and hugged her awkwardly. Ram's face started to heat up, and her body stood still like a stone statue.
"You guys could at least put on a smile," Naoko said.
Reinhard and Ram put on the most awkward smile that Naoko had ever seen in her life. She even let out a small chuckle seeing them be all embarrassed, it was kind of adorable.
"These two are a bunch of scaredy cats," Naoko said to herself.
She didn't understand why an engaged couple were so embarrassed about hugging each other. Ram looked like she was about to pass out from the way she squinted her eyes.
After the photo Reinhard and Ram were split off from each other. The next time they would see each other again, it will be when they make their marriage official in front of everyone watching.
Guests started to arrive at the building in growing numbers as the time inched closer. One of those people was Emilia, who was there to finally speak to Subaru after months of non communication.
Rem had taken off to go and prepare Ram. Leaving Subaru to wait in his seat alone, and think about stuff. Until he suddenly noticed Emilia sit right next to him.
"Hi Subaru!" Emilia called out.
"Oh hi, Emilia. I was wondering if you would show up. How come you weren't at Rosswals?"
Emilia's face dropped a bit, her cheery smile was replaced with a blank look "He asked me to leave not to long ago"
"Huh? How come?"
"He just told me that he was switching his platform, and politely asked me to leave. He supports Ram now, and... Being from a opposition platform I was no longer welcomed there "
"Why did he switch from supporting you, to suddenly support Ram?"
Emilia shrugged her shoulders. "I just don't know, Subaru..."
"Well are you alright? I'm so sorry I didn't hear about this earlier"
"I'm doing fine, I guess. But I still feel so embarrassed for what I did to Rem a couple months ago, Subaru"
"You still feel embarrassed about that?"
"Yes, it was so humiliating... I think Ram hates me for it. She has been refusing to talk to me. I have a feeling Rem told her about what happened, and she is now mad at me for what I did to her sister"
"Emilia, I don't think Rem ever told Ram what happened between you two... Listen, Ram listens to her sister. So why don't you talk to Rem about your little fight, and have her convince Ram to lift your silent treatment"
"I don't want to talk about it with her, Subaru. Its to embarrassing"
"It isn't that embarrassing.... If there wasn't any hate behind it... It would be kind of arousing seeing you two wrestle on the floor, but you didn't hear that from me"
"Huh?"
"Forget about what I just said. Just have a small talk with Rem and bring some closure on the whole thing"
"I will try..."
Rem was in the middle of preparing Ram for her big moment. She helped Ram put on her wedding dress.
When they were done Rem stepped back. She put on the proudest smile she could ever muster. Seeing her sister all dressed up for her big occasion.
"You look so beautiful, Nee-Sama. Are you ready?" Rem said.
"When do I have to go out?" Ram asked.
"We will hear a knock on the door and that will be your signal. You still have some time to collect yourself. You should look at yourself in the mirror" Rem said.
Ram turned to look in the mirror and made herself feel extremely self conscious. By picking out slight mistakes in her hair and how she put on her dress. Her thoughts swarmed with anxiety and her stomach had a butterfly infestation.
Ram cherished each second she had in the room. This room was her social safety net, but she would soon be made to leave it.
As time went on, Ram began to shake and slightly began to hyperventilate. She had never felt this nervous before in her life.
"Nee-Sama, are you feeling scared?" Rem asked.
"I'm just a little nervous, Rem. How many people are out there?"
"Not as many as you think, Nee-Sama. You need to calm down, and relax a little"
"I am calm, Rem"
"Your face looks pale, and I can see you shaking. You don't have to be so nervous"
"That's easier said than done"
"Nee-Sama, this is a big day for you. It could potentially be the best day of your life, don't ruin it by being nervous and scared. You would want to look back on this day with happy thoughts, not how scared you were"
Rem's words of encouragement helped Ram greatly in overcoming her giant swarm of anxiety. Rem definitely had a point, Ram did want to look back on this day thinking it was the best day of her life.
While in the middle of trying to finish her thoughts. The sound of someone knocking on the door signaled that it was time for the main event.
"Well, Nee-Sama... It's time. We don't want to keep everyone waiting"
"Alright then, I'm ready, I guess," Ram said.
Rem gave Ram a tight hug of departure, trying to silently say how proud she was of her for being able to accomplish this part of her life. After finishing their hug, Rem placed the veil over Rams face.
"You will be fine Nee-Sama, I have to go back to my seat now. Just try to be happy and dont be scared," Rem said.
After saying her finishing words with Ram, Rem left the room and began going back to her seat next to Subaru.
Despite seemingly being able to calm Rams anxiety about her occasion, she found herself struggling to calm herself down.
Most of her anxiety stemmed from only being able to watch, and just hope Ram kept her composure.
Ram was at the door preparing herself for her special appearance. She took a couple seconds to collect her thoughts, then walked out to make her grand reveal to everybody, who all looked back when they heard the door open.
While making her journey down the aisle. Ram was intimidated by the seemingly endless rows of people that were to her left and right.
Despite having a veil over her face, and having her hair cover one of her eyes. Ram still saw a lot of people looking at her. Fortunately, Ram was able to push through and hold her composure.
Little did Ram know, she was also secretly being watched by two men through the window.
One of the men started to grieve seeing Ram make it to the front and look at Reinhard all lovingly. It became too much to bear; he slammed his head against the brickwall of the building. Trying to find a way to remedy the internal pain he felt.
He immediately felt the giant pain of the bricks self inflicted against his skull. Making him collapse onto the ground with pain throbbing through his head. He contemplated whether he regretted his source of comfort.
The man he was accompanied with, had a less than impressed look on his face seeing his long time friend act so foolish in front of him.
"Calm yourself"
"I don't like that you knew all about this, Ivan. You were my best friend. I would even give you all my money if you came close to being broke. You knew that I loved her, but you never bothered to tell me about her marriage until the last minute"
"You're not listening to me! Never in my life would I want this to happen, I will stand by it until I am dead and buried in the ground!"
"... Do you also hate him?"
"I do hate him with a burning passion. Countless important figures in Rams camp took their hats off to her and asked respectively countless times to make me her lieutenant, the third in command. I was worthy for this position, but her personal knight Reinhard wants to have things his own way. I know for a fact Ram was considering me to be promoted, but instead Reinhard got in her ear and swayed her opinion with a lot of military talk. And guess who they choose? A guy who knows more about book reading than fighting. His name is Charles Carlos. He married the military governor of the newly occupied territory from Aureus. But even with a military wife, he's got no hands on knowledge of warfare. I can't believe he had been chosen over me. My entire career was ruined by a librarian of all things, even though Reinhard saw my fighting skills first hand. He only thought I deserved the privilege of being the camp's useless flag bearer!"
"I would rather die than live have a career like that"
"And there's nothing I can even do about it. That's the thing you see. You get promoted because someone likes you, not because of your skills in war. How is anyone supposed to be loyal under these circumstances?"
"It would seem to me that your career is going to lead you nowhere and bring you much more distraught and anger. Why don't you just quit?"
"Listen, I'm only serving under them to take advantage of both her and Reinhard. Not all masters should be followed. Some servants just work hard for their masters their entire life and get nothing in return. Then there's the servants who work only for themselves. These people get rich, and they eventually become their own masters. Those types of people are the ones revered as legends, and that's the guy I am."
The man of grief turned his attention back to the window to watch the rest of the wedding unfold, feeling the emotion of pure envy swarm around his broken heart. He nearly took a blade to his throat, seeing Rams brand new ring
Even though Ram looked very uncomfortable and anxious. Enjoyment could be seen through the extremely flustered expression spread across every inch of her face. All topped off with an awkward smile.
Ram's heart rate doubled when it came time for her to perform the final part of getting married to someone.
Taking a deep breath in through her nose to keep her already limited composure. The second she felt the veil leave her face. Ram shut her eyes as tight as she possibly could, and latched her arms around his neck and pulled her left in for a kiss.
Obviously trying to set her mind past the fact she was being looked at by rows of people, but Ram was able to keep her composure and actually found herself growing braver by the second.
With a deep kiss and a couple of words. Ram and Reinhard were now officially seen as a married couple.
Subaru could see in the corner of his eyes a few small tears slide down Rem's face. She looked like she was about to melt in her seat seeing her sister finally getting herself married. This was definitely one of the most beautiful moments in both of their lives.
The opposite could be said about the grieving man of jealousy who was once again rolling around on the ground unable to come to terms with this reality.
He was surprised to even still be alive since his glass heart had just been shattered. The many shards of glass pierced his internal organs causing non lethal internal bleeding.
"Ivan..."
"What do you have to say, Roderigo?"
"What do you think I should do now?"
"It is growing late. You should probably head home and go to sleep"
"I'm going to drown myself"
"You moron! I will never respect you again if you follow through!"
"I loved Ram so much. Why did she have to marry herself off to Reinhard? This horrible disease of distraught I have flowing through my veins could only be cured by death"
"Have you gone insane? I rather become an animal, then to drown myself over my love for a woman that I know I can't have"
"I know, Ivan! I heard it all already! I just can't help myself. All this distraught is begging me to end it all with the simple action of drowning"
"Be a real man! Listen to yourself talk, you want to drown yourself?! Drowning is for cats or blind puppies. I've told you many times that I am your friend, I will stick by you no matter what. I will now give you the best advice you could ever hear, so listen closely"
"Im listening"
"Sell your land and personal belongings. Make yourself rich. Ram fell in love with Reinhard very suddenly, and they'll break up just as suddenly. From my entire time serving under Ram, I found her to be a very moody person. What seems sweet to her now, will turn bitter with time. Another trait I picked up from Reinhard is that he is a very weak man when it comes to his romance with Ram. He can barely show any affection to her. Ram will eventually end up feeling sexually unsatisfied, and leave Reinhard for someone else. She will then look for another lover, and that's where your opportunity would be presented. Be ready with your money. You will eventually be able to sleep with her. Just put together some money. Make yourself presentable to her. Don't just give up on her, and drown yourself like a complete idiot"
"Do you really think this would actually work?"
"Trust me, Roderigo. Like I said, I hate Reinhard. I am fully devoted to my cause of hating him. So let's put our minds together and get revenge. If you end up succeeding in your goal of seducing Ram, it will make Sword Saint look like a total idiot. It will be fun for the both of us. Let's speak again the next morning, goodbye"
"I will meet you early tomorrow, goodnight Ivan"
Roderigo turned his back and began to walk off.
"Wait one more thing!"
"What is it?"
"Do not think about drowning yourself anymore"
"You have successfully changed my mind on that, and I thank you for your guidance"
"Good, go on. Remember what I said. Make yourself presentable with your money"
"I shall sell my land"
Roderigo walked away from the building and made his way home. After Ivan lost his eye on him, he couldn't help his amusement and let out a small chuckle.
"That's how I always do it. Taking money from a fool. I'd be considered an even bigger idiot then he was, if I were to not take advantage of him"
After the ceremony was over with. Emilia decided to follow through on Subarus advice, and set out to find Rem.
She looked everywhere she could, but she was having quite the difficult time finding Rem. Emilia would constantly run into people who just wanted to talk to her about boring and non important stuff.
Eventually after much time looking, she found Rem getting herself a plate of food by the many tables that served a huge variety of things.
With Rem finally insight, all Emilia had to do was go up and talk to her. But she still felt herself becoming hesitant.
She stood there looking at Rem collecting her plate, as she tried to form the words to say to her. Emilia didn't know if Rem still held resentment for how she acted.
Just before Rem could walk off from the table, Emilia cleared her head and walked up to her looking confident.
"Hey.... Rem, can I please talk to you about something?" Emilia said.
Hearing Emilia's voice behind her, Rem stopped in her tracks, and turned around to look at her.
"What is it?" Rem asked.
"Umm... Did you.... Tell Ram about... Uh"
Emilia began to hesitate. She really didn't want to talk about it, and wanted to leave it as vague as possible. Looking at Rem's neutral expression, Emilia was starting to have a hard time telling whether she was becoming agitated or not.
"Tell Nee-Sama about what?" Rem asked.
"About the... altercation we got in a few months ago"
Emilia prepared herself mentally for Rem's response. She was starting to expect Rem to start talking to her in a cold tone, the more she continued to look at her blank face.
Rem ended up just shaking her head. "No, I did not tell Nee-Sama"
"Wait, You never told her? Well... How come she isnt talking to me?" Emilia asked.
"Nee-Sama is not talking to you?"
"I think she is ignoring me. Whenever we encounter each other, I try to converse with her but she just doesn't seem to listen, nor does she respond."
"Does she really?"
"Yes, she won't even say hello or goodbye... If it's alright with you... Can you please go talk to her and find the reason why. I just want to know, I thought we were... Friends or something"
Rem began to nod her head. "I can talk to Nee-Sama. What do you want me to tell her?"
"Just ask her why she has been ignoring me. Also can you give her my personal congratulations on the baby she's having"
Rem nearly dropped her plate in complete shock of what she had just been told.
"What!? Nee-Samas expecting!"
"I'm pretty sure. Can you ask whether she's having a girl or a boy?"
"Why didn't she tell me? Let me go find her"
Rem put her plate on the table, and took off to find Ram. She didn't understand why Ram did not tell her about the news. Ram told her sister everything, and never kept secrets from her.
After much running around trying to find Ram. Rem was finally able to see her. The second she laid eyes on her, Rem ran up and gave her the biggest hug she could muster.
"Congratulations Nee-Sama!" Rem said.
Ram thought Rem was proud of her recent accomplishment of not passing out during the ceremony, and returned the hug.
"Thank you Rem"
After breaking off. Rem looked at her sister dead in the eyes with a massive smile on her face.
"Nee-Sama, Is it going to be a boy or a girl. Also why didn't you tell me?'
A spell of confusion unleashed on Ram's brain at what her sister just said "What are you talking about Rem?"
"Your pregnancy Nee-Sama. I am your sister, you don't have to keep it a secret... Are you too embarrassed to talk about it?"
An awkward stare down happened between the two. Rem was eagerly waiting for an answer, and Ram was just confused. Trying desperately to comprehend why Rem would think that she's pregnant.
"Rem, who or what told you I was pregnant?"
"I was talking to Emilia, and she wanted me to congratulate you on her behalf for your pregnancy"
"Emilia told you that..."
"Yes"