1 1. Marrying my younger sister's fiance

Standing at the end of the aisle, wearing a beautifully woven red and golden wedding gown, a lacy veil with intricate red flowers covering her heavenly beautiful face while holding her father's, King Ignis's arm, Princess Ether was still clueless about how she ended up being the bride to her younger sister's fiance.

She was walking into a marriage where she didn't even know what her husband looked like. And even though he was standing right in front of her, being the elder daughter and first princess to the fire country's king, she was taught to be elegant and graceful.

This of course included not stealing glances at her husband to be, not to mention he was supposed to be her brother in law until yesterday.

Ether could feel herself getting emotional every second, but she would still push those emotions down and try to stabilise herself.

Though her life was not short of twists and turns, or maybe a life going downhill to be more exact, this definitely was nowhere near the script of her miserable life.

She could feel all those eyes on her, those exact ones which were looking down on her, and yet were jealous of her sudden fortune for marrying into the most powerful country, to the crown prince of Country Nero, Asterion.

But she couldn't care less about all those people, as they were the same folks who had been bad mouthing her for her entire life.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she felt overwhelmed by this sudden marriage and why won't she be?

Till yesterday she was all by herself, being graceful outside but completely careless when alone cause she had nothing to worry about.

But now she suddenly had a marriage, a husband, his royal family, and an entire new life to face. And all those were making her nervous to the core.

She felt her father's glance, an all too familiar affectionate look she could feel even when her head was lowered with the veil covering it. And she teared up once again because that was the same man who had been standing like a pillar for her since she could remember everything.

And Ether smiled through her teary eyes, hoping she could at least make her father happy and relieved before leaving this country.

She squeezed his arm through the silky red robe sleeves, her tiny yet slender fingers holding his old but muscular arms, trying to assure him that she was alright and ready to proceed even when she was not.

The king, of course, felt guilty for suddenly wedding his most adorable princess away, but he had no way out.

He turned to look at her one more time before looking ahead, where he would be walking her down the aisle, giving her to a man who could not be anymore befitting for his princess daughter.

As soon as he looked at the outstanding man standing with grace at the end, waiting patiently for him and Ether to proceed, he could feel his heartbeat normalise a little. 

If anything, Asterion, standing ramrod straight like a mountain, looked like that strong shield who will protect his daughter for this lifetime without any exceptions.

Being a father, he himself knew the kind of struggles his elder daughter had to pass through, and thus giving her to Asterion seemed the best decision to take all her pains away and present her a life full of happiness only.

"Trust your dad this one time." He said with a slightly cracking voice, to which he felt Ether sniffle a little, breaking his own heart.

He waited, listening to Ether take a deep breath and breathe out, before touching her right ear, an action she did to prevent herself from crying.

And for the Nth time today, Ether stopped herself from breaking down, feeling all family's prestige and pride weighing her down.

"I trust you." Finally Ether managed to say, to which the King could be nothing but grateful for having such an understanding daughter. 

Ether could feel the fire energy he was transferring into her in bits and pieces, a way to show his warmth and she knew she made the right decision by making her father happy. 

"Let's go." He said before both of them started their journey.

All the members of the royal court were watching this scene with mixed expressions. Some were happy for the first princesses' end to misfortune, while others were jealous of her sudden marriage to the most powerful man on earth.

But Ether kept walking ahead with her head lowered, thinking about all the events she could remember from her past life.

Confusion would be too little of a word to express her emotions at the moment. She was smart enough to realize that this sudden marriage was not a positive thing. If anything, it screamed danger to her.

Her mind went back to her sister's, princess Vesta's, last words before disappearing.

"We won't be meeting each other again." It was her last statement. 

Knowing her sister and her traps full well, Ether was sure that princess Vesta wasn't dumb enough to give up on marrying the most powerful man of earth and disappear on the day before her marriage.

Plus Lady Krystal, Prince Asterion's mother and queen of country Nero, proposing this sudden marriage, even after knowing her affection for Princess Vesta was a little off.

Of course Ether knew that her mother and father loved her to no end and only had their best of thoughts for her, hence she knew that at least her mother and father were clueless about the dangers that she was about to face from now on.

And somehow she was relieved knowing that, because she didn't want them to worry about her even at the moment of departure.

All these things were going inside her mind when she suddenly heard her father cry out her name.

"Ether-" but guess it was too late as she found herself stumbling in her own gown, about to fall head on on the red carpet ahead of her, failing to keep the royal family proud at such a significant event.

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- Kizy