Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

――That said, since Father is a man, he couldn’t enter the coach where Granny Bell was. Reluctantly, Father had to sit in the coachman’s seat. Although Ips was better than Dilz, it was still midwinter, and Father couldn’t afford to catch a cold, so I let him hold the cat on his stomach and wrapped him tightly in a thick blanket.

Having narrowly avoided any trouble, the carriage finally set off. Lord Cyrus’s carriage was already completely out of sight.

Unlike the Dilz Royal Capital, the main streets of Ipsandros don’t have railways for carriages. The carriage slowly rolled forward, carving ruts into the soft ground, moving at the pace of a walking person.

I stuck my head out the window and spent the time gazing at Ips City.

It is one of the largest urban areas in the Ipsandros Republic, and the streets never lacked pedestrians.

There were more street vendors than passersby. Some sat by the roadside, spreading out their goods, while others chased after the carriage, calling out, “Cheap! Please buy! If you buy three, I’ll throw in an extra one, maybe two!”

Some of them were children, not even ten years old.

I spoke to Granny Bell, who sat opposite me.

“In the merchant families of Ips, does everyone work, including young children?”

Granny Bell’s plump, gentle face clouded over.

“No… Normally, only the adult men—the fathers—work to support the family. There is no shortage of jobs, so ordinary citizens rarely go hungry.”

“Then, what about those children?”

“They must be orphans. Children who lost their parents or homes when they were young, couldn’t attend school, and never had the chance to learn any trade… Those are the children.”

――So they come out to the streets, earning small change. No matter how young, they have to get food for today.

“I don’t know where or how they sleep,” Granny Bell said. “There are rumors that they hide among the ruins in the Old Town, which was once the royal capital… but I’ve never been able to go near.”

“Old Town… is it far?”

Granny Bell shook her head.

“No, Old Town is near the port town, within walking distance for children. But because it’s unsafe, especially women aren’t allowed to get out of the carriage.”

Listening to Granny Bell’s sad voice, I looked out the window again.

Since Ips’s roads were unpaved, the carriage couldn’t pick up speed. It moved slowly, pushing through the waves of people.

“Buy! Buy! Freshly caught fish! Buy three and I’ll give you one, no—two extras!”

Boys chased after the carriage, holding up their wares.

I didn’t buy anything out of momentary sympathy, but I neither blocked my ears nor closed my eyes. I etched their faces into my memory.

Several hours passed on the road — it was well past noon when we arrived at the wedding venue that Mr. Kemal had arranged for my dear grandson and his bride.

And I stood there dumbfounded, mouth agape, frozen on the spot for a while.

◇◇◇

This wasn’t my first time attending a “wedding.”

The first was in the Chadelan Territory when villagers got married. The small churches near the school or their homes were used for the ceremonies. I was often pulled into helping with cleaning and cooking beforehand.

The only full ceremony I had seen was my older sister’s wedding—a church in the Dilz Royal Capital that was packed with about thirty guests. Unlike an engagement ceremony, a wedding simply involved solemn vows before God, so that many people were enough. Lord Cyrus’s and my ceremony was originally planned to be held there. So, my image of a wedding venue was about that scale.

However, when we were ordered to get off the carriage with a call of “We’ve arrived,” we faced a gigantic door that filled the entire view. Surrounding it were white stone walls that stretched endlessly left and right, upward and beyond. Walls everywhere.

Squinting, I could make out what looked like a pointed tower roof far beyond the walls. This white wall was apparently a gate. Beyond it stood the main building — a pure white palace fluttering the flag of the Ipsandros Republic.