The 'groom' lowered her blade - and the one calling himself Lirante completely lost the rest of his apparently limited composure.
"It's not fair! How am I supposed to compete with you? You're everything I've ever wanted to be!"
Elua's eyes widened in early realization as her spirit had been tightly monitoring him. The young man continued, oblivious to the reaction he was causing in the young bride or the crowd around him.
"Your strength, your grace, your... your masculinity! I've admired you since our Youth Guild days, Qatrand! Why couldn't I be the one to stand there next to you!?"
Silence fell awkwardly over the gathering. Confessions during the ceremony were not unheard of, but most had the tact to voice them much sooner or not at all. The Challenges were meant to test mettle, not the couple's relationship. Qatrand stood there woodenly… very unsure how to respond.
Part 1 of a Mass Release for Literati Love Fest~
Faked out with Lirante's romance target. Who saw it coming?
El 'speaking' is kind of the theme of the next two chapter, as you can tell by my choice metaphorical title. Letting her 'gently' explain to the poor guy and, well what she does next chapter... fun stuff to write!
Oh, and there was that ghost of a past face she almost squashed from a distance. So many plots juggling~