293 Token Selection
Selma Payne’s POV:
The coronation ceremony was arranged to be held in the Moon Palace, and so was the wedding. The wedding was originally planned to be held in the palace, but because the palace’s interiors needed to be kept a secret, it was moved to the Moon Palace.
Hundreds of invitations I signed had been sent to various places, and each pack would send a representative to attend the ceremony.
This meant that the Shadow Pack would also send people over.
I’d already memorized the current Alpha of each pack, and I’d also heard about Benson inheriting the Shadow Pack. As an Alpha, he would likely come to the ceremony in person.
I thought I would have some resistance to this, but to my surprise, I didn’t have any reaction when I thought of Benson after so many years. Be it the violent rejections, the cold river water, or the ashen heart, they all disappeared with time.
If I saw him again, what would I say?
I didn’t think I’d say anything because there was nothing to say.
The people around me vaguely knew that I had been hurt in the pack that adopted me, but I didn’t tell them in detail, so everyone pretended not to know and didn’t ask me anything.
The rehearsals were arranged frequently, and any minor changes would require Aldrich and me to rehearse. We spent the entire morning or afternoon at the Moon Palace every day. Sometimes, I really wanted to move all the furniture to the Moon Palace.
As my bridesmaids, Dorothy, Jordin, and Emma were even more annoyed than I was. After all, I could occasionally use work as an excuse to escape these boring procedures, but they couldn’t. When necessary, the girls would take my place as the bride and informed me of the changes when they came back.
Finally, one day, Dorothy broke down. “Who’s getting married? Shouldn’t the bridesmaid just hold the bride’s dress, scatter the flowers, and then stand on the stage as decoration? Why do I feel like we’re even more exhausted than you, the real bride?”
Jordin, who had been a marionette for the whole day, said bluntly, “I’ve never been so envious of Avril and Mara. All they have to do on their wedding days is dress up and cheer on the stage. They don’t have to do anything.”
Avril was married and could no longer be the maid of honor. Mara was a commoner, so she couldn’t be my maid of honor. Therefore, the two girls only needed to sit in the VIP seats on the wedding day and watch the show.
We talked about everything for a while, and the topic came to the token hidden in the lunch box on the wedding day.
I felt it was very romantic to give each other the evening primroses and bracelets like Avril and Perrin did, but this was a routine I had just seen. I liked it but didn’t want to do the cliché.
It was fine if I used some other legends about the symbol of love, but given my ‘former heretic god’ identity, it was not appropriate to keep trying to gain nothing from the anecdotes of the Moon Goddess.
In fact, Aldrich and I had already exchanged tokens that belonged only to us. I embedded a black opal condensed from the goddess’ blessing in his chest, and he put the ring transformed from the Moon Oath on me.
What could be more precious and sincere than these?
However, giving each other gifts in a lunchbox was an ancient tradition that had existed for thousands of years. I didn’t want to be half-hearted, so the girls helped me develop an idea.
“How about a hand-embroidered towel with the flower patterns of osmanthus?” Emma suggested, “It’s very popular for young noblemen and women to give each other this recently. It’s said to be the revival of the traditional love token.”
I shook my head. “It’s good. It’s just that I don’t know how to embroider at all. It’s not good to have human hands in this.”
Jordin said, “Why don’t you write a love poem? You can hide it in your necklace or write it on the back of your photo.”
I shook my head again. “I haven’t had any talent in literature since I was young. I really can’t read and write.
The girls’ ideas from noble families were classical, but Dorothy’s ideas were much more ‘modern’.
“Why don’t you just dress up as a bridesmaid and deliver the lunchboxes yourself?” She said, “What can make Aldrich like you more than yourself?”
This sounded like an outrageous idea, but after carefully thinking about it, it seemed feasible.
Why did I have to limit my thinking to a specific thing? What was important was to convey my thoughts, not something else. Since that was the case, couldn’t I express it personally?
I cheered, picked Dorothy up, and spun her around twice. “You’re a genius! I love you so much!”
Dorothy fell on the sofa in a daze and mumbled, “Thank you, but considering that you’re about to get married, I’m sorry to reject your kind intentions.”
So, we secretly called the tailor, asked him to make a bridesmaid’s dress in my size, and kept it a secret.
As expected of the veterans who had served the royal family for generations, they didn’t even ask a single question about my request. Three days later, they sent my secret bridesmaid dress mixed with the girls’ bridesmaid dress.
The royal family’s bridesmaids definitely couldn’t be as simple as the common people’s. Although we all preferred the current trend of simplicity, we must consider the royal family’s reputation, no?
