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　　I never once imagined what my wedding would look like. I never once thought about what dress I would wear nor what flowers should be in my bouquet. And yet here I was walking down the aisle, people from all over the four kingdoms present while their eyes were on me. I could feel the veil dragging behind me as a small smile was plastered on my lips.

　　The hall was filled with a strong floral scent due to the many centrepieces of white and pink flowers around. The closer I got to the front, the stronger the scent became and one was growing too strong for my liking. The fragrance of the white lily, the same smell that I had associated with my father.

　　I forced myself to raise my head once more, turning to my mother who watched me with teary eyes, Aiden by her side as he held her comfortingly. He too looked at the urge of tearing up but held strong and smiled when our eyes met. In the same row, Lady Marie and my half-siblings stood, watching me with fake smiles and faker tears in their eyes.

　　I turned away from them to look ahead, to look at the three alphas who were dressed stunningly. They looked at me with more emotion than I had expected, soft and tender looks on their faces as though they were happy but I knew that everything was just a ruse. I had to immediately look away as I wanted to avoid staring at their beauty. When I made my way to the front, the ceremony started.

　　The officiant’s voice echoed through the walls of the grand hall as he spoke of empty words and in a blink of an eye, the ceremony ended. I was legally bound by marriage to three men.

　　After that, it was time for the official wedding dance. Usually the bride and groom would have their first dance together, but since I have three grooms, I would have to dance three times. Mother and Gideon had prepared me for this, hence my footwear was designed to be more comfortable for me and my corset was not tightened too much.

　　I danced with Augustus first as that was our arrangement order when I had discussed this with the three of them. Surprisingly, the meeting about the dance was the most civil they have ever been. At that moment, I assumed they were too tired for their other duties to even bother bickering with me.

　　Augustus was a surprisingly amazing dancer as he led throughout. I felt as though I was gliding across the marbled tiles with his firm hands wrapped around my waist and holding onto my hand. The music reverberated through me and I almost let out a relief sigh when the music stopped only to move on to the next dance.

　　Cassian was next and he was incredibly chatty. We twirled around the dance floor, following the beat of the music but he kept asking me questions which were difficult to answer while trying to memorise the dance steps.

　　“Do you think something dangerous will happen today on our wedding day?” he asked, and I was fully aware that he was joking but that only irritated me even more.

　　I smiled widely at him. “Do you not know how to stay silent?” I asked.

　　Cassian chuckled. “Dancing in silence is so boring. Do you not prefer chatting with me?”

　　“We can chat when we are not exaggerating ourselves.” I told him, hoping that he would listen to me this once and he did. When the dance with Cassian was over, I really wanted to find a quiet place to sit and rest but of course, Isaiah had approached me.

　　His grip on my waist and hands were so much stronger than Augustus and Isaiah, as though I was about to snap my bones into two. But he carried himself well enough that I could look past his aggression.

　　“What?” he snapped when he noticed me peering at him.

　　“You’re a great dancer.” I complimented him.

　　“Shut up.” He replied instantly.

　　“Are you perhaps shy to hear such a compliment?”

　　Isaiah pulled my body dangerously close, causing me to stumble into his chest but he was so strong that he continued moving me to make it seem that I did not just make a mistake. I glanced around the hall to see if anyone had noticed.

　　“Don’t make me hurt you in front of all these people.” He whispered.

　　Yet again, I knew that he was full of empty threats but this was getting too interesting. Getting married sure was a great idea on my part, I thought sarcastically as I just tried my best to survive today.

　　*

　　My mother hugged me suffocatingly tight, whispering niceties in my ear such as ‘congratulations’ and ‘I’m so proud of you’ while trying her best not to cry until her make-up was running. I wiggled out of her embrace to hug Aiden next, who said the same words mother had spoken.

　　I then quickly looked around the hall to spot my husbands. The three of them were with their loved ones as I assumed they were getting the same treatment as I was. Surprisingly, even Augustus remained in the hall, talking to his mother whereas his father was nowhere to be seen.

　　“Congratulations, Princess Cordelia,” Gideon called out, making me pull my focus away from my alphas.

　　“Thank you, Gideon.” I said, leaning over to give him a hug.

　　“Make sure to stay alert,” he whispered in my ear. “The guards are on high alert but we never know what those who oppose you are planning.”

　　I pulled away from the hug and smiled at him. “Thank you.” I repeated with a smile.

　　The day continued with me going around the hall to thank the guests who came as they proceeded to congratulate me over the wedding. It was an incredibly tedious process of my cheek muscles straining itself from all the smiling I had to do. When I finally finished talking to the noblemen of my kingdom, I moved on to the guest from faraway.

　　“You look exquisite in that dress, Princess Cordelia. White truly is a fetching colour on you as you resemble a dove floating in the clear blue sky.” Empress Yara beamed, causing me to give her an awkward chuckle.

　　“What the Empress means is that—” Nasir started but Isaiah interrupted him.

　　“She means you look good.” He said, avoiding my gaze.

　　?“Like a dove!” Yara added playfully.

　　“Thank you very much.” I said, coming out naturally now that I have said the same words over and over again.

　　“I still cannot believe you are married, Isaiah. I am certain that Hassan must be very proud of you as he continues to look after us from heaven.” Yara said, almost to herself as she squeezed Karim’s hand.

　　“…yea.” Isaiah casually said before turning to me and leaning close to my ear. “You should move on to Cassian or Augustus now,” he whispered.

　　I wanted to ask why he was making me leave but from what I understood about Isaiah’s personality is that he was a rather private person, not wanting people to see him in his most vulnerable and I guess that he is like that with his loved ones.

　　“I’ll see you later.” I whispered back to him which took him by surprise. I then said my goodbyes to Yara, Nasir and Karim before moving on to the next family of in-laws.

　　When I approached Augustus and his mother, the two seemed to be deep in conversation but it was apparent that his mother was doing most of the talking. For some strange reason, seeing them being all hushed like this made me think of that day when Herman and Leonidas were in the same room together. So many things were happening that I never really questioned why those two were together in the first place. I made a mental note to ask Cassian about this whenever we had alone time just because he was there.

　　“You.” Augustus called out with a nod when he finally noticed me.

　　“Hello, you.” I said, trying to sound affectionate when all I thought about was if he had forgotten my name. “And hello to you, Empress Veronica, I extend my gratitude for you to come all this way yet again.”

　　“Of course, my dear. I apologise on behalf of my husband. He…” she glanced at Augustus before turning back to me. “He had official business to attend to. I hope this will not affect our relationship with the Southern Kingdom.”

　　“Of course not!” I quickly rebuttal. “If anything, I should be apologising due to the sudden wedding announcement.”

　　Veronica was about to say something when I noticed from the corner of my eyes that Emperor Herman, Princess Olivera, Grand Duke Charles and Cassian were making their way towards us—all of them standing out from the crowd due to their absurd beauty.