The coronation ceremony for the new emperor was set to take place exactly one week after the day all the traitorous villains were executed.
The preparations were made quite hastily, but the results were better than expected. In fact, it was even grander and more magnificent in scale compared to the previous emperor’s coronation.
The reason was simple.
Just like on the day the traitors were executed, Sinclair once again opened the imperial palace to the people of the empire.
“Everyone is in an uproar!” Judith, who had been helping Elaina prepare, spoke excitedly.
“An uproar? I hope nothing bad happened.”
“Of course not!”
This time, Anna answered with a shrug.
“No emperor in Eden Bell has ever held a coronation ceremony like this before. It was always attended only by the imperial family and nobility, which made it even more exclusive.”
“That’s right. And the location was always set at the temple! But not only did he open the imperial palace to all the people of the empire this time, he’s also holding the coronation ceremony in this square!”
Judith and Anna were right. From the very start of his coronation, Sinclair was walking a completely different path from the previous emperors.
From what Elaina had heard, there were even whispers among the people. They couldn’t understand what the new emperor was thinking, holding the coronation ceremony in the same place where he had executed the traitors just a week ago.
Of course, Sinclair didn’t care at all.
“I think this is much cooler. The new High Priest also spoke approvingly, right? He said there’s no need at all to follow in the footsteps of the previous emperors.”
“And he even laughed, saying this suits Sinclair better.”
“Right, right.”
Glen had become the new High Priest.
He was the youngest High Priest in the history of Eden Bell. We were worried there might be some opposition, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Apparently, all the other priests unanimously agreed.
Even when Hister was alive, Glen had been unfairly treated due to political strife, but he couldn’t go against the High Priest’s wishes. They all just watched, but there was no one else with Glen’s faithfulness, selflessness, and spirit of self-sacrifice that put others before himself.
Joshua, who had been one of the High Priest’s close aides but had been helping Sinclair since the lion incident and exposed Hister’s money laundering through the former High Priest, was now sincerely assisting Glen by his side.
…I found out later that Joshua was an orphan Sinclair had saved on the battlefield long ago.
With nowhere to go, Joshua came to Eden Bell with Sinclair and was able to become a priest and rise to this position.
In any case, Eden Bell was preparing to welcome a new High Priest, a new emperor, and a new empress.
“Are you nervous? Elaina… oh, I’m sorry.”
“Huh? Why?”
Elaina looked at Judith, puzzled by her sudden apology. She hadn’t done anything wrong, so why?
“Well… you’re going to be Her Majesty the Empress now. So I can’t casually call you by name like before.”
Is that so?
“I guess I’m too used to calling you Lady Elaina. I’ll be careful from now on, so don’t worry!”
Elaina tilted her head for a moment, then gestured for Judith and Anna to come closer.
“If it’s because of what others might think, it can’t be helped. But we’re not just stiffly formal with each other, are we?”
Then she whispered in their ears.
“So when it’s just us, you can call me comfortably like before. No, I’d prefer if you did that. I’m much more comfortable that way too.”
“Lady Elaina…”
Judith and Anna looked like they were about to cry, but then spoke in a very confident voice.
“T-then please don’t use honorifics with us either from now on!”
Elaina’s eyes widened as if asking what they meant.
“People might talk, but actually, Judith and I have been feeling so sad. We thought maybe you were intentionally keeping your distance from us…”
“…Anna and I talked about it many times. How we could get you to feel even a little more comfortable with us. But no matter how much we thought about it, we couldn’t figure it out… Because if you really find us bothersome, bringing it up could make you dislike it even more.”
“Oh my, how could that be? I adore both of you so much.”
“…Really?”
“Of course. Ever since I started living in the palace, you two have been such a great support to me. If it weren’t for you, I would have been so lonely.”
“…”
“So please don’t ever think that way. No… please don’t think that way.”
Hearing the casual speech for the first time, Judith and Anna hesitated for a moment, but soon smiled brightly at Elaina.
They seemed so adorably like little sisters that Elaina smiled as well.
“Elaina.”
At the sudden low voice, she slowly turned around to see Sinclair looking down at her.
As Judith and Anna politely greeted him and left, Sinclair soon approached close to Elaina’s side.
“How are you feeling? Nervous?”
“Of course I’m nervous. This is my first time standing in front of so many people.”
Elaina no longer used honorifics with Sinclair.
Sinclair thought this was much better. Not only had their relationship grown stronger, but it also reminded him more vividly of their time together as Ren and Elly.
He didn’t know how an empress speaking casually to the emperor would look to others, but he didn’t really care.
“You’ll do great. Because you’re with me. Right?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
Sinclair held Elaina’s hand tightly as he answered.
“And I’ll add that there’s nothing in this world you can’t do. Elaina, you’re someone who can handle anything well.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Even if there’s something a little difficult for you, we’ll overcome it together.”
Elaina smiled.
“Rex told me Shuler was apparently crying in secret since yesterday.”
“Shuler cried?”
“Not only that, he went to bother Glen every day. Since he’s never prayed at the temple even once in his life, he asked everything from how to pray to whether wishes really come true.”
“What in the world did he wish for?”
“That we would all be happy.”
“…”
“That we’ve been through enough hardship, so he hoped we would cry less and laugh more from now on.”
Come to think of it, Shuler had been such a great help to her as well. She was endlessly grateful to Shuler, who had always stayed by Sinclair’s side and protected her.
After the coronation ceremony, Elaina decided she should have a short conversation with Shuler.
“Anyway, it seems the preparations are almost done, so let’s go.”
Sinclair extended his large, warm hand to Elaina, and she tightly grasped it.
* * *
All the outdated and boring rituals traditionally performed at coronations were omitted.
This was also Sinclair’s intention, for exactly two reasons.
One. He didn’t want to trouble Elaina for long.
Two. Such formalities were meaningless anyway.
So despite its scale, the coronation procedure this time was greatly simplified.
Sinclair and Elaina would walk hand in hand through the crowd, and when they reached the center of the square, Glen, who was already waiting, would greet them.
Glen would crown each of them, and Sinclair would proclaim to the people that he had become the new emperor of Eden Bell.
After the coronation ceremony ended smoothly, the people would enjoy a pleasant time together, drinking and eating the food prepared by the imperial family and nobles like Heswin, Anelli, Frederick, and Walter.
That was it.
“Prince Sinclair is coming!”
At someone’s resounding voice, all eyes focused on Sinclair and Elaina, holding hands tightly on the red carpet.
Soon, the two began walking together in step.
…It was the same limping steps as at the wedding ceremony, but there wasn’t the slightest thought that this leg could be a burden to Sinclair.
Because she already knew very well. Sinclair didn’t care about such things at all.
Besides, there was no need to worry when there was someone walking beside her, matching this limping gait.
“Is that woman really the prince’s bride?”
“Why, she came out and distributed relief goods at the National Foundation Day too. Didn’t you see?”
“I was busy, so I couldn’t see. But she really does limp.”
“What does that matter? Everyone says this. They say it’s that princess who turned Eden Bell’s good-for-nothing into a person.”
“That’s right. Prince Sinclair cares for the princess so deeply. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone to rescue her himself.”
“No, I wasn’t saying anything about her limping. I was just seeing the princess for the first time…”
“Still, you’d better watch what you say. You know Prince Sinclair’s temperament, don’t you?”
“And even if her body is a bit inconvenienced, so what? Thinking that’s strange is really an outdated way of thinking. It’s unsophisticated.”
Regardless of what people were chattering about, Sinclair and Elaina soon reached the center of the square with their slow steps.
And Glen, who had been standing and waiting for them, smiled brightly at the two.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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