Meanwhile, the Saintess was busy receiving education from both the imperial family and the church. However, no matter, how occupied she was, somehow, she could still make time to grow her feelings with Rome. This just proved that love was indeed a very powerful emotion. It could make one do anything or go to any lengths. But of course, to what direction one would take in loving, no one could tell for sure. If Su Luxi was still in her original world, she would definitely never have thought of s.n.a.t.c.hing one"s fiancee from somebody else"s, just as she had never thought of suddenly getting summoned into another dimension too. But before she knew it, she already did.
This was why some people just found life funny. It was just full of the unexpected and there were limits to how much planning one could do to go against fate or dictate their own destiny.
But Su Luxi was happy with how things were playing out for her and Rome. She felt like she made the correct decision to request a marriage with him from the Church"s leader. Look. Every day she was smiling and her chest felt like it could burst from too much excitement and glee.
Because of the man, she felt like it was okay to stay in this world for good and to receive a strict education for being a Saintess and Empress. It had been a week since she started thanking the heavens for giving this opportunity. She was currently the center of the world. Maybe from the moment, she was summoned, it was already destined that she would be the happiest and n.o.blest woman in this world.
The church and the empire were expecting great things for her but she knew they respected her a lot. She had a good life and a powerful and handsome fiance.
How could she not be thankful?
Of course, she was! In fact, she had become a true devotee of the G.o.ddess who pulled her into this place.
Alright, enough of this. After all, no matter how smooth-sailing her life was, there would always be some tiny nuisance to remind her of how she should conduct. One of them was the Pope.
She had to frequently see the prophet to become more familiar with him. as instructed by the Pope.
One time, when the white-haired man became annoyed at her, he purposely invited her to visit the ill daughter of Duke Bolden.
When the invitation made way into her ears, who could understand how aggrieved she was? But despite her reluctance to see the perfect girl who made her wallow in jealousy for many days, she agreed. Did she have another choice? The visitation resulted in her feeling uncomfortable from beginning to the end. Rumina"s state dampened Su Luxi"s mood, reminded that if the other girl had not fallen ill, she would not have easily gotten her position.
"Saintess, do you know that I will be the one presiding your union with the crown prince?" on their way back to the Holy Church, the prophet unhurriedly said, turning a gentle smile to her. Inside the s.p.a.cious carriage, each of them was accompanied by a close servant. The rest were outside, serving as their escort.
They were sitting across each other and there was only a low white marble table separating the two of them. Seeing Luke Wade"s face clear upfront, she absentmindedly thought, the ducal heir was as good-looking as Rome and she might have liked him if for the prince was not only more like her type. Now, all she felt for him was nervousness. Since he was a true messenger, it was hard to shake off the feeling that she was inferior to him. This was even if he was a lame person seated in a wheelchair all day long.
With a wry smile, the Saintess slightly bowed and replied to his question, "Your Excellency, I know. It is His Holiness who informed me last time."
"Hmm." The man nodded and then lowered his head to the table, the same with his hand which placed his cup of tea and saucer down. "Good then," he said.
He lifted his head again and smiled, "Usually, the ceremony will only require the one presiding it to know the sequence of the events. It"s not a hard job. I had to thicken my face to ask for the role due to this and I"m very thankful that the Pope agreed. It must be because he knew I am in poor shape."
"His Holiness is a very considerate and gentle person," Su Luxi commented.
Jiang Li, Luke Wade, wore an amused face and expressed his agreement. "He is.""Considerate, my a$$. Biased, you mean?" He added in his heart, his expression outwardly not changing.
While his valet was pouring tea on his empty cup, he asked, "So have you decided who make as the Royal Lady?"
Su Luxi widened her eyes in surprise and then asked back in a doubtful tone. "Royal Lady...? May I know what you mean by that?"
"All Empresses have to choose a Royal Concubine for the crown prince before the coronation day. On the official marital ceremony, the crown prince would be wed both to the crown princess and the royal lady. Didn"t His Highness tell you about it?" The young man furrowed his brows slightly. "Yesterday I met him and inquired about this and he told me he would inform you."
Upon hearing what the prophet said, thunderclaps which came from nowhere seemed to have deafened the Saintess. She subconsciously parted her plump rosy lips, yet no words came out of them. Her mind had blanked out for some time. When rational returned to her, a realization made her place a hand on her chest. She looked so dumbfounded.
"The prince won"t solely belong to me?"
At that ridiculous thought, the girl only stayed still for a moment before she began shaking her head. "No, such absurdity... I would have to share my husband with somebody else?"
The girl was too shocked and conflicted to reply to Jiang Li, but he didn"t mind. There was a meaningful smile on his lips when he parted ways with the Saintess.
Girls from the modern era... They naturally hate for their love interests to have other women in their lives. Actually, this was the case even for boys. In places where people believed in monogamy, those with feet on two boats were despised and treated as moralless individuals.
In this world though, polygamy was a practice that had been prevalent among n.o.bles since ancient times. His parents and the female lead"s parent were a rare species in the aristocratic circle. But here, it was normal for men to have multiple wives. Among them, the one standing at the very top, the Emperor was required to have at least one Royal Concubine.
As the future Empress, the Saintess would be required to choose a lady from the list of candidates to be her future husband"s other woman.
Hah. Of course, there was no way she could easily accept it!
As said above, a transmigrated or summoned girl in worlds like this would want their partner to be monogamous and faithful. Usually, as she sauntered across the street declaring this, her destined prince would be intrigued and thought she as interesting. Then through repeated encounters, romance would bloom between them. And once the prince proved enough that he would not entertain another woman in his lives per the transmigrated girl"s wish, they would then be together.
In historical novels, there would be tons of women wanting to throw themselves at the prince and he would showcase his love by rejecting her, persisting on going against the customs and traditions by marrying only one woman.
Yet in reality, how could it be easy to go against the established norms? The crown prince"s case was especially sensitive. As a member of the royalty, he had the obligation to strengthen his family"s influence. The more he marries, the more he could fulfill this condition. Heck, marrying princesses from other countries were even highly encouraged.
"Milord, the fight between the crown prince and the Saintess has been the talk of the town since last eve."
Jiang Li was having his breakfast at the garden when his favorite knight reported to him. Even though his mealtime was interrupted, he didn"t appear offended. Laughingly, he held his twisted bread using two hands and ate messily. There were no other n.o.bles around so he could not be bothered to put up pretenses and act like a refined gentleman.
"What happened?"
"The Saintess confronted His Highness in public about why there"s a need to pick a Lady Royal. After some time, the Saintess has been left to tears. It seems she is forced to pick one of the n.o.ble ladies from the Upper Houses." The expression of the knight was weird as he recounted this. It was a norm for Emperors to have Royal Concubines so what the Saintess did was a puzzle.
Jiang Li laughingly said, "It must be the difference between our world and her world"s custom. Maybe from where she came from it is a traditional belief that a man and woman could only faithful to one partner."
"What kind of society can be like that?" Lando asked in astonishment.
"Maybe a land where people are equal and there"s no monarchy to rule over them, or a world where the prevalent religion dictates a marriage could only be between two people?" replied the prophet in a casual manner. He shrugged and added, "The idea just came to me. Because when you think about it, only an environment with those rules will not demand a man to have more wives just so he could appear influential."
The words Jiang Li said was of course, not entirely true, and the man knew it. Even in modern societies, men in power had mistresses left and right. Some were doing so to satisfy their ego and certain needs. The others only wanted to have more children to inherit their businesses and families. All sorts of reasons existed for one to not commit themselves to only one lover. Jiang Li could not be bothered to enumerate them all.
Lando gave him his honest opinion. "Milord, while it sounds like a good society, it should be completely impossible for the male population there to uphold that monogamous practice."
He raised a hand to signal the newly promoted knight to stop. "Lando, just tell me who the Saintess chose."
The other man respectfully bowed but the prophet still saw the complicated expression which flickered through his eyes.
Jiang Li suddenly felt like he knew what Lando would answer.
"It"s Lady Rumina Bolden of House Bolden, milord."
Hearing this, he only shook his head. "Pitiful female lead."
Sadly, the plot won"t easily let her go.
...