Road To The Crown 88 Working Hard For The Grandest Prize

20th March 1574

"Good job. How is the caravan going?"

Sitting at the table in the dining room of the Pilznian palace, I listened to the reports of the multiple messengers that connected me with both Tarnow and the caravan still on its way here.

Considering how we separated from the main force at the early morning on the day before, reaching the Pilzno took us only a few hours with no carriages slowing us down. Thankfully, the escaping few men of Peter's didn't dare to ride for the city but opted for escaping to their own town of Ropian, saving us the trouble of yet another skirmish at the gate.

While some might rejoice at the fact that we managed to recover Elia's land just like that, as soon as we crossed the gates of the city, instead of spoiling ourselves with some leisure time, we instantly jumped to dealing with all the matters at hand. With how traditionally I was supposed to write and sign all the invitation letters that we would send to all the n.o.bles we would like to invite, most of the other duties fell on Elia's shoulders, leaving me stranded in the Palace chamber, with nothing but a quill and a feather in my hand, with only a sizeable stack of papers to either write the letters or wipe the tears out of my face!

Thankfully, with my modern skill of using the pen, writing all the letters took me only a few moments after I got a local poet come up with the nice formula, that in reality, served as the picture for me to replicate, considering how the written language I knew and the one used presently weren't as similar as I would like.

Considering how little time we had, as soon as I got the confirmation from the Pilznian Church that on the eleventh of April they would be able to host the ceremony, the dates and names were filled up, tand a great number of messengers were sent all over the country… Or rather, all over the nearby provinces.

While there were many figures I would love to see on the wedding in order to get inside their social circles, the time constraints I foolishly set for myself made me unable to reach out for them. Even if the time required for the message and their potential journey would be still smaller than the time before the ceremony, asking them to come on such short notice would be easily considered as faux pas!

Even though I was already using a small trick, in which only the most important figures would attend the wedding ceremony at Pilzno, with the majority of the guest expected to appear three days later in Tarnow for the proper feast. While it took some load off my shoulders, it didn't mean I could rest easy!

Preparing the feast for the guests that would come here, while simultaneously making sure all the ingredients required for a far greater one would be accessible in Tarnow, preparing amenities for everyone to use, accommodation, setting the guards to make sure everyone was safe and troublemakers would be dealt with on the spot…

If not for the night fun I had after dealing with all this stuff, I might even reconsider the worth of this marriage in the first place! Not even this d.a.m.ned Peter - currently waiting for his fate in the lowest level of prison under the main town's tower - managed to cause me so many troubles as this wedding did!

But contrary to his escapade, that ended up with almost nothing else but grief for my people after the initial excitement from the won battle ran off, I could at least enjoy myself in bed with Elia during the only time when we weren't busy dealing with our current affairs!

"How is the dress going? Did you get measured already?"

Sitting in the dining chamber and waiting for even more people to come to bother us, I turned my head to Elia and asked. While all the organisational stuff was important to deal with, we couldn't forget about the basic stuff like the wedding dress, or the wedding rings! While the rings were dealt with swiftly by simply contracting the old goldsmith that already provided me with the engagement one, the dress was way harder to come by!

After all, it wasn't something that could be adjusted to the thickness of the finger from the already prepared piece, but had to be sewn from the starting point to an end! No premade pieces would be good enough to suit Elia's most important day, nor would I agree to compromise on such an important thing!

While our marriage started like nothing else but a political ploy aimed to increase the power of my family and secure Elia's heritage, with how our relations.h.i.+p grew over the course of the last month, I couldn't help but aim to turn it into a proper, real and eternal love!

"Yeah, I might surprise you, but it seems my chest has grown a bit since the last time I was measured!"

Suddenly dropping such bomb, Elia instantly moved on top of my lap, ignoring the risk that the room could be invaded by yet another set of messengers and trouble bringers at any given moment.

"What are you doing? Don't you care if someone…"

"Stop it."

Placing her finger on top of my lips, she ran her tongue through her mouth, before speaking.

"I can see how tired you are. If we all kept it official, only for the sake of tying the know, you wouldn't have so much on your head. Trust me, I can see how much effort you are putting to make this day as grand as possible."

Raising her finger from the top of my lips, she leaned over my head and replaced it with her own mouth, connecting with me in a long, wet kiss.

"While I'm really grateful for it, I don't want you to overwork yourself, okay?"