Chapter 362: 137. Sacred Marriage (Happy New Year)
“Dong~dong~dong~”
After the simplified ceremony in the front, Fisher, holding the gracefully clad Valentina, returned to the wall constructed by the Troll Race. Many female trolls were still outside, looking around and gazing at the handsome Fisher, but before they could stare for more than a few seconds, they were shooed away by Daliwu and Kokoliah behind them.
“Everyone, clear the sacred marriage venue and keep quiet!”
After saying this, Daliwu pointed at the wall where a gate was opened, signaling Fisher and Valentina to go in. Fisher carried Valentina inside the wall, where the ground was covered with lit candles. The sacred marriage had no tradition of sweeping away the frost and snow, as in the Northern Region’s culture, frost and snow symbolize purity. Thus, the flames seemed to float on a soft, white surface.
The flames formed a path leading to the tent, and Fisher rolled up Valentina’s long garment to avoid it catching fire from the nearby candles. Meanwhile, two trolls lifted large stones to fill the last gap in the wall.
“Fisher, Parasol Tree.”
Valentina, nestled in Fisher’s arms, pointed at the large tree-shaped statue above the tent. The flames cast shadows of the tent onto the Parasol Tree. It then struck Fisher that Daliwu had mentioned the sacred marriage process before. After all, he didn’t know what purpose the Moon Princess’s decree truly served; these races that could see into the future were often cryptic, and it would be bad if he failed to execute any special duties.
Thus, he paused, knelt on one knee in front of the Parasol Tree, representing the families of both parties, and announced their relationship to the other tribespeople.
“Dad, Mom, Heidi Lin, although you are not here, I hope you can see this. Now I want to entrust everything to the person before me under your witness. This is my own decision; I need your blessing to give me the courage to move forward.”
Hearing Valentina earnestly reciting these words, even Fisher was moved by the atmosphere. He didn’t speak but closed his eyes before the Parasol Tree. In his mind, he again seemed to see the golden-haired lady in a heavy black nun’s robe with her back to him, studying the Genesis. When he and a large group of orphans would sleep at night, she would keep watch beside them.
Under the weak candlelight, Fisher could not see her expression but could only occasionally hear the sound of pages turning as he drifted off to sleep, making a deep impression of Sister Teresa on him.
“Teresa, may the Mother bless you and me.”
In the darkness, he said nothing until he heard Valentina’s voice had stopped for a while. Only then did he seem to casually utter this phrase.
Afterward, Fisher opened his eyes and exchanged a glance with the smiling Valentina before standing up and walking into the large tent before him.
The structure of the tent was simple, with a warm stove keeping the room at a comfortable temperature. On a small table laid some food and water, along with two bowls of liquid emitting a faint purple glow. Behind the small table was a large bed, with pillows and blankets neatly folded against the corner, apparently only needed at the very end.
Valentina’s face turned slightly red upon seeing the purple liquid. Fisher first placed her on the bed, then turned to glance at the food on the table and said,
“They have prepared food, so we won’t go hungry tonight. Hmm, what is this purple water?”
“Ah, that—”
Valentina, blushing, propped herself up with one hand as if wanting to explain something to Fisher, but after talking for a long time, she couldn’t clearly articulate what it was.
“It’s—Kokoliah gave it to us, saying she was worried about my health. This medicine can temporarily enhance my physique. Male trolls must drink this during their wedding.”
Fisher opened his mouth, recalling the towering female troll around four meters tall and the male trolls around two and a half meters tall. Suddenly, he realized what this was for.
He glanced at the slender Valentina in front of him, turned his head, picked up the bowl of purple liquid, and drank it. Then, amidst Valentina’s panicked gaze, he kissed her soft lips. As the kiss deepened, streams of the murky purple potion flowed into Valentina’s mouth as well.
Whether it was Fisher’s kiss or the potion’s effect, Valentina suddenly felt her body starting to heat up. Each breath she took felt substantial, gently brushing against Fisher’s face in the warm tent.
Her body softened, and the arm that had supported her weakened, causing her to lie down on the bed. Fisher attempted to advance further but was weakly blocked by her hand.
Between her slightly disheveled white hair, only one glistening eye was visible.
“Wait… there’s still a ceremony. Don’t… don’t rush.”
“… The prayer?”
Fisher gently held her blocking hand against his lips. The contact sent an electrical sensation across Valentina’s delicate skin, making it flush a tempting pink.
“Mm, but actually, the prayer doesn’t matter because I didn’t remember it, hehe.”
Just as Fisher recalled the prayer he had glanced at and was about to recite it, Valentina blushed and shyly laughed, saying,
“The prayer contains a lot of obscure phrases that seem to ask for the witness and blessing of the Parasol Tree, but I’ve never seen any other Phoenix or Parasol Tree. If that’s the case, even if I recite it, it wouldn’t have any effect, right? Instead, I’m… a bit embarrassed.”
She turned her face slightly, initially, she had mentioned the ceremony only because she was too shy. She didn’t expect Fisher to actually stop. He was amused by Valentina’s cuteness and didn’t release her hand but merely sat on the edge of the bed, letting out a warm breath and saying,
“It’s okay, Valentina, I’m not in a hurry; aren’t you hungry? You can eat a little first. And we just drank the potion from the trolls, so it should take effect too.”
Valentina’s eyes flickered as she glanced under him, and she mumbled softly,
“I’m obviously already anxious.”
After taking a few deep breaths and patting her own cheeks with her cool hands, she closed her eyes, spread her arms, and lay on the bed decisively, saying,
“I’m ready, come on!”
“What are you doing?”
Fisher turned and looked at her lying on the bed, arms spread out like a cross, laughing as he poked her waist, causing her to retract her arms and hug herself while looking at Fisher, reproaching him,
“What are you doing? I worked hard to get into this state; if you disrupt me, I’ll have to start over.”
“… Wait, what do you think this is?”
Feeling Fisher’s gaze upon her, Valentina’s eyes darted away as she replied,
“What else could it be? It can’t just be holding hands, right?”
“Then where did you learn about these things?”
“From stories and novels, I suppose.”
Fisher shook his head with a smile. Then he suddenly became assertive and grasped her wrist, bringing their faces close together. Due to his sudden approach, Valentina’s heart, which had just prepared itself, began to race again, and her face flushed even more.
Her eyes flitted across Fisher’s handsome face, which seemed to draw her soul in.
“Nonetheless, no matter how open Nali is, stories and novels must have undergone scrutiny; the content within certainly cannot show the whole picture.”
“Well, I… I can’t do anything; I don’t know.”
Valentina pouted, her soft words seeming to ignite some invisible combustible material, bringing their faces closer and closer.
“Hmm? You don’t know? Didn’t you see how it was in the prophecy of Zhen Bing before you?”
“Prophecy! You know that too…”
Valentina’s pupils slightly shrank in surprise, and her astonished expression compelled her to turn her head to Fisher, thus neglecting the fact that they were only inches apart, and that any small movement could lead to great disaster.
At that moment, as she turned her head, before she could finish speaking, Fisher seized the opportunity.
The tent under the Parasol Tree still stood amid the swirling wind and snow, with the candlelight outside flickering gently. The entire troll tribe was very quiet.
The situation inside the tent was indescribable; all that could be known was that the thick atmosphere shyly pulled down the curtain, thus the ambiguity within could not be seen by outsiders.
“Whoo~”
The night of the sacred marriage was exceptionally long. Once the moon fell, and the cold moonlight spilled over the uneven snow-capped mountains casting layers of shadow, the atmosphere inside the tent finally eased somewhat.
Time passed, and Valentina’s consciousness ebbed and flowed within her dreams. After a long time, she suddenly woke up in Fisher’s embrace.
She stared dazedly at the warm, dim room, the lingering joy not yet faded. After catching her breath for a moment, for some reason, though they had both been asleep for a long time, she suddenly woke up.
Waking up midway made her lose her sleepiness, yet she moved cautiously, making no noise, fearing to disturb Fisher beside her. She merely turned her head and carefully observed the person in front of her, from top to bottom, from the whole to the details, finding him incredibly beautiful and feeling very happy.
As she smiled quietly, counting Fisher’s eyelashes, that inner sense of joy seemed to spread from the depths of her heart, lighting up her eyes colored like Zhen Bing, flowing along her frail human body filled with Phoenix blood, giving rise to a vivid image before her.
She seemed to see a huge, ice-encrusted throne, as well as vast, dark corridors and tunnels, and saw a strange man wearing a bird-beak mask moving closer to her.
The images were fragmented and broken, the sounds like an ethereal echo reached Valentina faintly, but these fragments suddenly coalesced at the last moment into a very clear image for Valentina to see.
She saw herself collapsed in a pool of cold blood, her body covered in wounds, blood gushing from the wounds like a river, flowing continuously in one direction, until her body heat and life gradually faded away.
Then she saw the next scene, Fisher staggeringly holding his lower abdomen, walking farther and farther into the wind and snow alone, until he completely disappeared.
Valentina stared blankly at these vivid scenes, not until several seconds later did everything before her dissipate like mist, revealing Fisher’s sleeping face hidden behind that prophecy.
“So that’s why…”
So this was the reason you left such a decree, Your Highness the Moon Princess.
After a long time, Valentina finally came back to her senses from her daze. She reached out and tightly embraced the warm Fisher, then closed her eyes, revealing a hint of a relieved smile.
Just as she had said in Fisher’s arms that afternoon, even though she could now see her own ending, she should face it calmly.
In the quiet and warm tent, the two embraced each other, accompanied only by a silent tear flowing down and an unheard whisper,
“Just this… is enough.”
The next morning, as dawn just broke, Fisher opened his eyes. He blinked and suddenly noticed that Valentina had somehow snuggled tightly against his chest. However, because her legs could not move, she had to maintain a somewhat awkward position to be close to Fisher.
“Valentina?”
Fisher seemed to have discovered something. If she was asleep, she would not maintain such a state, so he tentatively called out to the petite Valentina in his embrace.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he spoke, Valentina raised her head, smiled, yawned, and poked Fisher’s chest.
“Good morning, Fisher.”
Her white long hair fell behind her, and Fisher took in her beauty beside him until her voice called him back. Even just last night, they had just alleviated the hunger for reproduction, yet now that unfed fire began to stir again.
But Fisher was not a beast; he did not pursue the petite girl before him but merely asked,
“Good morning. Have you been awake for a long time?”
“Mmhm, isn’t it all your fault for last night? So I didn’t sleep well.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay, muah~”
“You rascal.”
With a flushed face, she hid in Fisher’s warm embrace, muttering and poking him until Fisher helplessly captured her hand. Only then did she lift her head to look at Fisher, and suddenly, as if ambushing him, she gently pecked the corner of Fisher’s lips, then quickly retreating, covering her mouth with her hands, preventing him from kissing back.
They played around like this for a while, and it seemed that after the unceremonious sacred marriage last night, their relationship grew much closer, and their understanding of each other deepened.
“Wait, Fisher, shh, you have to listen.”
After Valentina lay back and playfully hit Fisher with a pillow, the sound of trolls moving bricks came from outside. Seeing Fisher about to retaliate with a pillow, she quickly raised her hand in surrender, using the trolls disassembling the wall as an excuse to block his next attack.
Fisher, helplessly conceding, set down the pillow in his hand. Valentina looked at him with a mischievous grin and then playfully smacked him with the pillow again. When Fisher turned to look at her in disbelief, she happily lowered the pillow.
Without the boost of the troll potion, her physique was very weak. Even after a few minutes of a pillow fight, she was already panting and exhausted, but she remained bubbly with happiness.
“Fisher.”
She beckoned to him with her hand, but knowing how much he had evaded her ambush, Fisher simply sat beside her, watching her as she seemed lost in thought. Eventually, when the girl lying on the bed tired of beckoning, he sighed and leaned closer,
“Mmhm, what’s up?”
Valentina smiled and leaned forward slightly, forming her hands into a horn shape in front of her mouth, but the sound that came out was very small, so small that only Fisher could hear. She said,
“I like you, Fisher~”
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(End of this chapter)
