Road to the Crown

15th April 1574

"I, Mike Terrna of Tarnow, take you, Elia Pekta of Pilzno, to be my wedded wife. With the deepest joy, I receive you into my life that together we may be one. As is Christ to His body, the church, so I will be to you a loving and faithful husband. Always will I perform my headship over you even as Christ does over me, knowing that His Lordship is one of the holiest desires for my life. I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, my tenderest care. I promise I will live first unto God rather than others or even you. I promise that I will lead our lives into a life of faith and hope in Christ Jesus. Ever honouring God's guidance by His spirit through the Word, And so throughout life, no matter what may lie ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as a loving and faithful husband."

Reciting this formula word by word from the script prepared with just a tiny help of my retainers and my system alike, I could focus on looking Elia in her eyes rather than stressing over missing an important word.

Contrary to the future, where rather than this elaborate form the newlyweds would simply recite short vows claiming to remain faithful, true and loving until the death would do part them, one was supposed to come with his own words, aimed to describe the innermost state of the soul in this day and age. Or rather, one was supposed to pretend like that was the case, with most of the marriages being political deals rather than a true union of love!

"I love you, Mike Terrna and I know that you love me. Because of this, I desire to be your wife. For years I have prayed that God would lead me to His choice and I am confident that His will is being fulfilled tonight. Through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future, I promise to be faithful to you. I will love, serve, and obey you as long as we both are alive. Christ told us that the wife must submit herself unto her own husband as unto the Lord. For as Christ is Head of His Church so is the husband head of his wife. My dearest Mike, I hereby submit myself to you."

With her head lowering as she reached the last part of her vows, Elia reached forward with her hands, instantly grabbed by mine, creating a bridge between us on which the Head priest placed a white cloth, binding our hands together. With that done, one of the servants brough up a sizeable,

crystalic cup, filled to the brim with wine.

Grabbing it in our hands, we first raised it so that Elia could take a sip, then moving the container back to my lips and repeating the entire process two more times. With that out of the way, the priest finally placed a corner of his robe on top of our hands and recited his own part.

"What the God almighty bound, no human will dare to split. Under the authority bestowed on me by the Catholic Church, this marriage is hereby acknowledged in the name of the God-father, God-son and the holy spirit!"

"Amen!"

As soon as the priest finished his formula, the entire crowd repeated along with us the words of confirmation. At this very moment, while there were still some dignified parts of the ceremony that we had to go through, both in the eyes of men and in the authority of the church, we successfully became a husband and a wife!

While I would give a lot to just take Elia away from the crowd and enjoy this moment between us, I still had to gesture at one of my servants that took up the duty of holding up the box with the wedding rings for the head priest to bless them.

After making the sign of the cross over the box, the priest took out three different rings from it, and passed them one by one to me, giving me just enough time to gently put them on three Elia's fingers.

"Dearest Elia, please do accept those rings, as the sign of my love and faithfulness, in the name of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit."

After this process repeated itself with just a single ring landing up on my own finger, the exciting part was finally over, allowing us and the conduct of the highest nobles to enter the chapel and take our seats.

While there was way more than enough place to fit everyone, being the hosts of the ceremony, rather than sitting in the front row of the benches along with everyone else, we were given two simple chairs placed in the very middle of the main church corridor, directly in front of the holy cross located at the top of the altar.

But instead of sitting down on them, we simply entangled the fingers of our hands and lied flat on the cold, stone floor of the church.

This tradition of laying flat in front of the altar during the holy proceedings was something that disappeared in the modern times, with the exclusion of strictly inclusive ceremonies like when one was to become a priest or a bishop, yet there was something strangely humbling in the experience.

Obviously, lying flat on our bellies with our hands spread out to put us in the same position of the crucified Christ was way more comfortable than sitting on hard benches, but it also was quite an eye-opener for me.

The people of the modern times, even if celebrated the faith, mostly forgotten about its true spirit. In fact, I was just like most of my colleagues, visiting the church out of the sense of duty every Sunday, rather than preparing for the holy mass and actually trying to fully understand the experience behind the ceremony. While I had some memories that my more religious parents tried to teach me about the mysteries behind every single small gesture made by the priests, only now, when I could gauge what was going on only by my poor understanding of the Latin speech I realised how grand those events reminiscent during the holy mass were.

Only when the time came for the holy feast, during which we would consume what used to be a simple bread, now celebrated as the holy body of the Christ, were we allowed to lift ourselves from the ground and even then, only for the quick moment of kneeling down and accepting the greatest gifts of the faith.

Thankfully, after the communion, the ceremony swiftly came to an end, finished with the Head Priest generously sprinkling holy water on our backs, without any regard for our comfort or the state of our clothes.

As we rose from the ground, I couldn't help but sneak a quick peek at Elia's face, already covered with blush because of what was about to happen next.

"Husband, you can now kiss your wife at the sign of peace!"

Now standing in front of everyone, we were finally allowed to face ourselves again for the first time ever since we exchanged the vows. Unwilling to wait even a single moment longer, I pulled the veil that shielded Elia's face to the back of her head. While my intention was to instantly go for her mouth to put an end to this embarrassing moment, when our eyes meet, I simply couldn't help but stare right into her pupils, as if my soul was pulled out by this ensnaring sight.

In the end, it was Elia who threw me out of my balance, rolling her eyes with a small smirk, as she grabbed the front of my clothes, pulled me towards herself and finally reunited our lips.