chapter 34 - the wedding

"Oh, please, can you just SHUT UP for a minute?" I shouted at a clearly amused Kaveh standing at my door with a glass of wine in his hand.

"Nah, I am here to witness every second of you becoming a wife, I never thought it would actually happen" he giggled.

He actually looked very good, wearing the fanciest, colorful suit one can imagine. He offered to help me with getting ready alongside with my female friends, stating that his aesthetic approach is a necessity in this situation, but all he did is getting on my nerves.

Lisa gently ran a brush through my straw blonde hair, trying to calm me down. "Tessa, I know your nervous, he doesn't mean to annoy you, you are just more sensitive. This is a big day, sweetie"

"Oh, I can assure you he means to annoy me" I clicked my tongue.

"This dress is so beautiful" sighed Jean at the back of the room, taking my wedding dress out of its bag, carefully placing it on a coat hanger and smoothing the creases.

I chose a very simple white dress, with not a too wide skirt part and long sleeves. The dress was decorated with golden lace flowers around the waist and some parts of the skirt. I had a veil as well, attached to a flower crown that Klee made. The plan was to make a low bun out of my very thick and long hair - Lisa was my helper in that. I wanted a minimalist makeup, but I was afraid that Kaveh would change my plans, as he did with decorations. I am not complaining, the ballroom of the manor looked beautiful, matching our style.

Many friend and family were invited to the wedding, even Diluc's many business partners and important Mondstadt people. I originally wanted a small wedding, but I was aware of who my groom was. I started to realize what it meant to being Lady Ragnvindr, but all the inconveniences are small and irrelevant compared to spending a lifetime with the man I truly love.

Even though I had female friends from Inazuma, I chose Lisa and Jean as my bridesmaids and Klee as the ring bearer. I didn't want to decide on the color of their dress, only the style. Both Lisa and Jean wore a nice, sleeveless maxi dress with slitted skirt. Jean's was navy blue, and Lisa's was purple. I also asked them to wear a rose in their hair, with the same color as their dress.

As for Klee, she wore an adorable green dress, as she said she wants to look like the small version of the regular me to remind everyone who I was as I wasn't recognizable as a bride. I couldn't decide if she was cute or completely roasted me, but it didn't matter, I found my sister adorable whatever she said or did.

Suddenly my mom appeared at the door. She was also very well dressed, and was unusually nervous. "I brought the bouquet!" she shouted as waving with her hand holding my bouquet. Then she snapped from nervousness to tears of happiness looking at me, as I was already in my dress. "Tessa, you look so gorgeous, darling" she held my face in her palms but Kaveh quickly jumped to remove her hands.

"No, no, no you are touching her face after the ceremony as much as you want, but right now you are just ruining her make-up!"

"I am her mother, Mr. Architect, shut up" she frowned at him. Kaveh backed off immediately, even he knew when to not mess with the Almighty Alice.

"Okay, okay" he said. "I will check on the groom and my new buddy" he said then finally left the room.

He arrived two days before the wedding, and oh my, he and Kaeya found common ground immediately.

"I wonder if Diluc is as nervous as I am" I giggled.

"Oh, I think Kaeya boy is a lot more nervous" chuckled mom. "I wish I saw his face when Diluc asked him to be his best man"

Oh, yes. I was there when it happened. Kaeya didn't expect it. It is rare that he falls out of the facade he built for himself, but that moment, he just couldn't react. I swear I am sure I saw tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Okay, it is time for us to leave to our places. Come, Klee" my mom held Klee's hands. "Girls, you should come soon too"

Lisa and Jean nodded in unison. "We just want to wait until Mr. Marcus arrives" said Jean.

We didn't have to wait long until my dad appeared at the door. He started sobbing uncontrollably when he saw me.

"Tessa, when did you grow up?" he sniffed.

"Dad, please, don't cry, or I will cry too and I don't want to ruin my makeup" my voice cracked.

"O-okay" he stuttered, wiping his eyes with a tissue. He offered me his elbow.

"Come, darling" he smiled. "The ceremony is about to start."

I walked down to the ballroom with my dad. My heart was racing extremely fast in my chest. I asked Venti to play a melody while I walk down the aisle. The sound of his beautiful music eased my nervousness as I walked slowly next to my man.

My memory of the ceremony is hazy, but I clearly remember our vows to each other.

"Diluc...I thought that I am the type of person who always chooses the right words, the person who has always answers.But here I am, not knowing what to say, because you already know everything.So all I can do is promise that I will continue to love you the same way I have been loving you since I first saw you at Dawn winery. Remember that tale I used to love as a child?About the forest fairy and the flaming knight?That they couldn't be together because the knights flames hurt the fairy?The tale lied.Those flames brought light into the fairy's life."

"My dear Tessa..Compared to you, I never was a man of words.When you left Mondstadt all those years ago, I wrote you a letter. A letter I was too much of a coward to send to you.In that letter, I wished I confessed my feelings to you. To keep you here. I wanted you here. But I pushed you away.Tessa, I love you. And I promise that I will never be a coward again. I will never push you away again.I will be the husband you deserve, I will be the husband I want to be.I will never burn you again, forest fairy"

———-Author's note

Okay I will try to post the last chapter today I swear.