Shin stared intently at Yeri, never once looking away as she walked toward him.
In fact, he could feel an unpleasant prickling sensation beneath his skin, but apart from that, he was completely unbothered.
The orchestra's music filled the venue, while the guests watched with envious and congratulatory gazes. Standing there, waiting for the woman he loved to join him, Shin found himself thinking that this human wedding ritual wasn't so bad after all.
It was a good thing he had stopped himself from burning everything to ashes earlier.
When Yeri finally reached the altar, Shin stood there in a daze for a moment, while Master Zhi seemed reluctant to hand his daughter's hand over to him.
"Young Master Keir, please take your bride's hand," someone behind him instructed, evidently aware that Shin hadn't attended the rehearsal.
Only then did Shin move, immediately reaching out to take Yeri's hand.
The person behind him coughed lightly, a silent reminder to be gentle. The bride wasn't going to run away with him!
Shin and Master Zhi exchanged mildly irritated looks, each seeming reluctant to back down. Yeri could only pat her father's hand reassuringly before turning to follow Shin.
"Tell your father to focus on his wife instead of competing with me," Shin whispered to her.
"He's just worried. Stop competing with an old man. At least consider that he's about to become your father, too," Yeri whispered back.
Shin "..."
Over the next hour, the ceremony proceeded smoothly until the officiant finally reached the exchange of vows.
"Shin Keir and Yeri Zhi, please face each other and join hands."
Once they had done so, the officiant turned toward Shin.
"Shin Keir, do you take Yeri Zhi to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in marriage?"
"Yes," Shin answered without the slightest hesitation.
A ripple of light laughter passed through the guests.
The officiant cleared his throat. "I'm not finished yet."
Only then did he continue, "Do you promise to love, comfort, honour, and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, forsaking all others and remaining faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," Shin replied.
The officiant then turned to Yeri and repeated the same vows.
For some reason, Yeri felt Shin's grip on her hand tighten.
What is he worried about?
She certainly wasn't planning to cause a scene or pull some runaway-bride stunt. Besides, where could she possibly run to when he could literally bring the entire human realm to its knees?
Once the officiant had finished, Yeri answered, "I do."
However, Shin's grip tightened even further.
Perhaps he wasn't nervous at all. Perhaps he was simply overwhelmed with happiness.
Yeri lifted her gaze to study his expression, only to be stunned into silence.
Her mouth twitched.
With his current zombie-like face, there was simply no way to tell what he was thinking.
When it was time to exchange rings, Xati happily approached.
Shin carefully slipped the ring onto Yeri's finger. Then, when it was Yeri's turn to place the ring on Shin's finger, Xati's eyes practically burned with envy.
He didn't care much about what the ring symbolised. He wanted one, too!
A precious treasure that matched Yeri's, something that would symbolise the bond between him and his Empress Mother.
"Can I have a ring, too?" Xati asked, leaning closer to Yeri.
Shin shot him a glare before speaking directly into his mind. "Get out of here. Or have you forgotten that now I have the dimensional key, I can send you straight back to the Demon Realm?"
Xati immediately shouted back through their mental connection. "You cheated! You said you were only borrowing it!"
"It's mine to begin with. I merely took it back from a little thief."
Xati felt so aggrieved that he could barely contain himself. However, he couldn't very well cause a scene during the wedding, so he could only glare at Shin and curse him furiously in his mind.
Yeri looked between the two of them in confusion, completely unaware of their silent battle.
Meanwhile, the officiant continued with the ceremony.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife!"
Loud applause erupted throughout the venue, followed by a chorus of congratulations.
"Shin Keir and Yeri Zhi, you may now seal your vows with a kiss."
Shin finally stopped paying attention to Xati. He reached for Yeri's long veil and lifted it, then proceeded to duck his head beneath it.
Yeri "..."
"No, you just need to lift it off," she whispered helplessly.
The guests burst into laughter once again, finding Shin's unexpected cluelessness utterly adorable.
"I never thought I'd live to see the day when Shin Keir wouldn't know what to do," one guest remarked.
"Exactly! He's always seemed so perfect at everything. Seeing this side of him is actually quite cute."
Even Levi's father couldn't resist commenting. "As a shareholder of KGG, I sometimes feel that CEO Keir has two entirely different personalities. This is certainly not the man we usually see at the company!"
After finally lifting the veil away, Shin gazed at Yeri with undisguised admiration.
"Wife, you look beautiful."
Yeri's mouth twitched.
A piece of skin on his left cheek had peeled away the moment he spoke.
She desperately wanted to scold him, stomp her feet, and accuse him of deliberately traumatising her. However, she could only swallow her complaints and console herself with the fact that, at the very least, he didn't smell like a rotting corpse.
Shin cupped her face and kissed her lips, gentle at first, before seeming reluctant to pull away.
"Shameless!" Xati scolded him through their mental connection. "Do you not own a mirror? How dare you kiss Empress Mother with a face like that!"
But Shin was, indeed, shameless. He simply ignored Xati.
Tristan chuckled softly, knowing exactly what Yeri was probably thinking. She must be dying to scold Shin for all the trouble he'd caused, only to find herself having to bear the consequences.
"If Big Bro watches this scene later, he'll definitely be embarrassed," Saeki remarked from the side, assuming Tristan was laughing at Shin's blunder with the veil.
"Well, he's finally a married man. Now all the single ladies can jump ship and set their sights on Tristan," Daniel chimed in.
Tristan shrugged. "What about you and Zoren? I heard your families are already arranging a marriage alliance between you two."
At that, both Zoren and Daniel grimaced.
"Okay, let's not talk about anything depressing at a time like this," Zoren declared.
"Family and friends, it is my absolute honour to present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Keir!" the officiant announced loudly.
The guests rose to their feet, applauding and cheering enthusiastically.
A shower of flower petals descended from above as the staff hurried to prepare the altar and arrange Yeri's veil for the photographs.
"Alright, it's time for the photos!"
Xati immediately rushed forward, eager to take a picture with Yeri. However, Tristan stopped him before he could reach them.
It would look rather strange, not to mention suspicious, if Xati took a picture with the newlyweds as though they were a family of three.
"There's an order for the photographs," Tristan explained. "We start with the immediate family, then move on to relatives from both sides."
Xati looked utterly aggrieved, his eyes welling up as though he were about to cry.
Seeing his pitiful expression, Tristan offered a solution. "You can casually ask Yeri for a selfie later. Or just crop yourself into one of the pictures. If all else fails, generate an AI photo."
Xati "..."
Meanwhile, Yeri and Shin continued posing for their photographs.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Yeri leaned closer to Shin and whispered, "The illusion works on the photographs, too, right? I mean, you won't look the way you do now in them?"
"Hmm. Otherwise, people would have been screaming in terror since the beginning of the wedding," Shin assured her.
Yeri felt relieved.
As the photography session continued, more and more guests approached to congratulate the newlyweds.
"Congratulations, Yeri. Your wedding dress is beautiful. It suits you perfectly."
Recognising the person who had spoken, Yeri was momentarily stunned before forcing herself to smile at Linda.
It had been quite some time since she'd seen either of Venice's parents. Ever since Venice had fallen into a coma, Linda had practically been living at the hospital, no longer causing trouble for Yeri's family as she once had.
The clan elders soon joined the photographs as well.
Master Keir, in particular, looked somewhat emotional. He patted Shin on the shoulder and said, "Your mother would be happy to see you married and finally settling down."
Shin simply nodded.
-
Outside, when photos and reels from the wedding were officially released or leaked, netizens went into a frenzy.
"I have to admit, they really look good together! They're just too perfect! Couple of the century!"
"No need to tell me how much this wedding costs. I can already tell I definitely can't afford it, huhu."
"Wahahaha! Did Shin Keir just go inside the veil? LMAO My backside, I can't stop laughing! I have a feeling this is going to become iconic!"
Just as the top comment predicted, all kinds of captions, memes, and edits were already circulating online. Even the moment Shin had quickly said "Yes" before the officiant could finish speaking had become a sensation.
"I'm so jealous of Yeri! I want someone who's just as eager to marry me! Someone who would look at me and unhesitatingly say YES to anything!"
Saeki's entertainment company also released an official congratulatory post featuring photos of the couple exchanging rings, sharing a kiss, and standing together beneath a shower of confetti petals.
Within minutes, the post had been widely shared and flooded with comments. Some netizens even requested a poster version of the photos.
The rest of the evening unfolded as the guests moved into the main dining area for the wedding reception.
After delivering brief thank-you speeches, Shin and Yeri moved from table to table, expressing their gratitude to the guests and exchanging a few words with them.
By this point, Yeri was already exhausted.
For everyone else, the evening was only just beginning, with the festivities in full swing. But after everything that had happened that day, including Shin going mad and nearly destroying the entire realm, Yeri felt as though she had lived through several days in a single one.