Chapter Text
25th of the Ethereal Moon of Imperial Year 1186
It was a particularly cold year in Fhirdiad; that was one of the many things Dimitri was thinking about. It had been almost a year since his life had changed so drastically—from being the king of Faerghus to becoming the king of all Fódlan. Not only that, but he had married his beloved Byleth in a ceremony that was relatively simple by the kingdom’s standards yet held special significance, as Archbishop Seteth himself had officiated; all the nobles of the country had been invited to avoid any gossip that might hinder Dimitri’s work. It was nice for him to see familiar faces at his wedding, such as Ferdinand and Constance. Appointing Ferdinand as his minister in Adrestia was one of the most criticized decisions of his first months as king, but he proved himself worthy of the position. With Constance by his side, many of the reforms his father had implemented in the empire were abolished by him. They were talking with Caspar and Petra; the two had had a more extravagant wedding than his own, complete with fights and wyvern races, but he couldn’t complain because he had won the javelin-throwing event.
Then there were Dorothea and Lorenz; if Dimitri could personify elegance in two people, it would be them—the complete opposite of Holst and Shamir, who practically showed up in their battle gear as if they were about to go into battle. It was strange to him how that marriage had come about, since neither of them seemed interested from his perspective, but they were the first in the group to get married and also to start a family, as little Reece had been born that year.
His thoughts were interrupted by a very distinctive shriek, announcing that the new Counts of Varley and Rowen had arrived at their wedding. They congratulated him and then went to join their other friends. Yuri always encouraged his wife to be more open with the other nobles who weren’t their friends, but Bernadetta was a tough nut to crack, so he always had to drag her all over the ballroom, but this shriek was different—it was more joyful; perhaps it was because she’d seen Marianne and Raphael. The couples had become very close after Raphael’s appointment as the new Margrave of Edmund at the request of Marianne’s father, who had no heirs of his own.
Felix looked as if he were about to strike Sylvain, were it not for the fact that Ingrid and Annette were holding their respective husbands firmly by the arm. Byleth always told him it was comical to see how Annette could calm a wild beast like Felix just by touching his hand during the monthly meetings he held with his closest advisors. But the conflict did not go unnoticed by Ashe and Hapi, who tried to mediate the situation to prevent a disaster at the wedding reception.
A short distance from the room, Master Hanneman and Master Manuela were standing with Flayn and Linhardt, likely discussing how burdensome their noble duties were for their research, but Dimitri knew that these two mages were the ones who could bring the best students to the academy when it opened its doors next year, as they had a keen eye for spotting talent.
Leonie and Ignatz were talking with Dedue, Mercedes, Shez, and Reus about their travels. The couple declined any title Dimitri offered them, as that would restrict their freedom to travel. Dedue also refused to become governor of Duscur, no matter how much Dimitri begged him. His answer was always the same: “I live to serve you, so I cannot take a position that would take me away from Your Majesty.” Those words carried great weight with Dimitri, though he was surprised that his brother-in-law and wife agreed to become Dukes of Itha (a title that had once belonged to his late uncle Rufus) just to be close to his little sister.
A handshake snapped him out of his reverie; his beloved Byleth, his wife and his light, looked so radiant in her white dress with gold trim and her headpiece of white and blue flowers, which held the veil that had belonged to Dimitri’s mother. He would have liked to have at least a picture of her to imagine what she looked like with that veil, but the plague had taken her away before his young mind could form an image.
Now he could understand why his father never spoke of her; it must have been an immense pain to lose the woman he loved shortly after starting a family. He himself could not conceive of a world without Byleth, without the caresses she gave him every morning before breakfast, without her words of encouragement or her advice whenever things got difficult, without her kisses that allowed him to push the fallen from his mind.
“Dimitri, you seem deep in thought. Are you okay?”
“Yes, my love, I was just thinking about how much everything has changed.”
He took her hands and gave her a beautiful smile, the kind that lights up the whole room.
“That’s thanks to you and the guys who have worked so hard to improve the whole country.”
“The archbishop, Reus, and you are helping a lot too; not only did you rescue me, but you got our generation at the academy to support my cause—you even got Claude to stay and fight until the end.”
She laughed with her characteristic charm; she tended to downplay her role in the war, but she knew that without her guidance, she would now be in the same darkness in which she had found him that day.
“I’m afraid I have to tell you that credit for that goes to Lysithea, not to me; she was the only one who knew how to convince Claude.”
“You know, I was thinking about my parents and what their wedding must have been like, my father’s grief after my mother’s death; I couldn’t have handled that.”
She gently cupped his cheek and gave him a wistful smile.
“I thought the same thing. How could Jeralt bear my mother’s death and have two children who didn’t express emotions? But I suppose his love for us was what drove him to carry on, just as it was for your father, from what I’ve been told.”
He kissed her; he didn’t care if the nobles criticized him for it; if he promised himself anything, it was that he would show his beloved just how much he loved her.
“I love you, Byleth.”
“And I love you, Dimitri.”