5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BOOM. Right on time. Lucy made an effort to look shocked as a young serving girl -- barely eighteen years old if she remembered it right -- blew up in a sudden surge of magical and demonic energy, filling the air with the scent of roses and sulfur. A terrible scent combination in any other situation, but because it was coming from the main character, it managed to smell oddly delicious. At least to her. Lucy could remember one of the harem members’ narrations describing the scent as “forbidden and smoky, like a newly chosen lover, yet also sweet and pure, like a newborn baby.” Which brought to mind all sorts of unfortunate implications, many of which Lucy didn’t want to go into. Dozens upon dozens of forums and comments back home did that for her. Her new husband -- and God, was that hard to adjust to -- drew away from her just as he was about to kiss the bride, a shocked look on his face. Completely forgetting all about the woman he had just married, he slowly started walking towards the servant girl, even as everyone else drew away from her and the guards started charging towards her. “Hold!” The guards came to a stop, spears and swords inches away from the trembling girl, who was curled up in a ball on the floor. Her tiny hands -- God, she looked skinny; what the hell was the head maid feeding her?—were covering her eyes, revealing two glowing markings. One glowed blue and was in the shape of a five-pointed star, while the other glowed red and was in the shape of a spiral. Everyone in the church, upon seeing the red spiral mark, started murmuring excitedly. Lucy could feel dozens of eyes on her even as she remained impassive, idly staring as her new husband knelt towards the girl. The magic and the demonic energy had long since faded by this point, giving him the chance to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. He said a few words to her in a low tone, too low for Lucy to hear from where she was standing. But she knew exactly what he was saying. “My daughter… just where have you been all my life?” Lucy wrinkled her nose in distaste. That sounded too much like a pick-up line for her to be comfortable. Then again, judging by how the story ended up going, maybe it was intentional? Ugh. She did not want to think about that. As the conversation between the father and his newly found daughter went on, Lucy found herself staring out into the crowd. It was a pretty big one, though that was natural for a wedding that would unite two warring realms. Most of them were staring at the father-daughter pair, though some of them were still giving her looks. Trying to see how she would react to this wonderful reunion. She could see King Alexander and Queen Mercy staring at her new husband in barely hidden dismay, their eyes darting towards her now and then. Their only son, Crown Prince Robert, had his head in his hands while his wife, Crown Princess Margret, looked more like a bundle of nerves than a person. Hundreds of nobles, wealthy and influential merchants, and other people whose names she could barely remember were alternating between staring at her and staring at the father-and-daughter duo. Some of them looked disapproving. Some looked angry. Some looked amused. Most looked as though they were watching a particularly interesting soap opera after a shocking twist. The demon side of the crowd reacted almost the same way, aside from the fact that the demon royal family looked ready and willing to kill someone. Probably Lucy's husband, if the hostile looks they were sending his way were any indication. Queen Lilith in particular looked as though she was two seconds away from stabbing someone with her hairpin. King Cain’s face was blank and his posture relaxed, but the aura of demonic energy that was lifting his hair and dyeing his skin red told a whole different story. Their daughter, Crown Princess Thana, had to be physically held down by her husband, Crown Prince Amon, who was whispering in her ear to calm her. Didn’t look like it was working, but Lucy gave him points for trying. And all the while, the father and daughter pair were lost in their little world, talking to each other even as hundreds of guests, dozens of tense guards, and a single annoyed bride watched from the sidelines. From the story’s point of view, the reunion between father and daughter was a comforting and special one, further emphasized by the main character’s internal realization that she was no longer alone in the world. Standing in the front of the church as hundreds of people muttered and sent her piercing stares made Lucy realize how painfully awkward the whole scene must have been for Lucille. Here she was, a new bride in what is supposed to be the most important marriage ceremony in the last ten thousand years, ready to kiss the man she will spend the rest of her life with -- only for her new husband’s long-lost daughter to show up in a showy fashion, ruining the wedding and emphasizing how unfaithful the guy was. Worse, said girl bore the mark of the Demon Saint, powerful demons whose power and influence were said to have been legendary and whose lineage could only be traced back to her husband’s line. Essentially, meaning that this random girl who crashed her wedding was now her husband’s legitimate heir, outstripping any heirs she might have in the future, so long as they weren’t Demon Saints themselves. And considering that birthing a Demon Saint was as rare as winning ten lotteries in a row, well… yeah. No wonder Canon Lucille flipped her shit. She lost the race before she reached the starting line. But Lucy, the girl who woke up in her body just a few months ago, couldn’t find it in herself to care. Being stared at aside, it was actually kind of relieving to have the attention off of her for once. Ever since she realized just whose body she woke up in and what world she ended up in, she found herself dreading her approaching marriage. The closest thing she had ever gotten to a legitimate relationship back in her old world was a friends-with-benefits thing that lasted all of three weeks, so finding out that she was going to spend the rest of her life with a stranger she hadn’t even met was… rough. To say the least. It took her a while to come to terms with the whole marriage thing, on top of dealing with the whole finding-yourself-stuck-in-someone-else's body-in-a-foreign-world issue. It was only by constantly reminding herself that her new marriage was canonically doomed for failure that she was able to get through it. Even then, she was more than a little bit tense during the ceremony and found herself contemplating the idea that she was in some AU world where the main character wouldn’t reveal her demonic heritage. Unlikely since she bumped into the girl on the way to the church, but still. Thankfully, everything went according to canon. The main character revealed herself in a showy fashion, her newfound father had a heart-to-heart with her where he promised to protect her as his new heir, they hugged, and -- “The ceremony is now over.” Lucy’s new husband swept the main protagonist in his arms and strode out of the church, not once looking at the bride and guests he left behind. The large church doors slammed shut in his wake, leaving the hundreds of guests stunned and staring at the doors as though he would just appear and proclaim it all a joke. Sadly, he didn’t. Lucy sighed as everyone in the church started shouting at the same time. What an asshole.