Once the noise had faded and the guests had left, the entire mansion settled into a peculiar stillness that came only after a lively celebration.
The four newlyweds returned to their almost excessively spacious bridal bedroom.
Many people, especially devoted listeners of the stories bards told, might assume that a newlywed couple's first night would inevitably be spent in endless passion and intimacy, filled with all sorts of lovey-dovey scenes.
Reality, however, was often far less rosy than the stories.
Just like most newlywed couples in his previous life, after seeing off all their guests and exhausting themselves, what they most often did on their first night was not anything else, but huddle under the covers, excited and tired... opening red envelopes.
That was precisely the scene before them now.
It did somewhat waste the thoughtfulness and unspoken understanding with which Lilia, Ghislaine, and the others had deliberately left the whole night to them.
But nobody should assume that bards in a Western fantasy world only told battle stories about heroes fighting demons or demon kings. Like the storytellers of ancient times in his previous life, weren't bards all out to make money?
There was no shame in telling a few dirty jokes now and then.
Making money? Nothing embarrassing about that.
Although this world had no custom of giving "red envelopes," its tradition of giving gifts went back a long way.
And so the four of them were now sitting in a circle on the soft carpet, enthusiastically opening a mountain of gifts.
It felt less like taking inventory of their possessions and more like opening mystery boxes.
Sometimes human happiness was that simple. What people enjoyed was always that instant of tearing open a package and revealing the unknown.
It was that moment of uncertainty they savored.
One