Raised From The Wild-Chapter 198: The Wedding Dance

Outside the church, a thick crowd has gathered to welcome the newlyweds. Royal guards lined up from the enormous church door to the royal carriage to bring the newlyweds to the palace banquet hall. Their swords were drawn forming an arch while the ground was laid with flowers.

The newlyweds finally emerged from the door extravagantly decorated with white flowers. The audience clapped with glee. A confetti of petals was thrown from the balcony on the second floor as the king and his new queen walked slowly under a sword arch.

"Long Live The King of Ra-iya!"

"Long Live the Queen!"

The people were chanting while the king and his new queen were waving their hands to the crowd. The queen was radiating with joy from the inside out. It was a spectacle!

When the royal carriage left, the guards that were holding the swords headed back to the palace to welcome the king and the queen in a similar manner. The crowd lingered even when the royal carriage was already gone as if they were waiting for someone. And that someone broke off from the entourage and headed to her carriage. She was escorted by her two guards.

The crowd became excited.

"It is Princess Amaya!"

"Princess!"

"Princess!"

The chant became louder and louder and people started pushing just to get close to the princess.

"Princess, can I have an autograph?"

"Princess, can we have a picture with you?"

Amaya was dizzy. She was reminded of the stampede back on the island when the wild animals were crazily running toward her when she was just five years old. The ground was shaking as the animal hooves thumped. She stood frozen on the ground when a pair of strong hands snatched her and brought her up to the tree.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed happily.

"Don’t stand in their way or they will trample you to death. When you encounter a similar thing in the future, escape as fast as you can okay?" Ibarra said gently to her as he hugged her tightly and wait for the animals to pass through. Amaya nodded.

’What is happening? Why are these people going crazy and wanting to grab me? Their screams were louder than the roars of the animals that time when I experienced a stampede.’ Amaya thought to herself while she was in a daze.

Amidst the chaos and her momentary confusion, she stood frozen. A strong hand grasped her wrist, pulled her and they hurried to the black car that was intended for the bodyguards instead of going to the carriage.

The crowd blocked their car and the car can only travel at a snail’s pace. Thankfully, the unruly crowd was finally controlled by the team that was deployed to control the area.

"What happened?" Amaya looked at the guard who was seating beside her in the back seat.

"Perhaps, someone instigated them," the guard replied after thinking for a while.

"I didn’t know that people can be scarier than a stampede." Amaya chuckled lightly. She looked out of the window and noted that the people who were lining up earlier holding banners and miniature flags of Ra-Iya were no longer there.

When they arrived at the palace, the entourage was gathered in a room beside the banquet hall. Their makeup where retouched and their hair re-styled. Then they entered the banquet hall which was already filled with guests.

When the newlyweds entered, the banquet hall was filled with a thunderous applause as everyone clapped their hands to welcome the king and his new queen. The couple slowly walked to an elevated platform at the front and sat on a lavishly decorated couple’s seat.

"Sigh! The king is so handsome."

"Yes. He is over thirty but he still has a good body and looked young."

"He looked so noble in his wedding suit."

"What do you think of the new queen?"

"She is pretty. But Princess Amaya is prettier. Why did the king not marry her? I heard that the queen is just a daughter of a concubine."

Amaya has a keen hearing and those murmurs reached her ears. She turned around and glared at the two ladies who were whispering at the side. The ladies shrank back and stopped talking.

The master of ceremonies welcomed everyone and officially started the banquet. The servants started serving food while the performers started entertaining the audience.

Finally, it was time for the Wedding Dance. The Wedding Dance is a tradition in Ra-Iya where the groom needed to fight his way to his bride by dancing. The bride’s maids and the maid of honor should make it difficult for him.

The king danced elegantly. He moved from one bride’s maid to another, twirling them a few times before moving on to the next. The audience seemed to be mesmerized by his every move. He was indeed a superb dancer.

Amaya who was the bride’s last defense was watching intently just like everybody else. King Ralden was dancing with Shanaya. Shanaya was holding on to him tightly and was looking into his eyes like a love-struck teenager. King Ralden smiled. He twirled her a few times and then gently pushed her aside.

Amaya was startled when the king stood before her. Before she can compose herself, the king placed his hand on her waist and the other one was holding her other hand. While there was a safe distance between them, Princess Amaya can feel that his hand was caressing the flesh of her thin waist. Their hands were tightly clasped together. He led her to the middle of the dance floor.

The guard frowned.

Zanzarra who was watching the dance noticed that something was wrong. She pursed her lips.

King Ralden held Amaya’s waist with both hands and lifted her then threw her high into the air. Amaya was dumbfounded. It was not part of what they practiced with the dance instructors. Gasps were heard from the audience. The guard stood up, ready to go forward anytime.

The king twirled once and then caught Princess Amaya in time, by her waist and tilted her body down. The crowd’s applause filled the air and drowned the music.

The king continued to lead Amaya to dance elegantly. He directed her to the edge of the dance floor and blocked the audience with his body and then looked into her eyes.

"You are the most beautiful today, Princess. You are even more beautiful than my bride."

Amaya’s back stiffened. King Ralden laughed. To Amaya, it was a sinister laugh.

***

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