“Married?! Isn’t that super extreme!!”

“It is but I don’t know how else to solve this problem. How will you get your citizenship? A family adopting you perhaps? But who will adopt a girl they don’t know with a reputation of being a loose woman? There is no good family in town that will accept you with a reputation like that.”

Caroline’s eyes started to tear up. “This isn’t fair! To me or to Thio! He was just being nice!”

“And that is admirable of him. But if Thio is going to “be nice”, he must be nice all the way through. Otherwise he is just being cruel in the end. You must keep that in mind too, if you are to survive. Never be kind to someone unless you mean to carry it through to the end. Anything less is just selfishness on your part.”

Thio cleared his throat. “If it helps any… I won’t be in town past the end of this week.”

The Priest and Caroline looked at him in surprise.

“I meant to say this early,” He looked miserable. “But I’ve been summoned by the military.”

Father Richard smiled. “Then your application was accepted! Congratulations!”

“Not… not exactly.”

“Hm?”

“I… I’ve been selected for the Air Division. To be a Mage.”

“…oh.”

Both men sat there quietly.

“Is that bad?” Caroline asked.

“Ah,” Father Richard spoke up when Thio didn’t. “No, no… it’s quite respectable it’s just…”

“I was trying to join the Knights.” Thio’s face twisted bitterly.

“He’s been training for years to be a Knight, you see.” The Father explained. “Just three generations ago his family were proud Knights. Very well respected. But starting from his Great-Grandfather, they made progressively worse and worse decisions, until they were stripped of their title. I’m sorry to say, Thio’s father did not learn from the mistakes of the generation before, and squandered the goodwill that was left.”

“I was going to… going to regain the family honor, bring it back to what it was...” Thio said through a clenched jaw.

“Dear Thio,” The Priest looked worried. “While it may not be through the Knights, you can still gain honor by being a Mage.”

Thio didn’t respond, but there was a dark look in his eyes. Clearly he did not view the Air Division to be on pair with the Knights.

“So… you’re leaving at the end of the week?” Caroline cleared her throat and brought the main point back to focus.

“Right. So even if we get married, not much will change in terms of our freedoms. I’ll go to the Capital and you… you can stay here. You can live in my house, until you can afford a nicer one. I don’t plan on coming back any time soon, so do whatever suits you.”

“And of course, the Church will help you if you need anything else.” The Father offered kindly.

“Well…” Caroline still wasn’t sure. She just got here, she barely knew anything. Clearly things were done differently, but still.. wasn't marriage a huge commitment? “What happens if you find someone you like Thio?”

“You're asking me? What about you?" Thio asked, slightly annoyed, and then waved his hand dismissively. "The real problem is whether the marriage is permanent or if it can be annulled or we can divorce later. What are the rules on this, Father?"

“Well… the church rules… If you both remain celibate, I can have the marriage annulled. Even if it’s years later. If you do not remain celibate, it would be grounds for divorce. But divorce would be a last resort. I don't recommend it. We are doing this to maintain both your reputations and give you a future, divorcing would be defeating the purpose of that.

As to the Emperor's law... I think a foreigner need to remain married five years before they become a naturalized citizen. So you must stay married at least five years. And understand you are deceiving the Emperor by marrying to bypass the law. If you are caught, it will be extremely bad for all of us. So you absolutely must not get caught.

Lastly... how do I put this? Caroline's reputation hinges on being seen as a morally upstanding individual as long as she's in town. She is right to say this situation is extremely unfair, as it's mostly unfair in her direction. Thio, you get to go to the Capital and do as you like while she must carry your reputation plus her own. So I'd like you both to give me your word you will not dishonor your marriage until you separate five years from this day.”

“It's not like I have a choice about anything anyway, so what's it matter?” Caroline muttered frustrated, and then sighed. “I promise to honor my fake marriage to the best of my abilities.”

Thio shrugged. “You have my word as well.”

In their hearts, Caroline and Thio thought the same thing: I don’t care what he/she does one way or the other. And it’s not like I’ve got time to think about bed-buddies/companions. I've got to focus on work! Surviving! Ah, it’s doesn’t matter at all… not even one bit. My life is such a mess right now... I just don't care anymore...

“Then it’s settled.” The Priest gave a single clap. “When I leave, I’ll start pushing the rumors in the correct direction, which I think will be fairly easy. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Guard Headquarters and talk to the Head Guard as well on Caroline's behalf. Can you both meet me at the Church before supper? We should be able to complete the process at that point.”

They both agreed. They then went to check on Thio’s father (who they only just then remembered), to find he’d already left. Smart of him, Caroline thought meanly. After hearing about Thio’s family, she was even less inclined to forgive him. At no point did she plan on thinking of that jerk as family.

Before the Priest had even left the tiny house, over half the neighborhood had decided the spunky woman was "Thio's Bride". They admired her fiery determination to stand up for her beloved's honor and thought she'd be a good contrast to Thio's chilly behavior. When Father Richard left, he talked with the neighbors, casually giving his support to the "new couple" and "being happy on their upcoming marriage". This convinced any doubters the relationship was legitimate, and word spread quickly through out the town.

With the Priest as their witness, the Head Guard was more than willing to give a Marriage Waiver. If he suspected there might be some foul play going on, he didn't inquire. He already felt sorry for the girl's situation. What he didn't know, after all, couldn't be used against him later.

The Priest did a speedy marriage that night for Thio and Caroline, handing over the Marriage Waiver. With the blessing of the church and the state, they'd officially tied the knot.

——

That week passed by relatively quickly for Caroline. Thio taught her as much as he could, as fast as he could, so that she wouldn’t be totally ignorant. He also tried to give her some background about himself and his family so that she would seem passably informed about her “husband”.

Thio attempted to find more about her country in that time as well, and about her sealed status. Unsurprisingly, no one could help. The map in particular was extra hopeless. He’d gotten yelled at by a traveling mapmaker for wasting his time on “child’s scribble”.

Caroline was extremely lucky to have gotten a job at the Guild. Unless you were doing odd-jobs or manual labor, every other job required a connection or prior work history. The Guild was more merit-based in it’s hiring, so would hire anyone as long as they had the right skill set.

Her first week as a stand-in secretary was a little rough, if only for the fact that she was missing a lot of fundamental information. Like the money system. She was totally shocked to discover the coins she saw people wear around their necks were actually the Empire’s currency.

The money system, from big to small, went like this: Gilda, Silva, Nock, and Coppers. One Gilda equaled 1,000 Coppers, roughly.

Gilda, which were gold based, weren’t shaped like coins, but as thin rods that had a hole at the end. Silva were coins with square holes in them, while Nock and Coppers had regular round holes. People frequently carried their money on strings, either around their necks or in leather bags at their waist.

Caroline made 10 Coppers a day, which added up to be about 1 Silva and 2 Nocks at the end of the month. This was excellent beginners wage, Thio assured her. He’d been working for years and made 8 Coppers on a good day.

——

Thio was frustrated with how easy she had it. Not only that she was making more than him with almost no effort at all, but also because the entire town seemed to love and accept her with ease. They liked her so much, that Thio’s reputation was rising simply by being married to her. After all these years, apparently all he'd needed was a wife to make people like him.

He naturally found the whole thing strange (and annoying). But since it worked in his favor, he decided to let it go and not over think it. After all, he no longer needed to worry about his family honor, as Caroline’s very existence seemed to be improving it without his involvement. And if they liked her, they’d take care of her, which meant he didn’t have to do much on his end. Good!

He was finally free. He’d leave this hellish town and never come back. Even if he had to be a Mage to do it (which he was still bitter about).

——

Thio and Caroline got along fairly well, though calling them “friends” would have been a stretch. It just didn’t make any sense to either of them to get closer, since one of them was leaving and had no intention of coming back. But since they WERE technically married, they made a show of it when he left.

There was some heartfelt farewells between them and Caroline even managed to squeeze out some fake tears near the end.

And that was how Thio the Mage got a Wife.