“Another Yea!”

The crowd cheered as the number was erased and replaced with the new one.

Seven hundred and three was the new number, and the other side of the board held only a single digit.

A large circular zero.

“Oh! Finally a Nay!” Jamthi shouted, and I hurriedly looked up. I needed to get my hands on that vote, to find out who had submitted it.

They deserved a raise, and a promotion. Maybe even Jamthi's position.

“No! Wait!” Jamthi stopped the vote tally writer, who had been about to erase the large zero. “It's not a nay; it's a nay for leaving. Why'd you write it like this Kana? You nearly got him a vote!” Jamthi explained, causing a round of laughter to erupt.

My head fell, and I was half tempted to revoke Kana's recent promotion. I'd send her to clean pipes in the animal pens!

“It's your fault for showing them the goods before the vote,” a deep voice said, barely audible between the hollering and laughter.

“Ugh,” I groaned, and couldn't even think of anything to say.

My expression must be bad if even Yevin is trying to comfort me.

I had partly expected them to not vote in my favor... but for it to be so one-sided...

Did they have no loyalty? No fealty?

They were basically as bad as those blasted Elders. Just as they were selling off a young woman for their gain, my own people were now doing the same.

So this was what a loaf of bread felt like, as it was being haggled over by a hungry passerby and the merchant who sold it.

“Another Yea!” Jamthi shouted, and quickly more and more followed.

Once the number made it to nine-hundred, I went ahead and stood.

Usually such a vote required at least three-quarters of votes to be counted, even with such a disparaging difference... But the fear of all six thousand votes being tallied, and me not getting even a single one, was too scary of a thought.

Jamthi paused in the middle of unfolding the next vote, noticing me. With his look, the crowd's eyes followed.

Everyone around me grew quiet, but the large smiles and the sound of people snickering told me exactly what my position was.

“Enough. Yea's win,” I said plainly, loud enough for all to hear.

While a few hats flew in the air, several people began booing me. They had wanted to ridicule me longer.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, walking towards the stage.

It didn't take long for me to climb up onstage and join Jamthi. The billboard remained, but the one who had been writing the votes had left the stage already and joined the crowd.

“Sorry cousin, just the way it is,” Jamthi said, patting me on the back.

Ignoring his massive smile, I looked around to my people. All of them were smiling, just as amused as my giddy cousin.

With a heavy sigh, I nodded. “All right. I'll take part in this foolish play and marry into Derri,” I said.

“Take one for the team, boss!” someone shouted.

“But!” I raised my hand and pointed at them, before more could shout. “I'm going to remember you all sold me!”

“You just became the most expensive groom in history, cousin... you really have no room to complain,” Jamthi said.

“Quite a dowry!” I heard Sarley shout, causing a wave of laughter.

“Such a greedy bunch,” I mumbled, unable to speak. They were all laughing and cheering far too loudly for me to be heard.

My cousin gripped my shoulder, drawing closer so he could be heard. “All's well, Noth. Look how happy they are. Just bite your tongue and bear it. Who knows, maybe you'll have fun.”

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“Fun? And bear it? Jamthi, they'll never let this die. Years from now they'll still tease me over this...”

“That's the best part,” he laughed.

“Oh it wasn't the mountains of gold and jewels?” I asked.

“Well... those are nice too,” he admitted.

“Back to work! I'm going to go earn a fortune, and I expect you all to load it properly!” I shouted, drowning out most of them as the Front-Line shook.

Normally when I shouted so, they grew quiet and forlorn, but this time they only erupted into more cheers as they went into motion. People hurried to return to their duties, and were far more than eager to do so.

Chances were they'd all work harder than ever... I should probably utilize their newfound vigor as long as I could.

There were a few projects I could get them to focus on, and they'd probably finish them far faster than normal thanks to their expectations.

Had to profit off this somehow, after all.

“So, to the House of Derri?” Jamthi asked as we both watched the crowd disperse.

“Yep,” I groaned.

“Oh it won't be that bad. A mock wedding? Several of your men have gone through several real ones, and they're all fine,” he teased.

“Then you do it,” I said.

“And get disowned by my father upon our return? I think not,” he said.

Glancing to him, and his smirk, I was pleased to see he was still joking. There was a time when such a sentence wouldn't have been a joke at all... a few years ago and that would have been a very serious statement, coming from him.

Once enough people left the great-hall, Jamthi and I left the stage and I went to Yevin.

“Congratulations,” Yevin teased, and it caused Jamthi to laugh.

“How sad, even Yevin's teasing you now,” Jamthi snickered.

“I hate you both. Yevin, get a small team ready... I'll be going to the House of Derri in a bit, and it might be a long trip. I'm unsure, since I don't have any idea what really is going to happen,” I said.

“We're ready,” was all he said, and I knew that the few stragglers from the crowd who had yet to leave were probably his people.

And judging by the gear on Yevin, and those nearby... They had been ready to leave for some time now.

They had known, and planned, on me losing the vote.

“Traitor,” I grumbled, and headed for my room.

“I'll go get ready as well,” Jamthi said, leaving me to my own devices.

He had suggested I prepare before the vote... but I had refused.

After all, getting formally dressed before the vote even was cast... would have just been me admitting defeat.

Still...

Before leaving the great-hall, I took one last glance to the stadium in the center of the room. The large billboard, which was lit up and lifted so it could be read even at a distance, still had the vote counts written upon it.

The large zero was painful, but I still stared at it.

“Typical,” I whispered, then left.

Although I wasn't looking forward to it, and even though it disgusted me... I still hurried to get ready.

Putting on the most formal suit I owned was easy, but realizing that the last time I had worn this stupid suit was when I had formally took ownership of the Front-Line was hard to stomach.

This was something meant to be worn only a few times in my life... this was far from one of those times.

But I had no choice. They wanted this to look as real as possible... If I showed up to formally request a betrothal in standard attire...

Not only would my people laugh at me, so would everyone else.

Although I made sure to dress as nicely as possible, I chose not to bring a weapon. Not even a formal one, used for meetings with royalty.

It was both a way to invalidate this thing as much as possible, but also to keep as much of my dignity left as I could.

Not that I had much left anymore...

Leaving my room, I found my cousin waiting for me. He too had dressed in proper attire, and it was quite a sight.

“Makes you look younger,” I said to him, remembering the sight of him at formal parties and courts back at home.

“And you look like your father. Please when this is over, burn that,” he said, and I found it amusing that he was far from amused.

“I agree,” I said. “Now let's go meet my so called bride, then,” I said to him.

We found Yevin and half a dozen of his people waiting for us at the exit. Unlike Jamthi and I, none of them were in formal gear. They were dressed for war, not a wedding.

“Did you vote for me, Yevin?” I asked as we left the Front-Line.

He said nothing, not even giving me a glance or a shrug as an answer.

“You know if you allowed yourself a vote, you'd have gotten one at least,” Jamthi teased.

“That hurts,” I said, and almost meant it.

The votes would be sealed and kept, for legacy keeping purposes... maybe I should one day, when I'm bolder, take a look and see if I really did get zero votes or not.

Entering the City of Sand, we had to approach and pass through a small group of soldiers from the House of Markith. True to their word, they had been acting as guards for the Front-Line... an unnecessary action, but also a respectable one.

I made an internal vow to trade with them as quickly as possible.

Thanks to the Markith guards accompanying us, we were forced to stop talking about the vote and the wedding.

No one could tease me... at least, not until we reached the Derri's property.

Least I had that going for me.