"
Then, holding up the scale on the right, he said:
"I place love and honor above the crown and the scale with all
the firmness that it has. And I beg you dearly to speak no more
of this. Rather, with true will, let our marriage take place."
The princess answered:
"You have embraced the scale of love and honor. Now I beg you to
preserve my chastity, and for the present do not violate it.
Otherwise, what will the emperor say, and my mother, and the
entire country who think of me as a saint? What will they say of
me? There will be no one who can trust Carmesina. And when you
are gone away, if I am offended by anyone, who will I go to for
help? A brother or a husband? And if I become with child, what
counsel could I take?"
Tirant could no longer withstand the tears of the princess, and,
smiling, he replied:
"My lady, I have been waiting so long to see you in your
nightgown or completely naked on a bed. I don't want your crown
or your kingdom. But give me all my rights which belong to me,
as our Holy Mother Church commands with the following words: 'If
a maiden gives herself in true matrimony, he who is able but does
not have copulation after marriage is in mortal sin.
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