[Better to get it out of the way now, he supposes. He sighs, fiddling with his hands now. Hopefully she won't think he's insane after he explains. . .on the other hand, they are in the land of living dreams and magic chalkboards. . .]

I -- accidentally almost-married a dead woman. One who was up and walking around at the time.

You see, I'd been arranged to marry this other girl, Victoria, and while I liked her, I was a nervous wreck at the rehearsal. The pastor banished me to learn my lines, and I fled into the woods near my village to learn them properly. I finally got them straight next to an old oak tree, and even slipped the ring onto what I thought were merely some hand-shaped twigs extending from the ground. They turned out to be the skeletal hand of a corpse bride, who'd been murdered by the man she'd meant to elope with. She'd vowed to wait for her true love to come set her free, and she mistook my practice for a proposal. So, ah, she rose up and accepted.