Chapter 100
“I don’t think I had very positive feelings about the young prince coming to take up his post in Ivarid. I was living a miserable life, abandoned by my parents because I was chosen by the black dragon, while the prince passing by on this road was absolutely radiant.”
Though they were both dragon masters, they were so different. He was revered for having a silver dragon, while she was ostracized for having a black one.
Unlike herself, who had to hide her identity and survive by hunting wild animals and eating grass, the young prince held his head high under the protection of adults.
“But it was strange. Even though Reva urged me several times to leave because we might be discovered, I couldn’t take my eyes off you, to the point where I couldn’t even hear him.”
“I understand.”
Carl nodded.
“I’m still handsome now, but back then I was such a beautiful young boy that even I have to admit it…”
“…Are you joking? I’m seriously reminiscing here.”
Sian raised her eyebrows at Carl’s mood-breaking joke. Carl burst out laughing.
“No need to be so serious. I don’t know how it looked in your eyes, but I too at that time… Well, things weren’t as peaceful as they appeared on the surface.”
Though certainly not as miserable as Sian’s life, for Carl too it was essentially exile, being driven from the imperial palace where he was born and raised.
Despite having done nothing himself, the fact that his mere existence was a threat to the crown prince and a tool for political strife was difficult to understand and felt unfair at the time.
Carl wore a bitter smile as he recalled his childhood memories of passing through the ground he now stood on as an adult.
Just as the young Sian couldn’t take her eyes off him, he too particularly remembered the platinum-haired girl who had caught his eye.
“How was your first flight?”
Carl quietly reached out and took Sian’s hand. Sian, who had been staring into empty space filled only with memories, raised her eyes to meet Carl’s at the touch of reality.
“Do we have to go back the same way?”
Sian, who had felt tortured by wind and cold the entire journey, asked with a terrified expression. Carl burst into successive laughter.
“Don’t laugh. I was scared. Plus it was cold, high up, and the wind felt like it was constantly slapping my face.”
Sian pouted sulkily at Carl’s laughter. Carl found himself nearly falling over with laughter at each thing Sian said.
“That wasn’t quite the impression I was expecting, but you always exceed expectations.”
“What, did you think I’d shed tears of emotion over my first dragon ride?”
“Maybe a little?”
It would have been awkward in its own way if Sian had cried with emotion.
“I felt quite strange myself. I hoped you’d feel something similar.”
“…How was it strange? It’s not like this was your first flight.”
“Hmm… Well, I don’t use the word strange without reason, but it’s hard to describe exactly what kind of feeling it was.”
Carl scratched his chin, quite seriously searching for an answer to Sian’s question.
“Strangely…”
After carefully examining his emotions, Carl slowly raised his gaze to look at Sian.
“I felt my heart flutter.”
Looking at Sian with impossibly warm eyes, Carl spoke softly, almost in a whisper.
Instead, it was Sian who felt her heart flutter at those words. Just like when she first recognized that warmth in the Dragon’s Temple and burst into tears, once again an inexplicable feeling welled up with hot emotion.
“I thought about how from now on, we could fly together like this whenever we want.”
Sian bit her lip hard. A future she would never have considered if Carl hadn’t mentioned it felt as unbelievable and dizzying as when she received the Emperor’s unprecedented offer to appoint her as a Dragon Knight.
But now it was really possible.
Just as she had experienced her first flight since being chosen by the dragon, from now on she could proudly have many experiences without hiding her black dragon.
That realization, combined with the shock of her first flight, made her chest burn hot around her solar plexus.
“So, Lady Sian…”
It would have been quite embarrassing to burst into tears after what he’d said. While desperately suppressing the emotions threatening to explode into tears, Carl, either aware or unaware of Sian’s state, scratched his head and struggled to speak.
“I originally wanted to say this somewhere more impressive and in a grander way, but as you know, the palace, the most impressive place I know, is in that state… Um…”
“What is it? Stop stalling and just say it.”
Sian deliberately made her voice sound sulkier. Carl repeatedly opened and closed his mouth as if the words wouldn’t come out. Just as Sian, who had been quite patient at first, was about to snap at him to forget it if he couldn’t say it, feeling like she would burst from frustration—
“Will you stay with me like this, if possible, for a lifetime?”
He finally found his courage and spoke.
“…What?”
Sian could only stare and ask blankly. She completely forgot about the anger she was about to unleash like a fierce tiger. For a moment, what she had just heard didn’t quite register.
Something… It seemed like she had heard something very similar to a proposal…
“…Um…”
Sian quickly came to understand why Carl had stumbled over his words, unable to speak properly.
She soon realized it wasn’t just ‘similar to’ a proposal but was the thing itself, but embarrassment, awkwardness, and endless flutter dried her mouth completely, making it impossible to produce sound.
After stammering “um” again, Sian’s face turned red and she unnecessarily cleared her throat with a “ahem.”
“As you know, I’m a high-quality person. And now with my status rising to Dragon Knight, my value has increased even more.”
Sian played coy. Seeing her response of feigning ignorance as if she didn’t understand his meaning, while her cheeks were flushed pink, Carl wore a loving smile.
“Besides, isn’t a lifetime too long? You’ll have to pay quite a high price, but if you’re still okay with that…”
“If I’m okay with it?”
When Sian paused, Carl wiggled his eyebrows playfully, as if enjoying a game.
He showed no sign of even considering rejection. Of course, she had no intention of rejecting him either, but there was something annoying about his attitude of expecting an obvious acceptance. Sian stared at him for a moment before completing her sentence.
“Let’s write a new contract.”
Sian’s lips curled up mischievously as she finished speaking.
“Though this time it’ll be a marriage contract instead of an employment contract.”
“Pft,” Carl laughed out loud.
“Since it’s a contract with only one chance, I’ll have to sign even more carefully than before. So what are the terms? If I fail to meet the requirements, do I have to hand over Ivarid to you again?”
“What other requirements would there be for a marriage contract?”
Sian rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue as if to say ‘what nonsense.’
“Just… Just be happy.”
The tears she had swallowed back once before threatened to burst forth. Sian spoke and then bowed her head deeply. Carl grabbed both her hands tightly while letting out a low laugh.
“Are you crying again? When we first met, you seemed like you wouldn’t bleed even if you were stabbed, but lately you cry at the drop of a hat.”
Sian wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks with the back of her hand and pouted sulkily.
“This is the last time. These are tears of joy.”
“I’m not giving you a handkerchief today.”
Carl teased. Who asked you to? Sian grumbled internally while breaking into a smile. Languid sunlight poured down. But warmer and more dazzling than the sunlight was the temperature of their tightly clasped hands.
Sian felt a strange sentiment about standing in a path where the sun shone directly, rather than in the shadowed forest. It was an emotion she had never felt before—aching yet warm in her chest.
“You know… Back then, when I was hiding there watching the prince, I thought I would never accept being a dragon’s master for my entire life. And I was fine with that.”
Sian looked at the spot where her past self had held her breath, unable to take her eyes off the prince.
“It was always the same routine daily life, but when suddenly a blood-covered prince appeared before my eyes, you probably don’t know how surprised I was.”
Carl smiled, recalling when they first met. Though the memory wasn’t clear because he had been dying at the time, the platinum blonde hair that shone brightly remained particularly vivid even in his hazy consciousness.
“I was very surprised too. I was already about to breathe my last when a sword came flying at me threateningly, and then there was this beautiful woman standing there.”
“…”
“I thought I had already died and gone to another world, but then you suddenly drew your sword talking about destroying evidence, so I thought you were the grim reaper.”
Carl said. Hearing this for the first time, Sian burst out laughing with tears still in her eyes. But Carl was serious. After recalling the memory, he remained silent for a moment before furrowing his brow and speaking again.
“Speaking of which, were you really planning to kill me then if things went wrong?”
“I don’t know. If Max hadn’t stopped me, maybe…?”
“That’s too much.”
Carl clicked his tongue. Sian laughed heartily.
“I’m joking. As if I would have.”
Though Carl thought it might have been possible despite Sian’s explanation-like addition, he didn’t say it out loud.
“Not long after I saved you, Max told me that I seemed to believe in the prince’s innocence more firmly than anyone else. Actually, that really hit home. From the moment I first heard the rumor that the prince, Idelin’s master, had assassinated the Dragon King, I thought it couldn’t be true.”
Sian looked at Carl with a gentle smile. A strange sentiment welled up as she quietly gazed at Carl’s face, which stayed fixed on her as if pinned by his gaze.
It was a morning she thought she would never have.
Unlike the Revenant who had desired what he knew he couldn’t have, the fact that he was here before her, who had given up in advance, felt newly surprising.
“It’s just speculation, but even if we hadn’t met then, I would have met the prince somehow and fallen for you anyway.”
Sian reached out and placed her hand on Carl’s cheek. Rather than happiness, fear came first, as if he might disappear at her touch—it seemed too incredible to believe.
But when her hand touched his cheek, far from disappearing, Carl pulled up the corners of his mouth into a gentle smile as if he had been waiting for it.
“I promise.”
Carl pulled Sian’s hand from his cheek and kissed the back of it.
“That for the rest of our lives, you’ll never again shed tears of unhappiness.”
Then he raised his eyes to look at Sian. His clear, settled turquoise eyes were infinitely sincere. There was no need for verbal confirmation to know he was speaking from his heart.
Her chest ached. This sensation she felt for the first time in her life was a complete happiness she had never known before.
“The black dragon’s infamy will end with your generation. Ivarid will be forever recorded as a land protected by both the silver dragon and the black dragon.”
Carl spoke seriously and this time kissed not the back of her hand but her lips. A warm sensation enveloped her entire body.
Sian desperately suppressed the feeling that she might cry again. Being this happy, crying felt like hypocrisy, just as the Revenant had so vehemently declared.
“…Let’s go back.”
Instead of letting the instinctively welling tears fall, Sian desperately smiled with all her might.
“To our land, protected by the silver dragon and the black dragon.”
Seeing Sian’s expression as she smiled brilliantly while facing the pouring sunlight head-on, Carl pulled up the corners of his mouth in satisfaction.
“I Picked Up a Framed Prince” – The End
