Chapter 49
But it still didn’t work at all. Carl deliberately turned his gaze to empty space, avoiding Sian’s sharp eyes.
Sian let out a mirthless laugh, saying, “I can’t believe this.”
“Well, if even the knight and His Highness the Crown Prince were fooled, I guess it works even if it lacks plausibility.”
Contrary to Carl’s expectations, Sian didn’t get angry, throw a heavy punch, or try to strangle him. Only then did Carl’s gaze, which had fled to empty space, return to Sian.
“Surprisingly, the people in the imperial capital are quite naive. No, Carl, you should have said so from the beginning. Why did you act so confusingly?”
The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed, and Sian snapped at Carl, who was finally looking at her.
He truly had princely dignity. Carl couldn’t bring himself to say he was scared of being strangled after doing such a thing. Instead of a clumsy pretense, Carl chose silence.
“If even His Highness the Crown Prince thinks that, then maybe it worked out well. Let’s go with it. As the fiancée who can’t be shaken off because you proposed without dignity after I saved your life.”
“…Is that okay?”
Realizing he couldn’t back down now, Carl looked at Sian with a relieved face as she suddenly changed her attitude.
“Is there any point in asking if it’s okay now? It’s already done.”
“…”
Carl closed his mouth again, left with nothing to say to Sian’s words.
“So what are you planning to do now? Do you have a plan in mind?”
Now that she knew the situation, Sian became more direct.
“I already told you. You just pretend not to know anything and stay by my side for now…”
“I’m the only one who knows Reva’s face. There’s a limit to how much I can filter information passed on by Your Highness and His Highness while hiding in the castle. What if Reva changed her hair color with dye? How will you recognize her?”
Sian’s expression and tone were firm. True to her words that she had already made her decision, there was no trace of the hesitant, tearful Sian from before. Realizing that Sian’s resolve was stronger than he had thought, Carl hardened his expression.
“No. No matter what, it’s too risky for you to take the front line.”
“Acting clumsily might backfire instead.”
“Even if it backfires, I’ll take the hit.”
Carl was also resolute. Sian frowned at Carl’s curt words.
“I told you. I don’t want to put you in danger. I need information about the dragon hunter Revenant. But that’s not the only reason I asked you to come along. I just want to be with you.”
Carl spoke seriously without changing his expression. A stiff, dark-tinged silence. The resonance transmitted through it was heavy and sincere enough to make her heart flutter rather than feel ticklish.
Sian bit the inside of her mouth imperceptibly.
“Besides.”
She didn’t know what to say. While Sian kept her mouth shut at Carl’s sincerity that cut through the silence, Carl continued and paused for a moment.
“…You have a secret to keep, don’t you?”
As if he already knew Sian’s reaction to his words, Carl lowered his voice significantly as he continued.
Sian took a deep breath. It felt like her heart was falling with a thud. A dry swallow automatically went down her throat, making the back of her neck feel cool.
“…You know?”
Carl bit his lip hard at Sian’s words.
“Do you know what secret I’m hiding?”
Her mind was filled with thoughts of “surely not.” Even though she tried not to, her voice trembled involuntarily. When Sian forced out her voice and spoke, Carl let out a helpless laugh and dropped his head.
“…No, I want to know.”
The answer, without even meeting her gaze, was also the perfect truth.
“All I know is that the secret you’re hiding so tightly is desperate and urgent enough to make you cry so sorrowfully.”
The touch that had barely grasped the ends of her hair before now reached the hair flowing down below her chin. Carl extended his hand to stroke Sian’s platinum blonde hair, his gaze fixed on her hair rather than her eyes.
Her heartbeat, which had seemed to fall to the floor once, now pounded violently as if having a seizure at his gentle touch.
It felt as if even her breathing, inhaled and exhaled for survival, was trembling. Sian clenched her fists tightly, unable to make any movement.
“Not everyone can be bamboo strong against the wind. If you’re a pine tree that might break, that’s fine as you are.”
While Sian didn’t reject his touch, Carl’s hand moved from her hair to her cheek.
“I want to protect you as you are.”
The warm touch lingered on her cheek, and his kind gaze filled her vision. And his low voice struck her pounding heart.
It felt as if her heart had been pierced by a sharp sword. An unidentifiable emotion poured out like blood gushing.
“…Why are you doing this much for me?”
Even her family had abandoned her without looking back. Her very existence had been erased.
Sian couldn’t understand or trust this man who was trying to change her bleak, black-and-white life into a brilliant light, suddenly dropping into her life.
“You don’t know anything about me. So why do you want to protect me?”
“Because I like you.”
Carl smiled slightly.
“Because I like you enough as you are, with your secrets.”
As if feeling that the short answer wasn’t enough, Carl repeated it.
Was it her imagination? Sian felt a metallic taste in her mouth after hearing his words. She belatedly realized that she had bitten the inside of her lip hard, causing it to bleed.
She wanted to reciprocate. Sian was overwhelmed by a strong impulse.
She wanted to honestly reveal everything and reciprocate Carl’s feelings, who said it was enough even without knowing her secret.
But at the same time, she was still afraid. She was scared that if she revealed everything, he might turn cold like Reva, trampling even on years of friendship.
Unable to do either, caught in extreme imagination, she ended up hurting herself by biting her innocent lips.
What should she say? How should she convey this sincerity?
The words that usually flowed smoothly seemed unable to come out as sound, as if weighed down by the emotions standing at opposite ends of fear and excitement.
Still wanting to convey her overwhelming emotions somehow, Sian lowered her head for a moment and squeezed her eyes shut.
“…Actually, I’m a real coward.”
Just as Reva had said.
Sian opened her eyes slightly and muttered as if talking to herself.
“So…”
In front of her raised gaze were relatively calm blue-green eyes. The eyes, so deep their end couldn’t be gauged, were clear.
Sian made a short sound in her throat like someone extremely nervous. Then she tightly grasped Carl’s collar with both hands, Carl who was neither demanding nor urging anything, just calm.
She saw Carl’s eyes widen in surprise at her sudden touch. In that fleeting moment, Sian grasped Carl’s collar, which had tensed up, and impulsively kissed his lips briefly.
“I’ll substitute this for my answer now.”
Carl blinked his wide-open eyes at the sensation of lips that had touched briefly and parted.
“Just as you want to blindly protect me, I want to help you too. So I reject your rejection.”
Carl’s dumbfounded expression was almost funny. Sian pulled the corners of her mouth into a bright smile at him.
“I’ll do my best to clear your name. As we do that, the day will come when I’ll tell you everything. Until then, I’ll do as I please.”
As if apologizing for roughly grabbing his collar, Sian tapped Carl’s lapel with her fingertips.
“Let’s go together. As the life-saving benefactor who saved the falsely accused prince, and as his fiancée. …Openly, without hiding.”
Although Carl furrowed his brow at Sian’s words about taking the front line, he couldn’t firmly stop her like before.
“If I may dare to ask, I hope you’ll keep liking me as I am until you know everything.”
At least until then, so she could fully enjoy this fearful happiness.
“I will.”
Carl answered. It was an immediate response without even taking time to think.
“I’ll do that.”
To Carl, who repeated the same answer twice as if once wasn’t enough, Sian smiled with great satisfaction, wrinkling her nose.
* * *
‘…That was amazing.’
Even Idelin muttered in astonishment, dumbfounded. Carl, who had suddenly had the purity of his lips stolen, was visibly stunned.
‘First kiss? No, not even a kiss, first peck.’
“…Shut up.”
Carl, who had sent Sian back first and was blankly recalling their conversation, frowned at Idelin’s words that hit the mark.
‘I wonder if that amazing lady knows that the lips she took were the innocent prince’s first peck.’
“I told you to shut up, didn’t I?”
Idelin burst into intense laughter.
‘Now that even the purity of your lips has been taken, there’s no escaping from her. Isn’t that right, master?’
Carl tried to cut off contact with Idelin, scowling fiercely.
‘Wait, wait. I get it. I’ll stop.’
“Do you have anything else to say?”
Idelin hastily backed down, flustered. But Carl, already irritated from being thoroughly mocked, just growled, baring his teeth.
‘I do have something to say. Why aren’t you asking me if I have any idea why my scales were found on Elena?’
Carl, who was about to cut off contact immediately if it wasn’t anything important, stopped all movement at Idelin’s words.
“You had an idea?”
Carl’s brow furrowed.
