The Perfect Bride - Chapter 47

“What are you doing?”

“…And what kind of ridiculous behavior is this from you?” asked the prince, his handsome face completely twisted.

‘I was trying to hide my crying face. You lunatic.’

The tears immediately stopped. Words she couldn’t bring herself to say lingered in her mouth. Her chin trembled from the chill sinking into her body.

“Your Highness!”

Marcus rushed over, hurriedly removing his coat to shield the prince’s head from the rain. Surprisingly, the rain began to noticeably subside.

As Natalie looked up at the fickle sky, Ian grabbed her hand and pulled her back under the awning.

Though they had only been in the rain briefly, Natalie looked like someone who had fallen into water, while Ian looked like someone splashed by a sudden downpour.

Ian roughly swept back his wet hair from his forehead and immediately took off his drenched coat. With a stiff expression, Marcus naturally accepted the wet coat and draped his own over the prince’s shoulders.

“Take it off.”

“Pardon? Oh, yes.”

Ian snatched the soaked shawl from Natalie and handed it to Marcus as well. Then, taking Marcus’s coat from his own shoulders, he wrapped it around hers. The sequence of movements flowed smoothly, like a rehearsed play.

Still in a daze, Natalie clutched the collar of Marcus’s coat and nervously glanced at Ian.

Unbothered, Ian next pulled a handkerchief—thankfully dry—from inside his coat.

He reached toward her face to wipe it.

“No, please use it first.”

Natalie shook her head and declined, but Ian quietly began dabbing at the corners of her eyes with the handkerchief.

Whenever he acted like this, Natalie’s feelings became a tangled mess. Even when no one was watching, he was sometimes so kind it felt undeserved.

As if they were true lovers—he treated her far too preciously…

Foolishly, her heart fluttered once again.

“Miss Daus, you need to get a hold of yourself.”

Catherine’s voice echoed in her ears like a warning.

To hide her rapidly beating heart, Natalie lowered her gaze and desperately tried to think of something else.

“…Are you controlling the weather now, too?”

That was the nonsense she blurted out.

“Are you sick?”

Ian, still dabbing at her face with a serious expression, furrowed his brow and asked. His tone implied he thought she had lost her mind. Then he glanced up at the now-cleared sky.

“Even I can’t control the weather. Just lucky, I guess.”

I’m unlucky. Natalie thought, watching the prince concentrate on wiping away the moisture from her face.

“You seem like the unlucky type.”

A hollow laugh slipped out. Could he read minds? This man was as uncanny as today’s weather.

After a short pause, Natalie gripped the coat more tightly and opened her mouth.

“…I’m sorry for ruining the dress.”

“……”

“And I’m sorry for suddenly leaving.”

The prince said nothing. He simply kept dabbing away the moisture with a blank expression. Natalie began to feel uneasy.

“Did I mess everything up?”

When she asked in a trembling voice, Ian’s hand stopped completely.

With an unreadable expression, Ian looked down at her in silence.

Natalie assumed it was a face filled with rage. A face debating whether to fire her.

“Natalie.”

After what felt like an eternity, Ian suddenly spoke.

Natalie swallowed hard and waited for what he’d say next. But he shut his mouth again.

“…Ha.”

Then, right to her face, he let out a deep sigh.

Natalie’s anxiety peaked. Her chestnut-colored eyes flailed in panic. She wished he would just say something.

“…P-please go ahead.”

After another long pause, Ian slowly rubbed his lips with clear dissatisfaction and murmured lowly, “Don’t say anything.”

Yes. Natalie nodded desperately and immediately dropped her gaze to her toes.

Ian silently stared down at the top of her head, obedient as ever, then slowly closed his eyes.

So foolish.

Even under the dim gaslight, the redness around her eyes contrasted starkly against her pale face. The cold rain hadn’t been enough to hide how bloodshot her eyes were.

Ian had been certain that today, finally, he’d get to see her smile again. But after a single dance, this is how she looked. No—just being here seemed to make her uncomfortable.

Every time he saw her like this, he didn’t know what to do.

‘Should I call it off after all?’

The words rose all the way to his throat. But he couldn’t say them.

He couldn’t let her go now. She knew too much. Hadn’t she signed the contract? To marry him.

Repeating all sorts of absurd excuses in his head, he kept his mouth shut.

It was the first time Ian felt a vague anxiety, as if something was going wrong.

Dong.

The clock tower of Itman Station struck midnight for the first time.

Ian and Natalie turned their heads almost simultaneously toward the direction of the tower. Of course, the tower on the opposite side wasn’t visible from here.

Cheers could be heard from afar. The moment the first bell rang, the tower had likely lit up.

Dong.

Only then did Natalie realize that all the spectators here had moved toward the clock tower. The party guests were probably watching the lighting ceremony through the transparent ceiling.

To commemorate the first lighting, the clock tower rang out twelve times. The clear chimes echoed gently through the clear night sky of Dwan, each note following the last.

When only the final bell remained—

Ian, who had been looking at Natalie the entire time since the first chime, spoke softly to her.

“Happy birthday.”

Dong…

As the final chime rang out, Natalie, who had been gazing vaguely toward the exit as if she could see the clock tower, blinked in a daze.

Birthday? Of course, today—or rather, now—was indeed her birthday. But for him to celebrate it separately like this was just too…

‘Strange. Isn’t it strange?’

Natalie awkwardly turned her head toward Ian.

His subdued blue eyes revealed nothing of what he was thinking. Of course, she had never known what he was thinking—but now it felt truly impossible.

Why are you doing this? Why do you keep being kind to me for no reason? It’d be better if you were just cruel. Why do you have to move me every now and then?

“…Why are you doing this to me?” Natalie whispered, her face crumpling.

“What did I do?”

“Why are you… why are you so…”

Natalie carefully chose the most neutral word.

“…kind to me?”

Ian looked truly surprised, his eyes going wide. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, a sharp sound sliced through the sky.

Then—bang. From a distance, explosions burst in succession.

“What was that just now?”

Natalie blinked rapidly and asked. Ian didn’t explain; he simply held out his hand to her.

When she placed her hand in his, he held it and stepped back onto the street they had just fled.

Another explosion echoed across the sky.

Standing with the prince, their hands tightly clasped, Natalie lifted her head to the sky.

“Ah.”

A short gasp escaped her lips. In her eyes—dark as the night itself—thousands upon thousands of golden sparks burst into brilliant white before fading away.

Ian, instead of watching the sky, looked at the world reflected in Natalie’s eyes.

“Fireworks…”

Natalie murmured, dazed.

“I didn’t think I’d actually get to see them.”

“I told you. I’m lucky.”

“…So you are.”

Natalie replied with a faint smile, almost without realizing. Their hands tightly held. The stunning view. The damp air. Time seemed to slow down.

Ian decided to leave her alone for now, watching her laugh after crying, crying after laughing.

Who knows how long had passed?

“…Well. People often say I’m kind.”

Ian, who had been gazing up at the fireworks he wasn’t particularly interested in, finally answered her old question.

“Yes, that’s true. You are kind.”

Watching another burst of light fill the sky, Natalie nodded without hesitation.

For all his faults, this man’s nickname was still ‘angel.’ A prince from a picture book, kind to everyone.

He teased her often, but he also treated her with more generosity than she deserved—Natalie knew that, too.

Still…

“…Please don’t be too kind to me. When you treat me like this even when no one’s watching, your kindness confuses me.”

“Confuses you?”

“Unlike you, I’m not used to acting. I can’t tell what’s real and what’s part of the act… No, I know it’s all pretend but…”

“I haven’t been acting, though.”

Ian frowned and looked at Natalie’s profile.

If it’s not an act, then what are all these excessive gestures? Natalie reflexively turned her head to meet his eyes.

“…The way you speak, too. Always so confusing. You’re going to cause trouble someday.”

For everyone who ever talks to you.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

Natalie’s gaze fixed on Ian’s blue eyes. She wanted desperately to read them—to understand his expression, his thoughts.

Because of that, she missed the final firework. And yet, she still understood nothing. Natalie looked away and turned her eyes back to the sky.

Catherine’s cruel warning hadn’t been wrong. For the next year, knowing her place would be more important than anything—for her own sake.

After another bitter moment of harsh self-awareness, Natalie took a deep breath. The faint scent of gunpowder and wet earth filled her lungs.

It was just as the last firework vanished completely from the black sky.