~Chapter 30~
“Your Highness, the Duke.”
Cecilia, gasping for air, alternated her trembling gaze between me and Damien.
Not knowing what to do, she collapsed to the floor and bowed her head until her forehead touched the ground.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
Unlike Cecilia, the reporters who hadn’t seen Damien’s ring were confused.
Cecilia, however, became agitated and snapped at them.
“Shut up! You should bow your heads quickly!!”
At her command, the reporters, looking uncertain, lowered their heads without understanding what was going on.
“Why isn’t he wearing a mask…?”
Cecilia muttered, trembling.
Damien, who had been coldly staring down at her, responded.
“Do I really need to explain that?”
“Ah, no.”
After hearing her response, Damien glared contemptuously at the reporters who were murmuring in the back.
“You didn’t realize, but I’m the Duke of Maledictus.”
That’s when the reporters finally realized the situation, and their faces turned pale.
“The Duke… himself?”
“But, he’s not wearing a mask…”
“Is that important right now? Look at the carriage emblem behind him!”
One of the panicked reporters rushed forward and knelt before Damien.
“Your Highness, I’ve committed an unforgivable sin—”
The reporter tried to grab Damien’s pants, but Damien took a step back and looked down at him as if he were a bug.
“You fabricated vile rumors and tarnished the honor of my wife, the Duchess, and the Maledictus name. And in the most malicious way possible.”
At his gesture, all the guards that had been standing in position revealed themselves.
All of them looked furious.
“The blood of royalty flows through Maledictus.”
At Damien’s signal, twenty guards surrounded Cecilia and the reporters.
“In the end, insulting royalty is no different from insulting the empire itself.”
“Wait, Your Highness!”
Cecilia screamed, her green eyes, beautiful but filled with desire and vanity, wet with tears.
“I was only trying to protect the honor of Maledictus by exposing my sister’s affair! Of course, it wasn’t an affair, but I didn’t know that and made a wrong decision!”
She pleaded with her pure and innocent face, the one she showed in front of others.
“Unlike those reporters, I didn’t mean to do it on purpose!”
“What? What are you saying—ah!”
One reporter, who had been trying to rush at her, was quickly subdued by the guards.
“Please believe me, Your Highness. How could I have known that my lovely sister, married to Maledictus, would…”
“Cecilia.”
At my soft call, Cecilia’s head turned.
“Oh, my dear Rubyana. I just made a mistake. I only wanted to lead you down the right path—”
“No.”
I interrupted her words firmly.
“You definitely called my husband the ‘Monster Duke.’”
Cecilia’s face drained of color, and she nervously touched her lips with a trembling hand. She shook her head as if regretting it, laughing nervously.
“No, I didn’t. Rubyana, you must have heard wrong.”
“Not just me, but everyone here heard you, Cecilia.”
I said clearly as I looked down at her, kneeling on the ground.
“You’ve insulted none other than royalty.”
Damien, who had been staring at Cecilia with a derisive smile, turned to look at me.
Damien pulled my hand toward him and spoke.
“According to imperial law, insulting royalty means immediate arrest and imprisonment.”
“Imprisonment?”
“Wait, Your Highness—”
But there was no mercy for them.
“Lock them up.”
At Damien’s command, Cecilia and all the reporters were subdued by the guards, their heads bowing to the ground.
“Wait, Rubyana! Rubyana!!”
Cecilia shouted desperately, pounding the ground with her cheeks as she called my name.
“I’m really sorry, I was wrong! But I’m your sister, please, please save me, please!!”
She had never apologized so desperately before.
But I knew.
Even if I forgave her this time, she would try to harm me again, and even Damien and Maledictus.
“Damien.”
As I called Damien, Cecilia’s face lit up with hope.
“If you insult royalty, the minimum detention period is 60 days, right?”
Her face, filled with hope, immediately crumpled as she heard the truth.
“The minimum is that, but in reality, it’s often closer to a year.”
Damien spoke directly to Cecilia.
“The bail is also astronomical.”
He glanced at Cecilia, still lying on the ground, with the same cold look.
“This is an amount that you could never raise in Aristia. Even if you somehow could, you’d be bankrupt soon.”
Damien turned his back to Cecilia and took my hand.
“Anyway, for the time being, it will be hard for you to see her face. So don’t worry.”
With his firm and reassuring expression, I nodded.
Then, I let myself be led by his hand, stepping forward.
“Wait! Your Highness, please listen to me! I’ll never, never do this again, please! Rubyana, Rubyana! Save me, please! Please, I’m begging you, Rubyana!!”
Cecilia screamed madly as we walked away.
But neither Damien nor I paid her any mind.
“Ruby, where shall we go?”
After Cecilia’s voice faded to nothing, Damien asked softly.
“Hmm.”
I thought for a moment before replying to him.
“Let’s go buy silverware. I need to give Alice a gift.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
“Oh, but….”
“Yes, Ruby.”
“They’re having fireworks in three hours.”
It was just a casual suggestion.
In fact, it was something light that could be suggested even without being a lover or married couple.
“Would you like to watch them together?”
Strangely, my voice kept cracking as I said it.
Just before the fireworks began, the dark night sky unfolded before us.
“Ruby, can you see the sky well?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I can see it clearly.”
“If you need a piggyback…”
At Damien’s cautious suggestion, I jumped and shouted.
“Oh, no! Not that!”
My voice was so loud that people around us turned to look, wondering what had happened.
I quickly covered my mouth and lowered my voice to only let Damien hear me.
“Ah, no, that’s just… well, you know…”
“Why is it ‘just’ like that?”
“It’s something for kids, you know. That kind of thing.”
I pouted and glared at Damien.
“And honestly, I’m not that small.”
“Is that so…”
“No, ‘is that so,’ what do you mean by that?”
“Well…”
Damien trailed off, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
“Somehow, to me, you always seem small and delicate. Like you’d break if I touched you…”
Is that so?
I didn’t quite understand, but I quietly listened to Damien’s words.
“But even in front of the curse, and others too, you remained so composed… it was really amazing. I wanted to learn from you.”
“Composed?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not that brave.”
If I were really brave, I would have gotten rid of what I fear the most long ago.
But I couldn’t do that.
“Honestly, I wanted to learn from you when I saw you make the decision to change and take off your mask today.”
Damien looked at me without speaking for a moment. Then, he took both of my hands in his.
“Then, I guess we’ll always need each other.”
Bang—
With a loud crash, golden light burst across the sky.
The fireworks had begun.
“Look over there! It’s already started!”
“So beautiful!”
As the dazzling fireworks exploded, gasps of awe echoed from around us, but my ears only rang.
It felt as if time had stopped.
‘Ah.’
I blankly stared at Damien’s soft smile illuminated by the bursting fireworks.
That smile was so beautiful that I wanted to keep it in my eyes forever.
The fact that he was smiling at me made me incredibly happy.
I wanted to keep seeing that smile.
I’d heard that if you make a wish under fireworks, your wish will come true.
Maybe that’s why.
Without thinking, I made a wish.
‘I want to be with this person forever.’
Boom—
“Ah! Look at those fireworks!”
“Mary, let’s make a wish now!”
In a moment of impulse, I made a strong wish in my heart, and I found myself staring at him, captivated.
“Ruby?”
It was Damien who snapped me out of my trance.
“Let’s make a wish together.”
That’s when I snapped back to reality.
“Ah, sure, okay!”
What was wrong with me?
‘Why did I suddenly make such a wish?’
It felt as though I had been bewitched and made a wish without thinking.
‘I must be a little strange today.’
I just brushed it off and continued watching the fireworks with Damien.
We didn’t let go of each other’s hands until the very end.
“Ruby, look at this.”
The next morning, Damien called me over and pointed at the newspaper.
“Our photo is in the newspaper.”
Under the headline [A Beautiful Couple Making a Wish, Holding Hands – The Largest Fireworks Display on the Thames River], there was a photo of us, our silhouettes captured as we watched the fireworks together.
“It turned out well.”
“Right?”
The photo of us making a wish while watching the fireworks had made the front page of the newspaper.
Along with the news of Cecilia’s prison sentence for insulting royalty, and the complete bankruptcy of Aristia due to the money for her bail.
