Chapter 4
Ian’s mouth dropped open.
He finally seemed to understand.
“You…!”
“If you show me one more time, I’ll keep it a secret.”
In the past, I didn’t really know much about the marriage talk.
But now that I do, I could say this kind of threat.
I held out my tiny pinky finger for a secret promise.
Ian sighed, then hooked his pinky with mine.
“Sigh… Fine. I’ll show you.”
“Wow!”
I clapped happily, and Ian let out another sigh.
He made a small fist with his right hand, rubbed his thumb and finger together, and then opened his palm.
“So pretty…”
A beautiful flame appeared from his empty hand.
It was a dazzling light that reminded me of Ian himself.
“I have something too! Look at this!”
Ian looked at me. I wanted to proudly show him my power too.
“Ah!”
But suddenly, water drops shot out from my hand and turned into a small stream—
It splashed Ian’s flame and put it out.
The mood turned quiet right away.
“……”
Ian’s hand, which had just had a flame, was now just wet with water.
I panicked, and my big eyes shook nervously.
But then…
“Pfft.”
I heard Ian laugh above my head as I stood frozen.
I looked up at Ian, who was a head taller than me.
Behind him, the sunset had started to glow, shining warmly on us.
“You have an amazing power too.”
Ian wiped his eyes—maybe even a tear from laughing—and smiled brightly at me.
“You can protect me when I mess up.”
I could feel the relief in his words.
Ah… so this is how you felt at this age, Ian.
You were always afraid you’d hurt someone by accident with your power.
“Actually…”
I started to talk, holding Ian’s hand—
But then—
“Amelia!”
“Oh my goodness! Ria, what happened?!”
“Oh dear!”
A crowd suddenly rushed over, holding the gems I had dropped earlier.
…Wait, they’ll return those, right?
Well, never mind that.
“Ria! Come out quickly! Are you hurt? Prince Ian, are you alright?”
I glanced at Ian again as my father ran to us.
Ian looked a little stressed, probably wondering how to explain things to his scary father, the Grand Duke of Vesperd.
But Ian, don’t worry—
The water accident is nothing compared to what’s next.
“My lord! Look at this!”
I pressed and opened my hands to show everyone.
The nobles all turned to look—
But their attention quickly shifted away from me… and to Ian.
“Oh my!!”
“That flame!”
Just as I released my water, Ian’s hand suddenly burst into bright fire again.
“…It’s the flame of Vesperd!”
One of the nobles shouted.
Ian looked surprised at the large flame coming from his own hand.
I smiled in satisfaction.
This was my plan:
Reveal Ian’s power without breaking my promise to keep it a secret.
Right now, Ian didn’t know yet—
But when two people share their powers once, they will always react to each other again.
It’s the rule of “destined partners.”
This was my proposal to you, Ian.
We’re fated.
Under that noble name, I will protect you this time.
We’ll get married two years earlier than before.
We both need to start training early, since neither of us can fully control our powers yet.
Boom!
“Amelia!”
We won’t be ruined again.
I’ll protect my husband!
Anyone who messes with him now… is done for!
Meanwhile…
“Isn’t that power only passed to the oldest son?”
“But that flame is definitely the Vesperd fire!”
The first thing I wanted to change in this life was…
To marry Ian sooner.
So I revealed his power to the world earlier than before.
“What is going on?”
The nobles whispered quietly, glancing at the Grand Duke.
“The Vesperd family is in chaos now.”
The Grand Duke looked down at his soaked son and said coldly.
He looked like he had a thousand things to ask Ian but didn’t want to start gossip, so he held back.
I wanted to defend Ian, but then he stepped forward.
“It was my fault.”
Wow. That’s such a cool entrance.
But no way. Did he see his dad’s scary face?
I waved my arms in protest.
“No, it’s not! Prince Ian saved me when I fell into the water!”
“As expected of a Vesperd.”
The nobles chimed in to agree with me.
They didn’t really care how Ian got his power—
They just wanted to flatter the Grand Duke for their own gain.
The Grand Duke stayed quiet. He couldn’t scold his son for saving a young girl.
Ian looked at me and whispered under his breath.
“What the heck are you doing?”
“……”
“Do you know what you just did?”
I stayed quiet too.
This twelve-year-old Ian was different from the future Ian.
He was shocked about his powers being discovered, sure.
But he wasn’t bitter or broken like the Ian I had known.
Young Ian… was still proud and shining.
He was still that beautiful boy I couldn’t forget.
“My lady! Here, wrap this around you, or you’ll catch a cold. Prince Ian too…”
The maids came running with big towels, wrapping them around me and Ian.
Ian stared at me while I was being dried off.
“Look at her red cheeks and sniffly nose. Aren’t you cold?”
The maid carefully checked me.
Ian quietly watched every move.
His gaze was unreadable.
When I looked back at him curiously, he turned away, annoyed.
“You said you’d keep it a secret. But now everyone knows.”
“Well… it wasn’t on purpose. Sorry, Prince Ian!”
I did a funny little bow, and Ian let out an annoyed sigh.
Heh. Twelve-year-old Ian is actually kind of cute.
Maybe even a bit cheeky?
“Oh no. You’re all wet. You need to change.”
Then Dad came and picked me up.
The maids tried to stop him from getting wet too, but he just laughed.
“See you again, Prince Ian!”
I waved goodbye to Ian.
And I kept the look in his eyes deep in my heart.
Later
“Oh, my poor daughter! What a day!”
Dad sat me by the fire, and the maids rushed to dry me.
Mom and Dad kept checking to make sure I wasn’t sick.
Their worried hands squished my chubby cheeks.
Ugh… Mom, Dad.
Touching my forehead won’t stop a cold, you know?
“Are you hurt? I was so scared!”
They really do love me to pieces.
But that’s not what’s important right now!
I have one more part of my plan to do.
“Daddy!”
I grabbed my dad’s leg and looked up with big, sparkling eyes.
“Oh no. Are you feeling sick?”
“Eeeeng…”
That’s not it…
I wiggled my hands and asked him to lower himself to my level.
He bent his knees and looked me in the eye.
“Daddy~”
I whispered into his ear like I was sharing a secret.
“What kind of person is Prince Ian?”
“Well, the Grand Duke has two sons. The one you saw today is the younger one.”
“How old is he? He’s so tall!”
I stood on tiptoe and stretched my arms above my head.
The maids chuckled at my cute gesture.
“Well…”
My dad looked serious as he remembered his talk with the Grand Duke.
The maids finished drying me and quickly dressed me in clean clothes.
“If he’s three years older than you… he must be twelve now.”
“Wow, only two years older than me? But he’s so big!”
“If you eat well, you’ll grow tall too.”
Dad patted my head with a smile.
Liar.
No matter how much I eat, I’ll never grow as tall as the Vesperd guys.
