“All right.”
He stepped out of the room.
No one asked whether he was ready.
No one asked whether he was afraid.
No one cared.
Because today, Aphrodite Sylvaris was not getting married for love.
She was getting married because the kingdom needed a bride.
The carriage door opened.
Cheers immediately filled the air.
Aphrodite slowly descended the steps.
Dozens of pairs of eyes turned toward her.
Some were awestruck.
Some were curious.
Others did not even try to hide their doubt.
“Is that the bride?”
“I heard she’s from the Fairy Clan.”
“Is it true that she has no magic?”
“A magicless woman is becoming the Crown Prince’s wife?”
The whispers were clearly audible.
Aphrodite lowered her gaze.
Not because she was ashamed.
She had simply grown too accustomed to it.
A man in black-and-gold royal attire stood before the palace gates.
Kaelum Drakhar.
The Crown Prince of the Dragon Clan.
He was tall, handsome, and possessed the aura of a man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted.
His black hair was neatly styled. His dark eyes looked warm as he gazed at Aphrodite.
Kaelum smiled.
The smile made the people cheer even louder.
He walked over to Aphrodite.
“Lady Aphrodite.”
Aphrodite bowed politely.
“Your Highness.”
Kaelum extended his hand.
“Starting today, you don’t need to call me that when it’s just the two of us.”
Aphrodite looked at his hand for a moment before finally taking it.
“Then what should I call you?”
Kaelum’s smile widened.
“Kaelum.”
Simple.
Warm.
It almost made Aphrodite forget that the man before her was a stranger.
“All right, Kaelum.”
The man’s eyes lingered on Aphrodite’s face for a moment.
“Your name really suits you.”
Aphrodite furrowed her brow.
“For what?”
“For you.”
Kaelum chuckled softly.
“Aphrodite. The goddess of beauty.”
Aphrodite only gave him a faint smile.
“Unfortunately, beauty didn’t give me magic.”
For a moment, Kaelum fell silent.
Then he smiled again.
“Perhaps you don’t need magic to enchant someone.”
Aphrodite did not know whether it was a compliment or merely the kind of thing a silver-tongued prince would say.
Still, she chose not to answer.
They walked into the palace.
And Aphrodite did not yet know that on one of the highest balconies, someone was watching her.
With a glass of wine in his hand, he gazed at his sister-in-law. One of his male friends asked,
“What do you think of your sister-in-law? Isn’t she truly beautiful?”
Atherion curved his lips into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
“Beautiful,” he replied, his gaze never leaving Aphrodite.
Meanwhile, in the ballroom of Valtharion, everyone celebrated the wedding. Nearly all the clan descendants in Elythera had gathered. In the middle of his conversation with the guests, Kaelum looked toward his wife and gave her a warm smile so Aphrodite would not feel lonely.
Then Aphrodite left the ballroom and walked toward the balcony for some fresh air. There, someone’s voice startled her.
“Did my brother make it hard for you to breathe in there?”
Aphrodite was startled by the voice. She looked at a man with a sharp gaze and a faint smile on his lips.
“Ah... before I forget, I wanted to warn you not to go to the East Garden tomorrow morning.”
“Why?” Aphrodite asked.
“Because I said so.”
“You like ordering people around, don’t you?”
“Apparently, it’s in the Drakhar bloodline.”
At that, Aphrodite remembered her husband’s younger brother. So this man standing beside her was the Second Prince?
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I didn’t know you were—”
“It’s fine. Don’t call me prince.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“What did my brother ask you to call him?”
“Kaelum,” Aphrodite replied as the two of them continued to hold each other’s gaze.
“Atherion. Call me that.”
Aphrodite nodded.
There was something in his tone that made Aphrodite obey.
“Atherion.” Aphrodite spoke the name aloud.
The name sounded different when it left her lips.
Atherion looked at her again.
And for some reason, for the first time that night, his cold expression changed slightly.
“Better.”
Aphrodite smiled.
But that smile slowly faded when the music from the ballroom sounded again.
She remembered that she had just gotten married.
To a man she did not truly know yet.
And suddenly, the silence of the balcony felt far more comfortable than her own wedding celebration.
Atherion watched her.
“Regret it?”
Aphrodite fell silent.
Then she looked toward the city lights in the distance.
“I don’t even know if I have the right to regret it.”
Atherion did not answer.
For the first time, the man had no sarcastic comment.
He simply stood there.
Keeping her company in silence.
And Aphrodite did not know that night marked the beginning of something that would one day change both their lives.
Because sometimes, someone does not enter our life carrying promises of love.
They simply come...
and make the silence a little easier to bear.
But when Aphrodite turned to leave the balcony, Atherion’s voice suddenly stopped her.
“Aphrodite.”
She turned around.
Atherion was still leaning against the railing. His gaze was no longer as cold as before.
“Tomorrow morning, don’t go to the East Garden.”
Aphrodite furrowed her brow.
“Why?”
Atherion did not answer immediately.
His gaze shifted toward the sky over Valtharion, which was beginning to fill with dark clouds.
“Because you don’t yet know who’s waiting for you there.”
Aphrodite’s heart beat a little faster.
“Who?”
But Atherion had already turned away.
“Atherion.”
The man stopped for a moment.
Then he only said,
“Trust me.”
The balcony door closed.
Aphrodite stood alone.
She did not understand what he meant.
Today, she had just married the Crown Prince of the Dragon Clan.
Yet before her first night as a wife had ended, another man had warned her about something she did not even know existed.
For the first time since arriving in Valtharion, Aphrodite felt...
Maybe this wedding held something far greater than she had imagined all this time.