But one thing she could say with certainty. Carbon and Riela had barely exchanged a proper conversation. They were distant colleagues. It had long since become accepted fact that the romance rumors between the two were entirely fabricated, and yet people were still spreading the story.

On top of that, recent exposés about Riela’s past behavior, including alleged mistreatment of others, verbal *buse, and various ethical violations, had been coming out one after another, and her image was suffering as people said she had never been the righteous hero she appeared to be. Being mentioned alongside her would only harm Carbon further.

Hyde pressed her lips together and moved her fingers quickly. Tap tap tap.

She looked at the completed sentence with a satisfied smile and hit post in the comment section, and a new reply appeared at the bottom just as she did.

.

.

.

“Huh?”

While she had been posting the comment and waiting for reactions, the post had been deleted. Hyde refreshed the page in bewilderment, but the deleted post was gone and couldn’t be found again.

“What was that just now?”

Hyde narrowed her eyes and stared hard at her phone. Just then, Carbon came out of the shower and saw Hyde’s expression and asked,

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Hm? Oh…… no, nothing.”

Hyde gave a vague answer to Carbon as he approached, toweling his hair.

Carbon didn’t like Hyde spending too long on the internet. He had especially told her never to look at anything with unkind things written about her. Knowing his concern, Hyde turned off her phone and acted as though she hadn’t been looking at anything.

Carbon knew Hyde was hiding something, but he didn’t press her on it. He trusted that if it were something important, Hyde would tell him herself.

And right now there was something important he needed to do. Carbon, who hadn’t felt nervous since some barely-remembered moment in early childhood, was startled to notice his palms were sweating.

Why is something like this making me this nervous.

Haah. Carbon exhaled quietly, felt the unfamiliar shape of the box in his pocket, and walked slowly toward her. Hyde, lying lazily in bed, sat up. The fact that her face wasn’t quite bright bothered him.

Right, the conversation from earlier was probably still sitting with her. Carbon felt the weight of the conversation he hadn’t properly finished.

Hyde, who kept expressing her wish to get married and have children. He had been holding her back out of consideration for her, but it seemed that was only making his young partner more anxious.

Carbon was confident he could express his love consistently through words and actions, but he felt that for now, something tangible was needed to put Hyde at ease. He still didn’t want to put the shackle of himself on her just yet, so he had been putting off the legal binding, but a marriage registration wasn’t the only way to reassure her.

So he made a slight adjustment to the plan he had originally set, which had been to reserve an expensive restaurant, have a quiet dinner for two, and hand it over at the right moment.

A beautiful setting and a romantic atmosphere mattered, but timing mattered just as much. Above all, Carbon couldn’t stand watching Hyde sit there with a hurt heart. Seeing her deflated made him desperate to do something, anything. He felt like he could cut out his own heart and hand it to her if she wanted it. It was a severe case.

But what could he do.

“Hyde.”

“Yes?”

“Mm, this isn’t really the right moment for this, but……”

“Why? What is it?”

Hyde tilting her head was unbearably cute. Carbon suppressed the twitch at the corner of his mouth and went down on one knee in front of her.

“Will you hold out your hand?”

“My hand?”

“Yeah.”

Hyde held out her hand with a look that said, surely not. Carbon took her small, pretty hand, lowered his face, and pressed a long kiss to the back of it. A clear, bright laugh rang out above his head and filled his chest with warmth.

He looked up to find Hyde’s eyes shining. Looking at those light-brown eyes sparkling with anticipation made something itch in the corner of his heart. He was curious what her reaction would be, and a little afraid. Carbon, the top hero who had never had reason to fear anything, had been having new experiences one after another lately when it came to anything involving Hyde.

He deliberately relaxed his tensed muscles, then took the box from his pocket and opened it. Inside was a large, elaborate ring that would catch the light from a distance. He heard Hyde draw a sharp breath when she spotted it. Carbon held her slightly trembling hand and slid the ring onto her fourth finger.

“I asked for the best one, and this is what they gave me.”

Carbon touched the back of his neck with a sheepish look. He had wanted to give her only the finest things and bought the most expensive ring, but there was one problem. The price wasn’t the issue, of course.

“But the diamond is so large it might be cumbersome, don’t you think?”

“No!”

Hyde spread her hand wide and looked at the diamond, which was thicker than her own finger. Hyde would have been happy if Carbon had given her a cheap toy ring. Whatever he chose with her in mind would have been enough. But the fact that the gift was a ring, of all things, the symbol of a couple, was what made it best of all. She couldn’t take her excited eyes off the ring as she chattered.

“It’s big and sparkly, I think people could spot me from very far away because of this. That’s why I love it.”

Hyde touched the diamond on the ring and smiled. The large diamond that looked like it could be seen from a hundred meters away seemed like it would announce their relationship to everyone in the world.

She had already wanted the only woman associated with Carbon’s name going forward to be her alone, and with this ring, it seemed like that would be the case for a good while.

“Won’t it be inconvenient? We can swap it for a different one. Something more to your taste.”

“No, it’s fine. I like this one.”

Unable to hide her excitement, Hyde swung her fist through the air.

“And this will be effective against villains too. Definitely! No need for brass knuckles!”

“That’s not what it’s for, but……”

Carbon laughed, unable to help it. Hyde held her hand up toward the sunlight coming through the window and watched the diamond catch and scatter the light. She reveled in the sparkling reflections and thought about which pose would show the ring off best.

Then Hyde suddenly remembered something she had forgotten to say and looked at him. She pressed her feelings down firmly and spoke to Carbon, who was watching her with warm contentment.

“Carbon, thank you so much for the ring!”

“I should be the one saying that.”

Hyde looked puzzled. Carbon was the one who had bought this expensive ring, and she had only received it. What could he possibly have to be grateful for? Carbon read her confusion and answered.

“Thank you for being happy about it. Thank you for showing me that expression right now.”

‘I want to keep seeing only that face from you, always.’ Carbon added it quietly, and Hyde became curious what expression she was wearing right now. But a moment later, she found out from the reflection of herself in Carbon’s eyes. Her face was soaked in tremendous happiness.

“Carbon……”

Hyde looked at her partner with moved eyes, then stretched her arms out and pulled Carbon’s neck into a tight embrace. She rubbed her cheek against his over and over and let herself enjoy the happiness to the fullest. In the midst of it, Hyde forgot all about the strange post.

『Devouring the Tall Hero』THE END