“Why so suddenly?”

His collar smelled of cool cologne. The man, who had securely adjusted his hold on Perry, proceeded to…… wander around the entire villa, asking the same question to every servant he saw.

“Isn’t she cute?”

Since meeting Yuan, Perry Humble had become someone who could accept compliments without batting an eye and return thanks. Yuan always attached all sorts of flowery adjectives, as if he were studying how to perfectly reproduce Perry, Perry’s achievements, Perry’s appearance.

Heaven-sent, overwhelming, one-of-a-kind……

After hearing such words for years, an expression like “cute” was truly at a “cute” level. But on the other hand…… this childish and blatant showing off was also a first.

Yuan Bellium always tried to squeeze out his insufficient vocabulary to use as diverse sentences as possible. For such a person to repeat such a simple, extremely simple word, it was as if……

‘It’s like he doesn’t know anyone but me.’

Though it wouldn’t be much different from his behavior before getting drunk.

Perry buried her forehead deep in his broad shoulder and caught her breath. There was someone carrying a full-grown adult and babbling, but her own ears were burning.

As if intending to boast to everyone in the world, the man who had been wandering all around the villa even went outside.

“Yuan, will you put me down now?”

Shakes head.

“Please? Hmm?”

Shakes head.

Where had the man gone who would fret at the slightest sound? He trudged down the uneven dirt path, pressing firmly with each step.

Though it would be easy to misstep, his gait never faltered. Perry relaxed her arms and gave up trying to persuade him further. The air was slightly humid but the breeze was cool, and the scattered twinkling lights were beautiful.

‘How far is he going to go?’

With a mindset of “let’s see how far you’ll take this,” she let her hands rest, and in less than an hour, they entered a crowd. That is…… they had now arrived at a night market. People hurriedly walked by, but each gave them a sidelong glance.

It was only natural, considering an already eye-catching man was reverently carrying a woman.

“My, aren’t they close.”

“Mom, Mom, carry me like that too!”

“Honey, could you carry me like that?”

Though being on stage means receiving the attention of thousands at once, this kind of attention was somehow…… While Perry swallowed her ticklish yet complex feelings, Yuan busily wandered through the market.

Flower petals that glowed for a fortnight, a heart of promise—a model, of course—ink in five colors, the first edition of Witch Asha’s debut work……

His large hands were quick to buy anything his black eyes even glanced at. The actual recipient couldn’t even identify what was being bought while held in his arms.

‘I can’t even see properly from here.’

But…… it wasn’t so bad. The random assortment of trinkets, the warm embrace, the excited footsteps.

The rarely intoxicated man repeated the same words each time he paid for something.

“Isn’t she cute? She’s mine.”

Then, as if realizing he’d missed something, he slowly added:

“And I’m hers too.”

Perry quietly stroked her unraised lips. Mine and yours, the childishly brilliant possessive case made her eyelids tremble. But she felt no desire to deny it. She was simply savoring the man’s sincerity, the feelings she already knew, at a leisurely pace.

Yuan only left the crowd after circling the night market three times. People clutching snacks from the stalls brushed past them.

To the right of the path stretched the pitch-black sea. Waves crashed and children who had been running around screamed “Kyaa! Kyaa!”

Poke, a round index finger prodded her dusk-covered nose. He tried poking her forehead too, and her cheeks. Perry whispered to the man who willingly offered his face to her.

“Happy?”

“Happy.”

“What makes you so happy?”

“Perry.”

“What else?”

“Walking like this.”

“And?”

“Hmm, also……”

Because the sun had set, the distinction between surfaces touched by light and those that weren’t was clear. Perry gently caressed those distinct contours while waiting for his answer.

The wait wasn’t long.

“Just everything.”

The fragmented answer was like that of an inarticulate child. Come to think of it, despite their lengthy exchange of letters, the man preferred using his body over words or writing. Regardless of the actual results.

A long breath briefly settled on her lips. As soon as their tightly pressed lips parted, Perry murmured.

“You know, there’s something I’m curious about.”

There was no special reason for bringing up the question. It literally just occurred to her, and the person who could answer happened to be beside her. Perry spoke with a small gesture.

“The glass bottle, remember? The one in the room, with black glass.”

“I remember.”

“How did you end up collecting them? All in the same color too.”

“Wrong.”

“What?”

“They’re not the same.”

They’re all different, the firmly knotted ending was stubborn. The man, repeatedly opening and closing his lips, began to explain haltingly.

“When I first came…… I saw it. At first, I was going to clean it up.”

“Clean it up?”

“Because it’s dangerous if stepped on.”

The past story with its sparsely missing sentence components was difficult to understand at once. Nevertheless, Perry patiently continued the dialogue and uncovered the anecdote behind the glass bottle.

It was a story about an immature boy.

A cowardly affection after turning away from a certain girl.

Glass fragments that people hadn’t cleaned up. The boy, who picked up the arbitrarily broken glass out of kindness, ended up recalling someone’s eyes in the commonplace black. After that, well……

Such a common story.

“Did you look for them every time you came here?”

Nod, nod.

“So did you find them?”

Shakes head.

“Don’t you collect them anymore?”

Nod, nod.

“Why?”

“Because I have it now.”

It was an answer missing both subject and object, but it didn’t matter. Both speaker and listener understood perfectly. The black that a boy had long searched for rippled like waves under the moonlight.

Swoosh, white foam rose and fell repeatedly. The one who had been carrying the woman for hours remained unwavering. His stubborn gaze was full of affection, tenderness, foolishness, and gentleness.

Perry, who monopolized all of that gaze, smiled brightly and asked:

“Happy?”

“Happy.”

Just to hear the answer everyone already knew.

※※※

[Dear Perry

Congratulations!

No need to waste stationery and ink telling me about your wonderful vacation. Several magazines and newspapers are already full of stories about you and your lover. I’m enclosing one in case you don’t believe me.

How does it feel to be featured in the kingdom’s most famous gossip magazine? And on the front page, no less—isn’t that wonderful? For the first time in almost five years?

The local market you visited is probably dying of joy. According to rumors, they plan to include the route you took in their tourism brochure.

Only the city officials know the truth, I suppose.

I hope you enjoy what’s left of your vacation. You’ll probably be busy filtering out annoying proposals when you return.

Oh, shall I tell you one in advance? A certain famous writer seems very interested in your love story…… Even Tess can’t easily turn away this bigwig, so consider carefully how to handle it. Or discuss it with your ‘kind’ and ‘lovely’ lover.

Well, I do know three or four viable response strategies. Ask me when you return if you’re curious.

Once again, enjoy the rest of your vacation.

In the middle of summer,

Bria Sol.

P.S. Surely you didn’t know there was a paparazzi nearby? The composition was quite good. The photo turned out well. Didn’t I tell you? Light sky blue suits you better than dark blue.]

“What is this?”

A husky voice softly echoed. Perry, who had been carefully examining the magazine cover with a magnifying glass, returned to the bed. Her brown hair was messily scattered over her nicely broad shoulders.

“A letter?”

“Yes, a reply from Bria.”

“Ah. Is she doing well?”

“She didn’t mention anything about that……”

When asked about her well-being, she only listed unexpected news. Well, to be fair, it was news related to Perry.

Perry closed her eyes tightly and recalled the image she had just seen. Unlike Yuan, who was tinged with darkness with only his outline visible, Perry’s two eyes were clearly facing forward.

Like someone aware of the camera.

For a photo secretly taken in the middle of the night, it had “quite good composition” as Bria said. The journalist must have thought it was good enough to use as the cover.

Having her private life become a topic wasn’t particularly rare, but…… usually it happened when accompanying Bria. Perry changed her position, burrowing into her lover’s chest while giggling.

“Ahaha, what should we do?”

“Hmm?”

“Everyone knows about us now.”

Even though everyone who should know already did, her voice, mixed with laughter, resonated throughout the room where sunlight entered earliest.

Yuan, without even understanding the situation, held Perry and answered softly.

“Everyone knows?”

“They all know. Now everyone in the kingdom knows that you and I are in that kind of relationship.”

“They know we’re the kind who kiss by the seaside?”

“Yes.”

“That’s great.”

“It is great.”

The conversation, a mix of jokes and sincerity, flowed gently. The early morning sunlight warmed both their profiles. Though they both thought they should get up soon, neither broke the embrace.

The End