The talk of marriage between Merrien and Ariel began with a trivial incident.

It happened one day.

Merrien suddenly became curious.

So she barged into Ariel’s office without notice, where he supposedly had piles of work.

“Ariel!”

“Yes.”

The response came as if he had been waiting for her.

Merrien threw the door open forcefully and then stood there dumbfounded.

Ariel was sitting in his chair, but…

He had casually propped his legs up on the desk, crossing them.

Moreover, through what must have been magic, pens were floating in the air, and signatures appeared instantly on documents without him even looking at them.

‘…Is it okay to be that careless?’

Merrien glanced at the desk.

The stack of documents piled at the corner of the desk appeared to be twice the height of Ariel’s seated figure, confirming that his claim about having work backed up wasn’t a lie.

The problem was that he was barely looking at them, just flipping through.

“Merri, what’s up?”

Perhaps wondering why she was standing there silently, Ariel tilted his head slightly.

Only then did Merrien come to her senses, close the door, and sit down on a sofa far away.

“Before, you asked me to keep taming you.”

“I did.”

Ariel stroked his neck with a satisfied expression.

Around his neck hung a dog collar made of woven blue roses that Merrien had recently made for him with great care.

‘……’

She couldn’t understand why he wore that thing every time he was working.

Merrien couldn’t bear to look at it anymore and quickly turned her head away.

The previous crude collar he had been so attached to made her uncomfortable, so she had carefully made him a new one.

But that only made things worse.

Well, anyway.

She understood that he liked such things.

Merrien cleared her throat.

“Isn’t that… normally a proposal?”

“……”

Ariel’s hand, which had been proudly stroking his neck, dropped with a thud.

His usually composed eyes wavered anxiously, then widened as much as they could.

Ariel opened and closed his mouth several times without speaking.

Then, very carefully, he moved his lips.

“Will you really… marry me?”

“…Huh?”

Wasn’t that… obvious?

Why was he so moved?

Could it be that…

‘It wasn’t a proposal?’

By the time Merrien realized this incredible fact, tears were already welling up in those blue eyes.

It was truly a trivial incident.

At least from Merrien’s perspective.

Right after that incident, Merrien was lost in thought.

With her chin resting on her hand, like a thinking statue.

‘What on earth…?’

Setting off all those fireworks by ordering the Tower’s magicians.

Kneeling down and confessing.

‘That wasn’t a proposal?’

Was his request to hold his leash and tame him not a metaphor but literal?

Merrien’s hand lost strength, and she nearly toppled sideways.

“I knew he wasn’t in his right mind, but he’s even crazier than I thought.”

Words she meant to keep to herself escaped her lips. Fortunately, no one was around to hear.

‘So if I hadn’t said anything.’

Was he planning to live like this forever, without getting married?

“……”

Crazy or not.

She felt strangely disappointed.

Merrien suddenly felt an itch in her heart and scratched her chest vigorously.

But she had no time to figure out the reason for her disappointment.

While Merrien was pondering all this, Ariel—that same Ariel who didn’t even know he had proposed!—became fixated on the word ‘proposal’ and walked around with a huge smile all day long.

No, not just all day.

From then on, he brought up the topic of marriage incessantly to everyone he met.

How did Merrien know this? Because:

-“Oh, Alex. Don’t you think a wedding should definitely be grand?”

-“…Didn’t you say the exact same thing 30 minutes ago?”

He was talking so loudly that it seemed he was deliberately having a conversation right outside her room.

And that meant he would soon be coming into the room.

Creeak-.

“Merri, I’m back.”

As expected, Ariel entered with a beaming face.

“Mmm.”

In contrast, Merrien gave a perfunctory response as she prepared to lie down on the bed.

She had just taken some time to think until Ariel arrived, but it was actually well past her bedtime.

It was already getting dark outside.

‘I heard he has work piling up not only as Duke Hartez but also as the Tower Master.’

Merrien had considerately told Ariel that since they were already living together, they could take their time with the wedding.

But Ariel wanted to have the wedding as soon as possible.

‘Isn’t he pushing himself too hard?’

When she had stopped by his office earlier, she saw documents filled with empty signature lines.

He had clearly been coming back late these days, busy boasting about the wedding preparations.

‘Now he’ll probably stay up all night working again.’

Despite being so excited.

It was also puzzling why he hadn’t brought up marriage before.

Merrien closed her mouth tightly, feeling another wave of disappointment.

She pulled the blanket over herself and turned her body completely away.

But the problem was…

“Merri.”

“……”

“About our wedding.”

Sigh.

Had he thrown away all his sensitivity because of the wedding?

Merrien sighed as she hugged the blanket tighter.

Recently, Ariel had been like this.

The problem was that he kept bringing up the wedding even when they were alone together!

***

Merrien recalled how Ariel had recently been pestering her with wedding talk and made a disgusted face.

Even though they were living together, honestly, she couldn’t help but have expectations about “marriage” itself.

That’s why she had forcibly dragged Ariel, who was grumbling that fortune-telling was all a scam, to see the fortune teller.

But…

Merrien shook her head as she watched Ariel pacing in front of her.

“The problem is that Agnes is the only dragon left.”

“Sigh.”

‘We definitely shouldn’t have gone for a fortune-telling.’

His pacing back and forth like a puppy with separation anxiety was more than a little concerning.

Now Ariel’s interest seemed to have completely shifted to the ‘Dragon’s Tears.’

From what she had observed, it was almost an obsession.

To the point where she wondered if he just wanted to torment Agnes.

Merrien clicked her tongue.

Perhaps…

‘I shouldn’t have brought up marriage at all.’

That thought filled her mind.

Ariel was already not in his right mind, but after the marriage talk, he seemed to have completely lost it.

His actions made no sense at all.

He seemed so excited about the wedding yet hadn’t even thought about proposing.

He went around talking about the wedding, but didn’t want to check their future through fortune-telling.

And after seeing the fortune teller, he became obsessed with the Dragon’s Tears that supposedly could bring happiness!

Ariel, who had been pacing restlessly for a while, suddenly stopped.

He nodded as if he had made a decision.

“This won’t do. I need to go back to the Tower and threaten Agnes…”

“Wait!”

Just as Ariel was about to snap his fingers, seemingly ready to depart for the Tower immediately, Merrien urgently shouted and reached out her hand.

Her voice was so loud.

Ariel looked at Merrien with wide eyes.

His hand frozen in mid-air showed just how startled he was.

“…Why?”

Ariel blinked slowly and asked belatedly.

Merrien grabbed his wrist firmly, afraid he might disappear on his own again, and only then felt relieved.

“Ariel. Why are you so obsessed with the Dragon’s Tears?”

“Because it’s important.”

“…What’s so important about it?”

“I’ve prepared everything else perfectly. But I don’t have the Dragon’s Tears.”

Really…

As he spoke, his eyes rolled anxiously, as if he had developed some kind of compulsive disorder.

Where was the relaxed, sly Ariel she knew?

Merrien simply couldn’t understand.

“Ariel. What’s wrong with you?”

“Hm?”

“What are you so anxious about?”

Ariel’s eyes, which had been restlessly moving until then, stopped.

Ariel slowly gazed at Merrien.

‘Ah, yes. I understand now.’

Merrien finally realized from the words she had unconsciously spoken.

Ariel was now anxious.