Adrian had said the responsibility for the erasure of the mating mark fell solely on him.
He slowly closed his eyes and began recounting the night from a few days ago—the night the two of them had, for the first time, shared the same bed.
It was the night when Mikhail had tossed and turned before finally falling asleep, and Adrian had waited a long while for that moment.
Only when Mikhail’s restless movements finally quieted and his breathing grew steady did Adrian close his eyes as well.
***
“Please, go in, Dragon-nim. The main ceremony is about to begin—there’s no time to spare.”
Huh? At the familiar title, Adrian’s eyes flew open wide. On top of that—since when had he been here?
Outside the hallway window where he now stood, crowds had gathered, bustling to prepare something. It looked like they were getting ready for the ‘main ceremony’ the attendant had just mentioned. Whatever that was.
While Adrian stood there in thought, the attendant bowed his head and opened the door right in front of them.
“…So you’ve finally come.”
As soon as the grand double doors opened, a voice greeted Adrian. For some reason, the voice felt familiar—oddly comforting.
“I requested an audience with you so many times, and you never once answered. And now, only now, you grace me with your presence.”
The speaker was Mikhail—his silver hair gleaming bright, crimson eyes vivid.
As if to match his hair, he wore a flowing robe of pure white, standing inside the room like a living painting, bathed in the colored light streaming through the grand stained glass behind him.
Even with Mikhail’s words implying royal entitlement, Adrian kept a composed expression as he took a few unhurried steps forward.
On the small table just beside Mikhail, a chessboard lay with pieces scattered mid-game. Judging from the position, white had the advantage—but it didn’t matter, since it seemed Mikhail had played both sides himself. The outcome was irrelevant.
“What do you want from me?”
“The main ceremony is about to begin.”
Again with that ‘main ceremony.’ Adrian rolled his eyes subtly. What was the purpose of this audience, really? Mikhail looked despondent, clearly not thrilled about whatever this ceremony entailed.
Adrian furrowed his brows slightly, debating his response, before finally speaking up.
“Do you want to postpone the ceremony?”
At Adrian’s question, a flicker of emotion passed through Mikhail’s eyes. He didn’t answer immediately, standing in silence for a long moment.
In contrast to the commotion outside, the prince’s chamber where the two of them stood was still and hushed.
Feeling something strange in the air, Adrian raised his head and looked at Mikhail’s face. Their gazes locked—and a long, quiet standoff unfolded between them.
“If that’s the case… I suppose you’d think I’m being heartless.”
Adrian responded in a calm, steady voice.
“No. I don’t think that at all.”
Even though he had been thrown into this situation with no context, he could answer without hesitation—because Mikhail was never the type to be heartless by nature.
At that, one of Mikhail’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“From the start…”
Mikhail looked at Adrian as he slowly parted his lips.
“I always assumed I would form a household through an arranged marriage. Born into royalty, I was taught by my brother that duty must come first. And marriage, in the end, is no different from a political maneuver.”
Ah… so that “main ceremony”… was a wedding. Mikhail’s wedding.
Only then did everything make sense—the people rushing around inside the castle, the tense, chaotic mood.
Adrian’s expression suddenly hardened.
Mikhail reached out a hand toward him.
“Would you come a little closer?”
As he did, his wide sleeves parted, revealing the firm shape of his arm beneath the fabric.
Only then did Adrian realize the robe he was wearing was ceremonial—something meant for a wedding. Ornate. Formal.
Mikhail is getting married.
It was something Adrian had never once imagined.
So it’s really happening… He’s getting married.
A sudden, stabbing ache bloomed near his chest, making Adrian’s eyelids quiver. Mikhail, unaware of the look on Adrian’s face, continued speaking.
“Ever since I met you… that face… I haven’t been able to forget it for even a single moment. It was just one brief encounter—so why?”
Mikhail’s expression twisted faintly, as if he couldn’t understand it himself.
The palm of his hand pressed against Adrian’s cheek was warm—and Adrian could feel that he, too, was trembling slightly.
Adrian held his gaze steady, eyes locked on Mikhail with a determined expression, as though trying to commit every flicker of emotion on his face to memory.
“It’s an absurd thing to say, I know.”
Mikhail spoke with a look as tender as if he were gazing at a longtime lover.
“But if you feel the same… If I were to ask you, right here and now, to leave this castle with me… would you come with me?”
It was not a question a prince, on the verge of his wedding, should have been asking. And his eyes—those were not the eyes of a man performing a duty. They were the eyes of someone deeply, irrevocably in love.
Adrian stayed silent, simply watching Mikhail.
I didn’t know he could make a face like that.
Like someone delicately handling a fragile glass sculpture, Mikhail gently ran his fingertips along the edge of Adrian’s cheek.
“So that’s why you want to postpone the wedding.”
“Yes.”
Mikhail, looking down at Adrian’s moving lips, gave a soft reply. As he met Adrian’s trembling gaze, he tilted his head slightly, his low voice filling the stillness of the room.
“Then my answer depends on what kind of ending you’re hoping for.”
“Ending…? What do you mean?”
One of Mikhail’s eyebrows arched sharply.
“Sure, I could easily throw everything aside and escape the palace. But—”
His lips moved like he was whispering some sweet temptation, those of a beautiful man with golden hair.
“How long do you think those feelings would last?”
Adrian was a dragon who had watched that magic of love crumble with his own eyes, not once or twice, but thousands—no, tens of thousands of times over countless ages.
That’s why he could say it with certainty. That the prince, someday, would regret his rash choice—and might do anything to rewind time back to this very moment. And that was precisely why Adrian did not like humans. They changed endlessly, constantly—without rest or hesitation.
Mikhail, his gaze gentle, silently looked down at the dragon who spoke words sharper and colder than any blade.
“If it’s a love born from one fleeting encounter… then it’s a love that can fade just as easily. So, if what you truly want is a fairy-tale happy ending, it would be better to simply go through with this wedding.”
“That—”
Just as Mikhail began to speak—
Knock, knock.
A pair of crisp, refined knocks halted them both in place.
Without even glancing toward the door, Mikhail responded. “What is it?”
The attendant waiting beyond the door answered at once, voice polite.
“Your Highness, Lord —— has come to see you. How should I proceed?”
Who?
The name spoken by the attendant didn’t register properly. Adrian frowned, something feeling off. The words didn’t sound like any language used on the continent.
What unsettled him more was how effortlessly Mikhail seemed to understand them.
Mikhail turned to Adrian, his gaze lingering for a moment as if weighing something, then slowly lowered his hand from Adrian’s cheek. His lips pressed into a tight line.
His pale lashes cast downward. When he said nothing, Adrian took the initiative.
“Then let the uninvited guest be the one to leave first.”
“…Even now, to the very end…”
You’re merciless.
Mikhail gave a laugh, drained of air—empty.
Adrian turned and left the room quickly.
He needed to find out what the hell was going on here. And now that he thought about it—he’d ended up rejecting Mikhail’s confession twice in one go.
Wait… have I heard Mikhail confess to me somewhere before? Was this really our first meeting…?
No matter how much he tried to piece it together, nothing made sense. From the moment he’d opened his eyes by the window, something had felt off.
His head pounded, and the pain in his chest stabbed like a blade twisting into his heart.
Suddenly, Adrian stopped in his tracks as he passed by the attendant and the mysterious guest.
Because standing just outside the room… was himself.
Not as a Gold Dragon—but in perfect human form.
As soon as the other Adrian caught his gaze, a sly smile tugged at his lips. He mouthed a silent greeting:
Hello.
