The Dangerous Honeymoon Diary of the Fake Empress

I slipped into the Imperial Palace in the same dress.

There were knights on patrol, but despite my white dress, none of them noticed my presence. I felt a pang of pity for their blindness.

‘It’s because I’m so good at hiding. Ho ho. I’m almost there, change into new clothes, go to sleep, and today’s mission is over!

Taking my time, I sneaked over the windowsill of the Imperial Palace.

But as they say, pride is a slippery slope, and I soon found myself face-to-face with someone who had spotted me.

“Bride…….”

“……!”

I was so startled that my foot slipped off the windowsill, and with one swift motion, Jeremy grabbed my back and helped me lean against the sill.

“Where were you?”

Jeremy pouted, pinning me to the windowsill with his arms. I felt a strange pressure in his gaze, as if he wanted me to answer quickly.

‘What is going on here? Why is the prince awake? I’m pretty sure I left the sleep incense on, and besides, this didn’t happen in my first and second lives, did it?’

I rolled my eyes and looked towards the bedside table. If the candle was burning normally, I should have been able to see the flame underneath, but instead I saw a candle that was less than half-burnt.

Holy shit, the candle had gone out halfway through.

“Bride, answer…….”

Jeremy didn’t like my distracted thoughts, so he nudged my chin with his finger, forcing me to look at him.

“…… answer?”

Jeremy’s hair glistened a mysterious silver in the moonlight.

He leaned his upper body slightly toward me, and a handful of stray hairs brushed against my cheek.

(Picture)

But now I didn’t even notice the tickle. I was too focused on his face to think about anything else.

The sight of his white face, picturesque features, and peachy lips made my heart race.

“Hmm?”

Jeremy tilted his head and smiled brightly.

’You must know you’re handsome. You wouldn’t be using your face like that otherwise……? I almost blurted it out like I was confessing in front of an angel.’

I thought quickly and came up with another excuse.

“I was just going for a walk …….”

“At this time of night?”

“Yes. I wasn’t sleeping well……. At times like that, I like to go for a walk.”

“……by the window?”

“I thought I might get caught up in some bad rumors….. if I went outside in the early hours of the night, so I tried to sneak around.”

I lied plausibly, keeping my face as calm as possible. The only reason I was able to stay calm was because I had a lie prepared in case I got caught.

’It’ll be okay, it’s a lie that worked in my past life.’

In a previous life, Jeremy had tolerated my lie about going for a walk.

He’d given me the benefit of the doubt because he was playing the fool.

Thinking suspicious of me and showing it off was like saying “I’m not an idiot”.

Of course, deep down, he’d be suspicious of me, but he’d already know that I was the crown prince’s person, so that was fine.

“Hmph. So you have a habit of taking walks at night.”

As I suspected, Jeremy didn’t make a big deal out of it and seemed to want to move on.

“Yeah. If I don’t go for a walk, my head feels dizzy, and my chest feels tight…….”

Encouraged by his response, I feigned dizziness and put the back of my hand to my forehead. It was a bit embarrassing to pretend to be weak with a strong body.

“Mmm. All right, it’s cold. Come on down here.”

“Ugh.”

Jeremy scooped me up in a quick hug and eased me off the windowsill.

I expected him to let me go, but I didn’t expect him to help me down like this. Why do things keep turning out differently than they did before the regression?

‘Well…… not that I don’t like it, on the contrary, it’s kind of nice to be carried like a princess like this……. Hmmmm, I wonder if things should change like this, but for now, I’m satisfied…… No, I’m very satisfied.’

I looked up at him, trying to hold back a smile. He, on the other hand, had a raised eyebrow, wondering what was bothering me. It was the hem of my dress that he sent a questioning glance to.

“Bride, your dress is ripped in the back.”

Jeremy’s fingers touched the open fabric of my dress, and I felt the hairs on my back stand up at the tickling sensation.

“Who…… cut it?”

I swallowed dryly as I watched Jeremy’s figure hover on the edge of moonlight and darkness, his shadowed lips smiling, but his moonlit mauve eyes holding a haunting quality.

‘Excuse me, Prince, but I think you’re completely out of the idiot act now……? What if I go to Ain, and I say something. Why are you acting differently than before the regression?!’

But this guy, whether he knows what’s going on or not, maintains his cold expression.

“You didn’t do it by yourself, did some guy cut it off for you?”

“I, I did it by myself.”

“Liar. I smell a strange man’s scent in the bride’s hair.”

I quickly lifted the hair and sniffed it. I could smell the faintest hint of a cool, woody scent that was uniquely Ain. Is this how he knows it’s a man……?

‘I guess…… I can’t deceive him.’

I’d always thought Ain was frighteningly perceptive, but now I realized Jeremy was similar in that regard. I felt like I was dying, a normal person who happened to be caught in the middle of two terrifying men.

“Who was it?”

Jeremy was now looking perfectly pissed off. I looked confused at the unfamiliar jealous stares.

From the first day of my third life, everything was confusing. I thought I knew the future and could prevent tragedy if I did my job well, but Jeremy was acting and looking different than before, confusing me.

“This is…… so.”

I didn’t know what to say, and I wasn’t sure how to defend myself, so I stuttered and stammered, and suddenly the air around him changed.

He drops his cold expression and rubs the back of his hand across his eyes.

“……heuk.”

Heuk?

It didn’t take long to recognize it as the sobs of the prince.

“Heuk……. I was supposed to cut it off.”

My mouth dropped open as I watched the clear tears roll down the back of his eyes.

“Ah, was this all for the sake of playing dumb?‘

I wasn’t sure why Jeremy was acting differently in this life than he had in his first and second, but…… that wasn’t the question now.

“Oh, no…… what should I do? Don’t cry, prince.”

I did make the prince cry, didn’t I? Oh, my God. I wiped his tears away with my sleeve, panicking that I’d made Jeremy cry, and then I made eye contact with him…… and his eyes looked more holy than any tearful angel I’d ever seen.

For a moment, I forgot my embarrassment and the virtue in me burned. He looked so pretty when he cried, and his reddened cheeks were so cute that I wanted to pinch them.

I looked up at him with hazy eyes. Then, with a slow touch, I stroked the spot where the tears had passed.

“More…… tears.”

“…….”

Jeremy’s eyes narrowed at my words. A heavy silence settled between him and me.

‘Um……? Did I just say out loud what I was thinking……?’

I could feel my cheeks burning as I gradually regained my composure.

‘No matter how cute you are, how could I tell you to cry more, ugh. Mouth! Mouth!’

I wanted to apologize, but I’d already spilled the beans, and a lot of them.

“So, what I mean is…… not to cry.”

“No, just cry some more………”

“Eh? I beg your pardon?”

“I told Jeremy to cry more.”

” I thought you would say I should stop crying. Hehe.”

I responded with a wry smile to his annoyingly persistent question.

’You can’t spit on a smiling face, you know?’

I continued to laugh, wiping the last of his tears away with my hand. Jeremy, who had been squinting, flinched slightly.

He looked awkward, but he didn’t seem to feel bad, so he stayed still and accepted my touch.

“But why were you crying so sadly, because you couldn’t cut the dress yourself……?”

“Yes. It was…… meant to be cut by your husband, but…… I stupidly forgot and went to bed.”

“Oh, my prince. Don’t cry about it, now.”

A single tear fell from Jeremy’s silver lashes.

’Is there any other man who cries so beautifully? No, no, no. My husband cries the prettiest in the world.’

I nodded to myself, feeling a strange sense of pride. But his crying didn’t seem to be good for the heart. As proof, my heart was pounding and racing.

“Ugh…… what’s the point of crying so uncontrollably and prettily.”

“Huh?”

“You know, when the prince cries so beautifully, you feel like you have to listen to everything. Hmm, how about this? The prince is going to cut another dress for me.”

“……What? You mean a dress?”

There was a hint of embarrassment in Jeremy’s eyes. As if that wasn’t what he had in mind.

But right now, I’m so engrossed in his crazy performance that I don’t notice the signals he’s sending.

He could cut ten more times, a hundred more times. To make me stop crying!

“Wait, where are the scissors…….”

I fished for the scissors in my desk drawer and held them out to him, frozen in place like a stone. Like giving a crying child candy to soothe them.

” Look, it’s……. This is already about halfway cut.”

Jeremy’s eyes flickered between the scissors and my dress.

“Aww, it’s okay, no problem. Just cut it as much as you like.”

I flicked all of my black hair in front of my shoulders and showed him my back.

A chill seeped into my skin because half of my back was already cut. But I didn’t feel particularly embarrassed.

’Some people deliberately find dresses with open backs and wear them. Fine. This isn’t even on the nudity scale. What’s shameful about that?’

I’d been strangely nervous in his presence, but now I felt differently. Right now, all I could think about was comforting Jeremy.

“…….”

But to my surprise, Jeremy was speechless. I expected him to jump up and down with excitement.

“Prince……?”

I glanced over, thinking it was weird. Jeremy was covering his mouth with his hand. Reddened ears peeked through his pristine silver hair. Why are your ears red? You must be cold.

“Prince? What’s wrong?”

I called out once more, and the prince lifted his head, as if an empty doll had a soul. There was a strange color in his flushed cheeks and clouded mauve eyes.

” …… Would you mind looking in front of you?”

“Yes!”

Snip-.

I looked ahead, and a moment later, the sound of scissors rang in my ears. I think the scissors cut a tiny bit, but Jeremy was satisfied and calmly put them down.

“I’m…… sleepy, so I’ll go to bed first.”

He crawled into bed, as if he had been given the courtesy of being allowed to change for the night. Then he pulled the duvet up to his head. To me, he looked like a cute chrysalis.

’Phew, you’ve finally stopped crying. If you keep crying like that, I won’t have a heart left.’

To be honest, his crying face was pretty enough to make me want to see it again.

Tears like dew on his reddened eyes. His cheeks flushed like peaches. His lips slightly outstretched as if pleading for something.

I felt sorry for him, but honestly, I was kind of looking forward to it. I wanted to see him cry again.

‘Ah, but not for anyone else. If someone else made Jeremy cry……. I would be very upset. Only I can make my prince cry, only I.’

I thought it was a strange obsession, but I justified it by saying that it was all for the prince’s acting as an idiot. Then I changed my clothes and went to bed.

Jeremy was still on his back by then. His ear, peeking out from under his silver hair, was unusually red, and I thought it was odd, but sleep soon overtook me.

It had been a restless day, full of deaths and resurrections and altered futures, but with Jeremy by my side, I drifted off into a cozy sleep.