Chapter 15 — Unwanted Confession

After chatting with her mother to her heart's content, Diana returned to the palace with a peace of mind. But her calmness was short-lived. The first thing Diana saw when she stepped into the palace was Rain bawling her eyes at a corner of the hallway.

Concerned, Diana approached her and inquired, "What's wrong, Rain?"

"You won't believe what happened, Diana!" Rain exclaimed in grief, crying hysterically. Diana patted her shoulder as an attempt to comfort her. "Ivan yelled at me!"

Diana couldn't believe her ears. Ivan yelled at Rain? Impossible. Ivan was not the type of person to lose his cool over silly matters. Being a prince has its perks, he learned to control his temper since he was a child.

Rain continued, "I tried to hug him, but he pushed me away. Can you believe that? He pushed me away! I'm his girlfriend and wife-to-be for God's sake! How could he shout at me?" Diana felt a pang of hurt in her heart at the word 'wife-to-be'.

"What exactly happened?" Diana asked calmly. Later, Rain explained everything to her, exaggerating Ivan's every action like it was some great crime. "Okay. Don't worry. I'll make him understand." Rain felt chills due to Diana's firm words.

Diana's temper increased after hearing the story from Rain. Ivan couldn't treat his girlfriend like that. He shouldn't prioritize Diana over the woman he was supposed to love. So, she clenched her fists and went to confront him.

As soon as she opened the door to their bedroom, she came face to face with a tensed Ivan. He felt like his life got back when he saw Diana safe and healthy. He wanted to pull her into his chest and never let her go. But before he could do that, he was reminded of how careless she had been for leaving the palace without informing him or anyone.

"Where were you? Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Ivan was already pissed off due to the stunt Rain pulled, therefore, his words came pretty harshly. "Have some sense of responsibility. You're royally chosen. Think about the consequences of your action—"

Diana interrupted his breathless rant and started her own lecture, "I think you're the one who should think of consequences. You pushed away Rain when she tried to hug you. What's wrong with you? She is your girlfriend. Do you not understand that? She has the right to—"

"Who cares about Rain at this moment? I was worried about you. At least you are safe now," he let out.

The truth was Ivan didn't feel any regret for what he did with Rain; he was rather content. Yelling had probably been too much, but other than that, he thought he did the right thing.

"Even so, you shouldn't treat your girlfriend like that. You should apologize to her instead of wasting your time worrying over me."

Ivan's eyes held disbelief. "How do you expect my brain to function properly when you went missing like that?"

"Who in the world prioritizes their best friend over their girlfriend? Do you have a screw loose, or are you just plain stupid?" She tried slapping some sense into him.

"I do. Only because you're more important to me," he blurted out.

Unknown emotions flashed across Diana's face. She knew that she was precious to Ivan, but she also knew that she shouldn't be crossing the line. She knew and constantly reminded herself of what her place was; she was only a friend.

I'm just his best friend. That's all I will ever be, she assured herself.

To make him understand the intensive reality of the situation before them, Diana spat out spitefully, "Stop acting like I'm your real fiancée!"

Ivan's eyes widened as the depth of her words sank in. As of now, he hasn't saved a suitable counter for the truth of Diana's words. An awkward silence fell over. Ivan pursed his lips and threw a small velvet rectangular box down on the bed. It bounced among the sheets.

"I wasn't trying to be your real fiancé. I just wanted to give you this." Diana's eyes fell on the box. A gush of guilt hit her. He had brought a special souvenir for Diana from Italy. "That's all," Ivan mumbled and left the room, letting the weight of his disappointed words hang in the air.

Diana bit her lips and sat down on the edge of the bed. She stared into oblivion for a while before deciding to open the box. She gasped, seeing what was inside.

It was a pendant, a heart-shaped pendant.

It was very pretty. The color of the stone in the middle reminded her of Ivan's eyes: silent green. The chain was platinum, and something was inscribed on the back of the pendant.

'Let it rain, Let it pour, What we have is worth fighting for.'

Diana clutched the pendant close to her heart and lay down on the bed. She placed her hand on her eyes and released a sigh. "Ivan, that's something you should have given to your girlfriend, not to your best friend. But it's beautiful, and I love it."

The sentence written behind the pendant was a lyric from her favorite song. She even danced with Ivan to that song.

Chuckling, Diana muttered, "I swear, if he had used the next lyrics of this song instead, I would've buried him six feet under the ground."

The next lyric was: 'You know I believe that we were meant to be.'

Diana wondered how Rain would feel if she saw what Ivan gifted her. Little did she know, Rain was standing outside their room this whole time, eavesdropping on their conversation.

Wiping the tears that rolled down from her cheeks, Rain followed the route Ivan took. She found him in the big balcony at the end of a hall. Ivan was gazing at the bright moon above his head with an upset expression.

Rain placed her hand on his shoulder, startling him. "Oh, it's just you." Ivan was disappointed. He had expected Diana to come after him. After his best friend's huge lecture, he felt like he wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't apologize to Rain. So, to honor Diana's word, he said, "I'm sorry, Rain. My apologies for acting the way I did."

"Don't bother." Ivan was surprised at Rain's seriousness. It was a miracle to have Rain serious. "Don't apologize if you don't regret it all." Ivan averted his eyes, knowing he didn't redeem anything at all. She spoke, "Anyways, that's not the point here."

He let out, "Okay."

Rain forced a smile on her lips and held his hand. Ivan once again realized how her touch did not give him sparks anymore. She asked, "What did you bring for me?"

"Huh?" He arched an eyebrow.

"My gift? Did you bring anything for me?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Oh, that. Yes, yes. I brought it." Ivan took out a multi-colored pearl bracelet from his pocket.

"What? This?" Rain scrunched up her nose in disgust.

He replied, "I thought you would like it since it's limited edition and expensive." The price wasn't the issue here. It was feelings. It lacked the romance and love in it.

Rain was hoping to receive something even more romantic than Diana. She painfully bit her red lips and murmured, "Say, Ivan, do you not love me anymore?"

Ivan was surprised at the sudden question. How could he answer that? After all, spending two weeks in Italy, trying to sort out his jumbled feelings, all he was able to realize was that he liked Diana Stevens, not Rain Summers. Yet, saying it out loud to her face was cruel. He didn't want to do it. Still, it was better to express the truth sooner than later.

"Rain, I—" his words died in his mouth when his eyes landed on a scary, demon-looking Diana hiding behind the curtains. Her glare sent chills down his spine.

Diana glowering at him made Ivan feel as if she was screaming, 'I dare you to hurt Rain any further!'

Rain felt weird to see Ivan silent, so she added, "I love you, Ivan."

"S—same," he let out, not knowing what else to reply. He couldn't believe his life took such a drastic change.

Relief washed over Rain. She wrapped her arms around Ivan. "Promise me you'll marry me."

"What? That's so sudden." Ivan was already conflicted enough, and now there she was, asking him to seal a promise he couldn't possibly back out from.

"Just promise me that I'll be the one you're going to marry."

Ivan was about to brush the topic off, but seeing another one of Diana's death glares, he reluctantly nodded.

"Yay! I'm so happy! We can spend the rest of our lives together," Rain chirped and hugged him tighter than before. For some reason, Ivan thought spending his whole life with Rain would be torture, while on the other hand, spending it with Diana would be bliss.

Diana sighed and left the scene; she felt as though they were about to kiss or something.

What's wrong with Ivan? Although he loves Rain that much, he keeps acting so strange, she thought to herself.

Even though Diana wanted Rain and Ivan's relationship to run smoothly, her heart was aching. Why did she have to fall for him? It was only hurting her—seeing the two of them together was hurting her. Still, she was wishing for the happiness of her best friend. His happiness lay with Rain, not with his best friend, she thought.

Diana sat down on the sofa in their room, pulling her knees up to her chest. Tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Falling in love wasn't a crime. But why was it a crime in her case? There was nothing she could do about it. She had to accept the fact that she had no future with Ivan and move on in her life.

Meanwhile, Jasper was looking around for Rain as she had escaped his clutches. When he came to check up on his brother's room, he witnessed Diana crying. He didn't need any words to understand the reason behind her sorrow.

He silently left, letting her have some private time. Jasper felt horrible for Diana. He also felt bad for his brother and Rain. However, he knew the exact person behind everyone's agony.

It was his own mother; it was the queen's fault, and Jasper figured he had to do something about it, come what may.