Every eye immediately turned toward Cedric.
They noticed the faint scratch on his cheek, but what caught their attention even more was the sudden, genuine confusion that clouded the groom's face, as if he himself were entirely unaware of the mark on his own skin.
"What scratch?" Cedric asked, his brows knitting together.
"Oh, there really is a scratch," Gwen said softly, gazing up at him with wide, puppy-dog eyes as if she was genuinely unaware of it. "I'm so sorry, honey. It must have happened by mistake from my nails earlier."
Cedric looked down at Gwen, and his expression softened into a fond smile as his hand gave the slightest involuntary tremor at his side. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing a little makeup cannot fix before tomorrow. Am I right?"
He turned toward the small crowd with a playful grin, drawing a ripple of light laughter from the surrounding guests.
Yet... Gavriel and Cillian's eyes remained fixed on that tiny movement on the side.
