~Chapter 86~
“I wish I could have seen it myself.”
“Mm…”
Like a child, I rubbed my forehead against his chest. Suddenly, I spoke without thinking.
“…I missed you.”
Calix inhaled sharply.
“I missed you every day.”
Once I started, the words poured out like a flood. All the feelings I had buried spilled into words.
“Back then, and all the time we couldn’t see each other, and yesterday, and today too.”
“….”
“I missed you so much.”
Maybe I should have said this long ago. Foolishly, I dragged it out until now.
“I always miss you.”
“….”
“I’ll keep missing you all my life.”
I looked into Calix’s eyes. His deep blue gaze held me without wavering. I sealed it with my final words.
“So, stay by my side forever. Don’t go anywhere.”
“….”
Calix’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth but couldn’t speak, and I happily watched his face slowly turn red.
A few seconds later, with his ears flushed red, Calix spoke in a trembling voice.
“…Was that… a proposal?”
A proposal?
“Ah… I guess so.”
I muttered without meaning to, and Calix suddenly sat up. He grabbed my shoulder where I was still lying.
“Rena. That was a proposal. Definitely.”
His face was so serious, I began to think seriously too.
Was this really a proposal?
Seeing my hesitation, Calix repeated firmly.
“Once you say it, you can’t take it back, Rena.”
“…I wasn’t planning to take it back.”
The words slipped out in embarrassment. Hearing that, Calix’s face turned red with joy.
He hugged me tightly again and lay back on the bed. I could hear his heart pounding fast.
“When we return to the territory, let’s have the wedding first.”
“Uh, uh…”
Was this really happening?
“I’m so happy right now.”
“…As long as you’re happy, then it’s fine.”
‘Good things are good, I guess.’
I smiled up at his face in his arms and replayed my words in my head.
‘Proposal?’
If so, then in the territory we could finally be together openly. No more hiding, no more worrying about others.
‘…Ah.’
My heart thumped wildly. I hadn’t thought of taking it back, but now I really didn’t want to.
I wriggled deeper into his arms, feeling his familiar embrace and thinking, yes—I had missed this warmth so much.
That afternoon, Calix, Tan, and I sat together at a corner table in the inn to start a strategy meeting.
I asked if it was fine to sit with Tan, but Calix acted like it didn’t matter at all. Tan, however, looked obviously uncomfortable. He hadn’t wanted to join his master at the same table, but I had strongly insisted.
I had plenty of things to scold Tan for—like secretly keeping contact with Calix behind my back.
“It worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
“That’s separate. I still need to scold you.”
I glared at Tan’s shameless reply and sipped the warm tea Calix insisted I drink to help my cold. Tan looked as if he wanted his master to defend him, but Calix didn’t care. His attention was only on me.
I spoke, looking into Calix’s eyes.
“You were too much. Talking with him all along but not telling me once.”
“You weren’t by my side.”
Well, I couldn’t argue with that.
“If I had been by your side, would you have told me?”
“….”
Calix raised his brow slightly.
“No.”
“…That’s still too much.”
Calix reached across the table and held my hand, trying to soothe me. Tan looked like he was dying from second-hand embarrassment.
“Can you let me leave this?”
“No. I don’t want to repeat things twice.”
“That’s… quite a reason.”
Calix asked in a sulky tone.
“Why are you two so close anyway?”
“….”
“….”
Neither of us answered. I turned away and changed the subject.
“Anyway, the emperor is coming here soon, right?”
Calix accepted my change of topic.
“Yeah. But you…”
“….”
“…If I tell you not to worry, you’ll get angry, won’t you?”
I nodded firmly.
Under my sharp gaze, he finally gave in.
“Since we baited with the dragon, they’ll be desperate.”
“And after that…”
I made a cutting gesture across my neck. Calix’s face darkened.
“Rena, that’s too harsh to say in front of you…”
“….”
“…No, sorry.”
I liked his obedient side. I nodded and sipped more tea.
“This is just my guess, but maybe Prince Adrian will come here too.”
“…The prince?”
“Yes. And the woman…”
My words trailed off. For some reason, I didn’t want to mention Prenia in front of Calix—maybe because he had seen a timeline where she ended up with him.
Tan continued for me.
“Do you mean the sorceress who fought Lady Rena?”
“Yes.”
“The maid who was easily crushed by you?”
“Yes, that too.”
I nodded seriously, but then heard laughter beside me.
“She was easily crushed by you?”
“Yes.”
It was the truth, so I nodded proudly. Calix took my hands and examined them in disbelief.
“With these small hands… what could you even hit with?”
“I punched her.”
I brushed off his doubt with a dry laugh.
“Didn’t your hand hurt?”
His serious tone left me speechless, my mouth opening without words. At that moment, Tan coughed loudly.
“…It didn’t hurt.”
I quickly answered and pulled my hand free from Calix’s. Maybe embarrassed in front of his subordinate, Calix let go.
I cleared my throat and declared:
“If I fought you, I could beat you too.”
I meant it seriously, but Calix’s face turned strange, like he was holding back laughter. His eyes darted around. I got stubborn.
“I’m serious!”
“Alright.”
“It’s true!”
He was still smiling.
“If you don’t believe me, we can fight right here—”
I rolled up my sleeves and started to stand, but Calix lifted one eyebrow like he had no choice.
“…Rena.”
The way he said my name was sly, like whispering a secret.
“Do I really have to say everything we did in bed here?”
“….”
All we had done was a simple hand game. I had lost most of the time, but it was completely innocent. Absolutely nothing else had happened!
But the way Calix said it, with that smirk, made it sound like something very indecent.
“You…”
I felt my face burn red. I glanced at Tan, who was desperately pretending not to hear. That made it worse.
Calix casually added with a sigh.
“If I start talking about how many times you lost to me in bed, I’ll never finish.”
‘Crazy man.’
He was crazy.
Just then, the inn door opened and a group of people entered. Tan immediately stood, and I realized they were knights of Hertio.
Relieved to escape the awkwardness, I stood too.
Since Calix had rented out the whole first floor, we were the only ones there. The knights bowed when they saw us.
“We greet our lord.”
Sir Ishar stepped forward and bowed.
“Duke, we have carried out your orders.”
Unlike the disciplined knights, Calix rose with ease.
“Well done.”
Then they also greeted me.
“Lady Rena. It has been a while.”
“Sir Waret.”
I saw many familiar faces—Sir Waret, Sir Rodrigo, Sir Ishar, Sir Martin, all knights of Hertio. I greeted them one by one with my eyes.
The most talkative, Sir Rodrigo, smiled and said:
“Because Lady Rena left only a letter, our lord rushed here in such a hurry. It was no easy task catching up.”
‘Ah.’
That was a bit embarrassing.
“…You must have had a hard time.”
‘On my behalf.’
I swallowed the rest. The knights probably understood anyway.
“What about the task I gave?”
“We just came back from confirming it.”
Calix stepped closer to the knights.
“The emperor is expected to arrive in Troxia in about two weeks.”
‘The emperor?’
So they had been watching the emperor?
“Where is the emperor now?”
All eyes turned to me at my question. Calix answered instead.
“There’s a villa nearby. It was given to her when she was still a princess. Next to it is a large hunting ground.”
“So you mean the emperor is staying at the villa, hunting?”
“On the surface, yes. Even the emperor can’t openly move around.”
Ah, I understood. Since going to land of a family destroyed for treason would look bad, she was hiding it under the excuse of a hunting trip.
That was actually better. If anything happened in Troxia’s underground palace, it could just be announced as an accident during the hunting trip.
