CFCF 82

I couldn’t hide the sigh that escaped me.

“My brother…”

“His Highness the Prince…”

Calisteon hesitated a little this time, but eventually spoke.

“To be honest, he isn’t sharing much information. We only get the absolutely necessary information, like news about the Damiani family, through Len.”

“So you’re saying you don’t know about my brother?”

He laughed, almost like a sigh.

“Hardly. But judging by the fact that His Highness isn’t contacting us directly… it seems he doesn’t want you to know just yet.”

It was his way of asking if I still wanted to know.

In other words, it meant that while Rurik hadn’t informed us, Calisteon had figured out the situation through his own channels.

‘If so, then it’s following the novel’s original plot, as I expected.’

Rurik intends to raise an army and dethrone the Emperor, and naturally, the fewer people who know, the better.

If he fails, they could all be charged with treason.

‘Of course, barring the variable that is Ren, Rurik cannot fail.’

So, I decided to respect my brother’s wishes for now.

“Alright. Then I’ll wait for news from the Imperial Capital until my brother tells me himself.”

A warm fingertip tapped my cheek.

“Good girl.”

Calisteon asked.

“So, can you sleep without worries now?”

I nodded slightly, and he leaned toward me.

His shadow obscured my view.

The next moment, the soft touch of lips touched my forehead.

“Sleep well. See you tomorrow.”

“You sleep well too, Carl.”

He stood up, lifted the glass chimney of the nearby oil lamp, and blew it out.

A more profound darkness settled in.

After Calisteon left my room, I closed my eyes peacefully.

Even though it was my first time in this castle, I felt incredibly safe.

At the same time, in the Imperial Capital.

Empress Dorotheo was furious.

“Not just one or two, but they’re not returning! What does that mean!”

“My apologies, Your Majesty… It seems the Flavi royal family has put effort into their defenses…”

“How dare you stand before me and speak of not being able to overcome the Flavi royal house!”

The one the Empress had seized, as if catching a mouse, was the head of the Damiani family and her younger brother, Duke Gideon.

The Duke lowered his voice to placate his sister.

“Your Majesty, this venture was rather reckless. Moreover, the youngest Princess is supposed to be convalescing. If things go wrong…”

“When they deposed my son, right before my eyes, while he was alive and well!”

The Empress shouted at the top of her lungs, not caring who heard.

“His Majesty must have been prepared to ruin one of his own children! Isn’t that so!”

Only after shouting so loudly did the Empress seem to calm down a little, composing herself.

Then he hissed quietly.

“When His Majesty sent the youngest away for her health, the Flavi Crown Prince promised to be responsible for her safety. Was I not present at that meeting!”

She meant they could shift the blame for this affair onto the Flavi royal house.

But the Duke still wore a troubled expression.

“But one, if the Flavi royal family obtains proof that our family was involved…”

“They’re all bound by magical contracts, what’s the problem!”

As the Duke finally fell silent, the Empress shouted again.

“That bastard Rurik! If he didn’t foresee this and spirit his sister away in advance! How can he fail to bring one mere girl before me!”

The Empress continued to fume alone.

“If that bastard ascends to the Crown Prince’s position, it’s all over! All of Damiani’s efforts over the past decades will fall into the wrong hands!”

Ultimately, the conclusion was the same.

“We need that girl. Only by holding her can we negotiate or talk with that Rurik bastard to delay the Crown Prince’s investiture.”

The Duke cautiously spoke again.

“Your Majesty, if His Highness Hart ultimately does not recover… what do you intend to do…”

He braced himself for the coming rebuke and shut his eyes tightly, but the Empress’s reaction was unexpectedly calm.

“Do I have only Hart as a child?”

The Duke sighed inwardly.

If his sister planned to petition the Emperor, using his conscience or paternal love as leverage, to grant the 2nd Princess the title of Crown Princess, then this endeavor was flawed from the start.

‘How can she not see that the Emperor is not such a man, and that Cyril is also not fit to be an Empress?’

Ignoring the Duke’s silence, the Empress finally commanded.

“If thirty won’t do, send fifty. I’m not ordering you to harm her, just to bring her here. I won’t hear any more excuses.”

The Duke had no choice but to answer quietly.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

To avoid losing any more precious private soldiers, they had to succeed this time.

I woke up early in the morning.

It seemed that even in a fortress like Babenberg, I couldn’t sleep as soundly as usual.

‘Of course not.’

There had been two intrusions at the Edessa hotel in the past week, and I had left my closest friend there.

‘And he’s not exactly a combat character.’

I don’t mean to belittle him, but Ernst is clearly the visual/appearance specialist, isn’t he?

Furthermore, my brother in the Imperial Capital is preparing for rebellion.

‘No matter how much of an overpowered male lead he is, he’s still my brother.’

So, it’s only natural to worry.

“Phew.”

I sighed, got up, and took the diary out from the trunk containing my belongings.

This time, I had mixed the diary in with a few notebooks without Phoebe knowing, all because I desperately wanted to know how things would unfold with Calisteon.

‘Oh.’

The diary, which I hadn’t checked for two days, finally delivered a satisfying twist.

Louise had finally sent a letter to Babenberg, and Calisteon had replied in just one day.

I should have contacted him sooner.

I got a reply from Senior Calisteon in just one day.

He said the Babenberg Grand Duke is in critical condition, and he apologized to me for leaving without a word.

He said he didn’t expect me to worry, that he would definitely return even if it took time… and he even asked if I could wait for him.

I laughed out loud after reading that far.

‘Kyah, finally!’

Of course… I’ll wait.

His seat is so wide and conspicuous, and even though he’s absent, there probably isn’t a single bold student who dares to covet it.

Of course, Ren could… but whether it’s fortunate or not, he rarely comes to the library.

I chuckled at Ren’s name and tried to estimate when Calisteon would have returned to the academy.

‘I’ve read in the letters multiple times that he took a year off after his second year.’

But the fact that he specifically asked her to wait is such an obvious green light, isn’t it?

‘Could it be that he’s not the father?’

Tilting my head, I pressed my finger onto the pattern on the next page, but no more diary entries were revealed.

Flipping through the diary, I saw countless blank pages still remained.

Because of that, my conjecture quickly lost strength and faded.

‘No… three years is enough time to change boyfriends ten times over.’

Of course, in my previous life, I died a virgin, but this body is pretty and a Princess, right?

‘Hence, there are three candidates for the father.’

Having thought that far, a yawn escaped me.

‘I must have woken up too early…’

I closed the diary and crawled back under the covers.

Faint morning sunlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains, but I pretended not to notice.

My eyelids felt heavy as they closed.

Babenberg Castle was vast.

Its main keep alone was comparable in size to the Imperial Palace, so even just sightseeing all day made time fly.

Calisteon sent about seven different tasty treats to my room daily, and the twin sisters, Chacha and Collie, followed me around diligently, attending to my every need.

Yet, even as the day ended, no new news arrived.

“Shall we visit the maze garden tomorrow?”

In the evening, Calisteon asked cautiously.

“The maze garden?”

He pointed a finger somewhere outside the window where the sunset was fading.

“Over there, see the square part? It’s heavily blocked by trees, so it should be less cold.”

I looked up at him with a slight smile.

“If you’re so worried about the cold, how do you plan to go to the Ice Festival?”

Only then did Calisteon laugh with an embarrassed expression.

“Good point.”

The diary entry I’d read at dawn was still lingering in my mind.

So, I cautiously broached the subject of the past, gauging his reaction.

“Karl, back then… when you returned to Babenberg and spent a year receiving heir training.”

His blue gaze met mine affectionately.

“Yes.”

“What was it like then? We couldn’t exchange many letters then… Coming here made me curious.”

The letters Calisteon and I exchanged increased dramatically after he became Grand Duke, but during his leave of absence, they were sporadic.

Of course, those letters might not be the whole story, but a little adventure should be fine.

“Back then…”

Calisteon turned his gaze out the window as he answered.

“I studied hard, finished my duties… and worked hard to return to the academy. I’d already attended for two years, so I didn’t want to just quit like that…”

He turned back to look at me.

“And you… you told me you would wait.”