Chapter 15
“Ah.”
Briseis gently opened her mouth as Callisten instructed. He was looking into her mouth—but there was no way he could actually see anything.
“I can’t see anything. Should I feel it?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Briseis grabbed his hand and pulled it down. He stared at her blankly for a moment, while Briseis, still in pain from her swollen cheeks, let out an involuntary sigh.
“Try touching the inside of your cheek with your tongue. Do you feel tooth marks?”
Briseis briefly considered not following his instruction—but then thought she might not be able to return if she didn’t comply, so she did as he said.
She ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek. A sharp pain made her wince, and she could feel something oddly uneven.
“If there are tooth marks, the inside won’t feel smooth like usual. It’ll feel bumpy and hurt.”
“There are marks.”
She had never been slapped on the cheek before, so everything about this was unfamiliar.
“Your ears are fine? You didn’t hear any ringing?”
“No.”
“Good. A bad hit could damage your eardrum. Are you dizzy at all? Any pain in your nose or forehead?”
“Why have you suddenly become so knowledgeable in medicine?”
“I usually know things but don’t say them. It just keeps spilling out.”
He looked at her again with what seemed like concern. Briseis didn’t trust this man pretending to be pitiful.
No matter how you looked at it, he was far from normal.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
Ella entered carrying a large basin filled with crushed ice.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“You should go to the imperial palace and bring my seal instead. My aide knows your face, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Pardon? Why?”
“I’m going to send a letter directly to the Zeronis Law Office.”
Usually, it took quite some time to take on a case. The Zeronis Law Office was the most prestigious firm in the capital for divorce litigation.
Now that divorce was no longer difficult, wives who suffered abuse—or people who had found new love—could cleanly divorce and start anew.
That was all thanks to the Emperor. He had changed the law in order to marry his current Empress and rallied the people to avoid backlash against himself.
Zeronis, who had served as Minister of Justice during that period, retired and established the law office.
Noble marriages were more complex and stricter than those of commoners, so one could not proceed with a divorce lawsuit without a lawyer.
Even so, society’s perception had not changed much.
Divorce was still seen as a blemish—something difficult and requiring great resolve.
“I’ll be back!”
Ella didn’t want her precious young lady to live like this.
And so she left.
Briseis sighed and looked at Callisten.
He pretended indifference as he placed ice onto a white cloth. Then he wrapped it and approached her.
“Stay still.”
At his words, Briseis stared at him. He pressed the ice-filled cloth against her cheek.
“It hurts.”
“Of course it does.”
The warmth of her cheek slowly melted the ice. As the cloth became damp, it seemed to draw out heat even faster.
Once one side of her face was completely cooled, he returned the melted ice to the basin. After wringing the cloth, he placed only the remaining ice back on it and pressed it against her other cheek.
When Briseis looked at him and then lowered her gaze, he stiffened slightly. His little finger brushed against her lips, and Briseis let out a soft groan in pain.
Her lips were swollen as well.
There were likely marks on the inside of her lips too.
“Ugh…!”
Callisten suddenly stiffened and cried out without realizing it.
“Cal?”
“It hurts too much.”
“Ah.”
Briseis briefly worried about him, then looked at him with cold eyes.
“Since you’re here, take the key with you.”
She tried to move his hand away, but he grabbed her shoulder tightly, trembling.
“Let go.”
“Press it… against my cheek.”
He spoke while holding his breath, and she found the situation utterly absurd.
“You’re the one who got hit and swollen, but your body is reacting?”
“I react just from you smiling at me. Just a moment.”
He raised his hand and covered her face with one palm. With his other hand, he carefully kept the ice from touching her cheek.
Her face, entirely hidden within his large hand, made it impossible to see his expression.
“Does it help?”
“It almost did—but you talking made it worse.”
“I’ll give you the key, so let go.”
“If I let go now, I don’t think I can restrain myself.”
“Then go restrain yourself at the palace.”
She considered moving his hand away but chose not to, waiting instead. She wondered when he would calm down.
But his hand remained in front of her for a long time. Along with the creaking of the bed and the faint metallic creak mixed in, Briseis felt strangely uneasy.
“Bri, say something that’ll calm me down.”
“My type is Kaz.”
“What?”
At that moment, he lowered his hand and looked at her.
“Appearance-wise.”
He was smiling again. And it seemed he was no longer in pain.
“What do you even like about such a bland face? The Grand Duke of Maze would be better.”
“Isn’t Kaz quite decent? And I like lighter hair colors. His voice is nice too.”
“My voice is better. I’m taller. And my face is more handsome.”
“You’re overly confident.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong, but Briseis deliberately disagreed.
Anyone could see that Callisten was better than Cassius in appearance.
“And Kaz is easier to talk to. Kind.”
“I can be kind too.”
“Try being kind first before saying that.”
She said this because she had never seen his kind side.
“Cassius is useless. If I say I want you, he’s someone who can never be yours.”
“Who said anything? I only said he’s handsome.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Callisten’s eyes flashed like a madman again, and Briseis sighed.
“Have you calmed down now?”
“No. I’m completely worked up. Angry.”
“I was joking. Cassius isn’t my type.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But he is handsome.”
He smiled again. Briseis knew he made that expression whenever he was angry, so she decided to tread carefully.
“Thanks for coming today, Cal.”
Unable to meet his eyes, she lowered her gaze as she spoke. He lowered the hand holding the ice and replied,
“If you’re going to divorce, come live in the palace. There are plenty of empty rooms in my residence. Too many, honestly.”
“If I become the at-fault party, I can’t file for divorce. I’d have to prove that Damian is the at-fault party.”
“What’s the problem with living separately?”
“If I want the divorce, I have to prove that the reason for dissolving this marriage is Damian’s fault.”
“Isn’t there already plenty of evidence? He even brought a mistress.”
Callisten was a warrior. Though academic knowledge came easily to him, he wasn’t a legal expert—only someone familiar with theory.
“But there’s insufficient evidence proving that Dilaila is his mistress.”
“What…?”
“What if a trial were held today? Do you think Damian would admit it willingly? He’d probably claim Dilaila is just a trusted aide and make me out to be a strange woman.”
Briseis hadn’t expected that explaining why she couldn’t easily leave the estate would feel this strange.
“Then I’ll kill him.”
“Not again. This isn’t a battlefield, Cal.”
“Battlefields are easier. Just kill them and call it insubordination.”
Briseis looked at him, wondering if he was serious. He avoided her gaze, pretending he wasn’t. Only then did she realize he had meant it.
He would likely continue acting out the version of himself she desired most—until he obtained her.
But the moment he had her, this monster would discard her most miserably.
At that point, she might even think Damian had been better.
Whenever she saw Callisten being kind to her, her heart only grew colder. He was not someone capable of ordinary love.
Nor someone capable of loving in that way.
That much had already been proven by both the original story and the many incidents she had experienced in her childhood.
“I’ll help with your divorce. Allow me that much.”
Briseis nodded.
“But wouldn’t it be better if the Grand Duke didn’t know while gathering evidence?”
“He needs to know. In court, it will work in my favor that I warned him and he ignored it.”
Callisten suddenly noticed that the corner of Briseis’s lip was split. There was a bit of dried blood—likely from when she had been struck.
“Bri, you need to apply medicine to your lips.”
She nodded as he suddenly focused on her lips.
He squeezed ointment onto his hand and applied it to her lips. At that moment, although the bed didn’t move, a faint metallic friction sound echoed from somewhere—as if springs were being compressed.
“Ah….”
His face and ears were extremely red, and Briseis, feeling uncomfortable looking at him like that, closed her eyes.
The tingling sensation on her lips became even more noticeable.
