CHAPTER 50……
Linaria had been certain Kaas would ask her to help him take revenge.
After all, she had carefully set the mood so that the word revenge would come to his lips.
But the wish that actually came out was nothing like she expected.
He wanted to kiss her.
Did he even hear what I was saying?
For a moment, she wondered.
Caught off guard, she stood there speechless.
That long silence seemed to heighten Kaas’s anxiety.
Watching her with uneasy eyes, he blinked.
A clear tear slid down his cheek.
“You said you loved me.”
Convinced her sincerity had been rejected, he confessed in desperation.
It was as if he were begging for love.
Startled, Linaria hurried to speak.
“…It was so sudden I didn’t know how to answer.”
It wasn’t entirely untrue.
But her clumsy excuse did little to reassure him. In his brilliantly golden eyes, fear was etched deep.
Each blink brought more tears, and he didn’t even seem aware that he was crying.
He made no move to wipe them away.
Instead, Linaria reached out carefully and brushed his cheek. Kaas leaned into her hand.
“Call my name. Please?”
He didn’t need her to say she loved him. It was enough if she just called his name.
Even if her voice carried hatred or disgust, the simple fact that she had spoken his name would satisfy him.
“…Kaas.”
In the end, Linaria murmured his name.
Kaas slowly closed his eyes.
“Kaas… Kaas.”
Every time he had been forcibly bound to a divine beast, it must have felt like teetering on the edge of death.
He must have lived half his life in that pain, shedding tears of agony.
Yet never once had he let Linaria see him cry.
Not even in situations painful enough to make an ordinary person break down in tears.
Was what he felt now as painful as those life-and-death experiments?
“I thought you’d wish for something greater.”
“To me… it is a great wish.”
Greater than killing the devil who had trampled both their lives?
Linaria couldn’t understand him.
“I heard you almost became the crown prince’s fiancée.”
“Who told you that?”
“Your maid.”
So it wasn’t some loose-tongued gossip—it came from someone close.
“You seem to get along well with Anna. It’s nice to see the people I love being friendly with each other.”
In that moment, Kaas thought he understood why Anna had insisted so strongly that Linaria’s love was only pity.
Even now, he stood on the same level as Anna in Linaria’s heart.
“Then that’s your only wish? I’m only granting you one.”
“Yes.”
Linaria found herself unexpectedly disappointed.
She had assumed he felt the same as she did.
But then his next words made her pause.
“If I take everything from my half-brother… then I’ll be yours alone, won’t I?”
“….”
“So let me kiss you.”
Linaria realized then.
Kaas knew she wanted Maximilian dead.
Since when? No… it’s obvious—it’s been from the start.
From the moment she told him she loved him, he must have suspected.
He knew she had taken him in to be her sword against Maximilian.
She had claimed her love was worth a million rune, but never once had she acted on it—so of course he knew.
Even now—
She had told him first that she loved him, yet gave him no reason to trust her. So now he was begging for her love.
And looking at her as though asking, Can I love you?
Even though you’re not sincere.
Meeting those golden eyes, burning with blind devotion, sent a chill down Linaria’s spine.
A love-crazed emperor had once destroyed the nation.
Countless innocents had died in the process.
Linaria had been among those screaming themselves hoarse before the blood-soaked throne.
Perhaps I…
She rose on tiptoe.
Their breaths mingled.
…am repeating the future.
Only now, Kaas stood where Maximilian had been, and she stood where Lusarka once had.
If the future of a love-crazed emperor ruining the nation would not change—
A seed of doubt sprouted in her heart.
But she had no time to hesitate over whether her fear might become reality.
Maximilian could not be defeated without her full strength.
Linaria wanted to stop the worst future she knew, no matter the cost.
Even if it meant joining hands with the devil.
And so—
She kissed him.
**
When lunchtime came, Linaria headed to the training grounds.
It was rare for her to go there herself.
“You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
“No.”
“Then let’s have lunch together. All right?”
It was rare for her to personally invite him to a meal as well.
They often ate lunch together, but usually she sent word through her maid for him to meet her in the dining hall.
“…I’ll wash up first.”
Kaas stepped back and nodded.
“It won’t take long.”
“All right then.”
After Linaria left, the knights training nearby exchanged looks.
Even from that short exchange, there was something… unusual in the air.
Kaas was treated differently from the rest of them.
A slave of common birth.
Lifted to fortune after receiving a divine beast directly from Duke Obel.
Selected as the young lady’s personal guard—this was all the others knew.
And on top of that, he tended to speak curtly to everyone and seemed socially awkward.
One example—
“Our daughter’s birthday is coming up. She’ll love this, right? Kaas, look. Isn’t it cute?”
“What is it?”
“You don’t know? It’s one of those Pippi dolls everyone’s into lately.”
“Doll?”
“Yeah, a doll. A toy for kids.”
When a knight had shown him the doll, Kaas had only blinked in confusion.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know what a Pippi doll was—he didn’t seem to know what a doll was at all.
He didn’t understand how one played with it and quickly lost interest.
In this way, Kaas often lacked basic common knowledge.
Colin and the others never pried into his personal history, but they guessed his childhood had been harsh.
So most of them regarded him as a pitiful fellow.
Given that he had been granted a divine beast by the duke himself, they could have been jealous. But his undeniable skill silenced any resentment.
The same went for how close he was to the young lady.
After all, she had chosen him herself—there was nothing for them to complain about.
Even Duke Obel seemed willing to let it slide.
“…Surely nothing’s going on between you and the young lady…?”
Colin started to ask but cut himself off, worried he was overstepping.
But Kaas merely glanced at him blankly before walking past.
It was no different from his usual behavior.
And yet—
Somehow…
Didn’t he seem a little more cheerful than usual?
Kaas washed up faster than usual and headed to the dining hall.
He took the seat opposite Linaria, who was already there.
“You came earlier than I expected.”
“Yeah.”
Soon, the food was served.
A proper luncheon called for the use of many different utensils.
He’d learned from Linaria that even forks that looked identical had different uses depending on their size.
One could say the real reason they often ate together was to correct his poor table manners.
With a tense posture, he picked up his fork and knife.
“Kaas.”
After only a few bites, Linaria rose and came over to him.
She laid her hand over his.
The difference in their hand sizes stood out.
“Not like that—like this.”
With one hand, she corrected his grip directly.
“Don’t hold it so tightly. See? Your shoulders are too tense.”
With her other hand, she brushed his broad shoulder.
But instead of relaxing, he seemed to grow even more stiff.
“Kaas?”
“…I was just thinking about something else.”
Only when she took her hand away did he relax his shoulders.
“You’ve improved a lot since the beginning, though.”
Back then, he hadn’t even known how to use a spoon.
She lightly patted his hair in praise before returning to her seat.
Encouraged, Kaas sprinkled salt on his steak.
Perhaps because he was a little excited, he oversalted it and the meat came out too salty.
Yesterday, too…
Suddenly, he remembered when Linaria had kissed him the day before.
The first kiss had tasted salty.
It must have been from his own tears.
That was something he regretted.
With his eyes lowered, he traced the memory, afraid it might fade if he didn’t.
From her place in the dining hall, Anna glanced at Kaas’s faintly flushed cheeks.
Something…
Something had definitely happened between the young lady and Kaas!
