Chapter 21 …
Selene stopped abruptly at the entrance to the garden, where she had walked with me.
“Huh? Selene, aren’t you coming?”
“I’m fine. I’ll wait here until you’re done, so go ahead and talk comfortably.”
Selene drew a clear line with her firm refusal.
It doesn’t seem like it’s anything too important…
Stepping into the garden, the serene scenery, just as I had seen before, immediately put my mind at ease.
The weather was perfectly warm, and a gentle breeze made my heart flutter with excitement.
I turned to look for Calix, but the handsome young boy was nowhere in sight.
Has he already gone back to his room?
I turned toward the pond, but then, a black shadow standing behind me like a phantom startled me so much that my legs went weak.
“Ah!”
“…!”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Huh?
A refreshing, cool scent wafted through the air.
Someone had caught me as I nearly fell, and I slowly opened my eyes.
Calix’s black hair swayed lightly, and his eyes glimmered in the sunlight like precious red gems.
Calix!
“Hey. Why do you always fall over when I see you?”
Calix let out a low sigh.
Then, awkwardly holding me, we both quickly separated.
“I-I was just startled!”
I glared sharply at Calix, who had silently been standing behind me, and spoke pointedly.
“…Sorry.”
What? Did Calix just apologize to me?
I opened my eyes wide like a rabbit.
“Are you apologizing to me?”
“…Yes. Did you think I was someone who couldn’t apologize?”
Calix’s red eyes sharpened.
“It’s not that… I didn’t expect you to apologize to me.”
“I don’t know exactly what kind of person you think I am, but all of this started with you first.”
Calix’s irritated tone made the conversation loop like a broken record.
“Alright. But why did you want to meet me?”
“What? I wanted to meet you? What are you talking about?”
Calix furrowed his brows and asked me back.
“My mother said the young lord was looking for me and told me to come to the garden.”
“Sigh.”
Calix listened to my words and then rubbed his face vigorously as if washing it dry.
That’s not good for his skin.
Worried that his porcelain-white, translucent skin might get scratched, I stayed quiet, too scared to speak.
“By the way, what my mother said isn’t true, so don’t misunderstand.”
“Y-Yes…”
Well, that ruined the mood.
I had hoped we could start getting along better, but to survive, I had to be close with Calix.
I pouted a little in disappointment.
“….”
“….”
For a while, an awkward silence hung between us.
Wanting to escape the uncomfortable atmosphere, I spoke first.
“Then I’ll go back to my mother.”
As I turned to leave, Calix stopped me.
“Wait a moment.”
I looked up at him in a daze.
Every time I see him, he seems even more handsome. No wonder he’s the protagonist’s son.
His black hair glistened and fluttered in the wind.
His skin, as pure and translucent as porcelain, made all my daily sword training seem meaningless.
His ruby-red eyes were captivating beyond his twelve years, and he had grown taller since the last time I saw him.
Even watching him all day, I wouldn’t get tired of his stunning appearance. I could only imagine how striking adult Calix would be.
His face really suits my taste.
My hopeless crush tendencies were incurable.
“I didn’t exactly ask to meet, but I have something I want to say.”
I listened closely to Calix’s words.
“Thanks for giving good gifts to the knights and the duke’s family.”
Calix’s expressionless voice conveyed gratitude.
Oh my!
I clasped my hands over my mouth in surprise.
Calix, who was usually prickly toward me, just thanked me twice!
I got an apology and a thank-you—could today get any better?
Smiling brightly in my happiness, Calix narrowed his eyes and glared at me.
“You may not know this, enjoying luxury in the capital, but many people in the north freeze to death. Even trained knights have had to amputate hands or feet due to frostbite…”
His expression hardened.
Couldn’t he have phrased that more kindly? He really uses that pretty mouth badly.
Puffing out my cheeks at Calix’s sharp tone, I spoke:
“I heard you found a blessing of warmth and made warming items for the northern people.”
My chest ached slightly with conscience.
Actually, I just did what you were supposed to do first…
I turned my gaze from Calix and gripped the hem of my dress.
“If the young lord knew, he would have solved this problem in an even better way than I did.”
My deflated voice grew smaller, and Calix silently looked down at me.
“Hey. You’re only ten years old.”
“Huh?”
Calix frowned as if displeased.
“I couldn’t do what you did at your age. And why does it matter who did it? What matters is the intention to help someone.”
I opened my eyes wide and met Calix’s gaze.
“Anyone can do it.”
His words were blunt, yet strangely comforting. The tension I had felt seemed to melt away.
“Also… I promised last time that if you could change the hearts of the duke’s family…”
“Change them?”
Calix trailed off awkwardly, his voice faltering.
“I’ll treat you well as my fiancée from now on. I… I mean, since you’re my fiancée.”
I gasped, eyes wide in shock, almost jumping from my spot.
No! That’s not it!
I waved my hands frantically.
“You don’t have to do that, young lord! Just don’t hate me like before!”
Fiancée? We’re just a paper engagement.
Calix frowned at my words, his handsome brows knitting.
“Hey. Why do you keep calling me ‘young lord’?”
“Huh?”
“Since when did you start calling me that? Before, you used to call me by my name casually.”
“Ah…”
“From now on, call me Calix! And stop using formal speech!”
I looked at him awkwardly.
“Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I’ll treat you well as my fiancée, nothing else.”
Calix’s firm tone reassured me a little.
I guess that’s what he means.
It felt like I had entered a pitch-dark tunnel and suddenly stepped out into the light.
I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
As soon as Calix finished speaking, he hurried past me.
His ears were tinged red.
For some reason, I found that cute and called out:
“Let’s get along from now on, Calix!”
Calix hesitated briefly at my words, then walked quickly out of the garden.
Left alone, the garden was filled only with the low chirping of birds and the rustle of trees in the wind.
The peace was so overwhelming that I sat on a small tree stump and basked in the sunlight.
It’s warm.
Something soft and fuzzy rose in my chest. It was the first day this world had ever felt dazzling.
Olga, who had been Layla’s maid, ground her teeth as she stared at the sturdy iron bars with no window.
Damn that woman!
Before being sent to prison, Olga recalled the torment inflicted on her by Layla and Lavina Tracia, biting her lips in rage.
Being in prison so long had left her malnourished; the cracked skin of her lips tasted metallic.
I won’t be brainwashed.
Layla’s words kept echoing in her head like an unerasable mark.
“How did I break free from the brainwashing spell?”
Olga bit her nails nervously, lost in thought.
If only she had had a little more time, Layla’s brainwashing ritual would have completed, and she could have been controlled entirely.
Rage boiled again, and Olga ruffled her hair violently.
Damn her, she deserves to be crushed!
She slammed her fist against the dusty floor.
She couldn’t make sense of the situation.
She had been a ten-year-old girl, but the expression and tone of the girl who had looked down at her coldly were as mature as an adult woman’s.
I need to get out first. Revenge comes later.
If she stayed, Lavina Tracia would likely kill her.
I must go to the Founder. Only they can save me.
But she couldn’t find a way out.
The magical power she had stored in her necklace was destroyed by Lavina Tracia, vanishing like smoke.
A lily-of-the-valley mark remained on one side of her face like an indelible scar.
Damn it.
As she pounded her forehead against the wall in fury, someone appeared outside the prison cell.
Olga wrapped her head in fear, trembling.
Are they here to kill me?
The solid iron door creaked and slowly opened.
“Rise, my servant.”
A man in Tracia Knights armor was unfamiliar, but at the tone of his voice, Olga lifted her head quickly.
F-Founder!
She approached him and knelt.
“I’m sorry. The brainwashing spell failed. We couldn’t capture the Brilston marquis family.”
The man, looking like a mass of darkness, started to laugh eerily. The cold, gloomy feeling made her swallow hard.
Even knowing this knight wasn’t the Founder, fear made her shrink back.
“Heh heh.”
The man’s laughter, chilling enough to make her skin crawl, covered his whole body.
“It’s fine, my servant. Other attempts will continue.”
Olga twisted her trembling hands and forced a smile.
The people who wronged her would eventually become mere playthings in the Founder’s hands.
“Founder, what should I do? Lavina Tracia drained all my magic. If you let me out of here, I’ll do anything. Please give me the next command.”
She bowed deeply to the knight, her eyes unfocused.
“I will grant you rest for your efforts.”
“Rest?”
Olga looked at the black-clad man with eyes full of joy.
She had heard countless times from the Founder’s followers that the rest granted by him erased all suffering and led to a place of unparalleled peace.
Those who received it swore to serve him for life, claiming they had experienced the utopia he had created.
“Receive this.”
She took the ash-colored crystal he handed her, feeling ominous power surge like sand through her hands. It quickly began to permeate her entire body.
“Ah!”
It was excruciating. Pain as if her skin was being carved off with a knife.
“My servant, may another path of rest accompany you. Heh heh.”
The knight broke the ash-colored crystal and collapsed like a puppet that had completed its task.
Olga gritted her teeth, but the unbearable pain rendered her immobile.
“Fou—”
At that moment, her eyes darkened before she could finish speaking.
