Chapter 20
“Didn’t I tell you to stop talking nonsense?”
As Kalisten leaned in so close their faces were almost touching, he found himself smiling like a madman. Seeing his crazed eyes, Briseis instead calmed and her expression settled.
“We’re breathing the same air.”
She tried to turn her head away, still thinking his words were nonsense, but he caught her chin and continued speaking.
“I was going to say that, but I held it in. Instead, I asked you to let me attend Wilhelm Academy. That way I can marry the person I want.”
“Fine. Marry whoever you want.”
“But for that to happen, that person has to get divorced first.”
“Whoever she is, I feel sorry for her. Having to marry you.”
Briseis brushed his hand away with a smack and moved to sit on the opposite side. He followed her with a smile, so she returned to her original seat. He followed again.
“Aren’t you going to move anymore?”
“I’m tired.”
As if she knew he would keep following her anyway, she turned her gaze to the window and closed her eyes.
“I’ve got shoulders too, you know. Want to lean on them?”
“I have shoulders too. And yours are as hard as stone—I hate them.”
“Ahahaha. You know, you said that even when you were fifteen?”
“I don’t know.”
Briseis rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. Seeing that, he slowly lifted her head. She glared at him, but when she saw he was folding his coat and placing it under her head, she closed her eyes again.
“You even look beautiful when you glare.”
She didn’t respond.
And so, they rode the carriage together for quite a long time.
❖ ❖ ❖
“I don’t really get recognized anyway because of my height.”
Briseis didn’t answer him and silently handed him a black robe. He draped it over his shoulders.
Briseis put on the hood and dressed herself as if to conceal her identity. Meanwhile, Kalisten got out of the carriage first and extended his hand so she could take it. But she stepped down on her own. He followed her, smiling as though he found her amusing.
Zeronis’s office was structured so that only two booked clients could be processed per day.
Briseis and Kalisten entered the office.
“Do you have a reservation? May I see your identification, please?”
As Briseis was about to take out her ID, Kalisten showed his ring and pulled down his hood.
“I forgot my ID.”
“The Empire’s Little Sun…!”
“Quiet.”
At that, the staff all stood up and greeted him in unison in very quiet voices: “We greet the Empire’s Little Sun!”
“Confirm the reservation.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Kalisten pulled his hood back up, and Briseis let out a quiet sigh without realizing it. Even when wearing a hood and a black robe, it was not easy for him to hide his identity.
Jet-black hair, and vivid red eyes that stood out even in the dark.
And there was no one else in the Empire that tall. His frame was also imposing and massive.
Anyone who had ever seen him anywhere would immediately recognize him as Kalisten.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You somehow feel like a bear all of a sudden.”
“You don’t like bears, do you? Want me to be a rabbit instead?”
“Where would a rabbit that big exist?”
“Then a cat?”
“……”
“Meow.”
He smiled with unhinged eyes and made a cat sound. Briseis said nothing and just looked at him quietly.
“Meow?”
“Stop.”
She lowered her head in embarrassment, and soon a nearby staff member approached and spoke.
“Your reservation has been confirmed. I will guide you to the waiting room.”
“Yes.”
Briseis followed the staff to the waiting room.
❖ ❖ ❖
The waiting room was quite luxurious.
Perhaps because most of those seeking divorce were nobles, everything in the room was high-end.
Briseis glanced over the white marble flooring, then looked at the table in front of the sofa she was sitting on. It was a top-quality mahogany table. The sofa itself was large and soft enough to be used as a bed.
The painting on the wall was a famous abstract piece by an artist who had lost the ability to perceive green. It was mainly composed of yellow and blue.
The chandelier also gleamed as if it were polished daily, shining brilliantly with not a speck of dust in sight.
The interior design featured warm tones meant to ease tension, along with a subtle lavender scent.
Above all, the flowers placed in the center of the table were freesias.
“Wasn’t the meaning of these flowers ‘a new beginning’?”
As her gaze fell on the flowers, Kalisten spoke deliberately, hoping her eyes would at least once shift toward him.
She didn’t respond and instead returned her gaze to the freesia. The fully bloomed flowers filled the room with a fresh fragrance.
The vase itself was imported from a kingdom in the west—it wasn’t a style produced in the Empire.
Briseis managed a merchant group that imported tea ware as well, so she could recognize most things at a glance.
“Sit in front.”
“I’ll sit next to you.”
Briseis warned him, but he deliberately came to sit beside her. The sofas were arranged in a U-shape, with a central seat facing two long sofas.
“If you move over there, I’ll follow too.”
When she tried to move, he said this with a smile.
Briseis sighed and stayed where she was. Then she turned her attention to the monthly magazines on the table.
Among them were several newspapers.
She picked one up, but upon seeing the front page filled with praise for Kalisten, her eyes turned cold. She set the newspaper down, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes.
“Tired? Want to lean on me?”
“No.”
She sighed and opened her eyes again.
In truth, she was feeling a sense of crisis after losing a bonus point to Delilah earlier that day. In the original story, Delilah was a genius.
Compared to her, Briseis was someone who had maintained her position through relentless effort.
Just as Delilah had easily taken Damian away from her, it seemed she could just as easily take this position that Briseis had built through blood and sweat.
And then there was Kalisten, sitting right in front of her.
“Why that face?”
Kalisten looked at her and grinned as usual. Even though he smiled as if he were harmless, Briseis knew very well that he was, in reality, more dangerous than anyone.
“It reminded me of how the young lord of the Levias family broke his leg while practicing horseback combat with you.”
“Ah, that idiot.”
The young lord of Levias had been someone she was close to before her marriage. He had pursued Briseis, even proposing to her, but she had rejected him.
One day, while training with Kalisten for a horseback tournament, he had been mounted on a horse—
and ended up severely injured by Kalisten’s lance, breaking his leg and spending quite some time in the hospital.
“Come to think of it, Levias was also injured by you.”
“Ah, was he?”
Kalisten smiled innocently as if he didn’t know. But Briseis knew that many of the men who had approached her had met unfortunate ends because of him.
Damian was simply an exception.
“If you want to become emperor, you should marry well.”
“I already have someone in mind.”
“Want me to introduce you to someone?”
“Oh, that would be great.”
Kalisten looked at her expectantly.
“I only like women with red hair and blue eyes.”
“I’ll look. There should be quite a few young ladies like that.”
“There’s only one such woman in the Empire.”
“Hair color alone isn’t rare.”
“But the combination is. I won’t accept anyone who lacks even one of the two.”
“I see. How fortunate—I’ll be changing my hair to blonde soon.”
“Then I’ll prefer blonde with blue eyes.”
“Stop talking nonsense. I’m tired.”
As she pressed her throbbing temples, Kalisten spoke.
“Is it because of what happened in class?”
She didn’t respond.
“Want me to give you private lessons?”
“No.”
“Why? You used to like it when I taught you privately.”
“That was when I thought you were normal.”
As he tried to move closer again, she leaned back. Her back hit the armrest of the sofa. When she leaned further back, he moved over her, extending his arm.
Realizing she should have pushed him away, Briseis reached out—but he took her hand and kissed her palm.
“I’ll teach you everything. Academy-level knowledge is easy.”
“Don’t say things like that. Do you even know how hard I work?”
“Get divorced. Then become an administrator. Like you originally dreamed. Don’t become a duchess.”
She didn’t respond, only tried to pull her hand away.
“When I become emperor, I’ll make you my Minister of Administration.”
Briseis wavered slightly at his words. But she quickly rejected them, pushing his face away and sitting upright.
“Or should I give you the throne?”
“Why would you say something so blasphemous so casually?”
“I’m serious. Do you really think the throne matters that much to me?”
He said that and slowly pulled back. Briseis straightened her back and glared at him—but then he moved down toward her feet and grabbed her ankle, lifting it.
“I’m serious.”
With those words, he removed her shoe and kissed the top of her foot.
“If you become my master, you can become emperor.”
“Kalisten.”
“So let me have you.”
As he continued kissing her foot, he eventually bit the top of it.
