Chapter : 38
Seeing the bright and cheerful Abby made my heart ache again.
Abby was the daughter of a marquis house who had nothing to do with the secret pact. Yet, if my older brother, her fiancé, were to die, she would not only lose the person she loved but her entire life could be ruined.
Watching Abby chatter without knowing the future, words suddenly escaped my mouth.
“Abby, you love Luke a lot, don’t you?”
“Lynn, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You’d be very sad if Luke died, right?”
“Lynn! Why are you saying such scary things?”
Abby, who was always smiling, frowned seriously and got upset.
It was obvious that she truly loved my brother, Luke.
“No, it’s just… I hope you and my brother live happily together.”
“Then you could’ve just said that. Why say something so weird?”
“I’m sorry.”
I’m sorry, Abby. There’s no way to save my brother.
Seeing my feeble answer, Abby suddenly changed the subject.
“By the way, I heard Crown Prince Calix sent you a marriage proposal? My goodness, are you some kind of prince hunter? First, you were going to marry Duke Leon, and now, all of a sudden, it’s the Crown Prince of the Dacres Empire… and this time Calix himself….”
Yeah.
I had somehow become a woman who captured all royal men. Ridiculous, really.
“Just know that I don’t want any of it, Abby.”
“Really? Then what about marrying Crown Prince Calix?”
What about it?
Before even considering marriage, it’s a question of life or death. When will war break out and Calix rush to the battlefield? When will Leon ascend as emperor and soon be assassinated? That’s what worries me.
There’s no time to even think about marriage, my friend.
“Marriage… I don’t know.”
“Who among those three do you even love?”
Despite my indifferent response, Abby didn’t tire of asking questions.
“I don’t love anyone.”
“Tch! That’s strange.”
Abby looked at me with mild disdain and sipped the tea the maid brought.
Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she put down her teacup and began chattering happily again.
“Oh! I didn’t tell you this. One of our servants went to the Dacres Empire a few days ago. My father said there was an important matter that required sending a servant there.”
“Really?”
Why was she telling me about sending a servant to the Dacres Empire?
I wasn’t particularly interested but responded vaguely.
“Yes, but I asked that servant to find out something.”
“What?”
“To check how the Crown Prince is doing after his engagement was broken.”
Haha!
She really is interested in other people’s broken engagements.
“The Crown Prince probably doesn’t care much about the broken engagement. He must be very busy right now…”
“What? Why?”
“Nothing. I just thought, being a crown prince, he’s probably always busy.”
I muttered vaguely.
With the sudden preparation for war, Eden wouldn’t even remember the engagement.
Sending a servant all the way to the Dacres Empire… that’s thinking far ahead.
“Marquis Dalton even has matters to attend to in the Dacres Empire? That’s another empire, after all.”
Being from a wealthy merchant family, it made sense that Marquis Dalton could engage in international dealings.
“Yes. But it’s strange that this has never happened before… Apparently, after your father visited our house, something important happened. The servant was sent as soon as the Duke left.”
“Oh, really?”
I doubted what connection there could be between my father and Marquis Dalton’s servant going to the Dacres Empire, but I simply nodded along without much thought.
“Anyway, I hope that servant finds out about the Crown Prince’s condition. Maybe he’s pining for you and is lovesick.”
What are you talking about…
Eden isn’t that kind of person.
By the way, my father and Abby’s father, Marquis Dalton, seemed to have a fairly close relationship. Even without my setting, since our families were to become in-laws, this kind of backstory might naturally emerge.
Ah! Wait!
A close relationship?
Marquis Dalton, a marquis family…
Sending someone to the Dacres Empire?
My head began spinning.
Then, suddenly, a thought hit me.
!!!!!!!!!!!
That conversation!
‘Since Calix Crown Prince is under heavy surveillance, we’ll use someone from the marquis family.’
It was a conversation between my father and Eden, exchanged secretly at night.
“Using someone from the marquis family!”
A messenger from a marquis would inform Eden when to start the war, and at the appointed time, they would assassinate the emperor.
I had naturally assumed they meant someone from the Kerchain Marquis family.
But Abby’s father was also a marquis!
The day my father visited Abby’s father, Marquis Dalton, a servant was sent from the Dalton household to the Dacres Empire!
Could the marquis my father mentioned actually have been Abby’s father, not Rastus Kerchain, the Empress’s younger brother?
Had Abby’s family been involved in the plan to strike Calix?
“Abby!”
“Huh?”
Had I called out to her too urgently? Abby looked startled.
“Did your father often visit my father?”
“He used to, yes. But recently, it’s been rare, so that day stands out.”
Ah, then maybe not?
My mind was in chaos.
Abby casually added:
“Lately, Rastus Kerchain has been visiting our house quite often.”
Rastus Kerchain?
!!!!!!!!
Exactly! The Dalton family was involved in this rebellion!
To avoid Calix’s scrutiny, interactions between my father and the Empress were reduced, and her brother was the one going between our house and Abby’s!
The Dalton family owned a massive international trade network. Naturally, they could conduct business relatively free from the Crown Prince’s suspicion, including dealings within the Everetian Empire and abroad.
I remembered that when I first possessed this body, Abby had traveled abroad with her father, Marquis Dalton.
Ah! I see…
So the arranged marriage between Luke and Abby was based on the mutual interests of their families, bound by shared fate.
The person to deliver the news to Eden would be from the Dalton family, and if someone had already been sent…
The war is about to begin!
I jumped up from my seat.
“Lynn?”
Abby’s eyes widened as I suddenly stood up.
“Abby, I’m sorry. Now you should either meet Luke or go home. I have an urgent matter.”
“What?”
Abby looked puzzled, but I no longer had time to talk.
While I had spent days agonizing, the war had already begun.
I couldn’t just stay still.
If war breaks out, Calix leaves, and Leon ascends as emperor…
It would be death.
Not just for my family, but for Abby too!
No!!!
I have to go to Calix!
Faced with the war and rebellion suddenly looming before me, all my prior doubts vanished. The instinct to meet Calix was all that remained.
Clinging to him was my only option.
Everything was beyond my control.
Suddenly, I rushed to the imperial training grounds to find Calix, and he looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Kaelin. What’s the matter?”
“Lord Calix!”
“Did you run all this way to see me?”
Since only royalty could use carriages within the palace, I had run a long distance and was panting heavily.
“Haa… haa, yes.”
I gasped, barely able to respond.
“You shouldn’t be running like this when your health is fragile, Kaelin.”
Calix spoke sternly, as if scolding a child.
Despite the urgency, his demeanor seemed absurdly calm.
I looked around.
Commander Rel and Rajif were nearby, watching us.
Knights from the Crown Prince’s personal squad were training in the yard.
There was order, but also energy; strict discipline, yet a bright atmosphere.
The warm sunlight poured down, making the training grounds feel radiant.
And that brightness seemed to reflect the strength of the Crown Prince’s knights.
It was strange.
The Crown Prince’s squad was strong, but their strength had always been sharp, cold, and icy, defined by strict military discipline.
Now, with Calix’s changed personality, even his squad seemed different.
Seeing his bright, energetic knights made me even more fearful.
They looked stronger, somehow, because of that energy.
“Lord Calix…”
I called him again but couldn’t bring myself to speak.
Now, not only Rel and Rajif, but all the other knights in the training grounds had their attention on us.
“Kaelin?”
Calix called me again, seeing me frozen in fear, my eyes scanning the training grounds.
His voice was gentle, filled with concern, his gaze soft on me.
I felt the oddity in his tone and expression, yet also a glimmer of hope.
The Calix standing before me now, unlike the dark version I had known, seemed possibly more merciful and gentle.
He was looking at me with such warm eyes.
“Lord Calix, I’d like to speak quietly, away from the knights.”
I finally spoke, determined to tell him about the conspiracy and plead for mercy.
If I didn’t, it might already be too late.
With war imminent, I couldn’t risk waiting.
Yet my confession and appeal relied solely on his affection, his slightly changed temperament, and the mercy I hoped he possessed. It wasn’t something I could safely say in front of the knights.
Calix looked slightly puzzled, then said:
“Hmm… then shall we leave the training grounds? It’ll be quicker for just you and me rather than dispersing everyone.”
Strangely, his face was red.
Why was he blushing? I’m the one who’s tense…
Still, I didn’t have time to think deeply about it.
“Yes. Let’s do that, Lord Calix.”
His face reddened further as he began removing his training armor.
He then led me out of the training grounds.
Once outside, he guided me into a secluded garden and spoke first.
“It’s been a few days since the proposal arrived. Kaelin, are you only now coming to answer it?”
A proposal?
Even now, a proposal?!
