Chapter : 50
After Calix arrived, the situation ended so quickly it felt almost anticlimactic.
The Imperial Knights who had surrounded the duke’s estate were annihilated, not a single one surviving.
At last, when everything was over, Duke Brockburk fell to his knees before the crown prince.
Calix looked down at the duke with an expressionless gaze.
It was impossible to tell whether the emotion in those eyes was kindness or hostility.
But soon the crown prince spoke, his voice cold and cutting.
“Duke, I know that in your foolish judgment for the sake of your daughter you made a reckless choice. But fortunately, your daughter showed wisdom in her decisions and actions. Because of Kaelyn, you are still alive.”
The duke gave no reply.
Even with his head bowed, his eyes kept darting nervously, as if searching for something.
Staring sharply at him, Calix spoke again, still cold.
“Kaelyn is safe at the Aolium Fortress. If you wish, I permit you to bring her back yourself.”
Leaving her in the hands of the gravely injured Rajif meant it was uncertain when Kaelyn would reach Everren, and there could be gaps in her protection.
So even though Calix knew full well it was best for the duke himself to retrieve her, he spoke as if granting a merciful favor.
After all, the one person he could trust most with Kaelyn was Duke Brockburk—and there was no way the duke would refuse.
As expected, indescribable relief spread over the duke’s face.
Only after confirming that Kaelyn was alive and safe did he feel as though air was properly entering his lungs again.
“Your Highness!”
Trying hard to keep calm, the duke finally cried out, a sob mixing with his words.
“The late emperor has passed, so she will no longer be crown princess but empress. Bring her safely, without so much as a single hair on her head harmed.”
In contrast to the duke’s face filled with emotion, Calix added his words coldly.
After issuing his order, Calix, as if unwilling to waste even a moment more despite the darkness of night, immediately left the estate with his knights and set off for the imperial palace.
The duke bowed toward Calix, his body trembling.
It was partly relief, but not entirely.
Confronted by Calix’s stark and naked emotions, so like the Grand Duke Leon who had suddenly changed, the trembling was also born of anxiety for his daughter, who would have to receive such blind devotion.
Rajif’s injuries had been severe, so though he had not completely recovered, his naturally strong constitution had brought him back to a state where daily life posed little difficulty.
Still, the leg that had been struck by an arrow had a faint limp, but since he insisted it was “no problem,” I had little choice but to accept it as true.
Perhaps sensing how much I longed to return to the capital, Rajif tried to hasten our departure for Everren despite not yet being fully healed.
“Sir Rajif, we can wait until your leg heals completely so you can walk properly again.”
I was desperate for news of my father, but I couldn’t in good conscience force an injured man into a long journey because of me.
“My lady, His Highness the Crown Prince will not wish you to remain here for long. Least of all because of me.”
Ah!
So Rajif wasn’t being mindful of me—he was worried about Calix.
Still, it couldn’t be helped.
Whether Calix wanted it or not, whether I wanted to go or not, Rajif was injured because of me. The patient had to come first.
“Recover quickly, if you want to take me back yourself.”
When I spoke firmly, Rajif looked genuinely troubled.
“I’m the one in trouble here, my lady.”
“Ah…”
His expression was far too serious.
So, staying here really was weighing heavily on Rajif….
My own impatience to return to Everren wavered as I looked at his worried face.
But in the end, I decided to wait for his recovery.
Several days had already passed since Calix left; by now, my family’s fate was surely decided.
Whether I arrived sooner or later would change nothing.
Truthfully, I was as afraid as I was curious about their news.
But three days after I had declared that we wouldn’t leave until Rajif healed, on the eighth day since Calix’s departure for Everren—
Someone appeared at Aolium Fortress whom I never expected.
“Father!!!”
It was my father.
My father, alive, standing here at Aolium Fortress!
He was alive!
Calix had not killed my father!
“Lyn, Kaelyn…!”
Calling my name, Father ran to me and pulled me into his arms.
I was so bewildered at his sudden appearance that I couldn’t understand how he was even here. Then he told me everything that had happened in Everren.
When he spoke of Leon ordering my capture, and that if I refused to be his empress he would have me killed, chills ran through me until I was speechless.
But that—those were Calix’s actions.
He had captured me, and when I resisted, he had killed me.
It was Calix whose love twisted into obsession. And yet, somehow it was Leon whose heart had become distorted.
Hearing that Leon said he would kill me if he could not have me, I felt sorrow and pity for what he had become—but also guilt.
That gentle, kind, and tender man had changed so completely.
Had his soul been dying all throughout the year I spent desperately clinging to life?
This shift in events was all because of me.
Because of me, Leon had changed.
Because of me, in the end, Father had also turned to Calix’s side.
Finally, I realized fully that the novel I had written and the reality I lived had become completely twisted apart.
Leon was dead, but my father lived. And I was alive too.
When I returned to Everren with Father, ten days had passed since Calix killed Leon, the empress, and all who supported them—and ascended as emperor.
That Calix would kill them all and seize the throne didn’t surprise me anymore.
But what he chose to do with my father was entirely new.
Because by this point in the original story, Father was already dead.
Unlike in the original, Calix, now emperor, not only spared my father who had ultimately sided with him, but even reinstated him as chancellor.
Father’s first task upon being reappointed was to negotiate and conclude a peace treaty with the Dacus Empire.
Since they had started the war and lost, the Dacus Empire had to take responsibility. And so Father was sent back to Aolium as the head negotiator.
This treaty would finally bring Estelle, the novel’s heroine, into Everretian lands.
Iden Dacus would send Estelle as a hostage as part of the agreement.
Seeing Father off, I felt a strange excitement at the heroine’s impending arrival, along with nostalgia and many mixed emotions.
I also remembered that Iden Dacus had once mentioned sending Estelle as a hostage.
He had spoken of some “secret of his younger sister.”
What secret could that be…?
Well, I would find out when I met her.
After all, not every cryptic word from Iden Dacus needed to be taken seriously.
Now, my greatest goal—my absolute goal—of survival had been achieved.
More than that, my family had also survived the storm of treason.
But from here, no more part of the synopsis or manuscript concerned me.
Because at this point, I was supposed to be dead.
From now on, the story was about Estelle and Calix’s love.
Yes, Estelle would come.
Her arrival meant Calix’s blind infatuation with me would finally break.
He would no longer be the male lead who killed me, but the one who ended his obsession and began a destined love with the heroine.
And I could finally step off the main stage of this story, naturally. I wouldn’t be trapped, forced into a loveless marriage.
At last, I could marry a man like my ideal “Hans”—a man kind in face, body, and heart—and live a happy life.
Once the heroine appeared, everything would naturally resolve.
All I had to do was endure Calix’s overwhelming affection until the day Father returned with Estelle.
Just until then!
It wouldn’t be so hard.
Or so I thought…
But enduring—it was not nearly as easy as I imagined.
Not at all.
Because my male lead, Calix, began pouring his love onto me so blatantly, so openly, with such overwhelming force.
Of course, I can’t deny I played a part in making him act this way.
It was true, on the surface, that I had taken the spear meant for him from Iden.
Anyone would see that as undeniable fact.
But the truth—that I had tripped and fallen in front of him, purely by accident, and that it was no noble act of sacrifice—was something I never corrected.
Their misunderstanding might have saved my family, but it also deepened Calix’s feelings for me beyond measure.
The misunderstanding became fuel poured onto his love, and now his love burned brighter and fiercer than ever.
Terrifyingly so…
To the point where I feared that, instead of turning toward the heroine as he should, his love might remain fixed on me forever.
