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Chapter 33
When I shouted, the door opened.
The first person to enter was a middle-aged woman who introduced herself as the head maid of the mansion. One after another, over a dozen maids followed her inside, each introducing themselves in turn.
Watching this, I was sure of one thing:
She didn’t believe I was just some ordinary mage in the knights’ order.
Well, of course not. What kind of commoner mage suddenly gets to live in the duchess’s bedroom?
I already knew the excuse Calix had given for assigning me this room.
“This is the most comfortable room for a lady, so I gave it to her for convenience.”
“Since she’s my bodyguard, it made sense to put her in the room next to mine.”
Even a stray dog could tell how ridiculous that excuse sounded.
And clearly, the head maid wasn’t buying it.
If she had believed it, she wouldn’t be introducing the entire maid staff to a supposed “commoner mage.”
After what felt like an endless parade of introductions, only two maids stayed behind with me—Hannah and Arell, both around my age.
“These two will serve you personally, Lady Lena.”
Personal maids? Really?
Calix… nobody’s buying your dumb lie.
Still, I didn’t mind too much. Having personal maids might not be great, but it sure was convenient.
Hannah and Arell looked at me like they were dying to ask questions, but after the head maid left, they stayed silent, standing stiffly in a line.
I had no plans to satisfy their curiosity.
“Isn’t this awkward for you? I don’t need anything right now. You can go rest.”
“Y-yes, of course!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Once they left, I was finally alone in the room.
The palace greenhouse party was supposed to start in five days. Until then, Calix told me I could rest here comfortably.
Most nobles who planned to attend were probably already in the capital.
We had deliberately arrived late—because Calix wanted to avoid them.
Of course, part of it was his hatred of socializing, but I knew another reason: he wanted to keep me out of the public eye for as long as possible.
But I had other plans.
Plans I’d been thinking about ever since we left for the capital.
I needed to find the original novel’s female lead.
She had to be here, somewhere in the capital.
If I was right, she still had the same goal she did in the original story.
The only difference now was I survived—and only Calix and I knew that.
In the original story, Calix had teamed up with her because they shared a goal.
He wanted revenge on the emperor.
So what about the heroine?
She probably wanted the same thing.
That meant it was likely she’d attend the party—this kind of long event at the palace would be the perfect chance to get close to the emperor.
The problem is, I don’t know who she is.
The only clue I had was what Calix once called her—“Lenia.”
Maybe it was close to the name of his first love? For some reason, that name seemed important to him.
Whether it was her real name or just a nickname, it was a major clue for me.
I gathered my thoughts and immediately knocked on Calix’s door.
“Come in.”
After a short pause, his voice answered. I opened the door and stepped inside.
To my surprise, Calix was lying sideways on the sofa, legs crossed, one arm covering his eyes. It was the first time I’d seen him so uncomposed.
He peeked up, saw it was me, and lifted his head.
“Did you come because you missed me?”
“No.”
I was immune to his silly jokes by now, so I went straight to the point.
“Do you have a list of nobles attending the party?”
“A list?”
“Yeah.”
His expression turned serious. I nodded.
“Do you have one?”
“No. Why?”
He frowned.
“Is there a way to find out who’s coming?”
“Sure, I can find out. But why?”
“I want to see if someone I know is coming.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Someone you know?”
He repeated it, then asked cautiously:
“Is it a man?”
I paused, then decided to lie—whatever Calix thinks, he must not know who I’m really looking for.
So I nodded.
“Yeah, it’s a man.”
“…A man you know?”
“Someone I met when I was little.”
His voice dropped lower.
“Someone from your childhood… besides me?”
“Mhm.”
Then I added:
“He was one of my parents’ guests.”
“Oh, so someone around your parents’ age?”
He asked gently.
I shook my head.
“Nope. He’s younger than me.”
“Younger than you…?”
“A younger guy?”
His tone turned sharp.
What the heck?
I scowled and pressed on.
“So… can you get the list or not?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get it.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”
Good. I added one more thing before I left:
“Please check quickly. Not just the men—all the guests.”
“Why the women?”
“Uh…”
What do people normally say in this situation?
“I want to see who the guy’s attending with.”
“……”
“Anyway, I’m counting on you.”
I waved and walked out.
It wasn’t until Calix started drafting a hit list of all young noblemen in my age group that I realized how badly he’d misunderstood.
“You’re crazy.”
That’s what I said to him at dinner once I found out about it.
If I hadn’t been secretly using magic to try and find the female lead, I wouldn’t have noticed what Calix was up to until it was too late.
“Well, who told you to go looking for other men right after kissing me?”
He replied grumpily—but he actually seemed pleased the misunderstanding had been cleared up.
“Seriously? Of all the misunderstandings, how did you land on that? You really thought I was after another guy?”
After kissing you?!
I didn’t say that last part out loud, but he seemed to get the message anyway.
He smiled smugly.
“Exactly. You’re with me—how could you possibly think about someone else?”
He stabbed his fork into a piece of meat.
I shuddered, imagining how those poor guys might’ve ended up like that meat if I hadn’t caught Calix in time.
“Still, you didn’t even ask me—you went straight to planning murders. That’s too much.”
He just smirked.
“I was trying to take care of it without you knowing.”
I could see the future of this guy becoming emperor…
As I gave him a horrified look, he proudly raised his chin and said:
“Think about it the other way. If I asked you about another woman, what would you do?”
“What else?”
I’d probably think it over—was she the heroine?
And if not…
“I’d hide her where you’d never see her again…?”
Even as I said it, I wasn’t sure. But honestly, that seemed like the best option.
If Calix cheated on me, hiding the other woman somewhere far away sounded satisfying.
But at least I wouldn’t kill anyone!
Still, my answer seemed to please him.
“Don’t worry. That’ll never happen.”
He looked so smug—like a full, satisfied cat.
“I only have you. You know that, right?”
“……”
That’s what I should be saying!
Without Calix, I’d have nowhere to live. I’d be literally homeless.
But instead of saying that, I replied casually:
“Then treat me well.”
Calix smiled softly, his eyes crinkling.
“I love it when you act like I’m just naturally yours.”
Ah… so that’s why he kissed me in the carriage…
“So, about that guest list…”
Suddenly, Calix brought up the topic again, like it had just come to mind.
I tried to keep my face neutral.
“Like I said—I just want to know if someone I know is attending.”
“Hmm…”
I could feel his gaze, even as I focused on my plate. He was studying me.
“And this ‘someone’ is a man?”
Was he testing me? Or just genuinely curious?
Before I could look suspicious, I nodded slowly and quickly added:
“Actually, I want to know about everyone who’s going.”
“……”
“Not just the men. I want the full list.”
Did he figure out what I was up to?
Probably not.
How could I explain that we’re living in a novel, that I died in the original, and I’m trying to find out who replaced me as Calix’s ally?
Should I ask him, “If I died, who would you team up with to get revenge?”
Even if that would help, there’s no way I could ask that without sounding insane.
But if Calix brought me the list, and I could identify the heroine—
Then maybe I could learn who she’s working with… and figure out her real goal.
“Just get it to me as soon as you can. I need it.”
I avoided his eyes as I said it.
The next morning:
“Got it.”
Calix handed me an incredibly long list filled with names of nobles attending the party.
