SMLD 17

Chapter 17

For a moment, the Empress’s pupils trembled. A subtle quiver.

*’Fabiana.’*

*’I have nothing more to say, Calix. I want a strong man. Someone who can raise me to Empress. You’re too… weak, aren’t you?’*

He was much clearer and more solid than the image of him just before she had left six years ago. Calix had become a man.

Unlike Emperor Liam, who had indulged in wine and women until his belly bulged. Sharp, blade-like eyes, firmly built shoulders, the sinews of his neck visible above his uniform…

Fabiana briefly drew in a breath and stood up. A pitiful smile rose on her face.

“Calix.”

His expression as he walked slowly from the end of the garden seemed, just a little, softer than before. At that moment, Fabiana’s heart fluttered with anticipation. Perhaps he, too, felt the same way?

But as he drew closer, there was no trace of warmth on Calix’s face. As if the expression just now had been a mistake, he merely bowed his head silently.

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

With just that one title, Fabiana realized the distance he had set. She flinched slightly but maintained her smiling face and sat down.

A brief silence seemed to flow, and the Empress broke it first.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a private audience like this. Already… six years.”

“Is that so.”

A half-hearted, short reply. Fabiana took a small breath.

“About what happened back then… do you still resent me? No, of course you resent me. At that time, I was too…”

Before Fabiana could finish, Calix answered.

“The past is just the past. I hold no particular feelings or memories regarding Your Majesty the Empress.”

The words were spoken gently, but in truth, they were the hardest line. Fabiana instinctively knew she would not be able to shake his emotions in this meeting. She averted her gaze and touched the newspaper placed on the table.

“Did you see the paper this morning? Lady Odellia apparently said she drank tea as if it were cognac. It’s so absurd that…”

At that, for the first time, a subtle curve rose at the corner of Calix’s mouth.

“Why? She’s quite an amusing woman, isn’t she?”

The Empress had briefly harbored a glimmer of hope that Calix’s faint smile might have been directed at her. But the moment she realized that smile came from thinking of Odellia—that lowborn woman—Fabiana’s smile gradually stiffened.

He had already read it, known it, and smiled about it. Watching Calix smile with another name in his heart, Fabiana slowly ground her teeth inwardly.

“What’s so amusing about it? I find it utterly distasteful and filthy. Just because you roll in the mud together doesn’t mean that lowborn woman becomes your equal, Calix.”

Calix’s eyes flickered with a wavering light. Fabiana was simply astounded. When he looked at her, his eyes were empty—but the moment that woman’s name came up, he became so alive, so sharp…

“You’re not in that kind of relationship with her, are you? Hero this, hero that—didn’t you fabricate all of that yourself? Surely the Crown Prince’s judgment isn’t that pathetic.”

“…”

Fabiana felt as if something had snapped. She knew she should stop talking, but she couldn’t.

“I heard she survived the battlefield alone as a woman, didn’t she? To be blunt, since she was the only woman on the battlefield, who knows if she used her body to survive?”

Having spat out the words as if vomiting, Fabiana picked up her teacup with trembling hands and rinsed her mouth. It truly felt as if she’d just retched. This wasn’t what she’d called him here for. She didn’t even understand herself.

But Calix countered with a single sentence.

“Odellia is far too precious a person to hear such words.”

Fabiana’s expression finally twisted.

“Why on earth are you protecting her, Calix? The more you do that, the harder it’ll be for her, you know? You know my personality. I must have everything I want. High society is ultimately in my grasp. The social circle trembles at my breath alone.”

Calix paid no heed and quietly rose from his seat. The sound of chair legs scraping across the floor cut through the garden.

“For the first and last time, let me say this not as the Empress, but as someone who was once your fiancée.”

“…”

“Six years ago, and now, you haven’t changed one bit, Fabiana. Your innocent greed, your inability to distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said—that’s always been your nature. That could be your charm, but don’t forget it can also be your weakness.”

The chill in his calm voice stopped Fabiana’s breath.

“As I said before, I hold no feelings about you choosing Liam. That means I feel nothing for you either.”

“…”

“Summoning me through your handmaiden every night doesn’t look good to others or to me. That’s why I came here today—to settle things clearly. From now on, do not request private meetings with me.”

“Calix!”

Fabiana could say nothing. Her fingertips twitched faintly.

Calix gave her no further look and turned his back, exiting the garden. The tea hadn’t even cooled yet.

His final words dropped upon Fabiana’s head like a brand. In that moment, she instinctively knew she had crossed a line from which there was no return.

The brilliant sunlight—the same as the day he had accepted their engagement—felt crueler than ever.

As the tea grew cold, Fabiana sat alone, still unable to cool her own heat. In her eyes, a venomous anger began to take root, slowly.

She made a quiet vow not to let it end like this. That she would make Calix—who smiled at that lowborn name, Odellia—never smile again.

—

***

Early in the morning, Odellia sat in the reception room, clutching her head. Spread across the table, the most prominent page of the newspaper featured a large interview with the Marquis of Salem, her date from the day before.

*「She possesses a rather unconventional way of speaking. For instance, when asked about her impression of the tea’s flavor, she replied, ‘It was so tasteless that I just drank it as if it were cognac.’ It was amusing—she’s a very honest person. Ah, and her stride was quite wide as well. It made me think that to date Lady Odellia, one would need long legs and a fast pace.」*

“Ahhhhh…”

Odellia buried her face in her hands, leaning forward with a deep groan.

“Why did I say that? Really, why did I say that.”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from the entrance.

“Is this for real?”

It was Cedric. Grinning widely, he ran in holding the newspaper and sat down across from Odellia the moment he entered the reception room.

“You really said, ‘I just drank it as if it were cognac’?”

“…Yeah.”

Odellia covered her face with a towel. Cedric couldn’t hold back his laughter, chuckling gleefully.

“I heard you put up quite a steel wall, but I didn’t expect such a drastic response. The Marquis must have been completely taken aback. But you know…”

Cedric, his eyes glinting with mischief, trailed off, wearing a somehow pleased expression.

“Still, seeing you keep your distance like that—it wasn’t bad.”

Then the Grand Duchess quietly set down her teacup.

“Stop teasing her. Well, everyone makes mistakes at first. It’s better to date comfortably, isn’t it? There’s no need to be so embarrassed over this sort of thing, Lady Odellia.”

Odellia sighed and nodded.

“I doubt anyone will want to date me now…”

No sooner had she finished speaking than the reception room door opened.

“That’s unlikely.”

At the familiar baritone voice, Odellia’s gaze shot toward the door.

“Your Highness!”

Dressed as neatly as ever, with a casual demeanor. But his eyes were unmistakably fixed on Odellia.

“There was a line outside.”

As if he’d even collected the cards himself, Calix casually set down a bundle of bouquets and date request cards on the console table.

Cedric furrowed his brows with tension. A faint blush rose on Odellia’s cheeks. The air in the room stirred strangely.

The Grand Duchess picked up her teacup again with a serene smile, while Cedric, slightly clenching his fingertips, glanced briefly out the window.

“Already… three?”