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Chapter 23
‘Even if he came to the banquet just to drive a wedge between me and Thane… What’s his reason for acting like this all the way home?’
Calix stood in front of the open carriage door, holding out his hand to me. I was stunned by his audacity.
“Do you hate me or worry about me? Pick one.”
“Can’t I hate you and still worry about you?”
I didn’t have a good retort for that.
Sigh. I give up.
I took his hand and climbed into the carriage. Calix sat across from me. After exchanging a few words with the guards, the carriage started moving.
As I gazed at the quietly flowing scenery outside, a sigh escaped my lips. All I wanted from this banquet was to build some rapport with the noble ladies—not this. I could already imagine what tomorrow’s gossip papers would say on the front page.
From now on, everywhere I went, people would ask about my relationship with Calix. Many would wonder if I’d turned my back on Raschel. Others would try to cozy up for personal gain. Just thinking about it made my head spin.
Realizing all this made me even more irritated with the man sitting across from me, acting like nothing had happened.
“You know what? The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get.”
“What is it now?”
“Just wait until tomorrow’s papers come out. We’ll be on the front page. It’s obvious. The First Prince, who’s never shown his face at a single banquet, shows up and leaves holding hands with a noble lady? Rides home in the same carriage? It’s a major scandal. Oh, and your beloved younger brother is definitely going to see it too. Have you lost your mind? What are you going to do about this?!”
Once I started ranting, the words just poured out.
Calix simply listened with a satisfied smile on his face.
“That actually sounds great.”
“What—being insane?”
“The scandal.”
“You’ve really lost it.”
“What you just said was royal slander.”
“Oh, please. Arrest me, then.”
Our exchange was utterly pointless.
I knew Calix and Lilith weren’t particularly close. So why was he doing all this? Misunderstanding my relationship with Thane couldn’t possibly explain this level of overreaction.
If he knew Lilith’s past properly… would he still act this way?
But even as that thought came, it was immediately followed by another: So what if he understands?
‘Calix is going to fall in love with Olivia anyway.’
He first meets Olivia at the royal ball during the Founding Festival.
After that, his attitude toward Lilith worsens drastically. So really, whatever’s going on between us doesn’t have long to last.
“We’re not even that close,” I said sharply before I could stop myself.
“If this is just pity, then stop.”
The thought that his actions weren’t born of pure goodwill—but would soon turn into pure hatred—was enough to make me angry.
“I told you, there’s nothing going on between me and Thane. Are you just refusing to listen?”
Maybe I found Calix so frustrating because I was used to people like Raschel and Lake—people who at least listened to what I said.
“In that case…”
Calix leaned in close, bracing one arm on the backrest behind me to narrow the distance.
“Should we go back to how things were?”
He asked in a low voice, eyes fixed on me as if trying to see right through me. Those eyes, the color of blood, radiated a dark intensity.
“What’s better?”
His icy gaze locked onto mine. It was like I was bound by it. That cold stare made everything he’d shown until now feel like a mask. It was as if a shadowy snake slithered in the air between us.
“Stop saying nonsense.”
I tried to push his shoulder away—but he didn’t budge, so “push” was a generous term.
Our brief power struggle was abruptly cut off when the carriage came to a sudden stop. I could hear the guards shouting outside.
Just as I was beginning to feel uneasy, a chill ran down my arm. I jolted and looked at Calix. He too was staring into the air with a fierce, focused look in his eyes.
“W-what is it?”
“Shh.”
Calix brought a finger to his lips and whispered quietly.
After a short silence—BANG! A loud crash shook the carriage violently, sending our bodies lurching sideways.
In that moment, Calix grabbed me by the waist and pulled me tightly into his arms. His Estella flared out instantly, and we narrowly escaped just before the side of the carriage slammed into the ground and shattered.
It was a dark night, with only the lanterns lighting the path. We were in a forest, and though there had been an attack, there was no visible assailant. It was a formless strike. The guards were in disarray, unable to get their bearings.
‘What is this? An ambush?’
I let out a shaky breath, trembling with fear. My head was still spinning from the impact.
I clung to Calix’s coat. I felt his arm tighten around me in response.
Knowing that he was protecting me helped me raise my head. As I looked around in fear, I spotted something—or someone—on a distant hill.
—Our eyes met.
A bone-deep chill ran down my spine. It felt like I’d looked at something I never should have.
The figure vanished the moment our eyes met. The terrifying aura disappeared with it. Calix’s Estella, too, faded back into the shadows.
“Allen!”
At Calix’s shout, a man in a different uniform than the guards approached us.
“Search the entire area.”
“At your command!”
Allen quickly vanished into the forest.
There had definitely been an attempt to ambush us. But we didn’t know what it was. And with no further attacks, we couldn’t even be sure who the target was.
“You okay?”
I blinked a few times, then nodded faintly.
Calix seemed to think the assassin was after him. That made sense, considering he’d been a target for assassination since he was a child. But…
I couldn’t stop thinking about that strange card I’d received the day before.
“Can you walk?”
He asked again, and I nodded twice. I didn’t need a mirror to know my face had gone pale.
The shattered carriage had left debris all over the ground. Calix gently pulled me closer to his side where there were no shards. For the first time, I felt warmth through the uniform that had always seemed so cold. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.
After we returned to the mansion, I drank the calming tea Calix gave me and lay down in bed. But my pounding heart refused to settle.
“No wonder something happened. We’ve gotten too entangled.”
My head throbbed painfully.
“If Calix hadn’t saved me, I probably would’ve died…”
What if that attack had been aimed at me? What if I’d taken the duke’s carriage alone, instead of Calix’s?
“Ugh…”
Unable to bear the rising anxiety, I pulled the blanket over my head.
Even after dying four times, including in my past life, I had never gotten used to the fear of death.
“Maybe I really should run away.”
I kept thinking about escape routes.
These main characters must’ve eaten rebellious frogs or something—they just wouldn’t leave me alone no matter how much I tried to push them away. So maybe I’d have to be the one to run.
‘Please don’t have nightmares.’
The trauma from my last nightmare was still fresh, so I was even more nervous. But not long after lying down, I finally dozed off.
Meanwhile…
“Your Highness.”
At Allen’s call, Calix turned away from the window.
“You’d better come down.”
There was a hint of unease in Allen’s cautious tone.
Calix had imprisoned the assassin from the previous night in the dungeon. From the way the man had immediately spewed hateful accusations upon seeing Calix, it had been easy to determine who the target was. But the assassin had refused to say who sent him.
Now something had happened down there. Calix already had a feeling about what it was.
He descended the spiral stairs, and the smell of blood hit him before he even reached the bottom. In the depths of the dungeon, in the cell where the assassin had been held, he stopped in his tracks.
Blood was splattered all over the walls, as if a brutal torture had taken place. Below it, a body—presumably the assassin’s—was so mangled it was unrecognizable.
“Was this a silencing?” Allen asked.
Calix studied the scene in silence before answering.
“No.”
His voice, lower than usual, was firm.
“Then…”
Allen’s eyes trembled.
The killer had broken through security far tighter than anywhere else and executed the assassin without hesitation or concern for being caught. The wounds visible on the body were familiar.
“Who else could it be? Our damned little brother.”
Calix turned away as if there was nothing more to see.
“He didn’t do this out of concern for me.”
The rage in the killer’s actions was undeniable. It was the kind of wrath that could tear a person limb from limb.
“He must’ve heard Lilith was with me in the carriage.”
A laugh escaped him, utterly dumbfounded.
He suddenly remembered what Lilith had told him—that Raschel wouldn’t do anything anymore. That was a statement made by someone who clearly knew less about him than even his enemy did.
“Seriously… the guy has no limits.”
No respect, no boundaries. Calix bit his tongue before he could say anything worse.
