ITETD 58

Chapter 58

“I like it too. Dreaming with you.”

“….”

“Really. I mean it…”

Calix kissed me again. He didn’t need words. I knew we were thinking the same thing.

The party had less than a week left. We had already decided to leave the imperial palace as soon as the party ended.

But even after that… would I be able to protect Calix? Would Calix be able to protect me?

We still had to stop Renia, who wanted to kill me and steal my power… Adrian, the crown prince who was plotting with her to overthrow the emperor… and the emperor himself, who wanted to take the dragon from me.

And after that…

“When we return to the estate, I’m going to lock myself in my room for a whole week… not taking a single step outside…”

I heard a small amused laugh.

“You’re including me in that, right?”

“Hm, I’m not going to answer that.”

I hoped Tan would return with information about the prince and Renia soon. The sooner we reached a conclusion, the better. And if possible, I wanted to handle everything without Calix having to take action himself. I knew it would be difficult, but this was my problem. I didn’t want him to get involved.

“I’m just glad… that you think of Hertrio as the place you want to return to,” Calix said.

That was the last thing I heard before I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Late at night.

Adrian, the crown prince, was waiting for someone who hadn’t arrived yet. He had pulled the servant’s bell ages ago, but there was still no sign of her.

Lately, Renia’s attitude had been increasingly irritating. She made him wait. She even dared to warn him.

‘She’s just a maid, and yet…’

Finally, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Adrian said impatiently, his voice sharp.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting—”

Renia cut him off abruptly.

“Do you know who I just met?”

She didn’t even greet him. She had interrupted the crown prince. But Adrian stopped himself from lashing out. Something about her was off tonight.

She seemed… oddly excited. And then she exclaimed loudly,

“I met Regiana Troxia! She was stupid enough to come to me on her own!”

“Regiana Troxia?”

Adrian froze for a moment. He had unexpectedly run into her at the party earlier today, and she had learned the truth about him.

Had she told Renia?

He remembered Renia’s warning: never meet Regiana Troxia up close. As much as it angered him, he had known he had no choice but to listen.

Luckily, Renia didn’t seem to notice his reaction. She was too caught up in her excitement.

“She said she believed Milon’s death was a setup and asked me to tell her anything I knew!”

“…Ah.”

That was all Adrian needed to hear. Regiana Troxia hadn’t told Renia that she’d met the prince. She hadn’t even revealed that she knew Renia had tried to kill her.

‘She’s pretending not to know. Is it a strategy to lower Renia’s guard?’

Adrian didn’t care what happened to Renia. She was just a tool. A useful one—one that would help him reach the throne faster.

But until he became emperor, there were still things he needed to take from her. Like the dragon’s power she was planning to steal from Regiana Troxia.

“So what did you say to her?”

“Of course I said I didn’t know anything! But she told me she’d be staying in the palace for the entire duration of the party. She said I could come to her anytime if I remembered something.”

Renia clicked her tongue as she sat down on a chair.

She didn’t even ask permission before sitting in front of the crown prince.

Adrian didn’t bother to comment. Her arrogance would be taken care of once he claimed the throne. Until then, he had to tolerate her behavior.

“So, are you planning to visit her?”

“Eventually. If I don’t get close to her, there won’t be an opportunity.”

Adrian knew exactly what “opportunity” meant: a chance to kill Regiana Troxia.

“If the party hadn’t been interrupted, we wouldn’t even have had to meet,” Renia muttered bitterly.

“But thanks to that, you confirmed the dragon’s presence,” Adrian replied.

“Yes, I confirmed it. At the cost of an arm,” Renia said flatly.

She muttered something Adrian couldn’t hear and revealed her right arm. It was in terrible shape, shredded and barely holding together.

“The barrier on the door was stronger than I expected. I knew I’d lose an arm, but at least it’s still attached.”

She waved the mangled limb casually.

“But I’m not sure if it will ever fully recover. Right now it’s just… barely sewn back on.”

Adrian felt a wave of disgust but kept it in. She had been walking around hiding that state with magic?

“Can you even defeat Regiana Troxia with that arm?”

“Oh my, are you worried about me?” Renia asked mockingly.

Of course he wasn’t. Adrian didn’t care if she lived or died. He was only worried about what he might lose if she failed.

“It won’t be easy, but there’s no way I’ll lose,” Renia said with confidence.

“Regiana Troxia’s magic all comes from the dragon. Without it, she’s nothing.”

“And you?”

“Unlike her, I got here on my own. I worked hard for this. Do you think someone like her, born with magic handed to her, could even understand that?”

So basically, she thought Regiana was a pampered greenhouse flower who couldn’t possibly match her.

Renia waved her arm, and the destroyed limb appeared perfectly fine again under the illusion.

Adrian suddenly wondered if the magic hiding her injury had tipped off Regiana.

‘She sensed my odd magic just by being near me. She probably recognized Renia somehow.’

“Do you think she suspects you?”

“Me?”

Renia scoffed.

“I even told her first that I knew a little magic. She didn’t seem suspicious at all.”

“Good.”

But why had Regiana kept silent? Adrian thought back to what he’d said to her.

‘Ah, that’s right. I used Hertrio as leverage…’

‘Lady Rena and Duke Hertrio are toxic for each other.’

He remembered threatening her by mentioning Calix.

It was satisfying to confirm that the threat had worked. Whatever bond Rena and Calix had as children, it had now become a weapon aimed at each other.

Duke Hertrio held the mage as leverage, and the mage held the duke. Each had been captured as a weakness by the emperor and Adrian.

Adrian didn’t know the full story. He had been young when Troxia was destroyed.

All he knew was that the previous Duke Hertrio and Count Troxia had been close. When the old duke died, the Troxia family had taken in young Calix for over a year.

After Troxia was wiped out, there had been whispers that Calix might have been involved in a rebellion, but because he was so young, it was all brushed aside. He had been living in seclusion on his estate ever since.

Count and Countess Troxia had died at the hands of imperial soldiers sent by the emperor to crush the rebellion. Their young daughter had never been found. The mansion burned down completely, and everyone assumed one of the charred bodies was Regiana Rohello Troxia.

‘But now the two of them have reunited…’

Somehow, Regiana had survived.

Whether their reunion had been by chance or design, Adrian didn’t know. But after that, Duke Hertrio had been flaunting her presence at his side. It was no wonder the emperor had noticed.

‘Fools. They’re basically parading their weakness around for everyone to see.’

Adrian couldn’t guess what Hertrio was thinking. Clearly, he’d lost his mind over a woman.

But Adrian could predict his mother’s next move.

‘The emperor must have already realized she’s Regiana Troxia. She’ll want to finish what she started years ago.’

The dragon was still in the underground chamber. The emperor had once destroyed an entire family to get it.

‘She’ll be furious now. She’ll be planning to kill either the duke or Regiana herself.’

The emperor still hadn’t found the person who had poisoned Regiana at the party.

Of course she hadn’t.

Because the culprit was Adrian himself.