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Chapter 03
“Your Highness the Crown Princess. Sir Calix asked that this letter be delivered to you.”
In a corner of the prison that no one visited, his adjutant stood before her stiffly and held out a single letter.
Lizbeth, shackled and collapsed on the floor, looked up.
“Calix? Calix Feion?”
A childhood friend she could barely remember now.
She let out a faint scoff as she took the letter.
Perhaps he was mocking her—coming to see how his childhood friend had risen to become Crown Princess only to fall in an instant.
Truthfully, Lizbeth had expected nothing from him.
But when she read the letter—
I am sorry I could not save you.
I am sorry I could not stay by your side.
I am sorry, Lady Armiersha.
It is my fault…
When she saw the deeply pressed handwriting.
When she realized the paper carried the faint scent she had once loved as a child—
Lizbeth cried.
For the first time since her family had been annihilated, since she had been imprisoned.
I should have been the one at your side.
Perhaps, she thought, the only person who had remained on her side until the very end was Calix Feion.
I should not have let you bear everything alone.
If it had been him, he would have helped her—no matter what she chose to do.
Lizbeth came to believe that the only thing she had left was Calix.
That he alone—who had shared her shining childhood—was the only part of her life that had not been ruined.
Until the moment she stood on the gallows, she thought of him.
So.
Now that she had entered her second life, it was only natural that she would seek his help first.
From the dear childhood friend who had stood by her until the end—and would stand by her again.
More than anything, it would be impossible for Lizbeth alone to exact satisfying revenge on the First Prince. At present, she was merely the second daughter of a duke.
Even if I safely break off the engagement, something will follow my name. “Defective,” perhaps.
But Calix was different.
If he helped her, she could handle matters far more efficiently.
Thinking about how he might react to her words, Lizbeth stared at the iced tea sitting between them.
They were in a reception room inside the Knights’ Order building. The ice slowly melted between Lizbeth and Calix as they faced each other.
Watching it, she continued carefully.
I shouldn’t say anything that provokes him too much… but I can’t go into too much detail either.
As she selected her words and summarized her first life, a bitter laugh escaped her.
Her ruined life felt absurdly simple when condensed like this.
She didn’t even bother hiding the faint, self-mocking chuckles that slipped out as she finished.
Calix, on the other hand, remained serious throughout.
He appeared to be listening intently—but that was hard to tell. Lizbeth didn’t expect him to easily believe her.
He wasn’t an Armiersha. He was someone who had to be realistic above all else.
But what matters isn’t whether he believes me.
It was whether he was still on her side. Whether he could be.
Lizbeth stared fixedly at his tightly pressed lips.
At last, they slowly parted.
“…So, after using you to become Crown Prince, His Highness the First Prince framed the ducal house for treason, destroyed it, and then tried to kill you as well.”
“Well. That’s the summary.”
“And just before you died, you turned back time. With… the divine power of Armiersha.”
“Yes. Probably.”
At her straightforward reply, Calix dragged a hand down his face.
She could practically see the battle raging in his mind—trust in his childhood friend versus doubt in an unbelievable story.
Summer sunlight fell across his lowered face. Lizbeth watched him quietly, then smiled faintly.
“You don’t believe me.”
“Lady Armiersha, I—”
“It can’t be helped. What are we, after all?”
“……”
“You can’t grant a request like this just because we played together a little as children. Forget it. Think of it as the ravings of a madwoman.”
The words that came out sounded slightly different than she’d intended.
As if… she were a little hurt.
…Did I want Calix to believe me?
Had she unconsciously expected him to accept her story without even a simple doubt?
Tilting her head at her own confusion, Lizbeth swallowed the bitterness and stood up.
She couldn’t blame him for doubting her. She would have done the same.
Just as she reached for the parasol she had set beside her chair, Calix suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Lady Armiersha, wait.”
“……”
“Please wait just a little. Grant me a few more minutes of your time. I beg you. …Please don’t leave like this.”
His voice was low—so earnest it almost sounded like a plea.
Lizbeth noticed that the hand holding her wrist trembled slightly. Some anxiety she did not understand seemed to be gripping him.
After studying him for a moment, she finally sat back down.
Calix let out a quiet breath.
It had been four years since they had properly faced each other and spoken like this.
If he let her leave now, he had no idea how long it would be until next time.
Or whether there would even be a next time.
He didn’t want to repeat that waiting.
He didn’t want to realize again how powerless he was before her.
Suppressing the surge of unease, he forced himself to release her wrist and lowered his gaze.
“…Ah.”
Then suddenly, he remembered something he had momentarily forgotten.
What Lizbeth had told him wasn’t only about turning back time.
“I went back in time. So marry me.”
…Right.
Calm down, Calix Feion.
“Calix Feion. Your face is red.”
“Lady Armiersha, just—just a moment…”
Lizbeth Armiersha had proposed to him. To him!
Calix raised a hand to cover his burning face.
It didn’t help much.
His flushed expression was fully exposed to her gaze. He wanted to die.
Either from happiness or from embarrassment—
Neither was a fitting cause of death for the Empire’s Guardian.
“So right now, Lady Armiersha… you need me in order to break off your marriage to the First Prince.”
“Yes.”
“I’m being used for your objective.”
“If that bothers you, you can refuse, Calix. I’ll find another way. There are plenty of other men. It’d be troublesome, but…”
“…Will you tell that man you returned in time as well?”
Lizbeth tilted her head.
“Who knows. I’m not sure.”
“…I don’t like that.”
“What?”
“……”
She looked at him in disbelief, but he kept his mouth shut.
It wasn’t a desire he could dare speak aloud.
That he hated the thought of someone else receiving her proposal.
That he hated the thought of someone else knowing her secret.
She came to me first. That must mean I’m the one she trusts most.
He decided to accept that much, at least.
Truthfully, it didn’t matter to him whether her story was real.
He would gladly let himself be used by her at any time.
It was just that until now, Lizbeth hadn’t known that.
As he slowly replayed her words in his mind, his jaw tightened.
At the end… the First Prince killed Lizbeth.
That alone made him want to tear the First Prince apart.
But Lizbeth had another plan.
And if that plan required his cooperation—
Then there was only one answer he could give her.
Calix swallowed his fury and calmly opened his mouth.
