Translator: Nox

Chapter 18

A slow heat of anger rose within Lottie. There were many things she disliked about this man, but his arrogance—the assumption that he could manipulate others to his whim—was what she loathed most of all.

「No.」

「……」

「I would sooner throw myself into the Contra River and die than marry you.」

Calyx let out a short, mocking laugh. It felt as though he were about to tear into her again, dismissing her words as mere lies.

Lottie had no more excuses to squeeze out. She didn’t even have the strength left to hold onto her wavering heart.

「……!」

Lottie clutched the skirts of her dress and suddenly bolted.

She ran toward the entrance of Bridge No. 1, which was not far from the open-air cafe.

She ran barefoot, having abandoned her shoes.

Calyx, realizing her intent, quickly gave chase.

He reached out a hand toward the beautifully fluttering hem of her dress, but he was too late.

「……!」

In that moment, everyone at Bridge No. 1 and Bates Square froze. Their gazes converged on the woman who had taken flight like a bird to escape a proposal.

With nothing but a heavy dress in place of wings, Lottie vaulted over the low railing and plummeted, suspended for a heartbeat in her soaring posture before falling.

---

“That child Charlotte certainly has a nasty temper. It’s a good thing they pulled her out of the river quickly.”

Catherine spoke casually as she popped a piece of finely cut asparagus into her mouth.

The Great Palace, the Queen’s castle.

In this massive fortress boasting eleven dining halls, the Queen had chosen the ‘Red Dining Room’ to take luncheon with the Crown Prince.

The Red Dining Room was the largest hall, capable of accommodating two hundred guests at once, and was typically used for hosting royal banquets.

“Otherwise, she would have surely died. Once the folds of a dress start wrapping around your legs, it’s not easy to pull yourself out of the water.”

“……”

“By the way, have you been eating nothing but meat this whole time? You haven’t touched the roasted vegetables at all.”

Padrick, who was about to put a piece of duck cut by a servant into his mouth, froze mid-motion at Catherine’s observation.

“Commoners might be lucky to eat the kind of meat we can have just by reaching out our hands once a year. If you are to be a great King, you must learn to observe the lives of the people from their level.”

Padrick stared blankly at the array of dishes spread between him and his mother.

Pineapples and mangoes flown in from tropical nations, bananas roasted and infused with vanilla, mashed potatoes mixed with steamed corn,

And then there were the cabbages, asparagus, and red onions imported from Deisnoia and Trie……

Simply put, even if they were ‘vegetables,’ they were all rare ingredients that would never grace the table of a commoner even if the world turned upside down.

“……”

Padrick was seized by a powerful urge to point out the contradiction in his mother’s words, but he quickly gave up.

He closed his open mouth and shoved some roasted red onion inside, but it was difficult to swallow, feeling like he was chewing on rubber.

“Viscountess Dunchest must be having a difficult time. To have such a tomboy for a great-niece.”

Catherine’s voice, continuing the previous topic, remained calm and level.

It was the same tone she had used when she first received the intelligence from Luca Brown that Calyx Valdea had proposed to Count Ix’s only daughter.

As soon as his cousin’s name came to mind, Padrick saw the man’s face from the royal ball flash before his eyes. That expression—a subtle blend of pity and mockery, as if asking how it felt to be outmaneuvered.

Just before the words he most wanted to forget could resurface, Padrick looked at his mother with a desperate, pleading gaze.

Unlike him, who was shaken by a single word from a deposed prince who had lost all his teeth, his mother was as composed now as she had been then.

His mother, who had insisted he must marry the daughter of Count Ix at all costs—why was she sitting idly by while things reached this point?

‘Damn it.’

Padrick swallowed a curse. One way or another, he realized he was a hopeless case who could do nothing on his own without his mother.

“Mother.”

Padrick spoke in a thick voice, trying to shake off his self-loathing.

“Can you not finally tell me? Why I must marry Charlotte Evanshire…… that woman.”

It was a question he had repeated several times in the past. Remembering the humiliation he had suffered at the royal ball because of this made his clenched fists tremble.

Even before hearing the answer, Padrick felt he already knew what his mother would say.

Yes, with those eyes that were colder than anything, and a smile that reached only her lips……

“That is something you do not need to know. I will take care of everything, so you simply need to walk the path I have cleared for you.”

Padrick knew exactly what kind of person his mother was. Therefore, he knew these were not words born from a mother’s fervent love.

Under the gaze of his mother, who watched to see if her twenty-three-year-old son was being a picky eater, Padrick forced the nauseating vegetables into his mouth.

He had eaten so hastily that by the time he returned to the Danger Palace, he felt a chill running through his entire body.

“These are the letters that arrived for Your Highness.”

Scanning the stack of letters on the silver tray half-heartedly, Padrick was seized by a profound sense of futility.

They would likely be nothing more than invitations from petty nobles whose paths to success were blocked, practically begging for his favor.

<To His Royal Highness, Prince Padrick Redbreeze.>

The moment he saw the letter in the blue envelope, stamped with a familiar seal, Padrick felt the indigestion that had been plaguing him vanish instantly.

When he heard the servant’s following words, even his sense of futility melted away like snow.

“It is a letter from Blue Brick. They are requesting that the Prince visit urgently.”

---

「Please go back, Prince.」

Calyx stared blankly at Isabel’s face as she stood at the front door.

「Forgive me, but my great-niece has expressed that she does not wish to receive any visitors.」

The elderly lady’s wrinkled face was stoic.

Her blue eyes, unlike those of an inexperienced girl, were adept at concealing emotion. No matter how sensitive Calyx was to the shifts in another’s feelings and thoughts, he had no way to overcome the weight of her years.

Calyx swallowed a bitter smile.

It was time to turn back.

Just as he had yesterday and the day before, he should have calmly retreated, promising a meeting the other party never wanted by saying, I will come again tomorrow.

「Even today?」

However, today especially, a strong premonition gripped him that there might not be a tomorrow.

Calyx thought of Lottie jumping into the river.

When he saw her leap without a second thought, his mind had momentarily blanked, but fortunately, a small boat passing by had pulled her out immediately.

If it were midwinter, it would be one thing, but it was now the dry start of summer.

Her wet body would have dried on the way home, and at most, she might have caught a cold that would pass in a day. She would surely appear again soon in good health.

Thinking so, he had initially felt relieved. Or rather, to be precise, he had denied the way his heart was pounding.

「Is it perhaps that she is in no condition to receive guests?」

「……」

「Is she very ill?」

Isabel’s politely lowered eyelids fluttered for an instant.

Calyx waited for her answer quietly and with deep patience.

Even though he told himself there was no particular reason for it, his mouth was growing dry. The longer the answer was delayed, the more his throat parched.

He found himself wanting to force the old woman’s mouth open to drag the answer out.

「……No.」

Fortunately, Isabel answered before any great lapse in decorum. Her lowered eyes lifted to look directly at Calyx.

「She coughed briefly right after falling in the river, but she recovered quickly after that.」

Because the old lady’s eyes did not bother to hide her true feelings, Calyx easily grasped what she was saying.

Now was truly the moment he had no choice but to turn away.

I will come again tomorrow. Leaving behind those words that had become a habit, he stepped back from the entrance.

「This may be overstepping, but.」

Isabel spoke just before the door closed.

「To push a child who says no is nothing short of violence.」

After that, the front door closed with a quiet sound.

Standing before the shut door for a moment, Calyx gazed down at his hands.

He had been clenching his gloved fists so hard that his fingers felt numb.

The old lady’s trembling voice kept clinging to his ears.

Then what was I supposed to do?

He had planned to take his time getting close to her, and after providing some level of certainty that they would be mutually beneficial, he intended to discuss marriage from a strictly rational perspective. He had never intended to push her so desperately.

However, his plans had once again been thoroughly derailed by her hands.

To be precise, it was her eyes. That look she gave him the moment she saw him.

A gaze filled with unmistakable, unconcealable contempt, loathing, and fear had pierced through him.

He, who had been full of certainty and arrogance, had crumbled before that single look of disdain.

The plausible plan had ultimately ended in a mess, fueled by the impulse to shield himself from those eyes.

He did not regret it. The fact that he would still desire her even if she violently pushed him away would not change.

It didn’t matter if he was hated.

From the moment he kissed her, he had been confident that he could endure much worse than hatred if only he could keep the person he desired by his side.

If so, how should he define this current emotion?

His behavior—clenching his fists until his gloves nearly burst for fear he might tear open the mouth of the hesitating old lady, his parched throat, and the way he, despite being turned away, was scouring the exterior walls of the mansion with his eyes to find what might be her room. How was he supposed to understand this?

His footsteps, unable to find an answer, remained rooted near the mansion. When the firmly closed front door opened and Isabel emerged, dressed for an outing, his anxiety grew even more intense.