Translator: Nox

Chapter 19

At the back of the mansion, he spotted a side door used by the servants.

As if possessed, he walked toward it.

The servants, busy with their work, hadn’t even bothered to lock the door properly. Calyx entered the house through that door with ease. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he had trespassed.

Maids passing by screamed at the sudden appearance of the uninvited guest. He did not stop.

Even though it was his first time in this house, he felt as if he knew exactly where everything was.

He headed straight up the stairs to the second floor and toward the room at the very end of the hallway.

Male servants, having heard of the emergency, immediately gave chase, but he didn’t care. If they tried to catch him, he was prepared to throw them down to the first floor and keep moving anyway.

He stood before the door at the end of the corridor, where a thin sliver of light leaked through the crack.

Seized by a strange premonition, he pushed the door open.

A familiar scent hit him first.

That scent—he couldn’t tell if it was flowers or grass—that he had inhaled when he kissed Lottie.

Next was the air, sweltering even for early summer. And then…

“What brings you here, hyung-nim?”

Padrick, who had been sitting by the bed, stood up without a hint of surprise.

Despite the blatant mockery dripping from those words, Calyx ignored him, brushing past Padrick as if drawn by a magnet toward the bed.

Lottie lay there, tucked inside a bed draped with a thin canopy. Her eyes were closed as if she were dead, and she was gasping for breath.

“I’m told she’s been suffering from a severe fever for several days. She groans and breaks into cold sweats, and just when it seems she might regain consciousness, she passes out again. The physician who examined her said her fragile body has accumulated extreme fatigue and tension, making it difficult for her to recover…”

Calyx, who had been staring blankly at Lottie’s fever-flushed face, finally turned to look at Padrick.

He couldn’t fathom why or how his cousin was here. His head felt sluggish, perhaps due to the heat filling the room.

“At any rate, since I wish to fully enjoy the pleasure of reuniting with you, hyung-nim, why don’t you answer my question now?”

It was Padrick who spoke first. His gray eyes, brimming with composure, questioned him.

“I’m asking what business brings you here, to a place where Miss Evanshire and I should be alone.”

“…You.”

“Ah, in case you were wondering, I’ll tell you in advance: I was formally invited by Viscountess Dunchest to visit Miss Evanshire on her sickbed.”

Calyx forgot to blink for a moment. A slick voice followed.

“I heard that even while drifting in and out of consciousness from the fever, Miss Evanshire searched for me incessantly. Calling my name longingly with those small, lovely lips of hers.”

There was an undeniable conviction in Padrick’s voice.

Even though Calyx knew those words were lies not worth listening to, his gaze reflexively shifted to Lottie.

Her mouth was slightly parted, exhaling irregular, feverish breaths.

The thought of her desperately calling Padrick’s name with those lips made his throat tighten involuntarily.

“It seems it wasn’t just the cold currents of the Contra River that caused Miss Evanshire such pain.”

Following Calyx’s gaze, Padrick glanced at Lottie and spoke with feigned pity, swallowing a smile.

He spoke as if he had no idea what had happened, but there was no way Padrick, who had planted Luca Brown as a spy, didn’t know the details. His words carried a subtle reproach toward his older cousin.

Calyx thought of the old lady’s sorrow and rage, which even her years of experience couldn’t hide.

The guilt that his own desire had driven this small, fragile woman to the brink of death made the ground feel as if it were collapsing beneath his feet.

In truth, he had been beside himself with that thought since the very first day he had to turn back from Blue Brick.

“Judging by the expressions of the servants standing outside, it seems you have ’once again’ shamelessly set foot where you were not invited, hyung-nim.”

Certain that he had gained the upper hand this time, Padrick said, swallowing a thrill of pleasure.

“Don’t make things difficult for everyone and just leave. I know it’s useless to ask you to maintain your dignity anymore.”

Calyx stood silently and glanced toward the doorway.

Outside the open door, the servants were huddled together with fearful expressions.

Given that they wouldn’t easily step into the room, it seemed they had received strict orders not to enter a room where the Crown Prince was present.

Once again, his gaze turned toward Lottie, as if he were a puppet on a string, unable to help himself.

He saw her gasping and panting, her consciousness gone.

He looked at her cheeks, where a few strands of hair were matted with sweat; at her eyes, which he wished would hold him completely once more; and finally, at her parched lips.

‘Ah.’

I truly must be a devil.

Even though I know I’m the one who made you hurt, I don’t want to stop.

Even if it means being hated even more, I want to keep you by my side so no one else can see you, and I want to swallow those lips whole—the lips that utter another man’s name.

Finally stopping his train of thought, Calyx smiled at Padrick. It was a smile both sorrowful and chilling, like a beast facing its final struggle.

In the moment Padrick doubted his own eyes, Calyx walked swiftly to the door.

Thud. He closed it.

Only after firmly sliding the bolt did Calyx turn back to Padrick. Even then, he still wore that inscrutable smile on his lips.

“Did you say Charlotte called for you longingly?”

Padrick’s eyebrows twitched at being addressed as ‘Gong’ instead of ‘Your Highness the Crown Prince’ as usual.

He could see right through Calyx’s intention in changing how he addressed him when they were alone.

“I won’t believe it. Because it’s clearly a lie.”

You are not the Crown Prince.

“Isn’t that right? You, who have the miraculous talent of turning a perfectly sane prince into a madman overnight—twelve years ago, just like yesterday.”

You, who crawled into a position that doesn’t even fit you.

“The fake Crown Prince.”

If this were the middle of a main street, it was a statement that would warrant imprisonment for lèse-majesté.

Knowing this, Calyx Valdea had locked the door in advance. He moved like a rat to ensure there were no listening ears, and then dared to pour out whatever he pleased in front of the Crown Prince.

“…Do you even realize what you just said?”

Padrick regretted sending his attendants back to the Danger Palace and struggled to maintain his composure.

“I cannot understand a single word you’re saying, hyung-nim. If you’re harboring a grudge because your commissioning was deferred after graduating from the military academy, then lodge a formal protest. I can no longer tolerate such absurd remarks that insult me and the Royal Family, even if they come from you.”

“Ah, is that so? If you can’t tolerate it, then what? Are you saying you’ll finally cut my throat this time?”

Calyx, meeting those wide-open gray eyes calmly, burst into a fit of laughter. He looked like a madman who had lost his mind.

A chill ran down Padrick’s spine, and he involuntarily glanced at the closed door.

The stupid servants outside didn’t even think to break down the door and enter, even as things reached this point.

“But what can you do? If it were some random passerby, maybe, but Your Highness, who carries the name of Redbreeze, will never be able to draw even a single drop of my blood.”

“What…!”

“Did you not know? Why your mother had no choice but to keep me alive for twelve years?”

After belittling the Crown Prince as a fake, he now referred to Her Majesty the Queen as ‘your mother.’

It was a statement that made Padrick’s warning to stop the insulting remarks sound hollow, yet Padrick could not readily answer.

“…”

The silence stretched on as if affirming Calyx’s question.

Padrick was only ten years old when the Crown Prince—Calyx Valdea, or rather, Calyx Redbreeze at the time—killed the Late King.

Because it was a horrific incident that a young child could not process, his mother had kept the matter from her son.

However, there were rumors. Even with a child’s heart, he knew that his cousin’s crime at the time was worthy of death.

But Calyx had ultimately survived in disgrace under the name of Valdea.

Instead of paying for his sins with death, he was released as a free man after completing a long military service at the border. Afterward, he entered the military academy of his own volition, but his commissioning was denied, and his graduation was indefinitely deferred.

—Mother, why are you showing such great mercy to hyung-nim? There’s no telling when his madness might flare up again. Is promoting the recognition and dignity of the Royal Family more important than seeking the stability of the house?

Padrick recalled the time he had asked his mother.

It was less of a question and more of a protest. Expressing a weakness he could never show before his subjects, Padrick had waited for his mother’s answer.

At that time, her answer was this:

—It is something you do not need to know yet.

“Isn’t it strange? A prince who was perfectly fine just yesterday suddenly goes mad and kills his own father, and in the middle of the Royal Palace, no less.”

Calyx spoke in a sing-song voice. His slightly hooded eyes were chilling. He looked like a fanatic who had fallen for a cult, preaching heretical doctrines.

“The noble members of the Council are not fools. Neither are the members of the Cream Party, who worry for and think of the new Queen and her son more than anyone. Who do you think they believe benefited the most from the Late King’s suspicious death?”

“…!”

“If even I were to die here, you and your mother would never be able to wash away the dishonor of being associated with the Late King’s death. Since the dead cannot speak, the chance to demand an explanation from me, the party responsible for the murder, would vanish forever as well.”

Calyx’s gaze, which had been wandering through the air, pierced Padrick in an instant.

Even though he knew the man before him had no blade or weapon, a sudden surge of terror washed over him.

He felt like a wall. A massive wall that could not be breached and would eventually collapse upon him.

Before it, Padrick, the Crown Prince who possessed everything, trembled slightly. It felt as if he were the one who was a royal in name only, not the man before him.

“So, I will ask you. My dear brother.”

Calyx slowly walked toward Padrick. Those few steps felt as long as an eternity.

Calyx stood before Padrick.

He looked down at Padrick, who was looking up at him, as if looking at a child, and then slowly bowed his head.

“Twelve years ago. What your mother and her henchmen did to me… do you know?”