Chapter 43
“I thought of dozens, no, hundreds of things that would have deeply hurt my father and my late mother. I hated myself so much for it that I felt I could never come back.”
Lottie saw the eyes of her father and great-aunt gradually redden as they watched her. She felt a twinge of guilt, worried she was causing the elders unnecessary pain over things that were already in the past.
‘If some romantic miracle had happened to me that day, I might be living a different life right now, but….’
Unfortunately, no such thing had occurred. She had simply waited until her tears dried and returned to her great-aunt as if nothing had happened.
The original story ended there.
“But then, a miracle happened to me. A small but grand miracle sent by the heavens.”
Lottie’s voice began to lift, as if she were drifting on a cloud.
“It turned out there was someone on that balcony I thought was empty. Quite audaciously, he had been silently watching me cry my eyes out. When I asked him why he just stood there watching, he answered like this. That like you….”
“I was curious why someone as beautiful as any treasure in this world was weeping so sorrowfully, and I couldn’t help but wonder.”
Calyx naturally picked up the thread of her story.
His voice was so tender and full of sincerity, it sounded as if he had truly been there. Lottie was so startled she nearly forgot what she was going to say next.
Steadying her fluttering heart, Lottie managed to respond with a smile.
“After that, we shared a brief conversation. Sensing that I might never see him again, I shamelessly poured out the stories buried deep within me. He listened to my long, rambling tale without even a single frown. And then, he said this.”
— I yearn for you. I support your dreams and ideals. I hope that I can be of even the slightest help to you.
“He said that no matter what I looked like or what I thought… he would always listen to me just like he did then. That no matter where I was or what I did, he would believe in me and support me….”
At that part, her throat tightened slightly. Even she didn’t know why.
“We parted without knowing each other’s names, ages, or where we lived, so we didn’t meet again after that. But a year later, a second miracle happened to me.”
Lottie’s shining eyes turned toward Calyx. She reached out with her demurely folded hands and lightly grasped Calyx’s large left hand. It couldn’t have hurt, yet the large man flinched as if he had been burned.
Lottie looked at the elders sitting across from her with a smile. Their faces were filled with confusion, sensing what was coming next.
“Great-aunt. The gentleman who was with me under the fireworks that day is this man right here.”
“……! Th-then, the person you did those… those sorts of things with was hi…!”
Ah…! Unable to withstand the surging shock, the great-aunt swooned over to the side.
Her father, who couldn’t possibly know what ‘those sorts of things’ meant, could only look back and forth between the great-aunt and Lottie.
Since the great-aunt was in such a state, Lottie had no choice but to provide the answer herself.
Lottie spoke with a bright expression and tone.
“We kissed, Father.”
Crack! It felt as though the sound of her father’s glasses shattering could be heard from somewhere.
However, the unfilial daughter, who didn’t care a whit for her father’s heart, delivered the final blow in a voice even lighter than before.
“I love this man. More than I love myself.”
“……!”
‘So don’t look for any other prospective sons-in-law. I won’t marry anyone but him.’
The unspoken words were likely unheard by anyone except Lottie.
Whether the preceding story was truth or fiction, the great-aunt and her father had already lost their wits at the fact that their precious only daughter had kissed a total stranger.
Furthermore, Calyx.
That is to say, a certain foolish man.
Even though he knew it was a lie meant to deceive the elders, his entire thought process had ground to a halt because of that one sentence.
Without even dreaming of the devastation her words had caused everyone, Lottie simply blinked her large, lime-green eyes.
Afterward, because the great-aunt had fainted dead away, the entry of this strange man—written as Calyx but read as Kayan Stallion—into the House of Count Ix was brought to a hasty conclusion.
The next day.
Before the storm that had swept through the Count’s estate could even subside, Lottie and her father headed to St. Viet Cathedral.
This was because they had received a summons from the Archbishop to attend as witnesses for the conversion ceremony of Cal—no, Kayan Stallion.
“A prodigal son who wandered through the ruins has returned home. O Merciful Father, I pray that You embrace Your son in Your wide arms and….”
Archbishop Demolus, dressed in his dalmatica, dipped his hand into the water bowl. He sprinkled it over Calyx’s head three times.
The multi-colored light passing through the stained glass holily illuminated Calyx as he knelt.
“……May he be reborn into a new life through Your name. May it be glorious.”
“May it be glorious.”
“Now you are reborn as a son of the Father God. As long as you do not deny God, no one in this kingdom of Matila shall doubt you or bring you harm, young Master Stallion.”
“I am simply grateful for the Father’s deep love.”
Having completed the baptism, Calyx rose from his seat. There was not a single trace of doubt in the Archbishop’s eyes as he looked at him.
Lottie, who had been watching the scene intently from the witness stand, suddenly glanced at her father standing beside her.
Her father’s green eyes were still full of confusion. Naturally so. It was clearly Calyx Valdea, yet everyone in the world except for him was calling the man Kayan Stallion.
“You have worked hard, Count.”
The Archbishop approached the witness stand with a benevolent smile. Her father quickly smoothed his expression and gave a silent bow.
“Not at all. It was only natural for us to do… as fellow sons.”
Fellow sons, indeed. Even as he spat out the words, he found them absurd.
Unable to bear it any longer, Robert slightly lifted his bowed head. His eyes landed on Calyx, who was standing tall behind the Archbishop.
— We kissed, Father.
— I love this man. More than I love myself.
As the words chirped by his lovely daughter—whom he had raised with such care that he feared she might break if he held her too tight or blow away if he breathed on her—came back to him, sparks flew in Robert’s eyes.
‘I only accepted him because he is the man my precious daughter chose, but…!’
I will never acknowledge you. Not as long as I live!
“Robert.”
Having finished the ceremony, the Archbishop approached Robert with a kind smile. Robert suppressed the blazing sparks and bowed his head.
“What a joyous moment this is. To have such a dependable prospective son-in-law enter your troubled family.”
“Pro-prospective son-in-law….”
Robert muttered, dazed. Whether the Archbishop knew his inner thoughts or not, he spoke with a holy voice and face.
“Is a son-in-law not a son-in-law, even before officially swearing the marriage vows before God?”
The ‘vagrant his daughter suddenly brought home’ had been promoted to the prospective son-in-law of the House of Count Ix before he knew it.
What on earth did he tell the Archbishop! Barely suppressing the urge to grab him by the collar, Robert glared at Calyx with a terrifying gaze.
Unable to withstand his ‘father-in-law’s’(?) heated gaze, Calyx eventually offered Robert an awkward smile.
He had meant it as a gesture to gain trust, but to someone already filled with antipathy, it could only be read as a provocation.
‘You… you… you devilish fellow…!’
Robert, who could not possibly defy the Archbishop’s words, bowed his head in a state of misery.
If he could have shattered his glasses with anger, they would have broken a hundred times over.
That night.
After washing her body with hot bathwater, Lottie lay in bed wearing thin pajamas.
Once the maid who prepared her bed turned out the lights and left the bedroom, only a silence wrapped in darkness remained by Lottie’s side.
‘Tomorrow… I’ll look through the geography and history books as soon as I wake up.’
If she studied various books related to her homeland, she might find a clue regarding the madness.
‘And after that….’
She wanted to plan further ahead, but she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open.
How much time had passed since she had fallen into a deep sleep without even realizing it?
Ttap.
From outside the window draped with thin curtains, the sound of something tapping on the glass was heard.
It was such a small sound that she didn’t hear it at first, but as the noise continued, Lottie had no choice but to slowly wake up.
Someone was throwing small pebbles from outside, tapping on the window.
‘No way…?’
At a certain premonition, her sleepiness vanished instantly. Forgetting she was in her pajamas, Lottie rushed out to the balcony.
The man looking up from the first floor smiled broadly when their eyes met.
“Calyx…!”
Lottie, who almost shouted his name reflexively, hurriedly covered her mouth.
It was the middle of the night. If she made a loud noise, she might wake her father, who had sharp ears. What if her father, who was already full of resentment toward Calyx, witnessed this scene?
‘Wait a moment! I’ll come down!’
Lottie signaled to Calyx using her hands and feet. Calyx, sensing the situation where she couldn’t make a loud noise, responded with his own gestures.
‘You’ll lower a rope, and I should climb up?’
‘What are you talking about! I said wait, I’m coming down!’
‘You’re going to jump, so I should catch you?’
“Hey!”
When Lottie finally lost her patience and let out a frustrated whisper, Calyx burst into a silent laugh.
Only then did Lottie realize he was teasing her, and she turned away sharply with a huff.
She seemed to disappear into the room, but not long after, Lottie approached with quick steps from the back of the manor, a shawl draped over her shoulders. To sneak out without the household knowing, she had used the back door used by the servants instead of the main entrance.
“How did you even get here?”
“Well. I wasn’t officially invited, so I probably climbed over the wall?”
Hah. A hollow laugh escaped her at his nonchalant attitude. That’s not what I’m talking about!
“This isn’t a national park open to the public for free. If you wander in and out carelessly, you could end up locked in the basement!”
At that moment, the footsteps of a servant on night patrol drew closer.
