Chapter 6
As soon as Padrick’s command fell, Lottie stepped in to block his path.
Everyone present was aghast at her unprecedented behavior. However, the owner of the purple feathers ignored them all, confronting the Crown Prince with a terrifyingly rigid gaze and a set jaw.
Lottie suddenly reached up and plucked one of the feathers pinned to her hair.
“If it is an absolute rule that a feather dropped at a scene dictates that the person present must be me…”
The feather that had been resting on Lottie’s bare palm fluttered to the floor in a shimmering arc.
“Then I suppose I have been present at this location as well.”
To the audience, her voice sounded quite bold, but it ended with a tiny tremor that only Lottie herself could perceive.
To prevent that pathetic trembling from being discovered, Lottie’s mouth raced ahead like a runaway locomotive.
“Though the place where I was born and raised is far from the capital where refined etiquette rules, I did not grow up as an ignorant fool who knows nothing of a lady’s duties. I am well aware of how every single one of my actions reflects upon my father.”
“That…”
“Furthermore! No matter how secluded an area I was raised in, I am not ignorant of the basic common sense that an unmarried woman wears three feathers as a hair ornament, not four.”
It was her counterargument: had the woman who dropped the feather in the outdoor garden truly been her, why would there have been three feathers on her head until just a moment ago, instead of two?
It was an incredibly obvious and simple point—one that her past self had failed to make.
Back then, it had been much easier to take the hand someone offered than to say no to something that wasn’t true.
The onlookers became so enthralled they couldn’t even bring themselves to leave. Even the guards who had been summoned stood frozen in an awkward stance, as if afraid to break the tension.
The crowd believed that this ignorant girl from the countryside had just kicked away the rising sun of the nation to choose a moon that had set long ago.
And beliefs, by nature, were meant to be shattered.
When Lottie pulled off her remaining glove, a shocked gasp erupted from the spectators.
“It is true that we were in the secret room together. However!”
“…”
“I am a person of discernment.”
With both arms fully revealed, Lottie confronted Calyx, who had been certain of his victory.
His eyes, narrowed by the unexpected counterattack, were a reddish-brown.
I don’t need your help.
Lottie met his eyes directly, shaking off the memory of him looking down at her with emotionless eyes in the old castle of Polton, where the echoes of bombardment had rung out.
I will prove with my own hands that nothing improper happened between us. So.
“A mere pair of gloves cannot serve as proof of my honor and pride.”
Don’t interfere in my life this time. Not ever.
“…”
Only a strange silence remained at the scene where she had ‘splendidly’ proven her own purity.
Some of the audience were disappointed by the dull conclusion that it was all a misunderstanding, while others suspected there might be a hidden story they didn’t know.
Most, however, were eagerly waiting to see how the blue-bloods—who had been rendered helpless by a single woman—would react.
Lottie felt a sense of disillusionment at the fact that her agonizing misfortune was nothing more than entertainment to kill the boredom of others.
Had it not been for her great-aunt, who stood helplessly watching her from an awkward position between the two men, Lottie might have stomped her feet and stormed out of the hall without a shred of dignity.
“…Everyone, return to your places.”
It was Padrick’s heavy voice that first broke the silence, which felt as though it might explode at any moment.
After those words, which came out one by one as if squeezed under pressure, Padrick glared at Calyx with fierce gray eyes.
“Guards. Arrest the intruder.”
At the Crown Prince’s solemn command, the guards hesitated before approaching Calyx.
No matter that he now bore the surname Valdea, proving he was no longer royalty, he was a man who had once been the Crown Prince.
They dithered so much that Calyx eventually surrendered himself to the guards quite tamely.
He possessed an air of ease, as if he weren’t being dragged away but was instead making an appearance to prove the legitimacy of his presence here.
It was as if he knew exactly how much that would grate on the nerves of Padrick, who was rumored to have taken the position of Crown Prince for free.
“…”
As Calyx leisurely left the scene with the guards, he still held one white satin glove in his hand.
The soft piece of fabric fluttered in the air with every step, as if promising they would meet again.
Crown Prince Calyx had been worthy of all Matila’s love.
It wasn’t just because of the twelve-year-old boy’s beautiful blond hair or his cheeks flush with intelligence.
Every single piece of the young Crown Prince’s clothing was missing its buttons.
This was because he had torn off all his gold buttons to distribute them to the sick women and starving children in the slums.
Even while walking around in a gaping tunic without buttons, the Crown Prince would joke that he still looked stylish thanks to the face his parents had so finely crafted for him.
The Crown Prince, who had sworn before the vassals to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a great monarch, killed his beloved father on his thirteenth birthday.
Some argued it would be difficult for a young boy to pierce the ribs and stab the heart of a sturdy adult male.
The fact that the traitor who murdered the King did not flee but sat dazed beside the corpse was ignored in the face of the gruesome scene.
And so, Calyx, the Crown Prince whom Matila had loved, was branded a parricide within a year and buried forever.
…Until twelve years later, when the exiled deposed prince was caught red-handed by the whole world, having snuck into the palace’s Grand Banquet Hall like a rat.
Luca, who had entered Ronvernon in pursuit of his friend who had vanished leaving only a single ridiculous letter, gave his honest impression after hearing the full story of the spectacular events that had unfolded in his absence.
“…You madman.”
Of course, it was a voice as small as a mosquito’s, so as not to be heard by the person lying in a rather delinquent posture on the long sofa in the drawing room.
“Sneaking into the palace where entry is strictly forbidden… and not just infiltrating the Grand Banquet Hall… but even confronting the Crown Prince…”
“…”
“And all just because you want to get married?!”
Even as he recited the story he had just heard, Luca couldn’t believe these were actually the words of a sane person.
If he knew why he had managed to stay alive until now, this was a crazy stunt he should never have pulled.
“Even a prince who has earned the hatred of all Matila must marry. If by any chance the royal bloodline were to be completely severed, wouldn’t they have to take even my child to continue the succession?”
Calyx said, cheekily wagging his two legs that stuck out past the end of the sofa.
He looked a bit tired from thirteen hours of intense questioning by interrogators, but his face remained annoyingly composed.
— With this final question, our courtesy toward you will change. Answer. What is the reason you infiltrated the unauthorized royal castle?
In the deep underground interrogation room.
To the interrogator’s question, which sounded like an ultimatum, Calyx had smiled brightly. Then, he offered the exact same answer for the 138th time.
That he had come to get married.
He asked if it wasn’t perfectly natural for an unmarried man of prime age to visit Ronvernon in search of a bride.
It was a lie that even a tiny shrimp wouldn’t believe, but it wasn’t entirely false either.
To prepare for the contingency of the succession being cut off, the royal family would be desperate enough to take a crazy chicken if a pheasant wasn’t available.
With Calyx repeating that obvious answer for thirteen hours without changing a single syllable, the interrogators eventually had no choice but to wave the white flag.
Calyx was released looking perfectly fine, in stark contrast to the grim atmosphere of that time.
“Thanks to me, didn’t they brilliantly fulfill their duty to protect the royal family by closing the secret passage they didn’t even know existed? Her Majesty the Queen and His Highness the Crown Prince can probably sleep soundly for a few months without worrying about losing their heads.”
Good grief. The one who did wrong was now shamelessly discussing his own merits.
Luca had barely been able to squeeze himself into the luggage compartment of an early morning train because of the crowds heading to the capital.
He felt the curses he had accumulated on the way here clamoring to be let out of his mouth.
However, he soon reminded himself of his ‘mission’ and succeeded in putting on the most cheerful expression possible, putting strength into the tip of his nose.
Though his lips trembled piteously.
“So, was there a honeybee that captured your high-and-mighty heart? Since dancing would have been impossible, what, did you enjoy a private tryst in the outdoor garden?”
“…I removed her glove.”
“Crazy.”
This time, Luca failed to swallow his unfiltered impression and belatedly struck his own flapping mouth with his fist.
No matter how much they had been friends since their military academy days, a son of a humble noble family like himself could not be on equal footing with royal blood.
Calyx felt no particular emotion at Luca’s rudeness, but he felt a surge of unpleasantness at the sight of him standing there as if rooted to the spot, lost in impure imaginations triggered by a single glove.
He didn’t know the reason, but it was certainly an emotion strong enough to make him move from the sofa where he had been so comfortable.
Calyx suddenly snatched the wrist of Luca, who was dazed by all sorts of unspeakable imaginations.
“…! What all of a sudden!”
“You,”
Calyx began, slowly sliding his fingers between Luca’s fingers, which were stiff with tension.
Luca thought he was going to interlace their fingers, but Calyx’s hand had already stripped off Luca’s glove with practiced speed.
“Do you think history is made just by stripping off a single piece of cloth?”
“…”
“You still have a long way to go.”
When Calyx scanned him up and down with eyes full of pity, as if worried about his functionality as a man, Luca’s face turned scarlet in an instant.
As Luca snatched his glove back, huffing without being able to offer a proper rebuttal, Calyx gave a low laugh.
