Chapter 65
“If I had known you would come hacking through the brush with your bare hands, I would have suggested we meet somewhere more comfortable. You’re covered in green from head to toe….”
“…….”
“…Lottie?”
Calyx, who had been approaching Lottie with his usual playful tone, came to a halt. Lottie had instinctively taken a step backward.
The expression she wore as she looked at him was different from usual. It was a look that reminded him of the woman who had first confronted him in Ronvernon.
“Did something happen?”
The smile gradually faded from Calyx’s lips. A wind smelling of river water passed between the two, a distance that felt as though it could never be bridged.
The place she had fled to while escaping the gold-eyed subordinate was right in front of the tyrant who had once killed her.
The irony was so absurd that Lottie let out a small, hollow laugh. Calyx, whose every nerve was focused on her, narrowed his eyes. Even that face overlapped with the man who had looked down at her while aiming a gun.
‘Damn it….’
Just as the real wife of Andrew had appeared before her when she tried to change the future by marrying him.
Just as Tom Philson had appeared and led her into a trap, as if mocking her for trying to avoid marriage with her ex-husband.
The appearance of the man who had assisted Calyx on the day of the civil war forced Lottie to accept the most terrifying hypothesis.
That no matter how much she struggled, what was meant to happen would happen, and on the day Matila was engulfed in flames, that man would kill her once again.
“……If I startled you with what happened earlier.”
Calyx, after a long silence, spoke in a low voice. Lottie’s shoulders gave a small flinch.
“I apologize. I acted on my own because I had no other way to contact you. I will never harm your father or the coachman, so….”
“No. No. It’s not that. It’s not about that….”
As Lottie’s words trailed off, Calyx took a long stride toward her. Lottie moved away as much as he approached.
Calyx let out a short sigh.
It was just like back then. After his hasty proposal, she had glared at him with a gaze that wouldn’t let a single needle penetrate, saying she would rather die than marry him.
Had they gone back to that? Like then?
Even as he told himself that couldn’t be the case, his mouth grew dry. He kept his eyes wide, trying to gauge the situation before him.
The moment he locked eyes with the light green irises in her pale face, a dull ache surged in his chest.
If he didn’t catch her now, she would run away forever.
Driven by that premonition alone, Calyx moved. He ignored the fact that he knew she would be frightened.
As he closed in, Lottie stepped back again. It was useless. He approached faster than she could move away.
Finally giving up on fleeing, Lottie came to a dead stop. Calyx, now right in front of her, reached out his hand.
It was the moment Calyx paused, belatedly noticing Lottie’s battered hands.
“……It’s not because of what happened earlier. It’s not that….”
Clear tears fell from Lottie’s large eyes.
‘I’m afraid of this man. He’s terrifying, he’s painful….’
“……I missed you.”
At those unexpected words, Calyx’s face froze hard.
Yes, she was confused.
She was in agony as the memories of the past resurfaced, and she felt adrift, unable to decide if she should trust this man.
The reason she had yearned for and missed such a man was that he was the only person who believed in and supported her will, which even her father did not acknowledge.
“Father gave me an ultimatum. He told me to marry Crown Prince Padrick.”
“…….”
“Seeing as you aren’t surprised, you must have already known. And why Father is pushing me to marry the Crown Prince.”
That was why she was crying like a fool.
It was true that she feared and hated that man, but she was struck by the premonition that, in the end, he would be the only person in this world who would support and desire her.
“I’m sorry, Calyx. I… I ruined everything.”
“…….”
“Tom Philson… he disappeared a few days ago. I need Tom Philson to prove your innocence… and it’s because of me. I deluded myself into thinking I could handle it all alone… and made such a ridiculous mistake….”
It was the same with her father. She had wanted to find the cause of the madness and uncover the Queen’s conspiracy to earn her father’s recognition. She thought she could do it, but in the end, the secrets only led to a greater misunderstanding.
‘Would it have been better… if I had just told Father everything truthfully from the moment I first came back through time?’
Lottie raised both hands and wiped her tears like a child. As her delicate skin began to swell red, Calyx caught her hands. Then, he gently lowered them.
Lottie’s eyes went wide as Calyx bent down to meet her gaze. Looking into her eyes with a smileless expression, Calyx slowly raised his hand.
His large, rough, ungloved hand softly cradled Lottie’s left cheek.
“It is not your fault.”
“…….”
“How could I ever blame you? I am already indebted to you more than I can express.”
Calyx comforted Lottie. Lottie managed to lift her head from the depths of her regret. She looked at him as they faced each other.
A single streak of tear that she hadn’t managed to wipe away fell from her large eyes. Calyx let out a soft chuckle.
“I do like the way you look when you cry, but….”
Calyx brushed away Lottie’s tear with his thumb. The moisture touching his fingertip was excessively hot.
“Perhaps I like making you stop crying even more.”
Even though her tears had long since stopped, Calyx lingered on Lottie’s cheek for a long, slow moment.
His hand, which had been caressing her cheek, began to move slowly toward her hair just as Lottie, realizing she might have made a ridiculous misunderstanding, was about to pull her head away.
“There is no need to cry anymore. Your father will no longer urge you to marry.”
“Pardon? What do you mean….”
“Are you curious?”
Lottie nodded blankly. Calyx chuckled as he carefully picked off the leaves stuck all over her orange hair.
“If you say what you just said one more time.”
“What I… just said?”
“The part about not avoiding me because of your father. And what came after that.”
After adding the kind explanation, Calyx feigned ignorance and focused on picking off the leaves.
Lottie did not respond until the pile of leaves on the ground grew thick. She likely found her own words embarrassing to think about.
Even though he could guess the many conflicts she was brewing, Calyx did not back down. It was revenge for the way she had just toyed with his heart.
It might be petty, but he wanted to hear it. In her breathless voice, once more.
“……you.”
“I can’t hear you very well.”
“I didn’t miss you! I didn’t miss a person like you at all, someone who plans such a kidnapping without a word and then teases me in return! I mean it!”
Calyx burst into laughter as he pulled a twig about the length of a finger from the back of Lottie’s head. Only then did Lottie notice the grass and dust all over her body and sighed as she brushed off her clothes.
By the time Lottie, who had looked like a walking Christmas tree, regained her composure, they had moved and were sitting on a rock. It was the same rock Calyx had been sitting on while waiting for Lottie.
“The Count came to see me a few days ago.”
Calyx said as he sat beside Lottie. He was holding a wet handkerchief.
Since it was something she had somewhat expected, she wasn’t greatly surprised. She tried to take off her worn-out gloves, but it wasn’t working as well as she hoped. Lottie groaned and reluctantly held out her hand to Calyx.
“Will you take them off for me?”
Did she have any idea how provocative those words sounded to a man who was completely infatuated with her? Calyx laughed hollowly, but Lottie’s face was shamelessly bold.
“Speaking of which, do you know that a single glove without its owner is still waiting for you?”
“Goodness. You mean the glove you took at the palace ball? I didn’t know you cherished objects enough to keep it this long.”
“Rather than cherishing the object, it would be more accurate to say I cherish the reward I will receive by returning it.”
“Then what kind of reward do you intend to extract from me? I should hear it before I decide whether to take my property back or not.”
“If you hear it, you’ll surely insist you’ll never take it back.”
“What, are you trying to take the Dempis lands or something?”
While Lottie laughed without malice, Calyx skillfully pulled off the glove.
How many people’s gloves had this man taken off before? While she was caught in that idle thought, the wet handkerchief touched the scratches on her fingertips.
“Something you will never give me.”
As Lottie swallowed a cry of pain, a low answer reached her. For a moment, a shadow of self-deprecation seemed to flicker in Calyx’s eyes, but she forgot it thanks to his hand stroking the scratches once more.
“The Count suspected I was using you to cover up the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince, and it seemed he intended to join hands with the Crown Prince out of necessity to protect you from the charges of conspiring with me.”
It was a low, serious voice that made her swallow back the words she was about to say.
Lottie left her injured hand to Calyx and waited for his next words. Above the slight silence, the sound of a fish splashing on the water’s surface passed by.
“So I made a proposal to the Count. To use me to turn the Royal Family’s blackmail against them.”
“Use… you?”
“The capital is split into four or five factions due to the disappearance in the Balcote Strait. Since no one knows who the true culprit is, it’s a situation rife with speculation. I told the Count to simply choose, and I would make whoever he wanted into the culprit.”
While Lottie struggled to understand his words, Calyx took Lottie’s other hand with a calm face. A moment later, the remaining glove was removed with practiced skill.
“Since the ones currently threatening you the most are the Crown Prince and his mother… then the true culprit who tried to bury the deposed prince in the sea will have to be one of those two.”
He meant he would frame someone else for the fake disappearance that he had orchestrated from the start.
Lottie, who was about to call it a preposterous plan, held her tongue. It was because she instinctively felt certain that his strategy would work exactly as expected.
‘I know this is the best move to avoid marriage with the Crown Prince. But….’
While Lottie hesitated, Calyx’s gaze fell steadily upon her.
Following this man’s scheme meant essentially fanning the flames of conflict between him and the Royal Family.
And she felt she knew all too well where the end of that heated conflict would lead.
‘How can I encourage this? How can I, who am struggling so hard to avoid that future….’
“Lottie.”
Calyx, having let go of her hand, quietly called her name.
“This is a matter between the Queen and me. I do not want to drag you into it, nor do I want you to suffer or feel a sense of responsibility because of it. So….”
“…….”
“Take my hand. So that I can be your wings, and your shield.”
