Chapter 66
Why… you?
All she had wanted from him was warmth and support, not wings or a shield. This crossed the line of the friend or contractor she knew him to be.
For the first time, she couldn’t understand why this man was going to such lengths for her.
And so, she was left with no choice but to think. About how to define a relationship that had crossed the boundaries of friendship or a contract.
“There is something I have wanted to ask you for a while.”
Seeing Lottie’s eyes cloud with confusion, followed by fear, Calyx naturally changed the subject.
“What… is it?”
“By any chance, have you… ever heard voices or seen visions?”
For a moment, Lottie just blinked, failing to grasp his intent.
Did this man suspect that she was suffering from the same madness as him?
“No. Not even once—”
The lips that were about to finish saying never froze in that instant. A memory she had buried deep in the back of her mind resurfaced.
There had been a time. Just once.
In Roy-John Prison, she had seen a vision of Calyx being murdered, and someone had kept whispering unintelligible words into her head.
“Sometimes… I cannot shake the feeling that another person has possessed you.”
Fear bled into Calyx’s voice. Lottie understood why he was saying this.
She thought she knew which incidents prompted this question, and what was causing him such confusion.
‘I never did explain… how I was able to save him from Roy-John Prison.’
Before that, there was the way she had been excessively sharp with Padrick.
And even before that, the way she had snuck into the secret room of the Grand Banquet Hall.
All the questions she had never clearly explained until now came back as a single, heavy mass.
‘The moment of reckoning has arrived.’
She wouldn’t be able to dodge this with vague words any longer. She knew it by the look in the eyes of the man watching her.
“What are you hiding?”
“I’m not hiding… anything. It’s not what you’re worried about.”
Struggling with how to logically explain the story of living her second life after traveling back in time, Lottie began to speak haltingly.
It was different from when her father had asked the same question—what was she hiding.
She had a hunch that with this man, it would be okay. Even now, wasn’t he listening intently the moment she started talking?
Yes, if it was this man.
If it was Calix Valdea, who had promised to believe in her and support her no matter what.
“First of all… it’s true that I have prophetic dreams.”
“…”
“Though I haven’t had one since that day, I saw the future. A future where a fire breaks out at Roy-John Prison and you meet your death. I saw the layout of a prison I’d never been to as if it were drawn before my eyes, and thanks to that, I was able to avoid the guards and save you.”
“Then, Tom Philson was…”
Calyx asked in a halting voice, seemingly preoccupied with processing her words.
Usually, it was Lottie who would falter while trying to understand him, but this time the roles were reversed. Being in this position wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Lottie took a short breath and lowered her voice further.
“I already knew that man was plotting wicked things on Padrick’s side. In the past, he framed me for adultery by giving false testimony that he’d had an affair with me.”
“An affair… Adultery?”
“The truth is, in my past life, I was the Queen of Matila. Padrick was my husband and the King of Matila.”
Lottie cleared her throat softly, anticipating Calyx’s reaction.
“I have returned to the past, Calyx.”
Regression. What a precise and elegant word.
Admiring her own choice of words, Lottie waited for Calyx to respond.
He was a friend and ally who believed in her and supported her more than anyone.
Even if others pointed fingers and called it nonsense, she was certain he alone would believe her. That fact alone made her feel a warmth in her chest.
“…”
Calyx did not answer until the soft wind had ruffled their hair several times. He only stared at Lottie with a face full of confusion, quite unlike his usual self.
‘Ah.’
Lottie’s expression began to crumble as she failed to find what she expected on his face.
“Do you… not believe me?”
“No. It is not that. I will believe you. I am just trying to understand your words…”
“You don’t believe me.”
Lottie muttered blankly.
Calyx fumbled for words a few times before falling silent, unable to find anything more to say.
Making a man who possessed enough eloquence to convince people he’d returned from the afterlife shut his mouth was quite something to be proud of, but she didn’t find it very pleasing right now.
‘I thought if it were this man, he’d believe me no matter what I said…’
You said you’d be my source of warmth! You said you’d believe in me and support me!
A surge of resentment rose in her throat. Yet, even in the midst of that, she hated herself for trying to understand why he couldn’t believe her.
“Believe me or not, do as you please. I’ve told you everything without hiding anything, so I have nothing more to say.”
Lottie stood up and began to walk away with long strides. She was heading toward those bushes again. She knew she was throwing a tantrum because he didn’t believe her, but her body and mind were acting separately.
Before Lottie could truly disappear into the thicket, Calyx quickly ran over and blocked her path. Lottie looked up at Calyx with a pouting face.
“I will believe you. I’m going to believe your words. So give me a few more hints so I can make sense of what you’re saying.”
“You mean you want evidence, not hints. Because you love evidence.”
She didn’t want to show such an unsightly side of herself to this man even in this situation, but it seemed she couldn’t help the tears that welled up when she felt wronged.
Lottie bit her lip so hard she could taste blood and forced herself to continue calmly.
“I am the evidence, Calyx. I, who remember every single moment of those ten years, am the evidence of my regression. Now, will you believe me?”
“Lottie. First, calm down…”
“Do I look like I can be calm right now? I poured out a secret I struggled so hard to share, and you’re dismissing it as a child’s fantasy!”
As Lottie huffed in indignation, Calyx suppressed a faint smile that threatened to surface. Lottie cried out in a surge of emotion.
“It’s not that someone possessed my body; I really did return to the past! They say Princess Nuan of old was a famous time traveler in the Kingdom, so why can’t I be one too?”
Princess Nuan, the protagonist of Lottie’s favorite fairy tale, <The Princess’s Wedding>. Calyx instinctively swallowed the obvious point that she was a fictional character from a made-up story.
He sensed that saying so would be like pouring oil on a fire, and because Lottie’s expression looked exactly like that of a child who believed fairy tales were real.
“What is that look? Are you saying it’s laughable for someone like me to try and compare myself to a princess?”
“No, I wouldn’t go as far as to say laughable.”
“Fine! To me, Princess Nuan is so noble and wise that I can’t even hold a candle to her. On top of that, she was beautiful, so it’s no wonder suitors from all over the country lined up for her. Since Nuan was a princess, she could hold a husband selection contest against them, but here I am, pathetic and struggling between just two choices! I understand. I get it.”
Lottie, who had been firing off words like a barrage, ended with a cynical smile. It was a desperate struggle to hide her hurt and embarrassment.
If you, who received a proposal from the Crown Prince, are pathetic, then there isn’t a woman in the world who isn’t.
Just before an unthinking joke could slip out reflexively, Calyx spotted Mikhail rushing out from the bushes. It was the same thicket Lottie had emerged from earlier.
“If you don’t want to believe my story, fine. However, I will say that trust and faith only exist when they are mutual, not one-sided—”
“Lottie.”
Calyx quietly stopped Lottie, who was prattling on, unaware of the uninvited guest behind her.
Realizing Calyx’s gaze was fixed on something over her shoulder, Lottie finally turned around. When her eyes met Mikhail’s, her face crumpled instantly.
‘I gave him so many hints not to follow, and yet he still…!’
Mikhail wasn’t exactly pleased either, but since he was in front of his liege, he didn’t openly show his displeasure.
“It seems it is time to let you go. If I keep the master of the County for too long, I might end my life as a notorious kidnapper.”
“But that certainly doesn’t mean I’ve harmed your husband,” Calyx added with a smile. She knew it was a joke, but he was a man who truly made one’s blood run cold.
Lottie, looking at Calyx with suspicious eyes, slowly stepped toward the bushes.
Mikhail knit his brows as if telling her to hurry, but her pace was slow. There was still so much she had to say. It was because of the thought that if they parted now, she didn’t know when they would meet again.
“Mikhail.”
Calyx called out to Mikhail, who was about to follow Lottie. Calyx handed Mikhail a worn-out glove. It was a glove its owner had failed to retrieve.
There were no words like ‘take good care of her.’ After a brief glance at Mikhail, Calyx watched Lottie’s receding back for a long time.
That gaze, which only another man could recognize, was fierce yet tender.
A few days later. Sasha, who had been tracking the amber at Lake Mofit, brought unexpected news.
“I’ve heard that old man Donald is dead, Captain.”
Calyx furrowed his brows at the unfamiliar name. Realizing his explanation was insufficient, Sasha quickly continued.
“He’s the old man who went around shouting that Mr. Britt’s case was a possession phenomenon. He caused an unpleasant incident in the village and was locked in the village storehouse, but when they went to find him the next day, he was dead. His entire body was burnt black.”
In that moment, Calyx had the same thought as Sasha. It was the exact same pattern as Mr. Britt’s death.
“They say this was found lying beside the dead old man Donald.”
Sasha untied a brown pouch and pulled out a familiar object.
It was a bumpy oval about the size of two finger joints—a piece of black amber that must have originally been a deep gold.
“It’s just a guess, but could someone have murdered him to keep him quiet?”
“No. It’s the opposite. They want people to believe that old man’s claims were true.”
Calyx took the amber from Sasha. Looking into it, Calyx’s eyes gleamed with a strange light.
“Could it be…”
“Yes. ‘That person’ sitting behind the Queen has finally begun to move.”
